If you had to describe the impossible nature of the 2024 college football season and the first 12-team College Football Playoff race, then do it like this.
With one week left in the regular season, Indiana and Arizona State are playing in the two most significant games of Week 13. The Hoosiers and Sun Devils each finished 3-9 last season. Impossible is nothing.
No. 5 Indiana takes on No. 2 Ohio State at Ohio Stadium on Saturday in a game that likely will decide who goes to the Big Ten championship game. The Hoosiers have been the breakthrough team in the Big Ten with a 10-0 record under first-year coach Curt Cignetti, and the chance to end a 28-game losing streak to the Buckeyes is there for the taking.
Then there is No. 17 Arizona State – which beat Kansas State 24-14 and can complicate the Big 12 race with a victory against No. 13 BYU, which lost 17-13 to Kansas. Second-year coach Kenny Dillingham has worked a minor miracle, and this is the biggest at Mountain America Stadium in recent memory. A victory leaves the possibility for a Colorado-Arizona State Big 12 championship game between schools that were in the Pac-12 in 2023.
Could the Hoosiers and Sun Devils both make the College Football Playoff? Nothing seems impossible at this point, and we haven’t even got to Rivalry Week yet.
Here is a closer look at The Sporting News top 25 rankings.
MORE: Updated ACC tiebreakers | Big 12 tiebreakers | SEC tiebreakers
Sporting News Top 25 rankings for Week 13
Here is a closer look at our latest top 25 ranking heading into Week 13:
| RANK | SCHOOL | RECORD | PVS. | WEEK 12 RESULT |
| 1 | Oregon | 11-0 | 1 | Beat Wisconsin 16-13 |
| 2 | Ohio State | 9-1 | 2 | Beat Northwestern 31-7 |
| 3 | Texas | 9-1 | 3 | Beat Arkansas 20-10 |
| 4 | Penn State | 9-1 | 4 | Beat Purdue 49-10 |
| 5 | Indiana | 10-0 | 6 | Bye |
| 6 | Notre Dame | 9-1 | 7 | Beat Virginia 35-14 |
| 7 | Alabama | 8-2 | 9 | Beat Mercer 52-7 |
| 8 | Ole Miss | 8-2 | 10 | Bye |
| 9 | Georgia | 8-2 | 11 | Beat Tennessee 31-17 |
| 10 | Miami, Fla. | 9-1 | 12 | Bye |
| 11 | Tennessee | 8-2 | 5 | Lost to Georgia 31-17 |
| 12 | Boise State | 9-1 | 14 | Beat San Jose State 42-21 |
| 13 | BYU | 9-1 | 8 | Lost to Kansas 17-13 |
| 14 | SMU | 9-1 | 13 | Beat Boston College 38-28 |
| 15 | Texas A&M | 8-2 | 15 | Beat New Mexico State 38-3 |
| 16 | Colorado | 8-2 | 18 | Beat Utah 49-24 |
| 17 | Arizona State | 8-2 | 25 | Beat Kansas State 24-14 |
| 18 | Clemson | 8-2 | 16 | Beat Pitt 24-20 |
| 19 | Army | 9-0 | 19 | Bye |
| 20 | Iowa State | 8-2 | 19 | Beat Cincinnati 34-17 |
| 21 | South Carolina | 7-3 | 21 | Beat Missouri 34-30 |
| 22 | Tulane | 9-2 | 24 | Beat Navy 35-0 |
| 23 | Kansas State | 7-3 | 17 | Lost to Arizona State 24-14 |
| 24 | Illinois | 7-3 | NR | Beat Michigan State 38-16 |
| 25 | Duke | 7-3 | NR | Bye |
