| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  | Alabama | Alabama proved on the field that they were the best team in 2012. That may hold true in 2013 too. | 3 |
| 2 |  | Ohio State | Long, long ago everybody stopped thinking about the bowl ineligible Buckeyes, but they finished 12-0. | 2 |
| 3 |  | Oregon | The Ducks ended the year with a nice BCS Bowl win over Kansas State and their lone loss was against Stanford. | 4 |
| 4 |  | Notre Dame | The luck of the Irish ran out during the BCS Championship game, but the program is most certainly back. | 1 |
| 5 |  | Stanford | The Cardinal won their last eight games of the season, including four straight wins over top 25 teams. | 7 |
| 6 |  | Georgia | Quarterback Aaron Murray is back to lead UGA to another SEC title game and more, so the Bulldogs hope. | 8 |
| 7 |  | Texas A&M | The Aggies have a lot to look forward to as Johnny Manziel looks to defend his Heisman Trophy. | 10 |
| 8 |  | South Carolina | With losses to just LSU and Florida, who were ranked #1 and #2 at the time, South Carolina had a very good season. | 12 |
| 9 |  | Florida | Florida laid an egg in the Sugar Bowl against Louisville, but this is a team that had higher hopes than the Sugar Bowl. | 5 |
| 10 |  | Kansas State | Even with the loss to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl, Kansas State may have been the story of the year. | 6 |
| 11 |  | Florida State | The Seminoles had higher hopes than a bowl win over NIU. The win over Clemson was easily the best of the year. | 13 |
| 12 |  | Clemson | Clemson finished up the season with a nice Chick-fil-A Bowl win over LSU and will battle it out with FSU again in '13. | 14 |
| 13 |  | Louisville | Louisville played extremely well in the Sugar Bowl win over Florida, but that was the only ranked team they played. | 17 |
| 14 |  | LSU | LSU ended the campaign with three losses. That may not happen again for quite some time. | 9 |
| 15 |  | Northwestern | Arguments could certainly be made for Nebraska, but the Wildcats had the second best season in the Big Ten. | 19 |
| 16 |  | Utah State | Utah State usually dominated in 2012. But this year may be most remembered for Coach Anderson going to UW. | 22 |
| 17 |  | Oklahoma | Oklahoma failed to get a signature win this season and the blowout loss to TAMU will damper 2013 expectations. | 11 |
| 18 |  | Boise State | With inexperience at quarterback, Boise State was not their usual self. But they still ended up 11-2 overall. | 23 |
| 19 |  | Northern Illinois | Inbetween an opening game loss to Iowa and an Orange Bowl loss to FSU, Northern Illinois reeled off 12 wins. | 15 |
| 20 |  | Texas | By Texas standards, the 2012 campaign is forgettable. However, a win over Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl was nice. | 25 |
| 21 |  | Oregon State | Oregon State sputtered down the stretch but, with a 9 -4 record, it was a fairly successful season. | 16 |
| 22 |  | San Jose State | SJSU, along with USU and La Tech, formed a trio of very good teams in a conference that most had given up on too soon. | NR |
| 23 |  | Nebraska | If we forgot about the last two games of the season, Nebraska had a great year. Instead, it was just a good year. | 18 |
| 24 |  | UCLA | UCLA may have lost their last three contests, but this was a great building year for the Bruins. | 20 |
| 25 |  | Michigan | The Wolverines nearly pulled off a big upset over South Carolina in the bowl game. None of the losses were bad. | 21 |
Final Football Top 25 Rankings
Sat, 01/12/2013
