Week 13 college football rankings: Colorado, South Carolina, Georgia climb as Tennessee plummets

UNLV Rebels quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams. Suddenly thrown into the starting lineup early in the season after the starter abruptly left, the Rebels’ senior signal caller is making the most of his opportunities. Three weeks removed from a dominant stretch with a 9-1 TD-INT ratio (Sept. 28-Oct. 11), Williams diced up San Diego State’s secondary in a game UNLV controlled.

Brady Cook wasn’t perfect on Saturday, but he and Luther Burden III at least put Mizzou in position to beat South Carolina on the road. Unfortunately for Mizzou, this Tigers defense came up short again. Allowing a game-winning touchdown drive with 1 minute left in the game is an awful look for Missouri, but it’s par for the course from a defense that has allowed 87 points in the last three games.

The Arizona State Sun Devils faced an uphill climb to make it into the college football rankings. Dominating Kansas State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium will do it. Sam Leavitt delivered the big plays, eclipsing 3 touchdowns and 200 passing yards in three quarters. Time will only tell if the Sun Devils can carryover this momentum back home against BYU, but it’s a great opportunity to get national recognition.

For a moment, it looked like the Iowa State Cyclones were going to implode even further. After winning seven straight games, the Cyclones dropped their past two matchups to unranked opponents. Then on Saturday, Rocco Becht and Co. found themselves trailing late in the second quarter. Becht turned things around with a pair of second-half touchdown passes and that momentum helped Iowa State walk away with the three-score win. A much-needed victory for Iowa State.

The stretch of dominance continues for the Tulane Green Wave. September got off to a rough start with one-score losses to Kansas State and Oklahoma but the Green Wave have responded with an eight-game win streak. The issue for Tulane, which sits second in the American Conference behind Army, is its two losses came against opponents that haven’t met preseason expectations.

LaNorris Sellers is HIM. If four touchdowns from the South Carolina freshman quarterback weren’t enough for you, his game-winning drive should win the trick. Down 3 to Missouri with under 55 seconds to play, Sellers needed just 6 plays to cover 60 yards before hitting Raheim Sanders for his fifth touchdown pass of the game. Sellers looks like a star and the Gamecocks are riding a four-game winning streak, which includes victories over Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

This is it for the Army Black Knights and star quarterback Bryson Daily. While no one expected a 9-0 start to the season, it’s also not like the Black Knights have faced premium competition. That changes next Saturday night against Notre Dame. Even with this game at home and two weeks to prepare, Army’s incredible run and Cinderella story likely ends here.

Cade Klubnik lit up the scoreboard in the first half along with wide receiver Antonio Williams, but the Clemson Tigers offense went dormant in the second half. Trailing Pittsburgh (7-3) 20-17 with under 2 minutes to play, Klubniks’ 50-yard touchdown run won the game and saved Clemson’s ACC Championship Game hopes. Although, no one right now believes Swinney’s program deserves a spot in the College Football Playoff.

John Mateer is just a treat to watch. Saturday marked the seventh time Washington State’s sophomore quarterback has recorded at least 3 touchdowns and he eclipsed 250-plus yards for the third time in the last month. Mateer is on a tear right now and while he’s not in the Heisman consideration, his efforts continue to push Washington State up the college football rankings each week.

A tradition unlike any other, Josh Heupel’s Tennessee Volunteers falling flat under the bright lights with a chance to make a statement in the SEC. Nico Iamaleava will get excused for his up-and-down performances because he’s a freshman, but the former five-star quarterback has not been remotely as good as this program needed this season. That remained the case on Saturday night and the Volunteers defense only made things worse. We tried to give Tennessee the benefit of the doubt, but this is the. same team that barely beat Florida, Kentucky and Oklahoma. Quite frankly, this looks like a program that will find a way to lose to Vanderbilt, too.

Saturday, much like next week’s matchup against Auburn, should be an opportunity for Texas A&M to iron things out before it faces the Texas Longhorns (Nov. 30). Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed was excellent, as was a ground attack that racked up 139 yards in the first half. It’s exactly how Texas A&M should look against New Mexico State.

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After a game-opening Shedeur Sanders interception, Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes quickly regained control at home against Utah. Colorado jumped out to a 14-3 lead and was up 28-9 early in the third quarter before running away with it in the closing minutes. Meanwhile, Travis Hunter strengthened his case for the Heisman Trophy and Shedeur delivered his second 300-yard game in three weeks.

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Boston College has caused problems for quite a few ranked teams this season, including Missouri and Louisville. With two weeks to prepare, SMU came out fast with 10 first-quarter points and it never looked back. With two unranked opponents remaining on the schedule, the Mustangs are a bit dependent on the teams ahead of them losing to move up the college football rankings. Given how chaotic this fall has been, that’s guaranteed to happen.

