AP top 25 poll: Three most underrated teams in Week 12

At this point in the season, the AP top 25 poll is pretty tight. The sample size of results is large, all the top teams have had their opportunities vs. ranked opponents, and the results are what they are, so there's less subjectivity in ordering the rankings.

Of course, the College Football Playoff rankings that are released each Tuesday are a whole other matter and can be addressed once they're updated.

But there are always a few points of contention to find if you scrutinize closely enough, which is what we're here to do.

Here are the three college football teams that could have a justifiable qualm with their ranking entering Week 12.

No. 23 Pittsburgh Panthers

Pittsburgh jumps into the rankings for the first time this season at No. 23 despite having a bye last week.

But before that, Pitt had reeled off five straight wins while remaining unbeaten since turning the offense over to true freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel. He's averaging 302.2 passing yards per game in his five starts, and only one of those games (a 34-31 win at Florida State) has been closer than 15 points.

The Panthers will have every opportunity to vault up the rankings if they can continue winning, as they close the season against No. 10 Notre Dame, at No. 17 Georgia Tech, and against No. 18 Miami.

But in the meantime, we can say that they should have been ranked even higher in the poll this week. Not all two-loss teams are the same -- the Panthers have been transformed with Heintschel and have as much momentum as any team in the back half of the top 25.

To be specific, Pitt should be ranked three spots higher, ahead of

No. 22 Cincinnati (7-2): Yes, we've had the Bearcats on the underrated list at points this season, but they fell so flat in their biggest game -- the 45-14 loss at Utah two weekends ago -- that it's hard to overlook.

No. 21 Tennessee (6-3): Don't get us started here. Again, the Vols have lost their only three games against ranked opponents, they played as light a non-conference schedule as possible, needed overtime to win at Mississippi State, narrowly held off Arkansas at home (34-31), and their only convincing Power Four wins are over Syracuse and Kentucky (combined 7-12 record).

Tennessee remains the only three-loss team in the top 25 for no justifiable reason other than it had high preseason expectations and took Georgia to overtime in September.

No. 20 Virginia (8-2): Honestly, the Cavaliers should have been bounced from the rankings with their 16-9 loss to Wake Forest. Their entire resume is built upon the back-to-back coin-flip overtime wins over Florida State (when people still thought the Seminoles were good) and Louisville.

Since then, Virginia barely held off Washington State at home (22-20), needed overtime to win at North Carolina (17-16), held a three-point lead late against Cal before a pick-six widened the final margin, and then lost to Wake Forest at home.

The most underrated college football teams in the Week 12 AP top 25 poll — Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton looks to pass against BYU during a Big 12 Conference football game, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, at Jones AT&T Stadium. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

No. 8 Texas Tech

OK, we're not saying Texas Tech is egregiously under-ranked at No. 8 -- there's no case for them to be above any of the top 6 teams -- but they probably deserve to flip spots with No. 7 Oregon.

With a 29-7 domination of previously-unbeaten, then-No. 7 BYU on Saturday, the 9-1 Red Raiders have now won all nine of their victories by margins of 22 points or more. That's incredible.

Additionally, it must be reiterated that their only loss resulted from starting quarterback Behren Morton missing the game due to injury, and despite this, the Red Raiders remained highly competitive in a 26-22 loss on the road at Arizona State.

Oregon is also very, very good -- no denying it -- but the Ducks' overtime win at Penn State carries a lot less meaning now, they lost their biggest game 30-20 at home to Indiana, and they needed a game-winning touchdown drive to beat Iowa 18-16 on Saturday.

That was a great win, on the road in a tough place to play -- again, all respect to Oregon. But Texas Tech is only ranked behind the Ducks because one team plays in the Big 12 and the other in the Big Ten.

Most underrated college football teams in the Week 12 AP top 25 poll. — South Florida Bulls quarterback Byrum Brown (17) celebrates with teammates after he scored a touchdown against the UTSA Roadrunners during the first half at Raymond James Stadium. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

No. 25 South Florida

This is a situation where one spot in the rankings truly matters -- but only if the CFP rankings on Tuesday reflect the same order.

Ultimately, the Group of Five conference champion with the highest CFP ranking will get a spot in the 12-team playoff field. Until the Week 12 CFP rankings are unveiled on Tuesday, we can only react to the AP top 25 poll.

And in this case, South Florida (7-2) is getting significantly slighted by being slotted behind No. 20 James Madison (8-1).

This is purely a case of voters not following these teams all season and looking purely at the records.

South Florida's two losses came on the road at Miami when the Hurricanes were a top-5 team and on the road at Memphis (34-31), which then moved into the rankings at 8-1 after that win (only to lose to Tulane over the weekend and fall back out).

The Bulls also have some notable wins over then-No. 25 Boise State in Week 1 and then-No. 13 Florida on the road in Week 2. Sure, those don't look quite as notable now, but any road win over an SEC team is significant for an AAC program.

Meanwhile, James Madison's only win over an opponent that currently has a winning record was over Old Dominion (albeit by a commanding 63-27 margin).

We'll see if the CFP committee rights this wrong on Tuesday and looks beyond the win-loss record for these two teams.