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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

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Except for Army against Navy this Saturday, the regular season of college football is over. The SEC will have a chance at their seventh title and a chance to own the top five the polls with a strong finish in their bowl games.

This is the last JFP Top 25 football poll until after the BCS National Championship Game on January 7.

Rank/ Team /Record /Previous Rank

1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 12-0 1

2 Alabama Crimson Tide 12-1 2

3 Florida Gators 11-1 4

4 Georgia Bulldogs 11-2 3

5 Stanford Cardinal 11-2 8

6 Oregon Ducks 11-1 4

7 Kansas State Wildcats 11-1 6

8 LSU Tigers 10-2 7

9 Texas A&M Aggies 10-2 9

10 South Carolina Gamecocks 10-2 10

11 Oklahoma Sooners 10-2 11

12 Florida State Seminoles 10-2 13

13 Clemson Tigers 10-2 14

14 Northern Illinois Huskies 12-1 16

15 Oregon State Beavers 9-3 19

16 Boise State Broncos 10-2 NR

17 Louisville Cardinal 10-2 20

18 UCLA Bruins 9-4 18

19 Nebraska Cornhuskers 10-3 12

20 Texas Longhorns 8-4 17

21 Michigan Wolverines 8-4 21

22 Utah State Aggies 11-2 24

23 San Jose State Spartans 10-2 NR

24 Northwestern Wildcats 9-3 NR

25 Kent State Golden Flashes 11-2 15

Dropped out: Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Ohio State Buckeyes

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.