The Clemson University Tigers have finished just outside of the Associated Press Top 10.
Clemson (11-2) finished at No. 11 in the final AP poll. That's 11 spots better than the teams final ranking in 2011.
The Tigers moved up three spots after beating No. 14 LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
After stomping Notre Dame 42-14 in Monday night's championship game, Alabama finished at No. 1.
The
Crimson Tide (13-1) was voted national champion by The Associated
Press for the ninth time, more than any other program in college
football.
Notre Dame, No. 1 coming into the BCS championship, dropped to No. 4.
The
Tide entered the title game with as many AP titles as the Fighting
Irish, and emphatically broke the tie for first. It's Alabama's second
straight title and third in four years. The only other team to win
three AP titles in four seasons was Notre Dame from 1946-49.
The
Tide received all 59 of the first-place votes in the final media poll
of the season, and will be a candidate to start next season No. 1. This
season Alabama started second, was ranked No. 1 for 10 weeks before
losing to Texas A&M in November and falling to fourth. The Tide
quickly moved back to No. 2 and for the second straight season beat No. 1
in the BCS title game to finish on top.
Oregon (12-1) finished
second, matching its best final ranking from 2001. Ohio State (12-0),
the only undefeated team in major college football but banned from the
postseason because of NCAA sanctions, was third. Georgia and Texas
A&M tied for fifth to cap another banner season for the
Southeastern Conference.
Alabama is the seventh straight SEC team
to finish No. 1 and the toughest conference in college football also
became the first league to have five of top 10 teams in the final
rankings.
Florida was ninth.
Texas A&M, in its first season in the SEC, finished with its best final AP rankings since 1956.
The
SEC also matched a record with seven teams in the final Top 25. LSU
was 14th and Vanderbilt was 23rd. The SEC and Big Ten both finished
with seven teams in the final rankings of the 1999 season.
Stanford was 7th, South Carolina was 8th and Florida State was 10th.
Kansas State was 12th followed by Louisville.
After
LSU, was Oklahoma at No. 15. Utah State is the highest ranked team
from a conference without a BCS automatic qualifying bid. The Aggies
won the Western Athletic Conference in its last season as a football
league.
Northwestern was 17th, Boise State was No. 18, Texas was 19th and Oregon State 20th.
The
final five were San Jose State, another WAC team, Northern Illinois
from the Mid-American Conference, Vandy, Michigan and Nebraska.
Copyright 2013 WIS. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
