Indiana moves up to No. 5 after improving to 10-0 with win over Michigan
Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart (2) throws a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Georgia, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in Oxford, Miss. (AP Photo/Randy J. Williams)
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IOWA CITY — College football’s small pool of remaining undefeated teams in 2024 got even smaller.
Miami (Fla.) suffered its first loss of the season, leaving Oregon, Indiana, BYU and Army as the final four FBS teams with unblemished records.
The Hurricanes still are the strong favorite to win the ACC, but their loss to unranked Georgia Tech was enough to bump them out of the top 10 of my ballot. As for the teams that remained undefeated, Oregon is No. 1, Indiana is No. 5 and BYU is No. 8 on my ballot.
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The one undefeated team outside of my top eight is Army at No. 18. The Black Knights’ only wins against teams with winning records were against East Carolina and North Texas — far from football juggernauts 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 margin of victory for 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 delivered reality checks for some teams in the latter half of the poll, including LSU, Iowa State, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt. I have been higher on South Carolina than many of my colleagues, but that still does not excuse how uncompetitive Vanderbilt looked against the Gamecocks.
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LSU fell from No. 14 to No. 20 after its blowout loss to Alabama. Iowa State, Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt fell off my ballot entirely. Missouri and Kansas State, both 7-2, rejoined my ballot, and Arizona State is on my ballot for the first time this season.
The decision between Arizona State and Iowa State for the No. 25 spot was close. Both teams have two losses, and their singular ranked wins have lost plenty of luster. But the Cyclones’ loss to Kansas — a team that was 2-6 until this weekend — ultimately was too much 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
Oregon
Ohio State
Texas
Tennessee
Indiana
Penn State
Notre Dame
BYU
Alabama
Ole Miss
Georgia
Miami (Fla.)
SMU
Boise State
Texas A&M
Clemson
Colorado
Army
Washington State
LSU
South Carolina
Louisville
Missouri
Kansas State
Arizona State
Also warranting consideration: Iowa State, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com
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Police in Northern Colorado are investigating after a crash involving multiple vehicles claimed the life of a pedestrian.
The Greeley Police Department received reports of a crash at the 5500 block of Highway 34 around 5:50 p.m. on Monday. When officers arrived, they discovered that two vehicles were involved in a crash with a 19-year-old woman who attempted to walk across the highway.
Police said there was no crosswalk in the area, and she was struck by the driver’s side of a Chevrolet Blazer. The impact knocked the woman into the inside lane, where she was struck by a Chevrolet Traverse. A witness told officers they saw the woman crossing the roadway ‘as traffic arrived at her location.’
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First responders attempted life-saving measures on the woman at the scene before she was taken to North Colorado Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. GPD said the Weld County Coroner’s Office will release her identity at a later time.
Neither driver involved was injured in the crash. Police said they don’t expect charges to be filed against those drivers at the moment, but the case remains under investigation. The police department asked anyone with information on the crash to contact Officer Ed Kubala at Edward.Kubala@greeleypd.com.
Colorado’s best ski deal? Maybe one that costs nothing at all. At Steamboat Springs’ Howelsen Hill, “Sunday Funday is taken to an entirely new level,” reads the city webpage for Ski Free Sundays. Yes, on Sundays throughout the season, visitors need only to walk into the ticket office to grab a pass at no charge. […]
While Colorado ranks near the middle of U.S. states for carbon emissions per capita, it still produces enough CO2 per person to rival countries on the World Bank’s list of top emitters internationally.
In 2023, Colorado produced 13.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per capita. If it had been ranked by the World Bank during the same year, Colorado would have placed 14th among the more than 200 countries on the list, just behind Canada, at 14.1, and just ahead of the U.S. as a whole, at 13.7.
Among U.S. states, Colorado ranked 26th in carbon emissions per capita. Wyoming had the highest per capita emissions in the country, at 92.9 metric tons, while Maryland had the lowest, at 7.8.
Most of Colorado’s emissions come from energy production and consumption, primarily natural gas and oil production and electric power production and consumption.
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The Colorado Sun partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
Sources
References:
Colorado State Energy Profile, U.S. Energy Information Administration, accessed in December 2025. Source link
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2023 Colorado Statewide Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, pg. 128, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, November 2024. Source link
Senate Bill 24-230 Oil and Gas Production Fees, Colorado General Assembly, accessed in December, 2025. Source link
Senate Bill 23-016 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Measures, Colorado General Assembly, accessed in December 2025. Source link
Carbon dioxide emissions, World Bank Group, 2024, accessed in December 2025. Source link
Energy-related CO2 emission data tables, U.S. Energy Information Administration, accessed in December 2025. Source link
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Type of Story: Fact-Check
Checks a specific statement or set of statements asserted as fact.
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Cassis Tingley is a Denver-based freelance journalist. She’s spent the last three years covering topics ranging from political organizing and death doulas in the Denver community to academic freedom and administrative accountability at the…
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