Week 14 Top 25

Top 25

RK	CFB Playoff Poll	AP Poll	Jeremy	Nick
1	Alabama	Florida State	Florida State	Alabama
2	Oregon	Alabama	Alabama	Florida State
3	Florida State	Oregon	Oregon	Oregon
4	Mississippi State	Mississippi State	Miss State	Baylor
5	TCU	Baylor	Baylor	Mississippi State
6	Ohio State	TCU	TCU	TCU
7	Baylor	Ohio State	Ohio State	Georgia
8	UCLA	Georgia	Georgia	Kansas State
9	Georgia	UCLA	Kansas State	Ohio State
10	Michigan State	Michigan State	UCLA	UCLA
11	Arizona	Kansas State	Michigan State	Michigan State
12	Kansas State	Arizona	Wisconsin	Arizona
13	Arizona State	Arizona State	Arizona State	Arizona State
14	Wisconsin	Wisconsin	Arizona	Wisconsin
15	Auburn	Auburn	Missouri	Georgia Tech
16	Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech	Missouri
17	Missouri	Missouri	Auburn	Auburn
18	Minnesota	Ole Miss	Marshall	Minnesota
19	Ole Miss	Marshall	Colorado State	Marshall
20	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Ole Miss	Colorado State
21	Clemson	Colorado State	Clemson	Oklahoma
22	Louisville	Minnesota	Minnesota	Ole Miss
23	Boise State	Clemson	Oklahoma	Clemson
24	Marshall	Louisville	Boise State	Boise State
25	Utah	Boise State	Louisville	Louisville

Movers and Shakers

Not much change in the top 10 after week 13.  Ole Miss is the biggest loser of the week, in more ways than one as their remote playoff hopes were dashed in a 30-0 butt-whipping.  As a result, UCLA, Georgia and Michigan State all move up a spot.  

The biggest winners in the polls this week is Ohio State and Arizona.  The Buckeyes get another win and lock up the Big Ten East and Minnesota’s win over Nebraska further improves Ohio State’s strength of schedule.  Of all the teams on the playoff bubble, Ohio State might be in the best position.  The Wildcats get a big boost after crushing Utah in Utah over the weekend.  They jump from No. 15 last week to No. 11 this week and with ASU on deck, they’ve got a chance to get another quality win.  Arizona needs UCLA to lose to get into the Pac-12 Championship but should they win out (win the Pac-12), they would have to be a serious contender.

Playoff Picture

Let’s roll up our sleeves and take a look at the contenders.

No.’s 1-3 Alabama, Oregon, Florida State- Win and you’re in.

No. 4 Mississippi State- The Bulldogs are currently sitting at No. 4 and if the playoff started today, they’d be in.  Unfortunately, the loss to Alabama is going to work against them.  I don’t see the committee letting in a team that doesn’t win its conference in year one.  Baylor and/or TCU are nipping at their heels and Ohio State and UCLA as possible conference champions are all in better positions in my opinion.  

No. 5 TCU- TCU has one fatal flaw- Baylor.  If Baylor losses it hurts TCU’s strength of schedule and if Baylor wins, they should get the nod over TCU.  The Horned Frogs have a chance at a solid win on the road at Texas but their best opponents are well behind them and Baylor has more high-profile games to finish the season.  The Horned Frogs will probably need losses by Mississippi State, Oregon and probably Ohio State to get in.

No. 6 Ohio State- I think Ohio State as a Big Ten would get the nod over Mississippi State and would jump TCU.  They probably need a Baylor loss (which would also help them jump TCU) and if Bama, Oregon or FSU lose, OSU’s in.

No. 7 Baylor- I like the position the Bears are in, despite sitting at No. 7.  If the Bears beat Texas Tech and Kansas State in the next two weeks, they’ll jump TCU.  K-State should still be sitting around No. 12 when they face Baylor and that would be a huge win on the final weekend of the season.  With two more impressive wins to finish the season, I think Baylor has a better resume than Ohio State and would get in over Mississippi State.

No. 8 UCLA- The Bruins are all of a sudden a pretty legit contender.  They’ve played their best football of the season the last two weeks and a win over Stanford this weekend puts them in the Pac-12 Championship and a rematch with Oregon.  If UCLA can beat Stanford and knock off Oregon, they would have to be in serious consideration.  They would need one of the other top four to lose and probably TCU or Baylor as well, but they have good wins and you could make a case for a two-loss Pac-12 winner.

No. 9 Georgia- Georgia needs some serious help, starting with a Missouri loss, which would give the Bulldogs the nod in the SEC East.  If Georgia wins the SEC, the whole playoff picture is going to get very interesting, especially if Miss State is 11-1.  That said, I think the SEC winner is in, regardless of record.

No. 10 Michigan State- Out.

No. 11 Arizona- The Wildcats are moving in the right direction but they would need losses by UCLA, Baylor/TCU and probably Alabama and Mississippi State as well.  

No. 13 Arizona State- They need to beat Arizona, UCLA to lose, beat Oregon and have losses from pretty much everyone else ahead of them.

No. 17 Missouri- The Tigers have a long way to go but, if they beat a surging Arkansas team and win the SEC, they will have a pretty strong case.  In reality, Missouri has more control over their fate than Georgia and Mississippi State and as an SEC Champ might be able to force out OSU, TCU or Baylor, even with two losses.  Thirteen spots is a lot of ground to make up but would the committee really leave out the SEC Champ?

 

Win and you’re in

Alabama

Oregon

FSU

Ohio State

Help Wanted

Missouri

Mississippi State

TCU

Baylor

UCLA

Georgia

Arizona

Arizona State