College Football Rankings 2014: Top 25 NCAA Playoff Standings for Week 15
Down go Jameis Winston and the Florida State Seminoles.
The nation's most polarizing team did not lose this past weekend, but it sure feels like it now that the College Football Playoff committee has released its Week 15 standings.
Alabama and Oregon rest in the top two slots as expected, but the Seminoles have been leapfrogged by the TCU Horned Frogs in a turn of events that speaks well as to how the committee sees the playoff shaping up in less than a week.
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For an all-encompassing perspective, here are the Week 15 College Football Playoff, Associated Press and Bleacher Report Top 25 polls.
The Jump and What it Means
Let the outrage begin.
Three one-loss teams now sit above the undefeated Seminoles, a team that touts last year's Heisman winner and 28 consecutive wins.
If that sounds wrong, it really comes down to an eye-of-the-beholder ordeal. As Jeff Long of the CFP committee notes, via ESPN CollegeFootball, Florida State has simply not passed the eye test this year:
It seems to be a fair point. The Seminoles are downtrodden defensively this year. Winston has looked nothing like the player who took the nation by storm last season. He has completed 65.1 percent of his passes for 3,250 yards and 21 touchdowns, but he has 17 interceptions.
The combination of the above two factors has lead the Seminoles to rely on late-game comebacks. Simply put, struggling against NC State, Notre Dame, Louisville, Miami (Fla.), Boston College and Florida will not get it done in the eyes of voters.
Perhaps expectations were too high to begin with, but regardless, the committee has held strong in its stance that the eye test is very much a real thing when it comes to the standings.
Many, such as NFL Network's Albert Breer, disagree with the approach:
Regardless, the CFP now seems set in stone so long as each team in the top four stands tall for one more week.
Alabama is sure to stay in the top slot so long as it can move past Missouri. The same goes for Oregon at No. 2, although Marcus Mariota and Co. have a tough task at hand against Arizona, the only team to beat the Ducks this season.
Odds are that the Seminoles and the Horned Frogs could flip spots once more if both win. TCU has been great this season with wins over Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Kansas State. But a win over two-win Iowa State to end the season puts the team in jeopardy of losing ground.
This is especially the case considering the Seminoles get a shot at No. 11 Georgia Tech, a team that just took down then-No. 9 Georgia and touts a top-20 offense and a top-four rushing attack. A strong showing there for Winston and Co. may mean a jump in the CFP poll.
The above means the writing is on the wall for Ohio State and Baylor. The Buckeyes are down to a third-string quarterback and can only sneak in if one of the top four takes a dive and they overcome a tough Wisconsin team.
Not that coach Urban Meyer agrees, of course, per Rusty Miller of The Associated Press: “You lose one Heisman Trophy candidate before the season starts, and then another guy in game (12) who’s also a Heisman candidate. That’s a positive that your team can still function. It tells you about the talent and depth on your team.”
Even sadder is the outlook for Baylor. Despite a head-to-head win over TCU this season, a laughably easy schedule means that even a win over Kansas State to close the season will not see the Bears make the jump. If TCU and Baylor were that close in the minds of the committee, they would not be three spots apart one week removed from the final standings.
If the playoff were tomorrow, it is still hard to complain. Florida State and Winston against the Alabama defense writes itself. An offensive shootout between Heisman hopefuls Mariota and Trevone Boykin does as well.
Controversy was a guarantee with this process. Thank Winston and the struggling Seminoles for that. Credit also goes to a Big 12 that does not have a title game.
Regardless, the latest CFP rankings have put the pressure right where it belongs—on the teams.
Stats and information via ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
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