NCAA Football Rankings 2014: Week 6 Standings for College's Top 25 Teams
Week 5 of the college football season may have been missing some of the season's biggest players, but it wasn't short on intrigue.
The slate was punctuated by two titans being put on upset alert, as No. 1 Florida State and No. 6 Texas A&M both had to prove their mettle by rallying against unranked opponents. Ultimately, both were able to walk away with their records unscathed, but it served as our weekly reminder that anything can happen in college football.
Here's a look at the results for the entire Top 25 Saturday as well as possible risers and fallers before the new polls are released.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
| 1 | Florida State | 1,439 | 4-0 | def. North Carolina State 56-41 |
| 2 | Oregon | 1,400 | 4-0 | Bye |
| 3 | Alabama | 1,377 | 4-0 | Bye |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 1,343 | 4-0 | Bye |
| 5 | Auburn | 1,268 | 4-0 | def. Louisiana Tech 45-17 |
| 6 | Texas A&M | 1,232 | 5-0 | def. Arkansas 35-28 |
| 7 | Baylor | 1,143 | 4-0 | def. Iowa State 49-28 |
| 8 | Notre Dame | 967 | 4-0 | def. Syracuse 31-15 |
| 9 | Michigan State | 905 | 3-1 | def. Wyoming 56-14 |
| 10 | Mississippi | 889 | 4-0 | def. Memphis 24-3 |
| 11 | UCLA | 806 | 4-0 | def. Arizona State 62-17 |
| 12 | Georgia | 789 | 2-1 | def. Tennessee 35-32 |
| 13 | South Carolina | 764 | 3-1 | loss vs. Missouri 20-21 |
| 14 | Mississippi State | 706 | 4-0 | Bye |
| 15 | Arizona State | 702 | 3-1 | loss vs. UCLA 17-62 |
| 16 | Stanford | 564 | 2-1 | def. Washington 20-13 |
| 17 | LSU | 541 | 3-1 | def. New Mexico State 63-7 |
| 18 | USC | 459 | 2-1 | Oregon State |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 451 | 3-1 | def. South Florida 27-10 |
| 20 | BYU | 376 | 4-0 | Bye |
| 21 | Nebraska | 296 | 5-0 | def. Illinois 45-14 |
| 22 | Ohio State | 196 | 3-1 | def. Cincinnati 50-28 |
| 23 | East Carolina | 180 | 3-1 | Bye |
| 24 | Oklahoma State | 132 | 3-1 | def. Texas Tech 45-35 |
| 25 | Kansas State | 131 | 3-1 | def. UTEP 58-28 |
Risers
UCLA Bruins
No one can lay claim to making a bigger statement than the UCLA Bruins did on Thursday night. The Bruins were the only ranked team to take on another team in the Top 25 and dominated the game over the last three quarters en route to a 62-27 win.
As ESPN Stats & Info noted, the win boosted the Bruins chances of winning the Pac-12 South and possibly capturing a conference championship:
But perhaps the best news of all for the Bruins was the play of Brett Hundley.
After an elbow injury limited the star junior to just four pass attempts against Texas, he was back to his usual game-changing self against the Sun Devils. Dane Brugler of CBS Sports even noted that he looked like a No. 1 pick:
Avoiding a trap game upset against Utah will be the next challenge on the docket before the Bruins get the No. 2 Oregon Ducks at home.
Fallers
South Carolina
Steve Spurrier's South Carolina Gamecocks entered Week 5 as one of the few one-loss teams who could conceivably make it to the College Football Playoff. As we know in college football, it's often not if you lose it's when you lose. A Week 1 loss to Texas A&M could be forgiven if the Gamecocks ran the table.
Now, the dream is all but dead.
Just one week after the Missouri Tigers were defeated by Big Ten ne'er-do-well Indiana, the Gamecocks turned around and lost to those same Tigers.
The Gamecocks defense played one of its best games of the season to date. The 21 points it surrendered is the least it's given up all year. However, the offense was equally as ugly as Mizzou's for much of the game. Barrett Sallee of Bleacher Report summed up the Big Ten-esque game rather nicely:
Offensive issues aside, one thing is for certain—the Gamecocks should be free-falling down the polls after this loss at home.
Florida State?
No, Florida State's inclusion on this list doesn't mean they should be moved from the No. 1 spot just yet. It's just that, as suggested by Stewart Mandel, they don't quite look like the best team in the nation right now:
The Seminoles got off to the worst start imaginable Saturday. Going into Raleigh to take on a scrappy NC State team, they allowed the home team to take a 24-7 lead in the first quarter before slowly crawling back into it and taking control early in the fourth quarter.
Now, there's a chance this game quickly becomes a memory. After all, Jameis Winston and Co. ended up winning by a score of 56-41. However, the 2013 Seminoles had an aura of invincibility regardless of opponent and location.
Coming off of an overtime nail-biter against Clemson, this team just doesn't have the same command to win games week in and week out.
The good news for the 'Noles is that right now, there doesn't seem to be a team that can beat them quite yet. As evidenced by Oregon's narrow victory over Washington State last week, no team has truly laid claim to being invincible this season.
In essence, Week 6 just reiterated something we already knew: The first four teams to play in the College Football Playoff are far from decided.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
