NCAA Football Rankings 2014: Hits and Misses from Week 7
Week 7 of the college football season is in the books. It wasn't as utterly chaotic as Week 6, but a few top teams had statement wins. Meanwhile, the list of unbeaten teams was whittled down just a little bit more.
There's still a long way to go, but it's beginning to feel like a separation is forming in the playoff race. Once again, the state of Mississippi remains at the center of the college football universe.
These are amazing times, indeed.
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.
Which teams were appropriately ranked in the latest Top 25 polls? Which ones weren't? The answers are in the following slides.
Hit: Mississippi State
1 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 6 ; AP, No. 3
Current Coaches Poll: No. 1
Current AP Poll: No. 1
Current B/R Poll: No. 1
There's a feisty battle forming about which team should be No. 1: Mississippi State or Florida State. You could probably throw in a case for Ole Miss as well.
Ultimately, it comes down to the body of work, not necessarily playing in the best conference or division. Looking at Mississippi State's resume, the Bulldogs have wins over LSU, Texas A&M and Auburn. All three were undefeated and ranked in the Top 10 at the time of the win, but there's no denying Auburn is the best victory by a landslide.
Now, compare that to Florida State, which has an underappreciated win in Week 1 against Oklahoma State and a home win against Clemson without quarterback Jameis Winston and (mostly) defensive Mario Edwards Jr. The Tigers, though 4-2, are a much better team when freshman Deshaun Watson is playing at quarterback. (Watson is currently out with an injured hand, per David Hale of ESPN.com.)
Side by side, Mississippi State and Florida State each have good wins. Which team looks more dominant? The Bulldogs do a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage on offense and defense. That gives Mississippi State the edge for No. 1, though it's close.
Miss: Texas A&M
2 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 14 ; AP, No. 14
Current Coaches Poll: No. 21
Current AP Poll: No. 21
Current B/R Poll: No. 22
The perception about Texas A&M is changing quickly. The Aggies stunned just about everyone when they routed South Carolina on the road 52-28 in Week 1. A&M got off to a hot start, going 5-0 before losing its last two games against Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
While there's no shame in losing to two of the three best teams in college football, neither game was particularly close. A&M also needed a come-from-behind overtime victory to beat Arkansas.
How voters view the Aggies could be based on a few things. There's no doubt this team is talented—young in spots, but talented. All the same, there aren't many great wins on A&M's resume and playing in the SEC West should only get a team so far.
Head coach Kevin Sumlin didn't exactly offer a ringing endorsement of his team, supposedly full of future NFL offensive linemen, when he said his group was "getting whipped up front" against Ole Miss.
What has A&M proved exactly? So far, that it's an exciting team that hasn't been able to come together yet.
Hit: TCU
3 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 12 ; AP, No. 9
Current Coaches Poll: No. 12
Current AP Poll: No. 12
Current B/R Poll: No. 12
There are a couple of different ways you can look at TCU's 61-58 (!) loss to Baylor in Week 7. On one hand, the Frogs gave up 24 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. The 61 points allowed by TCU were more than the Frogs have given up all season. Do you "reward" TCU for that by not sliding the Frogs down the polls?
On the other hand, Baylor is, more often than not, going to score points. There's no shame in losing to a quality opponent on the road, either. By beating Oklahoma in Week 6, TCU has established that they could make a Big 12 title run—or at least be in the conversation.
Ultimately, beating Baylor would boost TCU's resume more than losing to Baylor hurts it, especially considering it was only by three points.
The Frogs still look like a top-15 team and some, like David Ubben of Fox Sports Southwest, might say a top-10 team. To keep TCU in relatively the same spot was the right move.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Miss: East Carolina
4 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 19 ; AP, No. 19
Current Coaches Poll: No. 16
Current AP Poll: No. 18
Current B/R Poll: No. 15 (tie)
You probably missed it because, well, there were way more exciting things happening, but East Carolina beat South Florida 28-17 on Saturday—and needed 21 second-half points to do so.
This is an instance where the Pirates are probably glad to 1) escape with a win and 2) do so without it really being a storyline.
It's difficult to be perfect in every game. East Carolina already has a loss, for that matter. Mulligans aren't really an excuse as much as they are an expectation. There's no team this year that's steamrolling opponents on a regular basis like Florida State did a year ago.
So it's okay not to punish East Carolina too hard here. At the same time, the Pirates moved up in the polls? Let's not blindly reward teams for winning just because someone ahead of them lost.
Hit: Notre Dame
5 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 5; AP, No. 6
Current Coaches Poll: No. 5
Current AP Poll: No. 5
Current B/R Poll: No. 5
Notre Dame is a potentially fascinating team in the playoff race. The Irish aren't technically part of a Power Five conference in football, though they have an affiliation with the ACC. But they're still considered a college football power, and thus they're in the playoff conversation, whereas fellow independent BYU (two losses aside) wouldn't be.
Notre Dame's 50-43 win over North Carolina was closer than the Irish would have liked it to be. To date, Notre Dame's best win came against Stanford.
That would change dramatically if the Irish beat Florida State in Tallahassee next week. In fact, you could safely bet Notre Dame would jump straight into Final Fours for most pundits around the country.
Keeping the Irish around No. 5 is, tentatively, a solid move. We'll find out a lot more about them, and whether quarterback Everett Golson can cure his turnover problems, next week.
Miss: Auburn
6 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 2; AP, No. 2
Current Coaches Poll: No. 8
Current AP Poll: No. 6
Current B/R Poll: No. 6
It's been well-established that Auburn has one hell of a schedule this year, especially on the road. The Tigers have already played, and won, at Kansas State and lost at Mississippi State. Games at Ole Miss, at Georgia and at Alabama remain on the schedule.
Woof. As Dan Wolken of USA Today tweets, Auburn's strength of schedule is ridiculously good.
So how do voters view the Tigers? According to them, Mississippi State is now the best team in the country. Losing on the road to the Bulldogs, even though by double digits, shouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
Does Auburn deserve to drop some? Sure, it played a sloppy game (both sides did) and let Mississippi State pull away late after rallying back in the game. Should Auburn drop below Michigan State and Alabama, which struggled with Purdue and Arkansas, respectively?
That's what the coaches poll thought.
Hit: Arizona
7 of 7
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 13; AP, No. 10
Current Coaches Poll: No. 17
Current AP Poll: No. 16
Current B/R Poll: No. 18
Arizona's 28-26 loss to USC was a wild one. Then again, late-night Pac-12 football is usually serving up the weirdness.
The Wildcats, fresh off an upset over Oregon, had no answer for Trojans running back Buck Allen. In that regard, Arizona was outplayed by a team that has serious depth problems.
However, Arizona rallied and made it an exciting finish by recovering an onside kick—and then missing the would-be game-winning field goal.
"Losing on a last-second play, it's not easy," Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez told reporters after the game. "I'm proud of the guys, the way they played hard and competed."
So what do we make of the 'Cats? They're still a solid 5-1 team in a wide-open Pac-12 South Division. With the exception of Colorado (sorry, Buffs), everyone has a shot at the divisional title. Considering Pac-12 road teams are 14-4 in conference play this year, anything seems possible.
Was Arizona a top-10(ish) team? Obviously not. Somewhere in the No. 15-20 range is appropriate.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
