Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 13: Ole Miss, Alabama, Texas A&M re-learn an old lesson

Editor’s note: The Athletic 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams.

Winning games is hard.

That’s a press conference cliché you’ll hear from every coach, but it’s true, especially for coaches dealing with college athletes. How else can you explain what happened on Saturday?

For two weeks, SEC fans beat the narrative drum that Indiana hadn’t played anyone. On Saturday, Indiana played Ohio State and got manhandled 38-15. Vindication! Well, until a few minutes later when Ole Miss lost to a previously 5-5 Florida team. Then Alabama lost to a 5-5 Oklahoma team (by a 24-3 score). Then Texas A&M lost to a 4-6 Auburn team. Suddenly, three SEC teams that entered the day with two losses and a clear path to the College Football Playoff had a third loss.

It turns out, winning is hard. That’s not to say all 10-1 records are created equally, or that more wins should equal a higher ranking. They don’t. Beating good teams matters. But there has to be an appreciation for winning games, even against average or above-average teams.

At one point Friday, the SEC appeared to have a path to send five teams into the 12-team College Football Playoff. By the end of the weekend, three SEC teams are in the CFP field based on this week’s Athletic 134 rankings.

Every week this season has given us an upset that has upended the CFP. I wouldn’t pencil anything in heading into the final weekend either. It’s why we love college football.

But college football is more than strength of schedule rankings, betting lines and hypotheticals. You have to play games. That’s what sports are about. You never know what can happen. So when you get a win, no matter what kind of win it is, make sure you enjoy it.

Here is this week’s edition of The Athletic 134.

1-10

Notre Dame fans, I told you I’d put you into the top five once you beat Army, and you did, so here you are. Beat USC, and the Irish will host a Playoff game in South Bend. I nearly put Notre Dame over Penn State, considering the Nittany Lions’ close calls against USC and Minnesota. But Penn State’s win against Illinois is now a top-25 win, and the Irish’s loss to Northern Illinois continues to be a drag. If they handle a USC team that took Penn State to overtime, there’s reason to jump the Nittany Lions.

Indiana drops to No. 9 after its loss to Ohio State, thanks to those aforementioned SEC losses. But the Hoosiers also have a good amount of solid blowout wins, and their strength of schedule in ESPN’s metric jumped up to No. 51, higher than Oregon, Miami, SMU, Notre Dame or Boise State, for what it’s worth. SMU is up to No. 8 in my rankings. The Mustangs are rolling and have that quality loss to BYU. I still don’t understand why Miami is higher than SMU in the polls and CFP rankings.

Boise State moves up to No. 10 after escaping a bad Wyoming team, but the Broncos are teetering with some recent close calls. Still, the UNLV win and Week 2’s close Oregon loss keep them around here for now. But with a rematch against No. 24 UNLV now likely in the Mountain West championship game, that Group of 5 spot in the Playoff is far from wrapped up.

Also, Georgia and Tennessee had better not overlook Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt, respectively, this week.

11-25

Miami is up to No. 11, even if it took a surprising amount of time to pull away from Wake Forest. But along with Indiana, the biggest winner from the SEC losses could be the ACC, which now has a strong case to get two Playoff bids, presuming SMU and Miami win this week. I have Miami in my CFP field as an at-large team.

Alabama and Ole Miss fall to Nos. 12 and 14, respectively. I don’t think the Tide are out of the CFP mix yet, but they’ll need help. Arizona State moves up to No. 13 after the win against BYU to take the top spot in the Big 12, while BYU falls to No. 16. The Cougars still have wins against SMU and Kansas State, so they don’t fall too far.

Clemson moves up to No. 17, and I don’t understand why the Tigers are No. 12 in both polls. They don’t have any good wins, and they shouldn’t be behind two SEC teams that beat Georgia, since Georgia whipped Clemson. If Clemson beats South Carolina, then we can start a CFP at-large conversation, but the Tigers shouldn’t be near there right now, and it’s going to be hard to convince me a second ACC spot shouldn’t go to SMU or Miami. I’m very curious where the committee puts Clemson. Anything close to No. 12 opens the possibility the Tigers jump the loser of the potential SMU-Miami matchup.

Kansas State is up to No. 19, back ahead of No. 20 Colorado and still ahead of No. 21 Tulane because the Wildcats beat both. Iowa State is at No. 22 and has a path to the Big 12 Championship Game after all.

26-50

Army drops out of the top 25 to No. 27 after a 49-14 loss to Notre Dame. No. 28 Syracuse is quietly an impressive 8-3 in Fran Brown’s first season, including a win against UNLV. Florida climbs all the way up to No. 33 after beating Ole Miss, one week after the win against LSU. The Gators are the highest-ranked 6-5 team, with all five losses coming to top-25 teams.

Washington State tumbles to No. 43 after losing to Oregon State, which came after a loss to New Mexico. Oklahoma jumps up to No. 46 after beating Alabama, its first win since September. No. 47 Kansas is the best 5-6 team in the country. The Jayhawks are the first team in history to beat three consecutive top-25 teams while a sub-.500 team, the latest a dominant performance against Colorado. West Virginia beat UCF to get bowl-eligible and climb up to No. 50.

51-75

Boston College planted North Carolina and moves up to No. 52. James Madison drops to No. 55 after losing to Appalachian State in the snow, and the Tar Heels fall to No. 56.

Cal came back to beat Stanford, get bowl-eligible and move up to No. 54, still ahead of Auburn, which climbs after beating Texas A&M. Cal’s win against Auburn keeps the Golden Bears ahead.

Marshall jumps up to No. 65 after beating Coastal Carolina and remaining atop the Sun Belt East division. No. 73 Jacksonville State has won eight consecutive games after an 0-3 start and clinched a spot in the Conference USA Championship Game. Liberty’s win against Western Kentucky puts those two plus Sam Houston in the mix for the other CUSA spot.

76-100

Colorado State got bit, losing at Fresno State to significantly damage the Rams’ Mountain West championship hopes. They now need UNLV to lose to Nevada. Miami (Ohio), Ohio and Bowling Green are all 6-1 in MAC play heading into the final weekend, and all three move up after wins. No. 84 East Carolina is now 4-0 under interim head coach Blake Harrell, who is putting himself into the conversation to get the full-time job.

Oregon State moves up to No. 88 after beating Washington State but stays behind San Jose State due to the head-to-head result. Texas State tumbles to No. 91 after losing to Georgia State. Oklahoma State finally showed a pulse but lost 56-48 to Texas Tech to make it eight consecutive losses and an 0-8 record in Big 12 play.

101-134

No. 103 Florida State finally got a second win, against FCS Charleston Southern. No. 112 Charlotte beat FAU in a battle of interim coaches. No. 113 Central Michigan beat Western Michigan, and then coach Jim McElwain retired.

No. 134 Kent State missed its last best chance at a win in a 38-17 loss to No. 128 Akron. The Golden Flashes must win at Buffalo to avoid an 0-12 season.

The Athletic 134 series is part of a partnership with Allstate. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Photo:  James Gilbert / Getty Images)