Oklahoma State University LogoItsAesthus's Ballot for Week 12 of 2020-21

Submitted on Sunday, February 7, 2021 at 7:16PM EST
RankTeamReason
1 Baylor University Logo Baylor 17-0 | Baylor gained on #1 rival Gonzaga for a third straight week, doing so most emphatically with a win on the road over Texas.
2 Gonzaga University Logo Gonzaga 17-0 | It’s possible the Bulldogs’ reign at the top has come to an end, but they still managed to beat Pacific by 18 with a late run.
3 University of Michigan Logo Michigan 12-1 | The COVID pause helped Michigan rise to the top of the non-Baylor/Gonzaga rankings, but can they stay there as they return to play?
4 Florida State University Logo Florida State 10-3 | A blazing hot take? Perhaps, but FSU’s the best three-loss team out there, with wins over Indiana, UF, UNC, Louisville, and Clemson.
5 University of Missouri Logo Missouri 12-3 | Missouri hadn’t been playing to the level of fellow top-of-the-SEC competition for a while, but stunned Bama for a statement win.
6 Villanova University Logo Villanova 12-2 | The Wildcats had been walking on eggshells all year long, and St. John’s finally stunned them for a first conference loss.
7 University of Houston Logo Houston 15-2 | Houston was another high-profile victim on an upset-laden Wednesday, going down at ECU for their second AAC defeat.
8 Ohio State University Logo Ohio State 15-4 | The Buckeyes lead the four-loss teams, having won four straight including a road thriller against Big Ten rival Iowa.
9 University of Southern California Logo USC 15-3 | And you thought #4 FSU was the hot take! USC’s also got four straight, including a huge win against top conference rival UCLA.
10 Texas Tech University Logo Texas Tech 14-5 | The Red Raiders eked out a home win over OU and took care of business against K-State. Next up: a testing stretch of WVU and Baylor.
11 University of Virginia Logo Virginia 13-3 | Virginia had a fine bounce-back weak from a Commonwealth Cup loss, taking down mid-table foes in NC State and Pitt.
12 University of Oklahoma Logo Oklahoma 12-5 | Doing my best to set aside bias as an Oklahoma State fan here: losing at TTU and beating ISU close just ain’t pretty.
13 University of Alabama Logo Alabama 15-5 | Alabama’s dominant SEC run came to an end on Saturday with a Mizzou loss, but they’re still three games ahead of the pack.
14 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Logo Virginia Tech 14-4 | Virginia Tech following up a huge win over Virginia with a loss to Pitt and near-loss to Miami pretty much sums up the ACC.
15 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Logo Illinois 13-5 | I’ve been an Illinois skeptic all year, but they’ve finally hit their stride with wins vs Iowa, Indiana, and Wisconsin all in a row.
16 University of Tennessee Logo Tennessee 13-4 | That was...not a good week for Tennessee to follow their big KU win. A loss at Ole Miss and tough win over UK drop them quite a bit.
17 University of Texas at Austin Logo Texas 11-5 | Texas finally came back to earth, returning to the half (!) of the Big 12 on five losses by dropping games vs Baylor and at Okla St.
18 West Virginia University Logo West Virginia 13-5 | Beating ISU by four was pretty ugly, but WVU recovered from that struggle by taking down a spiralling Kansas with little trouble.
19 University of Louisville Logo Louisville 11-4 | Strange as it may seem, Louisville technically did play this week (a 74-58 win over GT). Next up: Pitt and a huge showdown with VT.
20 University of Iowa Logo Iowa 13-6 | While still a competitor in the Big Ten, the Hawkeyes are straying dangerously close to a profile highlighted only by quality losses.
21 University of California, Los Angeles Logo UCLA 13-4 | So...#UnrankAllBluebloods is fun and all, but even with a USC loss, the Bruins have a decent resume and no truly bad losses.
22 Oklahoma State University Logo Oklahoma State 12-5 | Before the Arkansas-TCU-Texas stretch, I said I’d feel good about the Cowboys if they won two of three. Well...they did, I suppose.
23 Xavier University Logo Xavier 11-2 | Xavier’s rise into the top 25 is all about other teams falling—that, and the 22-point OU win having aged pretty well.
24 Rutgers University Logo Rutgers 11-6 | Rutgers has overcome an early five-game losing streak in Big Ten play to take four in a row, including Thursday’s win over Minnesota.
25 Colorado State University Logo Colorado State 14-4 | CSU is a bit of a wild card, but they’re 4-1 in their last five and swept Wyoming on the road this week to close on the MW lead.