Steppe’s Week 12 AP ballot: Ole Miss, Colorado among teams to make big jumps

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

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.

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.

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

Also warranting consideration: Iowa State, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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