NCAA Football Rankings 2014: Week 12 Standings and Analysis for Latest Polls
Let the arguing begin.
With two undefeated teams, eight one-loss squads in college football’s power-five conferences and only four College Football Playoff spots to go around, there is sure to be plenty of debate and posturing between Week 12 and the end of the season.
The best way to make a statement is with an impressive performance on the field, and we saw that from the likes of TCU, Ohio State, Oregon, Baylor and Arizona State, among others, in Week 11.
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With that in mind, here is a look at the Amway Coaches and the Associated Press polls, as well as Bleacher Report's official Top 25 entering Week 12.
| 1 | Mississippi State |
| 2 | Florida State |
| 3 | Oregon |
| 4 | Alabama |
| 5 | TCU |
| 6 | Arizona State |
| 7 | Baylor |
| 8 | Ohio State |
| 9 | Auburn |
| 10 | Ole Miss |
| 11 | Nebraska |
| 12 | Kansas State |
| 13 | Michigan State |
| 14 | Notre Dame |
| 15 | Georgia |
| 16 | UCLA |
| 17 | Arizona |
| 18 | LSU |
| 19 | Duke |
| 20 | Clemson |
| 21 | Wisconsin |
| 22 | Marshall |
| 23 | Georgia Tech |
| 24 | Colorado State |
| 25 | Utah |
Analysis
While these polls are certainly worthwhile in terms of generating discussion and arguments, they are ultimately meaningless in the playoff picture. The selection committee will release its updated rankings Tuesday, which will give fans a better picture of where their teams stand.
However, the argument can be made that these polls are something of a teaser as to what the official rankings will look like.
The SEC may be the most talked-about conference in all of college football, but the most interesting dilemma is in the Big 12. TCU is ranked one spot ahead of Baylor in the AP poll even though both teams have one loss and the Bears beat the Horned Frogs in their head-to-head showdown.
Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports had some interesting clarifications from the conference:
Could the Big 12 be the conference to get two teams into the playoffs instead of the SEC? How much weight will the head-to-head victory carry for Baylor?
The answers to those questions from the selection committee could shape the entire landscape of the playoff race.
One conference that is fairly straightforward is the Pac-12. It appears that we are headed toward a clash between Oregon and Arizona State in the conference title game, and the winner will almost assuredly reach the College Football Playoff. The Sun Devils were impressive Saturday against Notre Dame, and the Ducks are hitting on all cylinders behind Marcus Mariota and the high-octane offense.
Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and Cecil Hurt of The Tuscaloosa News provided some positive updates for the Ducks after Week 11:
Elsewhere, it is a somewhat popular notion that the Big Ten is out of the playoff race now that Michigan State has two losses, but the Ohio State Buckeyes are hanging around. Kirk Herbstreit and Mike Greenberg of ESPN both noted that the Buckeyes were very impressive Saturday in their victory on the road against the Spartans:
The problem with Ohio State’s playoff chances is the inexplicable home loss it suffered early in the season to Virginia Tech. Yes, that was only J.T. Barrett’s second career start behind an inexperienced offensive line, but the Hokies are in last place in the ACC Coastal Division.
Bill Rabinowitz of The Columbus Dispatch described the paradox that comes with voting for the Buckeyes:
Then there is the SEC.
Kyle Tucker of The Courier-Journal presented the doomsday scenario for the conference:
The SEC West has so many dangerous teams that it is not that difficult to envision a scenario where everyone has two losses. There is also the possibility that Missouri wins the conference championship against the SEC West representative, which would be an absolute disaster for the league’s playoff hopes since the Tigers lost to Indiana.
As long as the Bulldogs continue to win, though, the SEC will have at least one representative. Quarterback Dak Prescott knows that style points don’t matter nearly as much as winning, via Alex Scarborough of ESPN.com: “A win is a win. I don’t care. I don’t care if it’s by one point of whatever, it doesn’t matter to me as long as we’re winning.”
It's hard to argue with that.
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