College Football Playoff 2014: Predictions for New Top 4 in Week 11 Rankings
Apparently, it's a rule that college football immediately turns bananas as soon as the calender hits November.
Week 10 was endlessly dramatic. Florida State had a fourth-quarter comeback against Louisville. Mississippi State had a fourth-quarter comeback against Arkansas. TCU had a fourth-quarter comeback against West Virginia. Auburn had an unbelievable victory against Ole Miss. Oregon demolished Stanford. Florida demolished Georgia. And on and on.
There won't likely be a ton of movement at the top of the College Football Playoff rankings, but there sure is plenty to discuss.
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No. 1: Mississippi State Bulldogs
All good for No. 1. Barely.
Quarterback Dak Prescott's 69-yard connection with wide receiver Fred Ross completed Mississippi State's comeback Saturday, as the Bulldogs erased an early 10-0 deficit and held off Arkansas, 17-10.
"Our guys are finding ways to win," head coach Dan Mullen said, via The Associated Press' David Brandt. "That's all that matters."
Pretty much. The Bulldogs didn't exactly impress, turning the ball over three times and needing a broken play to beat Arkansas (4-5) in Starkville. Still, although winless in the conference, the Razorbacks have played Texas A&M and Alabama down to the wire as well. This is hardly a bad victory if such a thing even exists.
Getting No. 8 in the "W" column is the most important thing here, and it should be enough to hold a slight advantage over Florida State, which has a lower strength of schedule.
MSU gets a home matchup against Ohio Valley Conference stalwart Tennessee-Martin before traveling to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 6 Alabama.
No. 2: Florida State Seminoles
This one's going to be extremely close.
Florida State fell into an early hole much like Mississippi State, but it ended up dropping 42 points in an 11-point win over No. 25 Louisville. That's an impressive feat considering how stout the Cardinals defense has been this season, as ESPN Stats & Info noted:
Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde ranked MSU and FSU's 16 wins thus far, and he put the Seminoles win over Louisville fifth. Mississippi State's victory against Arkansas ranked just No. 8.
While I don't think that will be enough for the Seminoles to completely jump to No. 1, the vote is going to be very narrow. It wouldn't be surprising to see either team at the top.
Either way, with Virginia, Miami, Boston College and Florida (all but Miami at home) left on the schedule before the ACC Championship Game, head coach Jimbo Fisher's squad should have little trouble remaining inside the Top Four.
No. 3: Auburn Tigers
Ole Miss wide receiver Laquon Treadwell's fumble just before the goal line with 1:30 remaining sealed Auburn's wild 35-31 victory over the No. 4 Rebels in what was essentially a Playoff elimination game.
"This was a playoff game," said Auburn linebacker Kris Frost, via the AP's John Zenor. "But from here on in, every game is a playoff game. They just get bigger and bigger."
The Tigers may have another "elimination game" against fellow one-loss squad Alabama in the Iron Bowl—I'm sure that game won't be exciting or have any compelling storylines at all—later this month, but for now, they are safely in the Top Four, with their only loss coming against Mississippi State.
On the docket for head coach Gus Malzahn's squad is Texas A&M, which barely got past Louisiana-Monroe last week and will again be without quarterback Kenny Hill, according to ESPN.com's Sam Khan Jr.
No. 4: Oregon Ducks
Taking Ole Miss' spot in the Top Four has to be Oregon.
The Ducks not only make sense because they were No. 5 in last week's rankings, but because of their impressive 45-16 thrashing of Stanford.
Going up against a team that had given them fits the last couple of years, the Ducks compiled a silly 525 total yards and 30 first downs. Although Stanford has struggled a bit in 2014, there's no denying how impressive that win was.
Of course, as Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel joked, there's always the chance another SEC team replaces the Rebels:
Still, quarterback Marcus Mariota is playing out of his mind, and the Ducks are averaging a ridiculous 47.75 points per game since last month's loss to Arizona. There's little question they deserve the No. 4 spot.
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