Super 16 Poll Week 4: Complete Rankings Released for 2014 Season

It's hard to find anyone who isn't both excited and relieved that college football will finally have a playoff to determine a national champion this season. But there are some folks who believe that a four-team playoff doesn't go far enough.   

Consider the members of the Football Writers Association of America and the National Football Foundation among them. The two groups decided last February that they would conduct a weekly poll of the top 16 teams in the nation, essentially giving fans an idea of which teams would qualify for a 16-team playoff.

Fascinated? Then read on below, as we reveal those rankings, Bleacher Report's Top 25 and take a look back at the week that was.  

Polls

Rank	Super 16	B/R
1	Florida State	Florida State
2	Oregon	Oregon
3	Oklahoma	Oklahoma
4	Alabama	Alabama
5	Auburn	Auburn
6	Texas A&M	Texas A&M
7	Baylor	Baylor
8	LSU	LSU
9	Notre Dame	Notre Dame
10	Ole Miss	Michigan State
11	UCLA	Ole Miss
12	Michigan State	UCLA
13	Georgia	Georgia
14	Arizona State	Arizona State
15	South Carolina	South Carolina
16	Stanford	Stanford
17	N/A	Missouri
18	N/A	USC
19	N/A	Kansas State
20	N/A	Wisconsin
21	N/A	BYU
22	N/A	Ohio State
23	N/A	Clemson
24	N/A	Oklahoma State
25	N/A	Nebraska

Analysis

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

It was perhaps the perfect week for the Super 16 poll to debut. A pretty quiet week in terms of top matchups meant the poll wasn't going to have to deal with a number of ranking controversies in its debut week.

The major questions for any pollsters this week were pretty simple: How far would USC drop after being upset by Boston College, and where do South Carolina and Georgia belong in the rankings after the Gamecocks beat the Bulldogs, 38-35, in the weekend's premier matchup?

Thankfully, we don't have to debate whether or not USC would belong in a 16-team playoff—and we'd certainly never have to debate that argument this early in the season—because the polarizing viewpoints on that topic would rage for days on end. Had they lost at home, it would be easier to argue they deserved no consideration for a top-16 spot, but a road loss is a road loss, even to a team you're expected to defeat. 

Winslow Townson/Getty Images

All is not lost for USC, of course. Far from it.

"The goal, obviously, of being Pac-12 champs is very alive for us," coach Steve Sarkisian told reporters after the game. "I thought we came out playing well, and for whatever reason I thought we lost it. I've got to figure that out."

Meanwhile, South Carolina saved its season, defeating Todd Gurley and Georgia. In fact, perhaps it was how Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo utilized Gurley—or perhaps more accurately, didn't utilize him—that was the difference in this game. Martin Rickman of SI.com took a closer look at that:

"

Still, star tailback Todd Gurley had just eight carries for 44 yards in the first half. The Bulldogs had just 14 for 71. Mason went 9-of-12 for 132 passing yards, but that left the Bulldogs in a 24-13 hole at the break.

Gurley finished with 131 yards and a touchdown, a two-yard scamper with 9:23 to play in the third quarter that cut South Carolina’s lead to 24-20. Yet on the next possession, after the Gamecocks had extended their advantage to 11, Bobo went away from the ground game. He called for an empty-backfield set on a key third-and-two. Mason’s pass fell incomplete and the Dawgs were forced to punt.

"

As Rickman would go on to note, "When a team has the best running back in college football, it should use him." Perhaps it will be a lesson that Georgia takes with them going forward. 

There were other upsets on the day, of course, as Virginia Tech fell to East Carolina, while Louisville was knocked off by Virginia. Suffice to say, neither team will be cracking the top 16 anytime soon. 

A few teams that should be entrenched in these rankings for much of the season find themselves atop the rankings, however. It should come as little surprise that some combination of Florida State, Oregon, Alabama and Oklahoma should be in the top four. Auburn, Texas A&M, Baylor and LSU have all impressed early as well.

If nothing else, the SEC teams should continue picking one another off and providing us all with very intriguing football as they do. One would imagine plenty of SEC squads will make their way into the top-16 throughout the season. 

And one would imagine that, while we won't actually get a 16-team playoff at the end of the season, it will be quite fun debating who would belong in such a system throughout the year.