Amway College Football Poll 2019: Top 25 Rankings After Championship Games
Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRT
Featured ColumnistDecember 8, 2019
Bowl season is upon us.
With the conference title games in the books, the college football world now turns to the postseason. And that means that the final Amway Coaches Poll of the regular season was released on Sunday. Below, we'll check out those rankings and the key games that altered them.
Rankings
1. LSU
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Oklahoma
5. Georgia
6. Oregon
7. Florida
8. Baylor
9. Alabama
10. Utah
11. Wisconsin
12. Penn State
13. Auburn
14. Notre Dame
15. Memphis
16. Minnesota
17. Michigan
18. Boise State
19. Iowa
20. Appalachian State
21. Navy
22. Cincinnati
23. USC
24. Air Force
25. Virginia
Analysis
There weren't too many surprise results from the conference title games this week, outside of perhaps Utah losing to Oregon, a game that kept them out of the College Football Playoff.
Utah came into the game with just one loss and the chance to potentially compete for a national championship. But it was the Ducks who prevailed on Friday, 37-15, ensuring that the Pac-12 wouldn't be represented in this year's playoff.
"Unfortunately we came up short tonight," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the loss, per the Associated Press. "Disappointing thing is we lost in the one area we've been undefeated this year: line of scrimmage. We didn't win the line of scrimmage for the first time all season, which is, like I say, disappointing. Surprising really."
Had Oregon not been upset by Arizona State a few weeks ago, 31-28, they would have made a very strong case as a playoff team this year. But with two losses themselves, the Ducks blew their shot.
LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma didn't, however, all winning their respective conference championships to finish as the top four teams in the rankings.
LSU handled a talented Georgia team with relative ease, winning 37-10, while Ohio State needed to overcome a 21-7 halftime deficit to eventually win 34-21. And Clemson cruised to a 62-17 win over Virginia.
Things got a bit more interesting for Oklahoma, which needed overtime to knock off Baylor, 30-23. The Bears forced the extra session despite needing to turn to third-string quarterback Jacob Zeno. All he did was complete two of his six passes for 159 yards and a touchdown. But he wasn't able to lead the Bears past the Sooners.
"We found a lot of ways to win football games," head coach Lincoln Riley said, per Ivan Maisel of ESPN. "We certainly did it today. The defense was fantastic, like they've been the majority of this season... I'm proud of this team. These are hard. You've got to appreciate them."
As for the other conference champions, Memphis claimed the AAC title with a 29-24 win over Cincinnati, Boise State won the Mountain West with a 31-10 win over Hawaii and Appalachian State won the Sun Belt with a 45-38 victory over Louisiana.
Up next? Bowl season. After another memorable year of college football, it promises to be a fun postseason.
Analysis
There weren't too many surprise results from the conference title games this week, outside of perhaps Utah losing to Oregon, a game that kept them out of the College Football Playoff.
Utah came into the game with just one loss and the chance to potentially compete for a national championship. But it was the Ducks who prevailed on Friday, 37-15, ensuring that the Pac-12 wouldn't be represented in this year's playoff.
"Unfortunately we came up short tonight," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the loss, per the Associated Press. "Disappointing thing is we lost in the one area we've been undefeated this year: line of scrimmage. We didn't win the line of scrimmage for the first time all season, which is, like I say, disappointing. Surprising really."
Had Oregon not been upset by Arizona State a few weeks ago, 31-28, they would have made a very strong case as a playoff team this year. But with two losses themselves, the Ducks blew their shot.
LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma didn't, however, all winning their respective conference championships to finish as the top four teams in the rankings.
LSU handled a talented Georgia team with relative ease, winning 37-10, while Ohio State needed to overcome a 21-7 halftime deficit to eventually win 34-21. And Clemson cruised to a 62-17 win over Virginia.
Things got a bit more interesting for Oklahoma, which needed overtime to knock off Baylor, 30-23. The Bears forced the extra session despite needing to turn to third-string quarterback Jacob Zeno. All he did was complete two of his six passes for 159 yards and a touchdown. But he wasn't able to lead the Bears past the Sooners.
"We found a lot of ways to win football games," head coach Lincoln Riley said, per Ivan Maisel of ESPN. "We certainly did it today. The defense was fantastic, like they've been the majority of this season... I'm proud of this team. These are hard. You've got to appreciate them."
As for the other conference champions, Memphis claimed the AAC title with a 29-24 win over Cincinnati, Boise State won the Mountain West with a 31-10 win over Hawaii and Appalachian State won the Sun Belt with a 45-38 victory over Louisiana.
Up next? Bowl season. After another memorable year of college football, it promises to be a fun postseason.