College Football Rankings 2014: Latest Standings and Predictions for Week 7
If Week 7 of the college football season ends up feeling a bit underwhelming, it's only because the early October matchups face the impossible task of living up to an upset-filled week that pitted 10 of the Top 25 teams against each other.
Five teams in The Associated Press Top 10 lost in Week 6—a strange, rare event that shook up the NCAA world and should lead to a very exciting second half of the college football season.
The latest AP rankings feature a tie between Ole Miss and Mississippi State for the No. 3 spot, which only serves to underscore the difficulty of coming to a consensus on the top teams in the nation at this point.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
The Pac-12, once thought to have multiple College Football Playoff contenders, is in danger of missing out on sending a single representative to a major postseason game after losses by Oregon and UCLA—who, by the way, play each other in Week 7.
The SEC is once again the toughest conference in football, and whichever team emerges from that conference—be it Auburn, Alabama or Mississippi State—has a bona fide chance of making the national title game.
Here are the latest Top 25 standings, which of course look absolutely nothing like the previous iterations, followed by some predictions and previews for the highest-profile contests in Week 7.
| 1 | Florida State | 1 | Florida State | |
| 2 | Auburn | 2 | Auburn | |
| 3 | Baylor | 3 | Ole Miss | |
| 4 | Ole Miss | 3 | Mississippi State | |
| 5 | Notre Dame | 5 | Baylor | |
| 6 | Mississippi State | 6 | Notre Dame | |
| 7 | Alabama | 7 | Alabama | |
| 8 | Michigan State | 8 | Michigan State | |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 9 | TCU | |
| 10 | Georgia | 10 | Arizona | |
| 11 | Oregon | 11 | Oklahoma | |
| 12 | TCU | 12 | Oregon | |
| 13 | Arizona | 13 | Georgia | |
| 14 | Texas A&M | 14 | Texas A&M | |
| 15 | Ohio State | 15 | Ohio State | |
| 16 | Kansas State | 16 | Oklahoma State | |
| 17 | UCLA | 17 | Kansas State | |
| 18 | Oklahoma State | 18 | UCLA | |
| 19 | East Carolina | 19 | East Carolina | |
| 20 | Arizona State | 20 | Arizona State | |
| 21 | Nebraska | 21 | Nebraska | |
| 22 | Stanford | 22 | Georgia Tech | |
| 23 | Georgia Tech | 23 | Missouri | |
| 24 | Missouri | 24 | Utah | |
| 25 | Clemson | 25 | Stanford |
Predictions
| No. 2 Auburn | No. 3 Mississippi State | MSU 31-27 AU |
| No. 3 Ole Miss | No. 14 Texas A&M | A&M 35-30 Ole Miss |
| No. 13 Georgia | No. 23 Missouri | UGA 27-17 Mizzou |
| Texas | No. 11 Oklahoma | OU 45-28 UT |
| No. 12 Oregon | No. 18 UCLA | UCLA 31-24 UO |
| No. 9 TCU | No. 5 Baylor | Baylor 56-41 TCU |
Game of the Week
No. 2 Auburn vs. No. 3 Mississippi State
This game could very well decide the SEC provided Alabama is unable to refocus and go on another typically dominant stretch of play.
Auburn delighted fans with an out-of-nowhere SEC championship run in 2013, but it is very much a known commodity this year.
Mississippi State is one of the most well-rounded teams in the nation and still has a decidedly underdog flavor due to its mediocre history.
The Bulldogs rank 22nd in points against this season (19.2 per game), including a shutout win in Week 1 against Southern Miss, a difficult feat to achieve in college football. The offense has been in impeccable form as well, ranking 43rd in passing yards and 14th in the nation in rushing.
The Tigers defense boasts an even more impressive resume. It's given up a mere 14.4 points per game and features a fearsome defensive tackle in Montravius Adams, who's racked up five tackles for loss, one sack and one interception on the young season, per AuburnTigers.com.
This contest will likely come down to the play of the star quarterbacks: Mississippi State's Dak Prescott and Auburn's Nick Marshall.
| Marshall | 55/95 | 755 | 7.9 | 8 | 1 | 58 | 392 | 4 |
| Prescott | 78/122 | 1232 | 10.1 | 13 | 2 | 85 | 455 | 6 |
Both are broad-shouldered, strong-armed quarterbacks who do loads of damage to opposing defenses both on the ground and through the air. At this point in the season, Prescott appears to be the superior passer although Marshall is coming off an assured, confident passing performance against a tough LSU secondary.
"You know, Nick played like one of the better quarterbacks in the entire country," said Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, via Brandon Marcello of AL.com.
He will have to be careful to not make mistakes against Mississippi State's ball-hawking defense, which has picked up nine interceptions thus far on the season. Sophomore linebacker Richie Brown has been especially adept at pilfering wayward passes, as he leads the team with three interceptions on the season.
The Bulldogs secondary may have to be in top form in this contest to slow down Marshall; the Auburn offensive line has given up just three sacks on the season, per NCAA.com. Generating a consistent pass rush—especially against a team apt to use draws, read options and bootlegs—could prove to be extremely difficult.
Prescott's dual-threat ability has some, like Bleacher Report's Adam Kramer, talking him up as a potential Heisman Trophy favorite:
Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson noted that Prescott has improved greatly as a passer this season.
"He was not as good at that time reading coverages and as accurate throwing," he said, via Joel A. Erickson of AL.com. "Right now, he's as good a dual-threat quarterback as there is in America. He's throwing the ball on time. He's throwing it accurately."
It should be noted that Prescott benefits from a superb supporting cast. Running back Josh Robinson is averaging 7.5 yards per carry, and the Bulldogs feature three big-play wide receiver threats in De'Runnya Wilson (just a perfect name for a wideout), Jameon Lewis and Fred Brown.
Marshall, on the other hand, clearly has a favorite target in wideout D'haquille Williams (25 receptions, 385 yards). No other receiver on the team has reached double digits in receptions thus far in 2014. Marshall's lack of a complete rapport with his receiving options could hurt his team in this one.
The squad that loses this game should still have a better chance of making it to the College Football Playoff than most one-loss teams. The SEC West is much tougher than the SEC East this season, making the winner of this game the odds-on favorite to win the conference provided these teams don't take turns losing to each other in the final weeks.
Considering the Bulldogs have dominated in just about every facet of the game, expect them to edge out the Tigers in this one, with Prescott putting on another Heisman-worthy show.
Prediction: Mississippi State 31-27 Auburn
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
