NCAA Football Rankings 2014: Week 15 Standings and Analysis for Latest Polls

Over the span of a few hours a handful of the top teams in the nation flirted with College Football Playoff disaster.

Pollsters who were drenched in sweat as the Week 14 slate played itself out were rewarded handsomely—the top three teams in the nation took care of business.

But Alabama made it tough in the Iron Bowl. Florida State pulled a disappearing act for three quarters yet again. TCU and Ohio State suffered various hiccups in the wake of Mississippi State and Dak Prescott taking a dive.

The pollsters have come through, though. All that remains is to break down who is what, where and why—before it all goes up in flames again. 

Week 14 Winners

The king of the castle in this regard is undoubtedly TCU.

Trevone Boykin and the Horned Frogs were in need of some serious help as they took care of business against Texas. They did their part with a 48-10 triumph, then watched as the Bulldogs took a dive and Ohio State lost its starting quarterback for the season (more on that in a bit).

As ESPN Stats & Info points out, the Horned Frogs certainly helped themselves with the schedule, too:

Wins over Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Kansas State will do that for a resume. In the eyes of the CFP committee, it helps that Boykin is one of the best dual-threat players in the nation with his 3,254 passing yards and 26 scores with 598 yards and eight scores on the ground.

Baylor is still feeling pretty good right about now, though. After all, Bryce Petty and Co. have a win over TCU this season, and although things were ugly in a 48-46 win over Texas Tech, there is an outside chance the team jumps the Horned Frogs if it takes down Kansas State next weekend.

Do not forget about Arizona's stunning rise to the top, either. The Wildcats used the chaos around the landscape and a 43-35 win over ranked Arizona State to make another leap in the polls and now gets another shot at Oregon—a team it has already got the best of once this season.

In a similar fashion, Missouri comes out on top of the SEC East thanks to a Georgia loss and a strong performance in the face of an elite Arkansas ground game. Accomplishments aside, the Tigers still have work to do if they want to move past Alabama.

Week 14 Losers

Ohio State gets the nod as the biggest loser of all. 

In an unfortunate turn of events, the Buckeyes took down the Michigan Wolverines in "The Game", 42-28, but lost Heisman contender J.T. Barrett in the process.

Make that two occurrences of that particular bad luck this season for the Buckeyes. Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com captured coach Urban Meyer's thoughts on the matter:

"

[Barrett] is for sure out. We've had two quarterbacks go down, and we're going to find out if we earn our coaching stripes and do a good job getting [Cardale] Jones ready to go. … We've got to go on, and we've got a lot of confidence in the guy that's going to be doing it.

[But] obviously, we lost a Heisman candidate today.

"

Now the question becomes whether or not the Buckeyes can take down a Wisconsin team that just made a statement with a win over Minnesota.

Mississippi State is right behind Ohio State. Despite 282 passing yards and two total touchdowns from Prescott, the Bulldogs could not trump Ole Miss at home in the Egg Bowl. Two losses in three games means the Bulldogs stay behind Alabama in the SEC West and have a fairy-tale season end with a resounding dud.

Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

Say goodbye to UCLA, too. Brett Hundley and the Bruins can now only watch as Arizona moves on thanks to a 31-10 shellacking at the hands of Stanford. The Cardinal have had a down year, but Hundley's 17-of-32 line for 146 yards and a score, paired with miserable defense at home, have ruined the Bruins' shot at the CFP.

Ditto for Georgia. Those Bulldogs got 129 yards and a score out of Nick Chubb, but the defense allowed 399 rushing yards and three scores to Georgia Tech, a team that escaped with a 30-24 road win.

Ohio State takes the cake, but those teams such as Mississippi State taking the dive into the realm of two-loss hopefuls at this time of the season are in serious trouble. The landscape was sure to eventually sort itself out, and if Week 14 was any indication, the process is almost complete.

Stats and information via ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.