AP College Football Poll 2014: Complete Week 10 Rankings Released
And then there were two. Another landscape-altering week of college football leaves Florida State and Mississippi State as the only remaining undefeated teams from Power Five conferences, with Ole Miss' loss to LSU serving to further muddy the Top 25 waters.
The Bulldogs, who had their own scare against Kentucky, and the idle Seminoles remain atop the latest Associated Press rankings. But LSU's upset opens the door for its SEC rivals, as No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 Auburn move into positions of power before the first College Football Playoff rankings are released. Oregon rounds out the Top Five, and the remainder of the Top 10 stayed the same, only with reshuffled numbers next to their names.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Here is a look at how the AP poll played out, along with the B/R Top 25:
| 1 | Mississippi State | Mississippi State |
| 2 | Florida State | Florida State |
| 3 | Alabama | Alabama |
| 4 | Auburn | Notre Dame |
| 5 | Oregon | Auburn |
| 6 | Notre Dame | Oregon |
| 7 | Ole Miss | Michigan State |
| 8 | Michigan State | Ole Miss |
| 9 | Georgia | Georgia |
| 10 | TCU | TCU |
| 11 | Kansas State | Kansas State |
| 12 | Baylor | Baylor |
| 13 | Ohio State | Ohio State |
| 14 | Arizona | Arizona State |
| 15 | Arizona State | Arizona |
| 16 | LSU | Nebraska |
| 17 | Nebraska | LSU |
| 18 | Utah | Utah |
| 19 | Oklahoma | Oklahoma |
| 20 | West Virginia | East Carolina |
| 21 | East Carolina | West Virginia |
| 22 | Clemson | Clemson |
| 23 | Marshall | Marshall |
| 24 | Duke | Duke |
| 25 | UCLA | USC |
Ole Miss' drop to No. 7 can at least be partially attributed to poor late-game management. Down 10-7 with the ball at the LSU 25-yard line, Rebels coach Hugh Freeze made the decision to kick a 42-yard field goal too late to cause a delay of game penalty. After LSU called a timeout to ice kicker Gary Wunderlich, Freeze made another curious decision, pulling his special teams unit off the field to run a final offensive play.
Bo Wallace forced a wounded duck into double coverage, and LSU safety Ronald Martin picked the ball off to end the game. While no one will ever know whether Wunderlich would have made the field goal, or even if Ole Miss would have won in overtime, it's a decision all involved regret.
"I thought we were plenty clear we were either going to take the flat throw or throw it out of bounds, and then try the field goal," Freeze told reporters. "He must have felt like he had a shot at the touchdown play there...I wish I could do that over, for sure."
LSU, which opened its conference slate with consecutive losses, has now won three straight heading into a Nov. 8 game against Alabama. The third-ranked Crimson Tide are also off next week, but it'll be interesting to see if the transitive property applies when they visit Tiger Stadium.
A majority of the other notable outcomes for Top 25 teams Saturday involved near-upsets. Ohio State needed two overtimes in Happy Valley to take down Penn State, as Joey Bosa sacked Christian Hackenberg on 4th-and-5 to give the Buckeyes their fifth straight win. The struggles against Penn State were a bit of a surprise after Ohio State scored 50-plus points in four consecutive games, but Urban Meyer's team is rounding into form at the right time.
Freshman J.T. Barrett, taking over after Braxton Miller's season-ending injury, has 27 total touchdowns and has quietly been among the nation's best quarterbacks. Barrett struggled at times against a game Nittany Lions secondary but scored twice on the ground in overtime to help seal the deal.
"It's not luck. It was a tough game," Meyer told reporters. "Penn State is a very rugged defensive unit. They play hard. "If we would have not turned the ball over and took care of business, then we'd see what would happen. But that's part of the game."
A similar story played out in Boulder, where No. 25 UCLA narrowly avoided giving Colorado its first Pac-12 win of the season. Brett Hundley scampered in from eight yards out in the second overtime, helping the Bruins escape with a 40-37 triumph.
Viewed as a potential conference titlist in the preseason, UCLA has proved to be a much shakier team than expected. Six of the Bruins' eight games have been decided by one possession, a disconcerting sign given the real bulk of their Pac-12 schedule is upcoming.
"One thing we're really good at is being resilient," Hundley told reporters.
Writer Dexter Fishmore commented on UCLA's topsy-turvy season:
"UCLA is a wacky, unreliable team but how amazing does that ASU win look?
— Dexter Fishmore (@dexterfishmore) October 26, 2014"
The Pac-12 as a whole helped stave off what could have otherwise been viewed as a monotonous week. Utah quarterback Travis Wilson's one-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds remaining gave the Utes a 24-21 win over USC. The closely contested game never saw either side have a two-possession lead, and the teams were never separated by more than four points for the final 50 minutes.
In its fourth Pac-12 season, Kyle Whittingham's team finally appears ready to play with the big boys. Utah is a one-point home loss against Washington State away from being undefeated and may enter the College Football Playoff conversation if it can keep the good times rolling. The Utes play at Arizona State before hosting Oregon, so we'll get a good idea of where they stand on the national hierarchy soon.
Either way, at 6-1, Utah is bowl-eligible for the first time since 2011. It's been a long road for Whittingham to get Utah back at national prominence, including back-to-back 5-7 seasons. To say it's heady times now in Salt Lake City would be an understatement.
USC and Ole Miss were the only Top 25 teams to lose Saturday, and they did so against fellow ranked opponents. While categorized as mini-upsets, it's hard to get worked up over two very good teams holding fort at home.
Perhaps more interesting was Marshall's move to 8-0, which puts the Thundering Herd in position to possibly play the spoiler. Stealth Heisman candidate Rakeem Cato threw a touchdown for his 40th consecutive game but played a background role to Devon Johnson in the 35-16 win over Florida Atlantic. Johnson rushed for 272 yards and four touchdowns.
Sitting at No. 23, Marshall will need some help to make a significant leap in the standings but looks like a good bet to go undefeated. The Herd do not have a Top 25 team on their schedule, and their toughest remaining regular-season game is a road tilt with UAB. Only a potential Conference USA championship game against Louisiana Tech stands in their way of a 13-0 record.
It'll be interesting to see how reticent the selection committee is to ranking Marshall high given its schedule strength.
This week's win wasn't enough to move Marshall up a single spot. The only Top 25 team that made a major leap was LSU, which ascended eight spots to No. 16. Duke, which enters the rankings at No. 24, is the only new entry, having replaced USC.
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
