NCAA Football Rankings 2014: Week 14 Standings and Analysis for Latest Polls
The switch from the BCS to the College Football Playoff has not devalued the regular season's excitement, but it has certainly devalued the release of the Associated Press and Amway Coaches polls.
The College Football Playoff rankings come out on Tuesday, which will give fans a better idea of where their teams stand in the race for the postseason, but these polls are still something of an early teaser.
With that in mind, here is a look at the latest rankings after Week 13.
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The first thing that jumps out about the Associated Press poll is the fact that Baylor finally moved ahead of TCU.
The debate about which team should be higher in the polls between the Horned Frogs and Bears has raged on for much of the season, even though Baylor beat TCU head-to-head. While that victory is the ultimate trump card for the Bears, the Horned Frogs did have a more impressive nonconference slate, which has kept them afloat in the race for No. 5.
TCU has to play Texas on Thanksgiving, and Baylor has a difficult contest with Kansas State waiting at the end of the season, so neither team is a lock to finish with only one loss.
The second thing that stands out is Florida State’s position at No. 1, even though it was No. 3 in the most recent College Football Playoff rankings. The Seminoles are the only power-five conference team that is still undefeated, so it makes sense, although they have been forced to come back in the second half throughout the season and seem to have a charmed life right now.
Dominant or not, Florida State continues to win. Head coach Jimbo Fisher suggested that is the most important thing, via Heather Dinich of ESPN.com:
"Let me ask you this: How about the way everybody else hasn't finished? Our team has never not finished. The game is 60 minutes. This team hasn't lost in over two years. Everybody says 'game control.' That's something made up. As a coach, you talk about one thing: Finish. Get it done. This team wins in every way, shape and form you can win. Everybody else has failed at least once, no matter what you look at, and some of those teams have lost when they were over 20-point favorites.
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As long as Florida State knocks off its archrival, Florida, and wins the ACC Championship Game, it will be in the Top Four at the end of the year, but questions will remain until it starts to dominate weaker opponents like Boston College.
Another big mover in the latest AP poll was UCLA, which moved up from No. 11 to No. 9.
The Bruins dismantled USC on Saturday, 38-20, and could present an interesting predicament to the selection committee if it managed to win out and beat Oregon in the Pac-12 title game.
The Bruins have two losses, but in that hypothetical, they would jump ahead of the Ducks as conference champs and have marquee wins over Oregon, USC, Arizona and Arizona State. That may just be playoff-worthy depending on what some of the teams ahead of UCLA do between Week 14 and the end of the season.
Finally, the most important thing about any of these polls is the race for No. 4, since it appears as if Florida State, Alabama and Oregon will take up three of the playoff spots if they win out.
Mississippi State is No. 4 in both the AP and Coaches polls and seems to be getting some credit by association for being in the SEC West. Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports and Paul Myerberg of USA Today pointed out just how tough that division has been this season:
The best chance for fellow No. 4 contender Ohio State is if Wisconsin, which is No. 14 in both polls released on Sunday, continues to climb and sets up a marquee showdown in the Big Ten Championship Game. A Buckeyes victory there would test just how much value the selection committee places on conference titles, since Mississippi State wouldn’t be a conference champion if Alabama wins out.
What’s more, the Big 12 would have co-champions without a title game if Baylor and TCU win out.
Until the new playoff rankings are released on Tuesday, fans will simply have to use the AP and Coaches polls as the baseline for any arguments.
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