| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  | LSU | Everybody keeps talking about LSU going undefeated, but Arkansas is a great team who can shake things up. | 1 |
| 2 |  | Alabama | Alabama got to work on some things during the Georgia Southern game and they should be ready for Auburn. | 3 |
| 3 |  | Arkansas | Lose to Alabama in September and everybody stops talking about you, but look where Arkansas is now. | 6 |
| 4 |  | Stanford | Stanford won the Big Game last week and they're back in the BCS picture as quickly as they left. | 8 |
| 5 |  | Virginia Tech | Virginia Tech snuck past UNC on Thursday night and will wrap up the regular season with a trip to Virginia. | 10 |
| 6 |  | Houston | Houston keeps winning big, but Saturday's game against Tulsa is where the Cougars could easily slip. | 9 |
| 7 |  | Oklahoma State | OSU's loss to Iowa State put an end to their BCS National title hopes. They have a week off to prepare for OU. | 2 |
| 8 |  | Oregon | The Ducks fall to the rank of the two loss teams after falling at home to USC. A BCS bowl is not out of the question. | 4 |
| 9 |  | Oklahoma | Oklahoma's BCS title hopes are gone, probably, after losing to Baylor. They can stil win the Big 12 though. | 5 |
| 10 |  | Michigan State | Michigan State clinched a spot in the Big Ten Championship game, but first they travel to Northwestern. | 11 |
| 11 |  | Boise State | Boise State got back on track against San Diego State and should keep winning against Wyoming this week. | 12 |
| 12 |  | Wisconsin | Wisconsin had a hard fought win over Illinois and will need to do so again against Penn State this week. | 13 |
| 13 |  | Clemson | Clemson did not just lose to NC State, they lost bad. A trip to South Carolina could take away all their momentum. | 7 |
| 14 |  | South Carolina | South Carolina knocked off The Citadel last week and have a fun rivalry game against Clemson coming up. | 14 |
| 15 |  | Kansas State | Beating Texas on the road isn't what it used to be, but Kansas State keeps proving the doubters wrong. | 16 |
| 16 |  | USC | Every game is a bowl game for the bowless Trojans. They took Stanford to OT and beat Oregon. Poor UCLA. | 21 |
| 17 |  | Michigan | Michigan tore apart the Nebraska defense and shut down the Nebraska offense. They could do the same to OSU. | 19 |
| 18 |  | Georgia | It was not pretty, but UGA knocked off Kentucky. They'll go to Georgia Tech before the SEC Championship game. | 17 |
| 19 |  | Penn State | Penn State went on the road and got a nice win against Ohio State. The offense even looked decent. | 18 |
| 20 |  | TCU | TCU will at least share a the MWC title this year after beating Colorado State. After a week off, they host UNLV. | 20 |
| 21 |  | Baylor | If Baylor had any consistency they would be a very, very good team. But they can beat anybody on any Saturday. | 25 |
| 22 |  | Notre Dame | Winning ugly is still winning. The Irish knocked off BC last week, but will have to play better at Stanford. | 23 |
| 23 |  | Nebraska | Nebraska got blown away by Michigan on both sides of the ball. That has to change if they want to beat Iowa. | 15 |
| 24 |  | Georgia Tech | Georgia Tech had a tough time with Duke, but they won. Now they can try and slow down Georgia. | NR |
| 25 |  | West Virginia | West Virginia had a bye week, but they still moved up due to others losing. The Backyard Brawl is on Friday. | NR |
Week 12 Football Top 25
Sat, 11/19/2011
