AP Top 25 poll: Oregon in hunt, Texas climbs Week 12 college football rankings

The latest college football rankings reflect several top 10 changes on a big football weekend

By Brad Crawford

Nov 9, 2025 at 2:15 pm ET • 1 min read

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Oregon coach Dan Lanning was admittedly nervous before Atticus Sappington's game-winning field goal in the final seconds that lifted the Ducks to an 18-16 win at Iowa, a victory that kept his team inside the top 10 of the latest AP Top 25 after Week 12. It was a crisis averted for Oregon and several other top 10s during a weekend free of major upsets, which included Indiana's thrilling victory against Penn State after Fernando Mendoza led the Hoosiers on an 80-yard touchdown drive with no timeouts in the final moments.

"We do a lot of pressure kicks in practice and try to recreate it, but there's nothing like 70,000 fans in the last second of the game with what, seven seconds left trying to kick that kick," Lanning said. "You can't recreate that in practice. And Atticus handled that like a champ.

Indiana, one of three remaining unbeatens in college football, trailed by four points against the Nittany Lions after consecutive fourth-quarter touchdowns from Nick Singleton before Mendoza's go-ahead touchdown toss to Omar Cooper with 36 seconds left.

Winless in the Big Ten this season, Penn State began the year as the AP Top 25's No. 2 team before quickly spiraling during conference play.

"It was the most improbable victory I've been a part of and there couldn't have been a better place to make it happen," Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said, noting Indiana's first win in program history at Penn State.

The Hoosiers are one of five Big Ten teams ranked inside the AP's updated top 20, anchored by top-ranked Ohio State. The SEC leads all conferences with nine teams in the latest AP Top 25.

Last week's AP Top 25 mirrored the first College Football Playoff Rankings inside the top five, but there was considerable differences when it came to placing Oregon, BYU and Texas Tech. With no changes Sunday following wins from Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M, Alabama and Georgia, expect more of the same when the CFP Selection Committee's second set of rankings is unveiled later this week.