AP College Football Poll 2014: Complete Week 15 Rankings Released

It's all happening now, folks. 

After a weekend of upsets, major injuries and huge rivalry wins, the conference championships are all that stand between several schools and the College Football Playoff. For more than a few schools, it's as simple as "win and you're in." For others, of course, it's "win and hope your resume stacks up favorably against the competition."

Ultimately, the CFP committee will have the final say in that regard. But while we wait for the official rankings, let's take a look at this week's Associated Press poll and the Bleacher Report poll to quickly analyze the week that was.     

Analysis

Ohio State may now be in a lose-lose situation following Saturday's victory over Michigan.

Wait, what?

While the Buckeyes survived their rivals, they also lost starting quarterback J.T. Barrett for the season after he fractured his ankle, as coach Urban Meyer confirmed to Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com:

"

[Barrett] is for sure out. We've had two quarterbacks go down, and we're going to find out if we earn our coaching stripes and do a good job getting [Cardale] Jones ready to go. … We've got to go on, and we've got a lot of confidence in the guy that's going to be doing it.

[But] obviously, we lost a Heisman candidate today.

"

The worry for the Buckeyes is twofold. First, can they beat Wisconsin without Barrett? That's the big one. And second, even if they do beat the Badgers, will the committee be more likely to rank a team like Baylor or TCU ahead of them due to Barrett's injury?

After all, you can make a pretty compelling case that Ohio State simply isn't as good without Barrett on the field, especially if replacement QB Cardale Jones struggles against Wisconsin. If the committee judges Ohio State to be fairly even with another playoff hopeful, it isn't crazy to think that Barrett's injury could tip the scales toward TCU or Baylor.

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It's safe to say at this point that if Alabama, Oregon and Florida State win their respective conference titles, those schools will be in the playoff. Alabama is fresh off a crazy 55-44 win over rivals Auburn and can add another resume-building win over Missouri in the SEC championship.

After surviving a tough SEC slate, the Crimson Tide might even have a case to make the playoff if they lose to Missouri in a close game, though there won't be any questions about their place in the playoff if they simply win.

Meanwhile, Oregon has the chance to exorcise some demons against Arizona, which defeated the Ducks earlier in the season. That's no easy task—the Wildcats will head into that game with consecutive wins over Utah and Arizona State. 

Florida State's surviving-by-the-seat-of-its-pants season will be tested next weekend, as the Seminoles face a red-hot Georgia Tech team that has won five straight games, including big victories over Clemson and Georgia the last two weeks. The Seminoles are certainly in if they win, but if they lose to Georgia Tech and the teams below them all win next weekend, it would hardly be shocking to see Florida State miss the playoff. 

You can justify a series of close calls against inferior competition if you always find a way to win. That's resiliency. But once you've lost, that series of close calls against inferior competition seems less like resiliency and more of an indication that you weren't all that good in the first place.

Finally, Baylor holds the final piece of the puzzle in its hands next weekend when it faces Kansas State. If the Bears win, their resume will stack up closely enough to TCU's that Baylor could be ranked higher due to its head-to-head win.

TCU's nonconference victory over Minnesota—which was potentially its trump card in this debate—also took a hit when Minnesota lost to Wisconsin this weekend. Add it all up, and it's hard to imagine that a Baylor team that won the Big 12 and beat TCU would somehow still be ranked below the Horned Frogs in the rankings.