Amway College Football Poll 2015: Week 13 Rankings Unveiled for Top 25 Teams

Another week, another pair of national title contenders seeing those chances dealt a major blow. Don't you just love this time of year? 

Those schools don't. But that's the nature of the beast as we grow closer to deciding the four College Football Playoff selections. In the meantime, let's take a look at the latest coaches and Bleacher Report polls while breaking down the weekend that was.

Analysis

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The defending national champions, Ohio State, lost Saturday. And then the real fireworks began.

Michael Geiger's field goal as time expired gave Michigan State a 17-14 win over the Buckeyes, likely ending the team's shot at a national title barring a Michigan State loss to Penn State next week. With a win, it would be the Spartans and not the Buckeyes that faced Iowa in the Big Ten title game, meaning Ohio State's best-case scenario is a win over Michigan and a spot in the Rose Bowl. 

And that reality seemed to frustrate a few players for Ohio State, namely running back Ezekiel Elliott. 

"How we lost, I just feel like we weren't put in the right opportunity to win this game, we weren't put in the right situations to win this game," Elliott said, per Austin Ward of ESPN. "I don't think Michigan State was better than us. They weren't. We didn't execute."

He then put to bed any notion that he would be returning to the team after this season.

"

Honestly, this is my last game in the Shoe. I mean, there's no chance of me coming back next year. What happened today, it was kind of like a bad, bad dream. Offense had a rough day, and I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed in the play calling, I'm disappointed in the situations we were put in, and I wish it all played out differently.

"

And frankly, more than a few folks agreed with Elliott, like Barrett Sallee of Bleacher Report:

Will Brinson of CBS Sports concurred:

Fran Fraschilla of ESPN felt that Elliott undercut head coach Urban Meyer far too much, however:

Elliott's streak of 15 games with over 100 yards was also snapped Saturday—and with it more than likely his Heisman chances. So it was hardly surprising that he was frustrated, though the fact that he was so openly vocal about it seems indicative of a season in which the Buckeyes have been loaded with talent but consistently seemed off-kilter and prone to underachievement. 

Ohio State wasn't the only team that saw its national title hopes delivered a potential knockout blow, though, as Oklahoma State lost to Baylor, 45-35. With Clemson, Alabama, Notre Dame, Iowa, Oklahoma and Florida all winning—and Baylor and Michigan State posting the most impressive wins on the weekend—the Cowboys were always likely to take something of a tumble down the rankings. 

That result left the Big 12 wide open, however, especially with Oklahoma getting past TCU on Saturday. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State still have a matchup on the schedule, while Baylor has TCU and Texas down the stretch, so quite a lot is left to be decided. For the moment, though, Heisman hopeful Baker Mayfield and the Sooners appear to be the front-runners in the conference and the team most likely of the bunch to reach the College Football Playoff. 

While Clemson, Alabama and Notre Dame seem to control their own playoff destinies at this point, the fourth spot is now wide open, with the Big 12 schools, Iowa and even Michigan State remaining in the running. And, of course, an upset or two down the stretch could really mix things up. 

Hey, it's college football. Unpredictability is about the only thing we can accurately predict at this point.