The College Football week 13 rankings are a mess

 The College Football top 25 rankings for week 13 of the 2024 season have been revealed and there are a lot of problems. The rankings are listed below.

What's the deal with the SEC?

No surprise, the committee has once again allowed undeserving SEC teams to find homes in the back of the top 25 rankings with Missouri being the obvious standout. 

Missouri sits at 7-3 on the season and was placed at 23 in this weeks rankings despite losing to every ranked team on their schedule and failing to stomp on the lesser in-conference opponents.

Missouri sticking around in the polls serves one clear purpose and that is to bolster Alabama's otherwise ugly looking schedule.

Alabama's season has been suspect to say the least, with the first year under DeBoer a noticeable step back from the years of Saban.

Sure, Alabama did just enough to hold off an uninspired looking Georgia offense and scraped by a South Carolina team that is still putting together the pieces of having such a young team, but at what point during this season did Alabama start to look like the second best team in the SEC?

At this point in the season it is near impossible to honor all head-to-head match ups in the polls, but I fail to see the perspective of the committee members that continue to disrespect Tennessee by routinely dubbing them the worst of the five SEC schools in the top 12.

I have no issues with Texas being in the 3 slot, outside of my skepticism surrounding of their recent decline in performance. The Longhorns rightfully deserve a top five position all things considered, but I would not be shocked if Texas played into a dogfight during the Lone Star Showdown on Nov. 30.

Is Indiana fraudulent?

It's too soon to say for sure, but we will find out a lot about the Hoosiers this Saturday on Nov. 23.

Up to week 13 Indiana has ranked 106 in strength of schedule, and a lot of analysts and committee members have brought their schedule into question.

Indiana sits at 10-0 and travels to Columbus to take on The Ohio State Buckeyes this Saturday.

It's safe to say that this game will ultimately prove whether or not the Hoosiers are ready for playoff football, but is it fair to say IU has to win in order to make the playoffs?

If Indiana is able to play close with Ohio State that should be more than enough to justify putting IU in the playoffs. The logic behind keeping the Hoosiers in the race is clear and relates to one man; James Franklin

If Franklins Nittany Lions team can continuously lose every big game of the season while beating the unranked opponents and still be in the running for a top seed, why cant Indiana? Are any of Penn State's wins really that much more impressive than IU's?

Power 5 is dead

Whether you want to blame Texas and Oklahoma or Florida State being left out of the 2023 College Football Playoffs, it has become incredibly clear that the Big 10 and SEC are the only two conferences that demand respect now.

It could be argued that the ACC should still be looked at as a power conference, but its obvious that the ACC is living off borrowed time as their biggest brand, Clemson, continue to be unimpressive.

If not for the emergence of Miami, SMU may have come into the ACC and claimed hardware in their first year in the conference. 

The Hurricanes have become the kings of doing just barely enough to scrape by, and their efforts have earned them the eighth seed in the top 25 polls, but they have yet to play a single ranked opponent and likely will close out the season without a top 25 win. At this point after last weeks defeat against Georgia Tech it is no longer guarantee that Miami will even beat a pretty solid Syracuse team on Saturday, Nov. 30.

With the biggest brands departing from the Big 12, the conference is in shambles, with the championship game looking like it will feature two newcomers. 

Colorado and BYU have looked to be the top teams out of the Big 12 after the collapse of Iowa State's playoff hopes, but do either of these teams stand a chance in the playoffs?

Colorado by far has the best chance of any Big 12 team in the playoffs, but even still it would be hard to pick the Buffalos to beat anyone outside of the group of five representative and even then with how solid Boise State looks that might be a difficult one as well.

Texas. Texas. Texas.

Texas and Texas A&M are set to meet during rivalry week, and the outcome of this game will tell you a lot about where each team is at heading into the playoffs.

At times lately the Longhorns have not looked like the third best team in the country, but it'd be hard to strip them of their ranking as their dominance over their schedule outside of a few outliers speaks for itself. 

It would be ridiculous to set Texas back just because they didn't kill a tricky Vanderbilt team on the road or a bad Arkansas team, but that doesn't mean the Longhorns don't have some work to do going into The Lone Star Showdown.

As for Texas A&M, there is a lot on the line.

Sitting at 15, A&M needs a win to even be considered to make the College Football Playoffs.

The Aggies don't have any bad losses, only falling to two teams in the top 25, but also don't have a staple win over a good opponent.

They have the chance to change that and get a win over a third rank Texas team that has struggled down the stretch.

A win against Texas still may not guarantee the Aggies a playoff spot, but it would be hard to argue against A&M to make the playoffs if they knock off a top team as the fifteenth ranked team in the country.