NCAA Football Rankings 2014: Hits and Misses from Week 5
Week 5 of the 2014 college football season is in the books. As is customary every Sunday, The Associated Press and USA Today released their new Top 25 polls. You can also check out the latest Bleacher Report Top 25 for comparison.
It was an action-packed weekend despite featuring just one game (UCLA-Arizona State) between Top 25 teams. Florida State survived and advanced against North Carolina State, and Missouri upset South Carolina in Columbia.
Now, voters get to rank teams while trying to simultaneously ignore transitive properties. Good luck, everyone.
So which teams were appropriately ranked in the latest Top 25 polls? Which ones weren't? The answers are in the following slides.
Hit: Florida State Seminoles
1 of 6
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 1; AP, No. 1
Current Coaches Poll: No. 2
Current AP Poll: No. 1
Current B/R Poll: No. 4
Overall Record: 4-0
The Florida State conundrum continues for another week. On one hand, the Seminoles are 4-0 with a gutsy come-from-behind win over North Carolina State. Adding to that, FSU has impressive wins over Clemson (without quarterback Jameis Winston and defensive end Mario Edwards) and Oklahoma State.
"It was very fun, but that's not Florida State football," running back Karlos Williams said about the win over North Carolina State (h/t David M. Hale, ESPN.com). "We're not used to that. That's not the way we play football here. We've got to start fast [and] finish faster."
The resume is there, but anyone who has watched Florida State knows this is not the No. 1 team in the country. The offensive line is getting beaten regularly, Winston hasn't been sharp at times and the defense isn't nearly as dominant.
Florida State is still No. 1 in the AP poll, but that's it. It's interesting timing to move Florida State down in the coaches' poll in favor of a team that was on a bye (Alabama), but it makes sense here.
Miss: Baylor
2 of 6
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 6; AP, No. 7
Current Coaches Poll: No. 6
Current AP Poll: No. 7
Current B/R Poll: No. 6
Overall Record: 4-0
We're starting to run into the same problem with Baylor as we did this time a year ago.
The Bears look impressive—there's no doubt about that. A 49-28 win over Iowa State in Week 5 was business as usual. Putting up 601 yards against the Cyclones seems almost pedestrian now.
So it's natural to want more from the Bears, and the month of September was very "meh" as far as competition goes. Is Baylor a fringe Top Five team? No one knows until Art Briles' team plays someone worth noting.
For the time being, it's a much better use of a Top 10 to put together a list of teams that have impressive wins, like Mississippi State or Oregon. That's not to say Baylor won't be a Top 10 or even a Top Five team by year's end. It's that it's hard to know how to rank the Bears appropriately as September rolls into October.
To put Baylor as high as No. 6 ahead of teams like Texas A&M? It doesn't add up at the moment.
Hit: UCLA
3 of 6
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 10; AP, No. 11
Current Coaches Poll: No. 9
Current AP Poll: No. 8
Current B/R Poll: No. 10
Overall Record: 4-0
OK, I'll admit: I wasn't buying UCLA. The Bruins were 3-0 heading into Week 5 but didn't even look like a team that could win the Pac-12 South. That changed in a big way Thursday night with a 62-27 win over Arizona State.
The Sun Devils have major problems on defense, but this was the big-play UCLA team everyone expected to see before the season got underway. To go on the road and win in such commanding fashion is impressive. This team might finally be turning a corner and living up to the hype.
Ted Miller of ESPN.com comes to UCLA's defense and singles out quarterback Brett Hundley for praise:
"While it wasn't a perfect performance -- the defense needs to play better -- it was a dominating one on the road against a ranked team. As for Hundley, he might return to the Heisman picture after completing 18 of 23 passes for 355 yards with four touchdowns, no interceptions and a 97.7 QBR. Perhaps its [sic] time to ease up on nitpicking the Bruins over their lack of style points. Is your team 4-0?
"
So, sure, the Bruins have earned their reputation as a Top 10 team. Finally.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Miss: Missouri
4 of 6
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, NR; AP, NR
Current Coaches Poll: NR
Current AP Poll: No. 24
Current B/R Poll: NR
Overall Record: 4-1
Admittedly, Missouri is a hard team to figure out. (Welcome to college football, right?)
The Tigers just went on the road to South Carolina and pulled off a miraculous come-from-behind 21-20 win over the Gamecocks. (South Carolina, meanwhile, is 3-2 with arguably the best September schedule of anyone in the country.)
On the other hand, Missouri was coming off a stunning home loss to Indiana. Talk about hot and cold.
So the question becomes what matters more when it comes to ranking teams: wins or losses? It doesn't help that Indiana coughed up a loss in Week 5 to Maryland.
For the AP poll to put Missouri at No. 24 is perhaps a little too forgiving.
Hit: Michigan State
5 of 6
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 9; AP, No. 9
Current Coaches Poll: No. 10
Current AP Poll: No. 10
Current B/R Poll: No. 8
Overall Record: 3-1
So Michigan State crushed Wyoming 56-14. Big deal, right? It still lost by double digits to Oregon earlier in September.
Be careful when getting caught up in that narrative about the Spartans. Michigan State gave Oregon a great game in Eugene before the Ducks pulled away in the fourth quarter. This team has been fun to watch. The Spartans are creative on offense and stifling on defense.
Granted, Michigan State's three wins are nothing to write home about, so this is still a ranking based on putting up a good fight against Oregon. If teams are going to play tough nonconference games, and play them well, they can't be punished too hard when they lose.
Keeping Michigan State in and around the Top 10 is the right move.
Miss: Ole Miss
6 of 6
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 11; AP, No. 10
Current Coaches Poll: No. 11
Current AP Poll: No. 11
Current B/R Poll: No. 12
Overall Record: 4-0
Ole Miss is just outside the Top 10 in the major polls. With Alabama and ESPN's College GameDay coming to Oxford in Week 6, it's a chance for the Rebels to really launch their season.
A 24-3 win over Memphis wasn't pretty—Ole Miss had four turnovers—and it doesn't look like the Rebels are a fringe Top 10 team right now.
One thing that should be acknowledged is that Memphis appears to be heading in the right direction under head coach Justin Fuente. The Tigers gave UCLA fits earlier this month when the Bruins couldn't get their act together.
That said, Ole Miss shouldn't have that much trouble with Memphis. This was a 7-3 game heading into the fourth quarter.
The Rebels defense is terrifying, and maybe that alone is enough to win games, but quarterback Bo Wallace continues to be up and down. It feels like that's going to catch up to Ole Miss sooner or later, but we'll have a much better understanding of this team after next Saturday.
If Ole Miss beats the Tide, there will be no question about how good this team can be.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
