College Football Rankings 2015: Reviewing AP, Amway Polls and Week 8 Standings

There are several ways to keep a season and national championship dream alive. Football fans are familiar with most of them: onside-kick recoveries, Hail Marys, hook-and-ladder plays, blocked field goals, huge goal-line stops and gutsy two-minute drives.

Any one of those would be a fine, thrilling way to save a season, but you've seen them all before.

There was nothing like Saturday. Michigan State found a novel way to fulfill its destiny in its big win over Michigan. The still-undefeated squad won and blurred the line between improbable and impossible, and now it's ranked No. 4 in the new Amway Coaches poll and No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25. Here's the play.

The College Football Playoff dream is very much alive for the Spartans, as well as a host of other teams they'll have to hold off in the coming weeks.

Here are the updated Amway Coaches and Associated Press polls for Week 8, along with Bleacher Report's take on the college football landscape. 

Ohio State is still deservedly No. 1 after a 38-10 win over Penn State. The Buckeyes still haven't reached the incredible highs of their first couple of games of the season, but as the defending national champs, it's their spot to hold until they lose (which might never come).

The ride has been far less rocky than the one Florida State took folks on last season as the top-ranked squad, with the major issue—and the surest sign of the Buckeyes' incredible talent and depth—the quarterback battle between Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett. 

The speed and agility Barrett flashed might earn him a greater share of snaps in Week 8 against Rutgers. ESPN's John Buccigross pointed out the Buckeyes were much better with him in the game: 

TCU and Baylor seem destined to create another CFP controversy by continuing to blow out teams and hang in the Top Four. Trevone Boykin puts up eye-popping stats every week, and Baylor's Corey Coleman is the best wideout in college football. Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman relayed a ridiculous statistical nugget:

If both remain undefeated until their November 27 matchup, it's going to create quite a conundrum for the losing squad, especially if the likes of the Spartans, LSU, Clemson and Utah—reps from the other Power Five conferences—are still undefeated and looking to squeeze into the playoffs.

The SEC's aura isn't quite as powerful this season, with just LSU and Alabama in the Top 10. The Tigers could be the best bet to claw their way into the CFP, with Leonard Fournette again proving he's the best player, not just running back, in college football and quarterback Brandon Harris stepping up in the passing game.

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Against an excellent Florida defense allowing under 100 rushing yards a game coming into the contest, Fournette carried the ball 31 times for 180 yards and two touchdowns, while Harris put up his second consecutive 200-yard passing performance.

Check out his arm on this incredible running throw to Malachi Dupre for a 50-yard touchdown, via ESPN:

The big chutes-and-ladders move in the rankings came courtesy of Memphis' 37-24 win over Ole Miss. It sent the Rebels tumbling down the rankings and immediately into also-ran status, while the Tigers got some love from the pollsters with spots in the Top 25. Memphis head coach Justin Fuente was proud of his team for responding after starting off the game in a 14-0 hole.

"Invariably when you've got a young, inexperienced team, they get out there and try to do more than they're supposed to," he said, via ESPN.com. "They settled down and made some plays."

Memphis could be the class of the smaller-conference squads, as the win vaulted the team past other upstart, ranked squads like Houston, Temple and Toledo. Considering its relative youth, Memphis might be a spoiler team to watch next season, but it could have a tough time against Houston and Temple in back-to-back games in November.