With the final week of the 2023 college football regular season headlining over Thanksgiving weekend, the very top of the rankings have mostly settled into place. The teams that have proven to be the very best in the country have mostly continued to show that on the field, leaving very little room for shake ups in the wake of Week 12 results.
There is, however, some jockeying among those teams at the very top, even after wins, as splitting hairs and deciding tiebreakers on individual ballots sometimes hinges on the smallest detail. But in the case of Washington, Saturday's win at Oregon State on the road in Corvallis categorizes as much more than a small detail on the rankings profile. It's arguably the second-best win of Washington's season, and adds to a growing number of wins against highly ranked teams the CBS Sports 133, our comprehensive ranking of every FBS team.
So while Florida State has held an edge on the Huskies in recent weeks, Washington's win on Saturday has led to enough changes on voter ballots to produce a swap at the No. 4 spot. It's one of only two changes to the rankings in the top 10, with the teams at Nos. 1-3 and 6-9 all remaining in place. The other change is Missouri moving one spot up into the top 10 after Oregon State's loss. The Beavers, meanwhile, dropped five spots to No. 15 after the home loss to Washington.
There's some shuffling further down in the rankings as result of multiple top-30 teams taking losses. No. 24 James Madison, No. 27 North Carolina and No. 29 Utah are all eight spots lower after Week 12 defeats. That allowed for small bumps up for teams like No. 16 Arizona, No. 19 Iowa and No. 25 NC State, but the most dramatic upward movement this week comes from Group of Five teams who secured big wins over the weekend. For more on the notable week-to-week adjustments in the rankings, check out the Mover's Report below the top 25 table.
College football experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports contribute ballots each week, which are averaged together for our rankings. You can see the top 25 below and 26-133 on our rankings page.
| Rank | Team | Record | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | 11-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Michigan | 11-0 | 2 |
| 3 | Ohio State | 11-0 | 3 |
| 4 | Washington | 11-0 | 5 |
| 5 | Florida State | 11-0 | 4 |
| 6 | Oregon | 10-1 | 6 |
| 7 | Texas | 10-1 | 7 |
| 8 | Alabama | 10-1 | 8 |
| 9 | Louisville | 10-1 | 9 |
| 10 | Missouri | 9-2 | 11 |
| 11 | Oklahoma | 9-2 | 13 |
| 12 | Penn State | 9-2 | 12 |
| 13 | Ole Miss | 9-2 | 14 |
| 14 | LSU | 8-3 | 15 |
| 15 | Oregon State | 8-3 | 10 |
| 16 | Arizona | 8-3 | 18 |
| 17 | Notre Dame | 8-3 | 17 |
| 18 | Tulane | 10-1 | 20 |
| 19 | Iowa | 9-2 | 24 |
| 20 | Kansas State | 8-3 | 23 |
| 21 | Liberty | 11-0 | 22 |
| 22 | Oklahoma State | 8-3 | 26 |
| 23 | SMU | 9-2 | 28 |
| 24 | James Madison | 10-1 | 16 |
| 25 | NC State | 8-3 | 31 |
Biggest movers
- No. 48 New Mexico State (+19): Jerry Kill has done marvelous work with the Aggies, and the fact that this group has landed in Conference USA and immediately jumped to the top of the league might have gotten our voter's attention on its own. But the biggest factor in this move is the Aggies going into Jordan-Hare Stadium and handing Auburn its first nonconference home loss against an unranked opponent since 2007. NMSU is 9-3, riding a seven-game winning streak and has already clinched a spot in the C-USA Championship Game -- which will be a rematch with Liberty on Friday, Dec. 1.
- No. 56 App State (+18): An overtime win in Harrisonburg, Virginia, against previously undefeated James Madison is going to spark a second look from voters at the App State profile. What you'll find is the Mountaineers were hurt in the rankings by early struggles that mostly had close margins. The switch has flipped in terms of results, and now after four straight wins the Mountaineers are 7-4 and could clinch the Sun Belt East with a win and a Coastal Carolina loss in Week 13.
- No. 41 UTSA (+14): Early injury issues and a couple unexpected losses in nonconference play had UTSA off the radar early in the year, but Jeff Traylor has done a tremendous job getting the Road Runners ready to continue their conference dominance in a new league. UTSA is one of three teams with a 7-0 conference record in AAC play heading into Week 13, and will square off with Tulane on Saturday looking to clinch a spot in the conference title game.
- No. 32 UNLV (+9): A win at Air Force has the Runnin' Rebels alone in first place in the Mountain West standings with a 9-2 record that demands attention from the voters. Much of the early season was filled with wins against lower-ranked teams, but recent victories against Wyoming and Air Force have validated the impressive win total.
- No. 55 Auburn (-9): There was bound to be an adjustment for losing at home to New Mexico State, which now marks two seasons in a row that Hugh Freeze has lost outright to Jerry Kill's Aggies as a heavy favorite. The Tigers are 6-5 heading to the Iron Bowl, where Freeze will try to get the group off the mat to play spoiler for the Crimson Tide.
- No. 45 Kentucky (-9): A 5-0 start that was capped by a win over Florida had the Wildcats ranked highly in the CBS Sports 133, but the late-season losses have produced a slow decline that's been accelerated by Saturday's loss to South Carolina. Kentucky has lost five of its last six games with the lone win coming over Mississippi State.
- No. 63 Boston College (-11): Another team that's had a couple of rides up and down the CBS Sports 133 this year, Boston College takes a hit in the rankings after a loss to Pitt that, unfortunately for the Eagles, came on a national Thursday night stage. Boston College was down bad early after a 1-3 start, then started to climb the rankings with five wins in a row only to see much of that work reversed by two straight losses in the last two weeks.
Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 133: Teams ranked 26-133
