College Football Playoff 2014: Examining Top 25 NCAA Rankings After 1st Release

The release of 2014’s first College Football Playoff poll was one of the most genuinely anticipated moments of the year, and fans of the sport were not disappointed by the result.

Instead of being blown away by the injustice of the BCS, the 12-person selection committee issued a fair assessment of the college football landscape and will continue to do so throughout the regular season.

Here is the first College Football Playoff poll, all three NCAA top-25 rankings and a breakdown of the Top Four teams in postseason contention.

Rank	Team	AP Poll	B/R Top 25	Coaches Poll
1	Mississippi State	Mississippi State	Mississippi State	Mississippi State
2	Florida State	Florida State	Florida State	Florida State
3	Auburn	Alabama	Alabama	Alabama
4	Ole Miss	Auburn	Notre Dame	Auburn
5	Oregon	Oregon	Auburn	Michigan State
6	Alabama	Notre Dame	Oregon	Oregon
7	TCU	Ole Miss	Michigan State	Notre Dame
8	Michigan State	Michigan State	Ole Miss	Georgia
9	Kansas State	Georgia	Georgia	Ole Miss
10	Notre Dame	TCU	TCU	TCU
11	Georgia	Kansas State	Kansas State	Kansas State
12	Arizona	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor
13	Baylor	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State
14	Arizona State	Arizona	Arizona State	Arizona State
15	Nebraska	Arizona State	Arizona	Arizona
16	Ohio State	LSU	Nebraska	Nebraska
17	Utah	Nebraska	LSU	LSU
18	Oklahoma	Utah	Utah	Utah
19	LSU	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	East Carolina
20	West Virginia	West Virginia	East Carolina	Oklahoma
21	Clemson	East Carolina	West Virginia	Clemson
22	UCLA	Clemson	Clemson	West Virginia
23	East Carolina	Marshall	Marshall	Marshall
24	Duke	Duke	Duke	Duke
25	Louisville	UCLA	USC	UCLA

Breaking Down the Top Four Playoff Contenders

The unanimous top team in the country is the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The program has won all seven games this season and has beaten the likes of LSU, Texas A&M and Auburn along the way.

Led by junior quarterback Dak Prescott, Mississippi State has looked like the best team in the nation and deserves the No. 1 spot in the playoff poll. Prescott is a Heisman Trophy contender with 1,694 yards passing, 664 yards rushing and 25 total touchdowns, but the schedule only gets tougher for the Bulldogs.

With matchups against Alabama and Ole Miss still to come, there is a chance Mississippi State could lose at least once this season. If the Bulldogs run through the Crimson Tide and the Rebels, though, their place in the playoffs will be cemented.

Another team in contention is the defending national champion Florida State Seminoles. While there have been off-field issues with quarterback Jameis Winston, the team has not allowed the play on the field to be adversely affected. Florida State is unbeaten in 2014.

The program already has wins over Clemson and Notre Dame, and if the Seminoles can beat Louisville on Thursday, the favorable schedule will be set up for the team to remain unbeaten all season.

An undefeated Florida State team would be guaranteed a spot in the college football playoffs.

After Mississippi State and FSU, the debate over which team should be ranked next has already started raging. The committee selected Auburn and Ole Miss as the third and fourth teams in the playoff spots for the first week, but that could easily change as the season progresses.

For right now, Auburn and Ole Miss deserve the final two spots. They play each other this Saturday, and this is what would be considered a must-watch matchup.

For the Tigers, a loss earlier in the season to Mississippi State was tough to handle, but the quality of the opponent can’t be questioned. Add in the fact that Auburn has big wins over Kansas State, LSU and South Carolina, and the program will be ready for this week’s game against Ole Miss.

The Rebels are coming off a heartbreaking loss to LSU but boast wins against Alabama and Texas A&M this season. With the nation’s top-ranked defense (allowing just 10.5 points per game), Ole Miss will be one of Auburn’s toughest matchups all year.

With Auburn possessing the more dangerous offensive unit, and Bo Wallace of the Rebels being a liability at times, the stage has been set for the Tigers to take this victory and further cement a spot in the playoffs.

In order for Ole Miss to make the playoffs after another possible loss, there would have to be major turnover at the top of the standings. The College Football Playoff poll is a good start, but with teams like Alabama and Oregon on the outside looking in, it will be interesting to see how it evolves each week.

It’s already far better than the old BCS system.

*Stats via ESPN.com.