Garnet and Cocky’s College Football Top 25 Poll

Nov 17, 2012; Waco, TX, USA; Baylor Bears fans and the mascot celebrate on the field after the game against the Kansas State Wildcats at Floyd Casey Stadium. The Bears beat the Wildcats 52-24. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-US PRESSWIRE

Number one and number two went down Saturday night. How will that change Garnet and Cocky’s college football top 25 poll?

Well:

25. Vanderbilt This team hasn’t really beat anyone worth writing home about, but neither has Louisville, Rutgers or Michigan. With a win over Wake Forest to end the season, The Commodores will finish the year 8-4 and 5-3 in the SEC. In that conference, both of those marks are impressive enough to get you into my top 25. Unless you’re Mississippi State, a team that really, really, really hasn’t beat anyone worth thinking about writing home about.

24. Washington The Huskies, despite three straight losses in mid-October, have put together a solid season. With a win over Washington State to end the season, this team will finish 8-4 and 6-3 in the Pac 12. Not bad.

23. Oregon State Ol’ Beavy (not State’s mascot? Weird) destroyed Cal 62-14 Saturday. If they beat Oregon next week, a 10 win season will all but be assured, since their week one game against Nichols State was postponed until the last game of the season.

22. Rutgers The Scarlet Knights just keep finding ways… not only to win, but to make life as hard as possible on themselves. To their credit, they are undefeated in the Big East and control their destiny as far as a BCS Bowl appearance is concerned.

21. Louisville The crazy thing about this team’s season? If Rutgers doesn’t lose again (the two school’s play to end the season), the Cardinals cannot be Big East champs.

2o. Northern Illinois These guys are legit. By legit, I mean, a really, really good non BCS school. If they finish the year 11-1, they might be able to sneak into a bowl game against a major-conference school and show everyone what they’re made of.

19. Kent State Are the Golden Flashes really in my top 20? Yeah. Looks like it, huh? They beat Bowling Green 31-24 Saturday and finish the year off against (8-3) Ohio and (10-1) Northern Illinois.

18. Michigan The Maize and Blue need Nebraska to lose if they want a shot at the Rose Bowl, but even if that doesn’t happen, a win over Ohio State next week would probably dull the pain in Ann Arbor.

17. Nebraska The Cornhuskers, I think, have established themselves as “that team that, I guess, has to win the Big 10 now, right?” Honestly at 9-2 with a win over Michigan, they aren’t that bad of team. It’s not their fault their conference is a joke, right?

16. UCLA After an entire week of listening to talking heads say “UCLA needs to worry about beating the Trojans instead of their midfield logo being stabbed”, the Bruins got to have their cake and eat it too. Southern Cal’s drum major did not stab that UCLA logo, and the home team won by double-digits. Since I don’t have the Trojans in my top 25 this week, I’ll use this space to ask this question: Hey, Lane Kiffin, when’s the last time you won a meaningful game? Oh, never? That’s what I thought, but I had to make sure.

15. Texas After their 33-7 win over Iowa State a week ago, the Longhorns had a bye. They’ll finish up the year against TCU and Kansas State. Two wins (and a little help from some teams ahead of them) might be enough to push them into the BCS picture.

14. Clemson The Tigers destroyed NC State and everyone is drooling over the offensive numbers this team has put up. We’ll see whether their mouths have dried up after they face the Gamecocks defense next week or not.

13. FSU Florida State will cruise into its titanic matchup with Florida after a 41-14 whooping of the Maryland Terrapins. That battle will have a lot to say about South Carolina’s bowl prospects.

12. Oklahoma The Sooners BARELY beat West Virginia Saturday night. That 50-49 win keeps their slim BCS chances alive.

11. Kansas State The Wildcats are no longer in the running for a national title after losing to the un-ranked Baylor Bears. Colin Klein could still win a Hesiman, though, and this team could still win a BCS bowl game.

10. Texas A&M The Aggies beat Sam Houston State 47-28 Saturday. Not sure what else to say about that.

9. Oregon Poor ducky. Not only did Stanford derail Oregon’s title chances, but if the Cardinal beats UCLA to end the season, the Ducks won’t even be able to play in the Pac 12 championship game.

8. Stanford The Cardinal pulled off a wild upset at Oregon in overtime to take over the Pac 12 North and become the favorites for a Rose Bowl birth out of that conference.

7. South Carolina The Gamecocks had some trouble with Wofford before pulling away in the end 24-7. Next week’s game, like usual, will be Carolina’s super bowl, and if they win, it will be their fourth straight win over Clemson and result in their second straight 10 win season.

6. LSU They didn’t look good against Ole Miss in Death Valley, but they were good enough to get a six point win.

5. Florida The Gators only hung 23 points on Jacksonville State, but Georgia and South Carolina both had trouble with DII schools, too, before pulling away in the second half.

4. Ohio State Oh you Buckeyes. I guess if Ohio State does end up as the only undefeated team after all the bowl games are played, the entire team can get free “real national champs” tattoos.

3. Georgia Georgia has only beaten one team worth talking about, but they’re in the SEC and they have 10 wins with one week to go, so I guess that’s good enough to get them up here, right?

2. Alabama Wasn’t it, like, just a week ago all the haters were saying the SEC’s national title streak was finally over? Yeah, um… Alabama is the favorite to hold that crystal football again. Sorry.

1. Notre Dame The Irish deserve to sit this high in the polls. They’ve done everything expected of them. It’s not their fault the tough schedule they put together this year ended up being, well, not as tough as they thought it would be. Do they have a chance against Alabama in the national title game? Probably not, but Alabama has a loss and these guys don’t, so they’re number one.