College Football Playoff 2014: Official Selection Committee Rankings for Week 10

As the release of the inaugural College Football Playoff poll was drawing near, speculation about the sport's hierarchy reached a fever pitch. How closely would the 12-person committee's Top 25 resemble the standard-bearing Associated Press and Amway coaches polls? Would there be a state of inertia that seemingly renders the whole thing moot, or would the new voters radicalize the tried and true beyond our comfort?

Tuesday night, the committee unveiled a happy medium.   

As expected, Mississippi State retains across-the-board control of its destiny by earning the top spot in the poll released during an ESPN special. Dan Mullen's Bulldogs are followed by Florida State, the only other remaining power-five unbeaten. The next pair of teams after the locks at the top are No. 3 Auburn and No. 4 Ole Miss, an interesting deviation from the other polls.

Rank	Team	AP Poll	B/R Top 25	Coaches Poll
1	Mississippi State	Mississippi State	Mississippi State	Mississippi State
2	Florida State	Florida State	Florida State	Florida State
3	Auburn	Alabama	Alabama	Alabama
4	Ole Miss	Auburn	Notre Dame	Auburn
5	Oregon	Oregon	Auburn	Michigan State
6	Alabama	Notre Dame	Oregon	Oregon
7	TCU	Ole Miss	Michigan State	Notre Dame
8	Michigan State	Michigan State	Ole Miss	Georgia
9	Kansas State	Georgia	Georgia	Ole Miss
10	Notre Dame	TCU	TCU	TCU
11	Georgia	Kansas State	Kansas State	Kansas State
12	Arizona	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor
13	Baylor	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State
14	Arizona State	Arizona	Arizona State	Arizona State
15	Nebraska	Arizona State	Arizona	Arizona
16	Ohio State	LSU	Nebraska	Nebraska
17	Utah	Nebraska	LSU	LSU
18	Oklahoma	Utah	Utah	Utah
19	LSU	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	East Carolina
20	West Virginia	West Virginia	East Carolina	Oklahoma
21	Clemson	East Carolina	West Virginia	Clemson
22	UCLA	Clemson	Clemson	West Virginia
23	East Carolina	Marshall	Marshall	Marshall
24	Duke	Duke	Duke	Duke
25	Louisville	UCLA	USC	UCLA

The 12-person selection committee is comprised of an eclectic group of college football experts and surprises. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the most unexpected among a group of current athletic directors, former media members and former coaches. Famous football father Oliver Luck, who happens to serve as the West Virginia athletic director, is also on the committee. 

The group gathered to compile its inaugural rankings Monday at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas. The lengthy meeting was said to involve multiple votes as the members established their criteria and made their case.

"This is a truly historic day in college football," executive director Bill Hancock said, per Heather Dinich of ESPN.com. "Twenty years from now we will all look back and say we were here on the first meeting of the selection committee. When we took the first vote today, we looked at each other and said we have just taken the first vote in the history of the college football playoff. It was really, really a cool thing."

Brennan Linsley/Associated Press

While only the top four teams matter in the end—all other remaining bowl games are determined by conference affiliation—the committee decided on a Top 25 for the sake of consistency. Conference championships, schedule strength, head-to-head record and common opponents are chief among the variables considered.

It's not shocking, then, that Mississippi State was a no-brainer lock for the No. 1 spot. Led by Heisman contender Dak Prescott, the Bulldogs have reeled off seven straight wins to start the season, three of which came against Top 10 opponents. LSU and (especially) Texas A&M have been exposed and are a bit overrated in hindsight, but Mullen's offense is anything but.

Prescott, garnering numerous Tim Tebow comparisons along the way, has racked up 25 total touchdowns (15 passing, 10 rushing) while emerging as perhaps the best player in college football. The junior signal-caller at times struggles with accuracy in the pocket but has come through with masterful performances in the season's biggest games.

The second-ranked Seminoles have their own star quarterback in reigning Heisman winner Jameis Winston, whose 2014 ebbs and flows have been mirrored by his squad. This year's version is nowhere near as dominant as 2013's. After not allowing a team to come closer than two touchdowns prior to the BCS National Championship Game, the 'Noles have battled through three one-possession games.

Two weeks ago against Notre Dame, Florida State came within a controversial offensive pass-interference call of its first loss of the Winston era. If they manage to escape Louisville unscathed Thursday night, Jimbo Fisher and Co. look like a near-shoo-in for the CFP. The defending champs don't have a ranked team remaining on their schedule and have only one road game after their tilt with the Cardinals.

"We don't have anything to prove to anybody," Winston told reporters, via ESPN.com. "We've just got to keep playing and hopefully things will go our way. But one thing we are consistently proving is that we are winners."

When the College Football Playoff was announced, it looked like a potential Nick Saban playground. Saban's Alabama teams have gone undefeated or suffered one loss in the regular season four of the last five years, and the Crimson Tide come into each campaign with enough preseason hype to make their one-loss outfit a playoff lock. 

Alabama's lone loss to Ole Miss, coupled with a weak schedule so far, seemingly closed the expectations gap. Despite losing last week to LSU, the Rebels sneaked into the final playoff spot—likely boosted considerably by their win over the Tide. In fact, Saban's team will also have to leapfrog one-loss Oregon to get into the championship game.

Luckily, schedule strength should bode well for the Tide going forward. Idle this Saturday, Alabama closes out its regular-season slate with games against LSU, Mississippi State, Western Carolina and Auburn. Oregon's only comparable game comes when it visits Utah on Nov. 8. 

Perhaps the most intriguing ranking outside the power-five purview was the best team not ranked at all: undefeated Marshall. The Thundering Herd, helmed by stealth Heisman candidate Rakeem Cato, have reeled off eight double-digit wins.

Cato and punishing running back Devon Johnson are one of the better one-two punches never mentioned on national programs, which is largely a product of Marshall's residence in the dreadful Conference USA.

No other Conference USA outfit is even within arm's reach of the Top 25. The two best teams other than Marshall (Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee) have matching 5-3 records. Eight of the conference's 13 teams are .500 or below.

Needless to say, the Herd aren't getting any points based on strength of schedule. They've failed to make much of an impact in the other major polls, and the selection committee is keeping them at bay from the playoff conversation.

“I’m kind of anxious to see how it turns out,” Marshall coach Doc Holliday told reporters, via Gary Fauber of The Register-Herald. “At this point, you need to worry about where you are five weeks down the road. That’s when it counts. Somebody Auburn, about this time a year ago was 24th in America and ended up playing for the national championship. They say remember what you do in November. That’s kind of when it counts, and at the end of the day you look up and see where you are.”

Of course, Auburn had the benefit of playing top-ranked Alabama. Marshall gets the likes of Southern Miss, Rice and UAB. Not exactly a Saban-esque challenge.

If more power-fives start falling by the wayside as the Herd stay undefeated, it'll be awfully fascinating to see how the selection committee susses out its priorities. Tuesday night made it quite clear it has its work cut out. 

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