NCAA Football Rankings 2014: Hits and Misses from Week 9
Another college football week is in the books and one more undefeated team went down.
Ole Miss couldn't overcome a late LSU touchdown and fell on the road to the Tigers, 10-7. Mississippi State and Ohio State survived tough road games at Kentucky and Penn State, respectively.
Meanwhile, TCU is still scoring against Texas Tech. And the university has no more fireworks with which to celebrate.
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: Ole Miss
1 of 6
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 3; AP, No. 3
Current Coaches Poll: No. 9
Current AP Poll: No. 7
Current B/R Poll: No. 8
Just how much did voters punish Ole Miss for losing on the road to LSU? The Tigers struggled earlier in the season and have two ugly losses to Mississippi State and Aubun. However, it appears LSU has turned a corner and with the win over the Rebels, has reeled off three straight victories.
Ole Miss' defense has been the cornerstone of the team's success, but were uncharacteristically gashed for 264 yards and nearly five yards a carry against LSU. Obviously, the offense wasn't able to get much of anything going.
This doesn't look like a terrible loss for Ole Miss, but the Rebels didn't look particularly impressive, either.
Is Ole Miss still a top 10 team? Yeah, the win over Alabama still counts for something. The Rebels could play with, and maybe beat, anyone in the top 10. But this team deserves to fall down a handful of spots. You could even make an argument that, given the way it played on Saturday, Ole Miss is a team looking in from outside the top 10.
An upcoming game against Auburn will show if this team is capable of rebounding and re-entering the top five.
Hit: Mississippi State
2 of 6
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 1; AP, No. 1
Current Coaches Poll: No. 1
Current AP Poll: No. 1
Current B/R Poll: No. 1
Surviving and advancing isn't pretty, but just about everybody has to do it at least once a year. Florida State has done it a few times and it cost the Seminoles the No. 1 spot in the polls. It was Mississippi State's turn Saturday in a 45-31 win over Kentucky.
Mississippi State might have slid down a spot had Florida State played on Saturday, as Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports predicted. But because the Seminoles were on a bye and Ole Miss lost, there aren't many options to surpass the Bulldogs.
Does Mississippi State still deserve to be the No. 1 team in the country? Given all that happened around it, sure. But it lost some ground as the consensus No. 1 team and that's deserved.
Miss: TCU
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Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 10; AP, No. 10
Current Coaches Poll: No. 10
Current AP Poll: No. 10
Current B/R Poll: No. 10
Texas Tech is bad, so for TCU to beat the doors off of the Red Raiders isn't a huge surprise. But 82 points? That's almost unheard of.
"It wasn't pretty," said Frogs head coach Gary Patterson, who is either way too hard on his team or a master troll. Either one.
It's not just that TCU hung up record numbers against a team that might struggle to make a bowl; it's that TCU scores so often and so quickly that it almost doesn't seem like it's on purpose.
Would TCU hang 82 on even a decent defense? No way, but the Frogs could score in bunches on just about anybody. For the Frogs to stay exactly at No. 10 in the coaches poll? That seems wrong.
If Alabama can slide up the polls for beating a struggling Texas A&M team 59-0, why can't TCU get the same respect?
Hit: Ohio State
4 of 6
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 12; AP, No. 13
Current Coaches Poll: No. 13
Current AP Poll: No. 13
Current B/R Poll: No. 13
Speaking of surviving and advancing—as Mississippi State did against Kentucky—Ohio State staved off a fierce rally from Penn State to win 31-24 in double overtime.
The Buckeyes looked like they were in good shape with a 17-0 halftime lead since Penn State has struggled on offense all season. However, Anthony Zettel's pick-six to open the second half gave the Nittany Lions a defensive touchdown and moved the deficit to 10 points. Slowly, Penn State crawled its way back before falling in overtime.
The Nittany Lions have an excellent defense, so give some credit to Ohio State for coming away with the win. It wasn't the prettiest game for the Buckeyes, so keeping them around No. 13 is the right move. Ohio State only dropped one spot in the coaches poll.
Miss: Duke
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Ranking Last Week: Coaches, NR; AP, NR
Current Coaches Poll: No. 24
Current AP Poll: No. 24
Current B/R Poll: No. 24
Duke is finally a consensus top-25 team, but only barely. The Blue Devils check in at No. 24 in both the AP and coaches polls, as well as the B/R poll.
Still, it feels like this team is almost criminally underrated. Duke had Week 9 off, so it was "out of sight, out of mind." But put this team on the same field as, say, the three or four teams ahead of it? The Blue Devils would have a good chance.
Duke's schedule isn't daunting. This team could be 11-1 with a berth in the ACC championship game at season's end. It would take an upset over Florida State for Duke to even be in the playoff conversation, but this could be a double-digit win team.
Hit: LSU
6 of 6
Ranking Last Week: Coaches, No. 23; AP, No. 24
Current Coaches Poll: No. 17
Current AP Poll: No. 16
Current B/R Poll: No. 17
Give credit where it's due. LSU has turned things around over the past few weeks. The Tigers have now won three straight, including a 10-7 defensive battle over then-No. 3 Ole Miss.
It's not that LSU suddenly started doing something different. This has always been a power team that likes to beat opponents in a phone booth. The difference is that this team is growing together and executing better. LSU turned the ball over four times—a concerning stat—but the offense had nearly five yards a carry against Ole Miss. The running game has been the bread and butter of the offense over the past several years.
This looks like a top-20 team across the board. Or, put another way, how many teams want to play LSU right now?
LSU's ranking will be tested on Nov. 8 against Alabama. That will show if the Tigers really are on the upswing or a flash in the pan.
