College football top 25 rankings for Week 12: Will Indiana, Notre Dame hold off two-loss SEC teams?

If you thought the campaign season was over, just wait until Tuesday. 

Indiana is the swing state in the College Football Playoff race. In our Sporting News Top 25 for Week 12, we have Indiana at No. 6 and Notre Dame at No. 7. 

The Hoosiers are 10-0 for the first time in school history after a 20-15 victory against Michigan. Curt Cignetti continues to craft a magical season in Bloomington, Ind., and Indiana has a bye week to prepare for a showdown at No. 2 Ohio State that will likely determine who goes to Indianapolis on Dec. 7 for the Big Ten championship game. 

Notre Dame improved to 8-1 with a 52-3 demolition of Florida State. The Irish don’t have to play in a conference championship, and three more wins likely would clinch a playoff berth despite the 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2.  

Both teams were in the top 10 last week. So, who is not going to like it? No. 8 Alabama, No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 10 Georgia. They are part of the SEC pile-up of two-loss teams behind the Hoosiers and Irish. No. 2 Texas and No. 5 Tennessee are also in the top 10, so is it SEC propaganda to say those schools have had a much tougher road to this point? 

Indiana doesn’t have a victory against a ranked team, so maybe it does. The Irish did beat No. 15 Texas A&M – another two-loss SEC team – so maybe it doesn’t. Either way, expect the SEC to take aim at the Hoosiers and Irish over the next few weeks.

MORE: College Football Playoff projection after Week 11

Here is a closer look at The Sporting News top 25 rankings:

Sporting News Top 25 rankings for Week 12

Here is a closer look at our latest top 25 ranking heading into Week 12: