College Football Playoff 2014: Final Predictions for Week 14 CFB System Rankings

With just one regular-season week and conference championships left to be played, time is certainly running out for teams looking to make a run at the College Football Playoff.

Every team that constituted the Top Four last week won over the weekend, but it can be argued that the gap is starting to close with teams like Baylor, TCU and Ohio State lurking closely behind. In addition to that, there is reason to believe that the selection committee could alter the order of its Top Four even if nobody actually drops out.

That could be a major factor over the next couple of weeks, especially due to the perceived importance of winning conference title games.

With the 14th and final week of college football's regular season looming, here is a rundown of the projected College Football Playoff rankings ahead of Tuesday night's release.

Rank	Predicted CFP Poll	Associated Press	Bleacher Report
1	Alabama	Florida State	Alabama
2	Oregon	Alabama	Oregon
3	Mississippi State	Oregon	Florida State
4	Florida State	Mississippi State	Mississippi State
5	Baylor	Baylor	Baylor
6	TCU	TCU	TCU
7	Ohio State	Ohio State	Ohio State
8	UCLA	Georgia	Georgia
9	Georgia	UCLA	Michigan State (T-9)
10	Michigan State	Michigan State	UCLA (T-9)
11	Arizona	Kansas State	Kansas State
12	Arizona State	Arizona	Arizona State
13	Kansas State	Arizona State	Arizona
14	Wisconsin	Wisconsin	Wisconsin
15	Auburn	Auburn	Georgia Tech
16	Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech	Auburn
17	Missouri	Missouri	Missouri
18	Mississippi	Mississippi	Mississippi
19	Oklahoma	Marshall	Oklahoma
20	Minnesota	Oklahoma	Marshall
21	Louisville	Colorado State	Clemson
22	Clemson	Minnesota	Louisville (T-22)
23	Marshall	Clemson	Minnesota (T-22)
24	Colorado State	Louisville	Colorado State
25	Arkansas	Boise State	USC and Utah (T-25)

Alabama Holding Steady

The selection committee is smitten with Alabama and its impressive resume, and it is difficult to imagine the Crimson Tide residing anywhere other than No. 1 when the new rankings are constructed. Bama didn't exactly test itself with a game against Western Carolina Saturday, but it ultimately took care of business with a 48-14 victory.

Alabama is now 10-1 and it is displaying excellent balance. The defense is great as usual, as it is No. 2 in points allowed, while the offense is really clicking as well at a clip of 35 points per contest. Quarterback Blake Sims has blossomed under offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, and the running game has been a handful for the opposition, too.

One concern coming out of last week's game is the health of Heisman Trophy candidate and superstar wide receiver Amari Cooper. The incredible junior has more than 1,300 yards and 11 touchdowns on the season, but he left the Western Carolina game with a knee injury.

According to Cecil Hurt of The Tuscaloosa News, however, head coach Nick Saban isn't at all concerned about the ailment:

That is great news for Alabama as it prepares for an Iron Bowl clash with Auburn. As long as the Tide can avoid an upset against the Tigers or in the SEC Championship Game, they should have the CFP's No. 1 seed locked down.

The Tide are clearly being rewarded for excelling against an extremely difficult schedule, but they can't afford to let their guard down since one loss could easily knock them out of the running.

Mississippi State Remains in Top 4

After holding the No. 1 spot for several weeks, Mississippi State dropped to No. 4 in the CFP by virtue of a five-point loss to Alabama. It would have been easy for the Bulldogs to fold after that, but they did just the opposite by drubbing Vanderbilt 51-0 to improve to 10-1 with Ole Miss looming.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, that marked Mississippi State's most dominant conference performance in nearly 80 years:

In the wake of that convincing victory coupled with quality wins over LSU, Texas A&M and Auburn, the Bulldogs should be safely in the CFP Top Four for this week at the very least. Unfortunately, they may very well be sitting ducks moving forward.

Since Mississippi State is blocked by Alabama in terms of playing for the SEC title, it won't have an opportunity to impress the selection committee. Assuming Bama, Oregon and Florida State all take care of business by winning out and winning their conference titles, the Bulldogs will be in a tough spot.

They are aided by the fact that there is no Big 12 title game, which means BYU and TCU are at the same disadvantage. With that said, Ohio State can win the Big Ten Championship, which may vault the Buckeyes past the Bulldogs.

Mississippi State's win over Vandy was so impressive that it may very well leapfrog Florida State for this week, but Dan Mullen's team will ultimately be at the mercy of the teams around it and the selection committee even if it finishes with only one loss.

Florida State Continues to Slip

Florida State is the defending national champion and is a perfect 11-0 this season, yet an argument can be made that it isn't among college football's top four teams. The Seminoles have been dropping in recent weeks and entered the weekend as the No. 3 seed.

They once again escaped with a win as they defeated Boston College 20-17 on a last-second field goal. These types of wins have become the Noles' modus operandi this season, and while they aren't always pretty, the fact that they get results deserves some respect.

In fact, head coach Jimbo Fisher was very matter-of-fact about his team deserving a CFP spot after narrowly escaping with a win over the Eagles, per Brendan Sonnone of The Orlando Sentinel.

"Why wouldn't it? We're undefeated," Fisher said. "We're undefeated. We finish every game. Everybody else in the country has not finished at least one game. We've finished every one of them. Isn't that the object?"

Florida State absolutely has to remain in the Top Four as the only undefeated team in a power conference, but with only two wins over current Top 25 teams, the selection committee is likely to begrudgingly make that determination.

The committee clearly values the quality of victories more than the quantity of them, which is why the Seminoles could easily fall to No. 4. They still control their own destiny since leaving a perfect team out of the CFP would be an extremely bad look for the new system, but it is clear that Florida State will have to take an "us against the world" mentality into the season's closing weeks.

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