NCAA Football Rankings 2014: Week 5 Standings for College's Top 25 Teams
Week 4 of the college football season was supposed to be a fairly easy one on the ranked teams that were in action. As it turned out, quite a few were pushed and some were even bitten by the upset bug.
No. 1 Florida State needed overtime to knock off No. 22 Clemson without the suspended Jameis Winston. The No. 2 Oregon Ducks needed its Heisman front-runner to show why most consider him the best player in the nation.
Marcus Mariota almost single-handedly saved the Ducks from an embarrassing loss to the Washington State Cougars in the latest game on the day's schedule.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
This trend actually began on Thursday when the No. 5 Auburn Tigers narrowly escaped No. 20 Kansas State Wildcats 20-14. Perhaps we should've sensed there would be tight games on Saturday.
Here's a look at how all of the ranked teams in action fared.
| No. 22 Clemson 17, No. 1 Florida State 23 OT | Florida St. to No. 1. Clemson to No. 24 |
| No. 2 Oregon 38, Washington State 31 | 2 |
| Florida 21, No. 3 Alabama 42 | 3 |
| No. 4 Oklahoma 45, West Virginia 33 | 4 |
| No. 5 Auburn 20, No. 20 Kansas State 14 | Auburn to No. 6 and Kansas State to 21 |
| No. 6 Texas A&M 58, SMU 6 | 5 |
| No. 7 Baylor, idle | 7 |
| Mississippi State 34, No. 8 LSU 29 | 16 |
| No. 9 Notre Dame, idle | 8 |
| No. 10 Ole Miss, idle | 9 |
| E. Michigan 14, No. 11 Michigan State 73 | 10 |
| No. 12 UCLA, idle | 11 |
| Troy 0, No. 13 Georgia 66 | 12 |
| No. 14 South Carolina 48, Vanderbilt 34 | 13 |
| No. 15 Arizona State, idle | 14 |
| No. 16 Stanford, idle | 15 |
| No. 17 USC, idle | 17 |
| Indiana 31, No. 18 Missouri 27 | Indiana to 25 |
| Bowling Green 17, No. 19 Wisconsin 68 | 18 |
| Virginia 33, No. 21 BYU 41 | 19 |
| No. 23 Ohio State, idle | 20 |
| Miami, Fl. 31, No. 24 Nebraska 41 | 22 |
| No. 25 Oklahoma St., idle | 23 |
The Upsets
Indiana Shocks Missouri at Home
The Missouri Tigers hadn't lost all season, and they hadn't lost at home to a nonconference opponent since 2012. Both of those things happened on Saturday.
On the strength of a late touchdown drive and a run game that tallied 241 yards, the Indiana Hoosiers handed the Tigers a 31-27 loss. Tevin Coleman ran for 132 of those yards.
With most teams below them holding serve, or having the day off, the Tigers could plummet out of the Top 25.
Mississippi State Holds off LSU
The LSU Tigers started horribly, but it finished strong. Unfortunately, the start was too dank to recover from. Mississippi State ran for 302 yards and quarterback Dak Prescott combined for 373 total yards and three total touchdowns.
"Mississippi State's win over LSU snapped a 15-game losing streak vs ranked opponents. #MSSTvsLSU
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 21, 2014"
LSU trailed 31-10 after three quarters, but behind Brandon Harris, who relieved Anthony Jennings, the Tigers outscored Mississippi State 19-3 in the fourth quarter.
Harris' desperation heave was intercepted, and the Bulldogs had earned a 34-29 victory over LSU in Baton Rouge. The win ended a 14-year losing streak against LSU.
The Close Calls
BYU Rallies to Hold off Virginia
In Week 3, the Virginia Cavaliers upset the Louisville Cardinals and knocked them from the Top 25. The BYU Cougars were intent upon avoiding the same fate against the Cavs.
The Cougars were outplayed in almost every aspect, but somehow they came away with the 41-33 win. Virginia outgained the Cougars 519-332, and BYU committed 12 penalties for 133 yards. The Cavs also had the ball for over 40 minutes to just over 19 for BYU.
The Cougars' saving grace was its bend-but-don't-break defense. It forced Virginia to settle for four Ian Frye field goals. None of them was longer 46 yards.
A win is a win, but BYU wasn't exactly impressive.
Winston-less Seminoles Survive Clemson
Without their reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Florida State struggled to score against the stout Clemson defense. The Seminoles converted just four of 15 third-down attempts, and Sean Maguire threw two interceptions as Winston's replacement.
The game went into overtime, where Karlos Williams clinched the win for the Noles with a 12-yard touchdown run.
While Florida State will gladly take the win, this close call caps off a week the program would like to put behind them as soon as possible.
Mariota to the Rescue
Connor Halliday and the Washington State Cougars came to play on Saturday. Halliday threw for 436 yards and four touchdowns, but it wasn't enough as Mariota played like a front-runner for the Heisman in leading his team to victory.
Despite being sacked seven times, Mariota completed 21 of 25 passes for 329 yards and five touchdowns. Dealing with a makeshift offensive line because of various injuries, Mariota was under pressure all game.
The defense also struggled to get a handle on Halliday and Co.
Oregon as a team was not at its best, but Mariota couldn't have played better under the circumstances.
The Blowouts
Spartans Smite the Eagles
Perhaps the Michigan State Spartans needed to let out their frustrations after losing 46-27 to Oregon in Week 3.
The Eastern Michigan Eagles were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The score of the game was 49-0 at halftime, and the 73-14 final tally capped off one of the most lopsided games you'll ever see, hear or read about.
The Badgers Like to Run
It's safe to say, if a team racks up a Big-Ten record 644 rushing yards, there's a pretty good chance it'll win. The Wisconsin Badgers demolished Bowling Green 68-17.
It truly looked as if Wisconsin was running the football against a high-level high school squad.
It averaged a whopping 10.7 yards per carry and had three players top 100 yards on the day. Chief among them was Melvin Gordon. He ran for 253 yards and a ridiculous five touchdowns.
Georgia Silences Men of Troy
Another team still smarting from a tough loss was the Georgia Bulldogs. On Saturday, Georgia allowed just 216 total yards, but most importantly, it gave up zero points against Troy.
This was supposed to be a blowout, and it was.
Texas A&M Rolls over SMU
The Texas A&M Aggies offense is downright scary. By now, we all have all heard of Kenny "Trill" Hill, but the Aggies' attack is even deeper than its talented young quarterback.
In Saturday's 58-6 demolition of SMU, the Aggies had 663 yards of total offense, and it only had the ball for 23:53. It's clear that it doesn't take long for this explosive bunch to do major damage.
Arkansas is next as the team heads into the heart of its SEC schedule.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
