College Football Rankings 2014: Twitter Reacts to AP and Amway Week 9 Polls

A week after dropping to No. 2 in part due to a lack of schedule strength, Florida State finally got its signature win in a thriller over Notre Dame. It still wasn't good enough to pass the ascendant Mississippi State, though.

Idle after battling through a three-game gauntlet of Top 10 opponents, the Bulldogs managed to hold onto the top spot in the Amway Coaches and Associated Press polls. Assuming they win next week's road tilt at Kentucky, Dak Prescott and Co. are expected to stay atop the only rankings that matter—the College Football Playoff poll—when it is released for the first time next week.    

After nearly being knocked back to No. 3, Florida State's triumph over Notre Dame at least created some more space between the Seminoles and Ole Miss. The Rebels easily dispatched of Tennessee to remain one of three undefeated Power Five conference teams. The most notable changes come directly after the inert Top Three, as Alabama, Michigan State and Auburn have re-entered the playoff chase.

Here's a look at how the polls played out, including a look at the B/R Top 25:

Rank	Amway Coaches Poll (1st-Place Votes)	AP Poll (1st-Place Votes)	Bleacher Report Top 25 (1st-Place Votes)
1	Mississippi State (36)	Mississippi State (43)	Mississippi State (13)
2	Florida State (22)	Florida State (14)	Florida State (5)
3	Ole Miss (4)	Ole Miss (3)	Ole Miss (1)
4	Alabama	Alabama	Alabama
5	Michigan State	Auburn	Auburn
6	Auburn	Oregon	Notre Dame
7	Oregon	Notre Dame	Michigan State
8	Notre Dame	Michigan State	Oregon
9	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia
10	TCU	TCU	TCU
11	Kansas State	Kansas State	Kansas State
12	Ohio State	Baylor	Ohio State
13	Baylor	Ohio State	Baylor
14	Arizona State	Arizona State	Arizona State
15	Arizona	Arizona	Arizona
16	Nebraska	Nebraska	East Carolina
17	East Carolina	Oklahoma	Nebraska
18	Oklahoma	East Carolina	Oklahoma
19	Utah	Utah	USC
20	Clemson	USC	Utah
21	USC	Clemson	Marshall
22	Marshall	West Virginia	Clemson

Glaringly missing from its former perch is Baylor, which drops to No. 13 in the Coaches Poll and No. 12 in the AP after losing to West Virginia. The Mountaineers stifled the Baylor passing game by putting constant pressure on Bryce Petty and jamming receivers at the line. Petty, who is more than likely out of the Heisman race, finished 16-of-36 for 223 yards and two touchdowns.    

ESPN Stats & Info made the point that Baylor's loss will help create chaos in the playoff race:

One of those teams that could create chaos is Notre Dame, which certainly looked like a playoff-worthy team in Tallahassee. The Irish never trailed until 7:39 remaining in the fourth quarter and appeared to score the game-winning touchdown until a controversial penalty called it back. Everett Golson hit Corey Robinson from three yards out with 13 seconds to play, but officials called offensive pass interference on the pick play to wipe the score off the board.

"We execute that play every day," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly told reporters. "And we do it legally and that's the way we coach it. We don't coach illegal plays."

While Kelly was unhappy with the call, his team's performance bought some favor. Kyle Rowland of the Journal Gazette was one of many to say a one-loss Irish team deserves a playoff spot:

The one-loss team all but guaranteed a berth is Alabama. Frustrated with criticism after last week's 14-13 win over Arkansas, Nick Saban's squad unleashed a two-way thrashing of Texas A&M in a 59-0 blowout. As ESPN Stats & Info pointed out, the victory tied for the fourth-largest margin in history over an AP Top 25 team:

Blake Sims threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns, while T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry combined for 184 yards and three scores on their 23 attempts. The Crimson Tide also held Texas A&M's high-powered offense to just 172 total yards, coasting down the stretch after opening up a 45-0 lead at halftime. The Aggies have lost three straight SEC games after opening with five straight wins.

Even former Aggies star Johnny Manziel couldn't help but laugh at the blowout in a now-deleted tweet:

In all, though, the battle of one-loss teams is far from settled. There are currently 14 one-loss teams in Power Five conferences—15 if you include Notre Dame.

Oregon, which already has a signature win over Michigan State this season, beat Washington, 45-20, for its second straight impressive Pac-12 victory. Georgia continues trucking along despite being without star Todd Gurley, opening up a 38-6 halftime lead over Arkansas en route to an easy victory. The Bulldogs have a Nov. 15 game against Auburn that may decide the fate of both teams.

It's an impossible process of separating those teams from the likes of TCU, Kansas State, Ohio State and others, all hanging around and one win away from entering the top-four conversation. Bob Wischusen of ESPN points out perhaps even some two-loss teams could still enter the conversation:

But the team perhaps in the best position to blow up the playoff if Marshall, which continues its quiet rise up the rankings. The Thundering Herd, led by Heisman dark horse Rakeem Cato, have scored 40-plus points in all seven of their wins and haven't allowed a team to come closer than 15 points. Their 45-13 romp over Florida International this week was their sixth straight win of 25 or more points.

Cato, who threw for 214 yards and four touchdowns, set an NCAA record with his 39th straight game with a touchdown pass. He and running back Devon Johnson have become one of the nation's most prolific backfields, sitting second in points (47.4) and yards (575) per game. 

"How about Cato?" Marshall coach Doc Holliday asked reporters after the game. "I mean, it's a record that may never be broken. That's a heck of a record. If anyone deserves it, that young man does. And to be able to come down here to Miami and do that in front of his family, 15 minutes from where he grew up, that was huge."

Count Josh Graham of Scout.com among those on the Cato-for-Heisman bandwagon:

Draft writer Shane P. Hallam said Marshall deserves a playoff spot if it goes undefeated:

Marshall's greatest obstacle is its strength of schedule. The Herd do not have a power conference team on their 2014 schedule, let alone another Top 25 outfit. With the selection committee emphasizing schedule difficulty, it would be hard to justify allowing Marshall into the playoff—even over a two-loss team out of the SEC West gauntlet.

A trip to one of the high-profile bowl games not related to the four-team playoff seems possible. But if Marshall keeps winning, the inaugural season of the new system may already have a controversy on its hands.

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