College Football Rankings 2015: Hits and Misses from the Week 12 Polls
If you're a proud card-carrying member of #TeamChaos, Week 11 was your jam.
Admittedly, it wasn't as chaotic as it could have been, but four teams ranked in the playoff committee's Top 10 lost. Unless undefeated Houston makes a miraculous run to the final four, the playoff will feature at least one one-loss team.
And that's probably still a best-case scenario.
In the interim, it's time to examine all that happened Saturday and parse through the latest USA Today Amway Coaches Poll and the Associated Press Top 25.
Where did pollsters get it right? Where did they swing and miss? We give our two cents in the following slides based not only on the past week's action, but also on what has transpired so far this season.
Hit: Oklahoma
1 of 7
USA Today Amway Coaches Poll: No. 7 (previously No. 11)
Associated Press Top 25: No. 7 (previously No. 12)
Oklahoma is no longer a playoff long shot thanks to a 44-34 win over Baylor on Saturday. Unless the playoff selection committee goes in a vastly different direction Tuesday, the Sooners are in the thick of the conversation.
"[To] go into their backyard on a night like tonight and play this way, you know, we're one of those teams that has a chance," Sooners head coach Bob Stoops said, per Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press.
Last week, I touched on the possibility of OU, of all teams, navigating its way through the Big 12's toughest slate in November. The biggest obstacle was Baylor, a team that has had Oklahoma's number for the past couple of years.
The loss to Texas aside, Oklahoma has been fantastic this year. As far as one-loss teams go, few are playing better than the Sooners.
Miss: Clemson
2 of 7
USA Today Amway Coaches Poll: No. 1 (previously No. 2)
Associated Press Top 25: No. 1 (previously No. 1)
If anyone has read "Hits and Misses" throughout the year, you'd know Clemson is a household favorite around these parts.
But personal feelings and voter tendencies are a different thing. And, well, the coaches poll did an odd thing Sunday by moving the Tigers up to the No. 1 team in the country, dethroning Ohio State. The thing is, Clemson had a survive-and-advance game against Syracuse—which, to be clear, every team has gutted through at least one of those this season—while Ohio State took care of Illinois, 28-3.
Illinois is better than Syracuse. So, why the change now?
The coaches poll is meaningless in the playoff discussion. If anything, it's more closely mirroring last week's playoff poll. Not to mention it only matters if you're in the Top Four.
Still, what a strange move given the timing.
Hit: North Carolina
3 of 7
USA Today Amway Coaches Poll: No. 12 (previously No. 17)
Associated Press Top 25: No. 12 (previously No. 17)
If you want to talk head-scratching losses, no other team besides Oklahoma has one like North Carolina. The Tar Heels' 17-13 loss to South Carolina in Week 1 gets more inexplicable by the week as the Gamecocks keep losing and UNC keeps doling harsh punishments on opponents.
North Carolina is playing as well as anyone recently, with an offense averaging 42 points per game and a much-improved defense. Defensive coordinator Gene Chizik is proving to be an impact assistant coaching hire of 2015, as Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports noted on Twitter.
It bears watching how the playoff committee views the Tar Heels after a 59-21 win over Miami (Florida). If they keep winning, the ACC Championship Game against Clemson might have far greater playoff implications than initially thought.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Miss: Ole MIss
4 of 7
USA Today Amway Coaches Poll: T-25 (previously NR)
Associated Press Top 25: No. 25 (previously NR)
Picking nits at the bottom of the Top 25 polls is generally useless, but ranking Ole Miss—who didn't even play in Week 11—over Memphis, a team that has one fewer loss and beat the Rebels convincingly head-to-head (37-24), is flat-out wrong.
The Tigers are on a two-game losing streak, but those losses came against Navy and Houston, teams that are ranked and a combined 18-1. Additionally, Memphis lost to the Cougars by one point in the final two minutes.
The best win Ole Miss has anywhere on its resume is against Texas A&M, and the Aggies are 7-3, one spot above Auburn at the bottom of the SEC West standings. This is an example of voters needing to see past the SEC and AAC labels and rank the better team accordingly. That better team is Memphis.
Hit: Washington State
5 of 7
USA Today Amway Coaches Poll: No. 23 (previously NR)
Associated Press Top 25: No. 24 (previously NR)
This time last week, Stanford was not only the top team in the Pac-12 North, but putting together a resume as a one-loss playoff contender. It just goes to show you how quickly things can change.
The Cardinal still lead the North standings, but Oregon and Washington State are making up ground. The Cougars have finally entered the Top 25 polls and deservedly so. Despite a slow start that included a Week 1 loss to Portland State, Wazzu is 7-3 with wins over UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon. Luke Falk might be the best quarterback no one is talking about, too.
With games against Colorado and Washington remaining, a 9-3 season is more than realistic.
Miss: TCU
6 of 7
USA Today Amway Coaches Poll: No. 11 (previously No. 12)
Associated Press Top 25: No. 11 (previously No. 13)
Let's be clear: There's surviving and advancing, and then there's surviving and advancing against winless Kansas—with the health status of your Heisman Trophy-contending starting quarterback in question.
Nuance, people.
Trevone Boykin's status for next week's game against Oklahoma is undetermined, but for what it's worth, head coach Gary Patterson is hopeful Boykin will play. Against Kansas, Boykin left with an apparent ankle injury.
"I think Trevone will be back," Patterson said following his team's 23-17 victory over Kansas, per Brandon Chatmon of ESPN.com. "We just couldn't take a chance. They said he shouldn't go, and I said, 'OK.'"
You don't want to drop TCU too far based on a possibility, but it's clear the Frogs aren't the same team without him. And not all wins deserve a bump in the polls, either.
Hit: LSU
7 of 7
USA Today Amway Coaches Poll: No. 17 (previously No. 9)
Associated Press Top 25: No. 17 (previously No. 9)
LSU is getting exposed rapidly. The Tigers have now lost back-to-back games by a combined 31 points.
If running back Leonard Fournette can't carry the team, a number of problems begin to arise. The passing game works in spurts, but it's not nearly enough to compensate if Fournette is slowed. The defense is getting gashed in general against both the pass and the run.
Games against Ole Miss and Texas A&M don't look like surefire victories as they once did. The possibility of LSU losing its last four regular-season games is more of a realistic possibility than it was a few weeks ago.
The Tigers might have one of the best players in the country in the backfield, but even he's not enough to carry this team to an SEC West championship.
Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All quotes cited unless noted otherwise.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
