Amway College Football Poll 2014: Complete Week 12 Rankings Released
Saturday’s intense schedule of 2014 regular-season college football action was filled with ranked matchups and intense rivalries, and the result was one of the most memorable days of the year.
With an incredible six games featuring two teams ranked in the Amway Coaches Poll going head-to-head, fans of the sport were treated to several postseason-quality matchups just a few weeks from the first College Football Playoff.
Here are the Week 12 Amway Coaches and Bleacher Report Top 25 polls and a breakdown of Week 11.
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Breaking Down Week 11
It was another wild week in college football, but there was some stability at the top of the rankings with Mississippi State and Florida State.
The Bulldogs and Seminoles each won their respective matchup in convincing fashion, further cementing their spot at the top of the Week 12 poll. While both programs cruised to a victory Saturday, next week won’t be as easy. Florida State will have a tough battle against Miami (FL), while Mississippi State has an even tougher test against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Mississippi State vs. Alabama will be the Game of the Week.
The Crimson Tide were involved in a bitter battle against LSU that went into overtime, but the Tide managed to secure the 20-13 win. Now, Alabama will have to square off with the most talented all-around team in the nation.
Crimson Tide quarterback Blake Sims didn’t have a great game, but head coach Nick Saban gave him some praise in his postgame comments to reporters.
“He didn't have one of his better games. It was tough. He hung in there. He made some great plays when he had to. ... I'm really, really proud of way he hung in there.”
One top team that faltered in a game the team should have won was the Auburn Tigers. Auburn has a tough schedule for the remainder of the year, but a matchup against Texas A&M should have resulted in a victory. Instead, the Aggies stunned the Tigers, 41-38, and Auburn may have seen its hope of a spot in the playoff dashed in the process.
Another team continuing to make a case for a spot in the College Football Playoff is the Oregon Ducks, and an entertaining victory over the Utah Utes was a major accomplishment. With a 9-1 record and two winnable regular-season matchups remaining (as well as the Pac 12 Championship), Oregon is on the right path to making the postseason.
The biggest winners of the week were the TCU Horned Frogs, Ohio State Buckeyes, Arizona State Sun Devils and Baylor Bears.
TCU took on a then-Top 10 Kansas State team and utterly dominated the matchup. With prowess showed on both sides of the ball, TCU continues to be a team that could slide into the top four with a few well-placed SEC losses.
| 1 | Mississippi State Bulldogs |
| 2 | Florida State Seminoles |
| 3 | Oregon Ducks |
| 4 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
| 5 | TCU Horned Frogs |
| 6 | Arizona State Sun Devils |
| 7 | Baylor Bears |
| 8 | Ohio State Buckeyes |
| 9 | Auburn Tigers |
| 10 | Ole Miss Rebels |
| 11 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
| 12 | Kansas State Wildcats |
| 13 | Michigan State Spartans |
| 14 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
| 15 | Georgia Bulldogs |
| 16 | UCLA Bruins |
| 17 | Arizona Wildcats |
| 18 | LSU Tigers |
| 19 | Duke Blue Devils |
| 20 | Clemson Tigers |
| 21 | Wisconsin Badgers |
| 22 | Marshall Thundering Herd |
| 23 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets |
| 24 | Colorado State Rams |
| 25 | Utah Utes |
Ohio State was another ranked program that faced a then-Top 10 challenger. The Buckeyes went down early to the Michigan State Spartans, but the teams went back and forth in one of the most entertaining matchups of the weekend. While Ohio State took the win, both programs looked strong.
The Buckeyes looked tough to beat in Week 11, but there were other programs that looked even more impressive. Arizona State took on the vaunted Notre Dame Fighting Irish and managed to walk away with a lopsided 55-31 victory.
The most shocking outcome of the week was Baylor’s domination of Oklahoma. The Sooners were expected to be in contention for the CFP this season but lost their third game of the year in the blowout fashion to the Bears.
With another wild weekend of college football in the books, it’s abundantly clear that this season is going to get even crazier before the final four teams that will make the playoff are named.
*Stats via ESPN.com.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
