At the end of a college football season, nearly every national title contender can look back at those one or two weeks that made or broke their campaign. If a team finishes with 10-12 regular-season wins, there is a very good chance that at some point, usually in conference play, those national title hopes were hanging in the balance. Champions find ways to win those games, and if a team is not as lucky, those losses will haunt fans for decades.

Ohio State and Clemson needed overtime to remain undefeated Saturday and Louisville was probably much closer to defeat than many realize thanks to a roughing the kicker penalty on Duke that set up the Cardinals' final touchdown. Nebraska did a good job to get out ahead of Indiana but still had to sweat out a one-score victory on the road to remain unbeaten.

We've reached that point of the season where the fire of conference play will begin to burn those on the edge of the playoff race. The CBS Sports 128 does a great job of painting the full college football landscape, but it also shows the current stock of these playoff hopefuls at the season's midpoint.

College football experts from CBS Sports -- and for the first time this year, partner 247Sports -- contribute ballots each week, which are averaged together for our rankings. You can see the top-25 below, and 26-128 on our rankings page.

RANK TEAM RECORD PREVIOUS 1 Alabama 7-0 1 2 Ohio State 6-0 2 3 Michigan 6-0 5 4 Clemson 7-0 3 5 Washington 6-0 4 6 Louisville 5-1 6 7 Texas A&M 6-0 7 8 Nebraska 6-0 T11 9 Baylor 6-0 T11 10 Wisconsin 4-2 9 11 Houston 6-1 10 12 West Virginia 5-0 20 13 Boise State 6-0 13 14 Oklahoma 4-2 17 15 Florida State 5-2 18 16 Western Michigan 7-0 19 17 Florida 5-1 21 18 Tennessee 5-2 12 19 Arkansas 5-2 24 20 Auburn 4-2 23 21 Colorado 5-2 29 22 North Carolina 5-2 26 23 Utah 6-1 22 24 Miami 4-2 14 25 Ole Miss 3-3 15

Just outside the top 25, Southern California moved up six spots from No. 33 to No. 27, and LSU continued its slow creep back up the polls after a second straight high-scoring victory under interim coach Ed Orgeron. Washington State, up six spots to No. 29, is another team to keep an eye on in the coming weeks. Given the Cougars have started Pac-12 play, it's possible they could have as much on the line in Apple Cup as Washington.

Biggest movers

West Virginia (+8): No one in our expert picks had West Virginia dominating Texas Tech, so this could be a course correction on the part of those voters. The Mountaineers still have the toughest parts of the schedule left to play, but the body of work is worthy of a top-15 ranking.

No one in our expert picks had West Virginia dominating Texas Tech, so this could be a course correction on the part of those voters. The Mountaineers still have the toughest parts of the schedule left to play, but the body of work is worthy of a top-15 ranking. Colorado (+8) : A slight downgrade following the loss to USC was immediately eliminated by a very impressive win against Arizona State.

: A slight downgrade following the loss to USC was immediately eliminated by a very impressive win against Arizona State. Ole Miss (-10) : The Rebels are wildly talented, and I was among those figuring it would be enough to sustain a winning streak after two early-season losses to good teams. Arkansas exposed the narrow margin between 10 wins and eight wins in the SEC West, and the Rebels' slide has now started.

: The Rebels are wildly talented, and I was among those figuring it would be enough to sustain a winning streak after two early-season losses to good teams. Arkansas exposed the narrow margin between 10 wins and eight wins in the SEC West, and the Rebels' slide has now started. Miami (-10) : The Hurricanes are hurting at a lot of key positions and got outmanned at home by North Carolina. Tough time for Mark Richt to be dealing with injuries with Virginia Tech is coming up on Thursday.

: The Hurricanes are hurting at a lot of key positions and got outmanned at home by North Carolina. Tough time for Mark Richt to be dealing with injuries with Virginia Tech is coming up on Thursday. Virginia Tech (-12): ... but that Hokies team also just fell from No. 16 to No. 28 after losing at Syracuse. The ACC Coastal is a mess.

Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 128: Teams ranked 26-128