College Football Rankings for Week 12: Brett McMurphy’s AP Top 25 Poll Ballot vs. Action Network’s Betting Power Ratings

College Football Rankings for Week 12: Brett McMurphy’s AP Top 25 Poll Ballot vs. Action Network’s Betting Power Ratings article feature image
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Gaelen Morse/Getty Images. Pictured: Thayer Munford.

Georgia and Alabama remain atop my Associated Press Top 25 ballot, but I moved Oregon and Ohio State ahead of Cincinnati.

The Bearcats are one of only three unbeaten teams, along with Georgia and UTSA. However, Cincinnati (10-0) has only two wins against teams with a winning record, and five of its victories are against teams with three wins or fewer.

Rounding out my Top 10 is Notre Dame, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Michigan and Ole Miss.

Four teams are new to my ballot this week — Utah, Pitt, San Diego State and Louisiana.

Here's my updated AP Poll ballot compared with Collin Wilson’s current power ratings entering Week 12 of the college football season.

Updated 2021 College Football Betting Power Ratings

Brett McMurphy's AP Top 25 Ballot Entering Week 12

AP denotes Brett McMurphy's Associated Press Top 25 ballot.
PR denotes Collin Wilson's College Football Betting Power Ratings.


1

AP

Georgia

1

PR

2

AP

Alabama

2

PR

3

AP

Oregon

6

PR

4

AP

Ohio State

3

PR

5

AP

Cincinnati

16

PR

6

AP

Notre Dame

10

PR

7

AP

Michigan State

19

PR

8

AP

Oklahoma State

11

PR

9

AP

Michigan

4

PR

10

AP

Ole Miss

12

PR

Collin and I agree on Georgia and Alabama at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Collin has Ohio State at No. 3, while I have the Buckeyes at No. 4 behind Oregon because of the Ducks’ victory in Columbus, Ohio.

Collin has Michigan rated at No. 4, while I have the Wolverines back at No. 9 — behind Michigan State, which beat UM earlier this month.

While I dropped Cincinnati one spot to No. 5, Collin’s ratings are less impressed with UC, putting the Bearcats back at No. 16.

The other major difference among my Top 10 teams is Michigan State. I ranked the Spartans No. 7, but Collin rates MSU at No. 19.


11

AP

Wake Forest

23

PR

12

AP

Baylor

21

PR

13

AP

Oklahoma

8

PR

14

AP

BYU

47

PR

15

AP

Arkansas

20

PR

16

AP

Texas A&M

5

PR

17

AP

Houston

41

PR

18

AP

UTSA

61

PR

19

AP

Iowa

30

PR

20

AP

Wisconsin

7

PR

While my top 10 teams were somewhat similar to Collin’s power ratings, the teams I ranked from Nos. 11-20 are nowhere in the ballpark to Collin’s ratings.

The biggest differences in my rankings were No. 14 BYU (Collin ranked the Cougars No. 47), No. 17 Houston (Collin ranked the Cougars No. 41) and No. 18 UTSA (Collin ranked the Roadrunners No. 61).

Collin also had three teams among his top 10 — Texas A&M, Wisconsin and Oklahoma — that I ranked between 13 and 20.


21

AP

Kentucky

36

PR

22

AP

Utah

9

PR

23

AP

Pitt

14

PR

24

AP

San Diego State

67

PR

25

AP

Louisiana

58

PR

The final five teams on my Top 25 ballot include four teams I didn’t rank last week: No. 22 Utah, No. 23 Pitt, No. 24 San Diego State and No. 25 Louisiana.

The biggest discrepancy between my ballot and Collin’s ratings are San Diego State (Collin’s No. 67) and Louisiana (Collin’s No. 58).

Collin also has seven teams in his top 25 power ratings that I did not rank on my Top 25 ballot: No. 13 Iowa State, No. 15 Auburn, No. 17 Arizona State, No. 18 Penn State, No. 22 NC State, No. 24 North Carolina and No. 25 Mississippi State.


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About the Author
Brett is "America's College Football Insider" for The Action Network. Brett was nominated twice for a Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting, but wasn’t a nominee finalist. A long-time voter in the AP Top 25 poll and for the Heisman Trophy, Brett was named the 2019 Beat Writer of the Year by the Football Writers Association of America. Before joining The Action Network, Brett’s previous stops included ESPN, CBS Sports, the New York Times, Stadium, AOL Fanhouse and the Tampa Tribune.

Follow Brett McMurphy @Brett_McMurphy on Twitter/X.

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