It wasn’t a pretty win for the Boise State Broncos on Saturday night in San Jose, but they still moved to 9-1. Ashton Jeanty (159 yards and 4 touchdowns) once again put this team on his back, handling 31 touches and providing over 160 scrimmage yards. The performance certainly strengthens why we view Jeanty as the right choice for the Heisman Trophy, but these narrow wins over Nevada and San Jose State raise doubts about how the rest of this Boise State roster would fare in the CFP.

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Finally, the Georgia Bulldogs offense started to resemble a unit that belongs in the College Football Playoff. Facing a Tennessee defense that hadn’t allowed 20-plus points this season, Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck had 3 total touchdowns alone in the first three quarters on Saturday night. He then put the game away with a clock-killing drive, saving the Bulldogs’ playoff hopes.

Even on bye weeks, Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels secured a win by flipping Alabama’s four-star wide receiver commit Caleb Cunningham. The losses to LSU and Kentucky are still ugly blemishes on the Rebels’ resume, but they more than made up for it by dismantling the Georgia Bulldogs a week ago. As long as Ole Miss handles its business in the next two weeks (Florida and Mississippi State), there’s a CFP spot available. As we’ve seen plenty this season, though, don’t count on the easy wins.

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There’s the level of domination we’re used to seeing from the Alabama Crimson Tide. Mercer (9-1) experienced on Saturday what happens when you play one of the best college football teams at the highest level. Jalen Milroe led the way with a 31-7 lead at halftime, which allowed the Crimson Tide to give youngsters like Ty Simpson some playing time. A road trip to Oklahoma will be a little more challenging next Saturday night, but it’s another chance for the Crimson Tide to comfortably solidify their playoff resume.

It was only a matter of time until the Miami Hurricanes’ reliance on Cam Ward playing hero ball came back to bite them. Miami’s defense has been a problem all season, 58th in scoring defense (23.1 PPG) and it played a major role in their first loss of the season. Unfortunately for Miami, after two-plus months of this there’s really no reason to believe the Week 12 bye will suddenly fix things for the Hurricanes. Winning out still puts Miami in the CFP, but they might not stay around long.

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The Northern Illinois loss feels like it happened to the Fighting Irish years ago. Notre Dame’s been utterly dominant since that eye-opening defeat, beating two ranked opponents (Louisville and Navy) while decimating nearly every opponent on their schedule. Riding an eight-game win streak, Notre Dame can cement its playoff spot with wins over Army and USC. Even with the stakes of those matchups, the Fighting Irish are playing like a team that can handle their business.

Updated Sunday morning after Kansas vs BYU

Off to their first 10-0 start in program history, the Indiana Hoosiers rewarded coach Curt Cignetti with a new 10-year contract. Safe to say the coaching search worked out pretty well. Undefeated Indiana still doesn’t have a victory over a ranked opponent on its resume, but it has survived tests against Maryland, Washington and Michigan. The Hoosiers certainly deserve to be underdogs for their road trip to Ohio State next Saturday, but we certainly wouldn’t rule out Indiana keeping it close. Even if the Hoosiers lose, they should remain within the playoff picture.

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Just a very relaxing victory Saturday for the Penn State Nittany Lions. Drew Allar was essentially perfect in the first half against Purdue, completing over 85 percent of his passes with 2 touchdowns and he averaged over 12 yards per attempt. That’s pretty much all the Nittany Lions needed on the road against Purdue (1-9). Of course, the win doesn’t do anything to silence critics who believe the Nittany Lions are just feasting on one of the weakest schedules among Power 4 teams.

The Texas Longhorns didn’t provide much offensive efficiency on Saturday against Arkansas, going just 4-for-15 (26.7 percent) on third downs with just a pair of touchdowns. Fortunately for Steve Sarkisian and Quinn Ewers, the Longhorns’ defense (2 takeaways, 2.4 yards per rush allowed) came through in a close 20-10 win. The Longhorns improved to 9-1, but the performance doesn’t exactly inspire confidence two weeks before they travel to Kyle Field to face the Aggies.

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For a moment, Northwestern (4-6) felt like it had a chance for an upset in Week 12 with a 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Everything unraveled after the botched punt. Quinshon Judkins punched in a one-yard touchdown two plays later, part of 31 unanswered points from the Buckeyes’ offense in the next two quarters. Facing Indiana next Saturday, the Buckeyes have a shot at their second win over a top-10 team in November. After that, there should be no question that Ohio State is in the top tier of the best college football teams this year.

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The Oregon Ducks survived their trip to Wisconsin on Saturday night, barely. Wisconsin took a 13-6 lead into the fourth quarter and that’s where the Ducks defense stepped up. After allowing a 62-yard drive that resulted in a field goal early in the third quarter, Oregon didn’t allow another point. That was enough, with Jordan James putting this offense on his back to rally and preserve the 11-0 mark.