Steppe's Week 12 AP Poll: Ole Miss, Colorado are among the teams making big jumps

Indiana moves up to No. 5 after improving to 10-0 with a win over Michigan

IOWA CITY – The small pool of undefeated teams in college football in 2024 has gotten even smaller.

Miami (Florida) suffered its first loss of the season, leaving Oregon, Indiana, BYU and Army as the final four FBS teams with unblemished records.

The Hurricanes are still the odds-on favorite to win the ACC, but their loss to unranked Georgia Tech was enough to knock them out of my top 10 picks. As for teams that went undefeated, Oregon is No. 1, Indiana is No. 5, and BYU is No. 8 on my ballot.

The only undefeated team outside of my top eight is Army at No. 18. The Black Knights' only wins against teams with winning records came against East Carolina and North Texas – a far cry from football giants with their 5-4 overall records in the American Athletic Conference .

Ole Miss had the biggest jump of any team on my ballot – from No. 16 to No. 10 – after its comfortable 28-10 win over then-No. 2 Georgia. It was the biggest win by any team against Kirby Smart's Bulldogs since the 2019 SEC title game.

Colorado moved up five spots on my ballot from No. 22 to No. 17. Deion Sanders' group had an impressive 41-27 win over Texas Tech, and the Buffaloes have better resumes than Army and Washington State at this point.

Week 11 provided a reality check for some teams in the second half of the poll, including LSU, Iowa State, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt. I ranked higher at South Carolina than many of my peers, but that still doesn't excuse how uncompetitive Vanderbilt looked against the Gamecocks.

LSU fell from No. 14 to No. 20 after its disastrous loss to Alabama. Iowa State, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt were completely omitted from my choice. Missouri and Kansas State, both 7-2, have joined my picks again, and Arizona State is on my list of picks for the first time this season.

The decision between Arizona State and Iowa State for 25th place was close. Both teams have suffered two defeats and their only ranking victories have lost much of their luster. But the Cyclones' loss to Kansas — a team that was 2-6 until this weekend — was ultimately too big of a red flag to overlook.

Here is my full ballot ahead of the poll's release on Sunday afternoon:

John Steppe's Week 12 AP Ballot

Also worth considering: Iowa State, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh

Comments: [email protected]

Sign up for our curated Iowa Hawkeyes athletics newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks.