Sometimes style points matter, and after Ohio State lit up the scoreboard in a 59-31 win against Purdue, it’s possible the Buckeyes will be up in the top four of the new AP Top 25 on Sunday. This after Ohio State started the week down two spots from where it stands in the College Football Playoff Rankings with the CFP Selection Committee favoring the Oregon ahead of the Buckeyes and both teams ahead of Cincinnati.
The Bearcats rank No. 2 in the AP Top 25, ahead of the Alabama team that the CFP has right behind Georgia, and we’re not projecting any shakeup among that top three after a weekend that saw each of the trio win handily. Jumping an Oregon team that has a head-to-head win in Columbus, Ohio, is going to be a challenge for voters, but the quality of performance against Purdue was noticeable enough to close the narrow gap in voting points from last week’s balloting (27).
One of the most noticeable adjustments within the top 10 is going to be the landing spot for Oklahoma, which suffered its first loss of the season at Baylor. The Sooners were No. 4 in the AP Top 25 despite being No. 8 in the CFP Rankings, but some of those same strength of schedule concerns that have been an issue for the CFP Rankings will become more pronounced now that the Sooners are no longer unbeaten. At least a half dozen one-loss teams have a better profile than the Sooners, and the head-to-head result against a surging Baylor team might end up titling the conversation further away from still considering Oklahoma as a top-10 team.
Voters are also going to face some interesting debates regarding four-loss teams and whether they are going to remain in the top 25, but for the most part, the results from Week 11 led to a reshuffling through the middle portion of…
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