The consensus two best teams in college football met on Saturday night, and the Indiana Hoosiers came out as the only 13-0 team in the sport, the Big Ten champs and the best bet to win the national championship in 2025.
Not bad for a program that had not won a championship of any kind since 1967 and, until earlier this season, was the losingest program in FBS history.
Now, as the 12-team College Football Playoff gets sorted, I don’t think anyone would find it odd if IU and Ohio State met again in the National Championship game. And if that happens, that would make it the third consecutive season where the national champ has come out of the Big Ten while the SEC will struggle to get Alabama into a field it used to own.
Here’s a look at my final top 25 rankings following Week 15 of college football:
25. Duke (8-5) Previously Ranked: NR
Week 15 result: Defeated Virginia, 27-20 in OT
The most unlikely conference champion this season showed up to play, even though it was almost certainly not going to get invited to the College Football Playoff with a win. Because the ACC’s tiebreaker system is squirrelly, the Blue Devils were awarded the opportunity to play against the Cavaliers.
Had the Blue Devils laid down, a UVA champion would ensure the ACC gets to keep its good name as a Power 4 conference. Now, with its champion likely on the outside looking at the 12-team CFP, there will be quite the soul-search for a conference that has seen its champion boxed out of the CFP twice since 2023.
24. Houston (9-3), Previously Ranked: 24
Week 15 result: Idle
23. Arizona (9-3), Previously Ranked: 22
Week 15 result: Idle
22. North Texas (11-2), Previously Ranked: 19
Week 15 result: Lost to Tulane, 34-21
UNT quarterback Drew Mestemaker could not get out of his own way. For the first time all season, the American Conference Offensive Player of the Year looked mortal.
Though he completed 21-of-34 passes for 294 yards with two touchdowns, it was the three interceptions that kept the Mean Green from winning a conference championship to cap off their best season in history.
21. Navy (9-2), Previously Ranked: 20
Week 15 result: Idle
20. Michigan (9-3), Previously Ranked: 18
Week 15 result: Idle
19. Virginia (10-3), Previously Ranked: 17
Week 15 result: Lost to Duke, 27-20 in OT
The assignment was simple: Win and you’re in. That’s all UVA needed to do, and yet it saw the chance to play in the CFP for the first time run right through the middle of its defense in overtime.
If UVA quarterback Chandler Morris could have one play back for his life, he might choose his last pass against Duke that ended the game on an interception. It’s a harsh way to go out.
18. James Madison (12-1), Previously Ranked: 23
Week 15 result: Defeated Troy, 31-14
The Dukes made a strong argument for inclusion into the College Football Playoff. They held Troy to -26 yards rushing, including just 4-of-18 on third down, and sacked Trojan quarterback Goose Crowder eight times.
JMU running back Wayne Knight rushed for 212 yards on 21 rushes, while the Dukes put up 318 yards on the ground at 7.6 yards per clip.
17. USC (9-3), Previously Ranked: 16
Week 15 result: Idle
16. Alabama (10-3), Previously Ranked: 13
Week 15 result: Lost to Georgia, 28-7
“We know that we’re the best offense in the country,” Crimson Tide QB Ty Simpson said after the loss. “When we don’t show it right, it’s frustrating, especially at times when we’re just a couple of things away.”
Not a couple. Just one, Ty.
In this time of reflection for Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer and his players, I should hope they ponder the absence of a rushing attack in a league where running the ball well alongside devastating defense is often the only way to win games like the SEC Championship and defeat teams with rankings next to their names.
In all three of their losses this season, Alabama failed to rush for 100 yards and managed a negative number (-3) against UGA.
15. Tulane (11-2), Previously Ranked: 21
Week 15 result: Defeated North Texas, 34-21
Jon Sumrall’s Green Wave are likely going to be one of the highest-ranked conference champions.
In a year when LSU fell from No. 3 in the country to firing its head coach in mid-October, Tulane will likely carry the Louisiana state banner into the College Football Playoff with Sumrall, who will depart after the postseason and try to lead the Florida Gators toward their first CFP berth.
14. Utah (10-2), Previously Ranked: 15
Week 15 result: Idle
13. Texas (9-3), Previously Ranked: 9
Week 15 result: Idle
12. BYU (11-2), Previously Ranked: 10
Week 15 result: Lost to Texas Tech, 34-7
BYU played its best football at the very start when the Cougars marched 90 yards downfield against Tech and became the first team all season to score six on its opening drive against the Red Raiders.
It’d be the last points they’d score at AT&T Stadium as BYU’s true freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier threw two interceptions, and the Cougars turned the ball over four times. Having now lost to the same team twice — a team that will make the CFP this season — I just don’t see room in the 12-team format for the Cougars.
11. Vanderbilt (10-2), Previously Ranked: 14
Week 15 result: Idle
10. Notre Dame (10-2), Previously Ranked: 12
Week 15 result: Idle
9. Miami (Fla.) (10-2), Previously Ranked: 11
Week 15 result: Idle
8. Oklahoma (10-2), Previously Ranked: 7
Week 15 result: Idle
7. Texas A&M (11-1), Previously Ranked: 6
Week 15 result: Idle
6. Ole Miss (11-1), Previously Ranked: 5
Week 15 result: Idle
5. Oregon (11-1), Previously Ranked: 4
Week 15 result: Idle
4. Texas Tech (12-1), Previously Ranked: 8
Week 15 result: Defeated BYU, 34-7
The Red Raiders have been so good, so dominant, that you’ll find more folks trying to talk themselves out of how good they are by talking about how bad they believe their competition is. Never mind the fact that they’ve won 12 games by 20 points or more — the most since 2018 Alabama, which made the national title game that year — or have more ranked wins than Indiana.
What they did on Saturday, though, was leave no doubt that they are one of the four best teams in the sport with their first outright conference title since 1955 and best season in school history.
3. Georgia (12-1), Previously Ranked: 3
Week 15 result: Defeated Alabama, 28-7
As I wrote to start this season, the SEC belongs to Kirby Smart and Georgia until someone takes it from them. The Dawgs not only repeated as SEC champions but also avenged their only loss this season with a decisive win against Alabama.
UGA held Alabama to -3 rushing yards — the least amount of rushing yardage Alabama has gained in a single game since 1968.
2. Ohio State (12-1), Previously Ranked: 1
Week 15 result: Lost to Indiana, 13-10
Sayin had been sacked six times through 12 games of undefeated football. Then on Saturday night, the Buckeyes’ Heisman candidate was sacked five times by the Indiana defense in a game where IU defensive coordinator Sayin looked like he was trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, upside-down, underwater, in space.
1. Indiana (13-0), Previously Ranked: 2
Week 15 result: Defeated Ohio State, 13-10
The Hoosiers took on the sport’s best and bullied them. IU became just the second team this season to rush for 100 yards against the Buckeyes while its defense sacked Ohio State QB Julian Sayin five times.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
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