NCAA Football Rankings 2014: Predicting the Top 25 After Week 11
Week 11 of the college football season was exactly as good as advertised, and it was advertised as one of the best of the 2014 season.
Four of the Top 10 teams from last week's College Football Playoff standings were defeated Saturday, three by fellow Top 15 opponents. Kansas State, Michigan State and Notre Dame all lost games that were guaranteed to end in carnage, but Auburn lost a game that was supposed to be a three-touchdown romp.
Let's have a guess at what tomorrow's Associated Press Top 25 will look like
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
| 1. Mississippi State | 9-0 | 1 | def. UT-Martin, 45-16 |
| 2. Florida State | 9-0 | 2 | def. Virginia, 35-20 |
| 3. Alabama | 8-1 | 4 | def. LSU, 20-13 (OT) |
| 4. Oregon | 9-1 | 5 | def. Utah, 51-27 |
| 5. TCU | 8-1 | 6 | def. Kansas State, 41-20 |
| 6. Baylor | 8-1 | 10 | def. Oklahoma, 48-14 |
| 7. Ohio State | 8-1 | 13 | def. Michigan State, 49-37 |
| 8. Arizona State | 8-1 | 11 | def. Notre Dame, 55-31 |
| 9. Auburn | 7-2 | 3 | lost to Texas A&M, 41-38 |
| 10. Ole Miss | 8-2 | 12 | def. Presbyterian, 48-0 |
| 11. Nebraska | 8-1 | 15 | BYE |
| 12. Michigan State | 7-2 | 7 | lost to Ohio State, 49-37 |
| 13. Notre Dame | 7-2 | 8 | lost to Arizona State, 55-31 |
| 14. Kansas State | 7-2 | 9 | lost to TCU, 41-20 |
| 15. Georgia | 7-2 | 17 | def. Kentucky, 63-21 |
| 16. UCLA | 8-2 | 18 | def. Washington, 44-30 |
| 17. LSU | 7-3 | 14 | lost to Alabama, 20-13 |
| 18. Arizona | 7-2 | 21 | def. Colorado, 38-20 |
| 19. Clemson | 7-2 | 19 | def. Wake Forest, 34-20 |
| 20. Duke | 8-1 | 22 | def. Syracuse, 27-10 |
| 21. Marshall | 9-0 | 23 | def. Southern Miss, 63-17 |
| 22. Wisconsin | 7-2 | 25 | def. Purdue, 34-16 |
| 23. Colorado State | 9-1 | NR | def. Hawaii, 49-22 |
| 24. Utah | 6-3 | 20 | lost to Oregon, 51-27 |
| 25. Oklahoma | 6-3 | 16 | lost to Baylor, 48-14 |
Note: Rankings reflect a prediction of the Week 12 AP poll—not how the author would rank the teams himself.
Biggest Risers
Ohio State
Ohio State rode a dominant offensive performance to a 49-37 win over Michigan State in East Lansing that wasn't even as close as the double-digit margin of victory indicates.
Revenging last year's Big Ten Championship Game, during which Michigan State ended Ohio State's national title run, the Buckeyes ended the Spartans' playoff run and put themselves in a position to sneak in provided they finish the year 12-1 (and a few more dominoes fall into place).
Freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett had 386 total yards and five total touchdowns and led Ohio State to six consecutive touchdown drives against a defense many considered a top-10 unit in the country.
So much for that.
Colorado State
It is long overdue for Jim McElwain's team to join the Top 25, and this should be the week that it finally happens.
Colorado State was No. 26 in last week's poll and beat Hawaii by 27 points, 49-22, on Saturday. It is 9-1 on the season and owns two wins against power-five teams (Colorado and Boston College).
Unfortunately, the Rams lost to Boise State earlier this season and need the Broncos to lose another game if they want to make an access bowl. The selection committee will choose the highest-ranked conference champion from a non-power league to represent the little guys in that slot, so cracking the AP Top 25, while nice, doesn't actually mean much of anything.
Biggest Fallers
Oklahoma
What in the heck was that?
Oklahoma led Baylor 14-3 after the first quarter but got drilled for the proceeding 45 minutes, losing 48-14. It was outmuscled along the lines, outsprinted at the skill positions and—most importantly—severely outcoached on the sidelines.
Bob and Mike Stoops came out with a questionable defensive game plan that did not generate enough pressure on Bryce Petty and afforded Baylor's playmakers consistent space to work with. Everything about the defense was listless once things started to get out of hand.
"I think it is always a combination of things," said defensive coordinator Mike Stoops when asked what he thought went wrong. "Defensively, this league is going to exploit your weaknesses."
And it did that in a very big way.
Auburn
Auburn had been flirting with disaster for weeks. It was a goal-line fumble by Laquon Treadwell away from losing at Ole Miss. It was only seven points better than South Carolina. It needed an all-time #CollegeKickers performance to win at Kansas State.
Its pillow-soft defense finally came to roost against Texas A&M, however, resulting in a long-overdue second loss. True freshman quarterback Kyle Allen, who struggled in his first career start against Louisiana-Monroe last weekend, showed up on the Plains and made moving the ball look facile, finishing with an adjusted QBR of 90.6.
That is not how things are supposed to work.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
