CFB Playoff Rankings: Week 14, FSU Persists at No. 3

This week marks the fourth edition of the playoff committee’s Top 25 rankings. With number one going down, there’s been much speculation this week as to how the rankings would shake-up.

CFB Playoff Rankings, Week 14: FSU Persists at No. 3

The Top Four

Week 14’s CFB playoff rankings are out. The Mississippi State Bulldogs no longer sit atop college football. In their place is the Alabama Crimson Tide, which curiously spiked up to No. 1 following a five-point victory against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Following the Tide are the No. 2 Oregon Ducks, No. 3 Florida State Seminoles, and No. 4 Mississippi State Bulldogs.

If the games were played with these rankings Alabama would host Mississippi State in New Orleans. This location would be a fair location for both teams. Furthermore, if one of the two teams actually benefitted from where the game was played, it would marginally be Mississippi State as they find themselves slightly closer to the Superdome than the Tide.

Oregon still has all the reason to enjoy the No. 2 seed as they would feel like the home team in Pasadena rather than New Orleans against the ‘Noles, who would travel three times farther to get the Rose Bowl.

This whole process doesn’t seem to be doing justice to FSU, as it went on the road this past weekend and took down rival Miami, while Oregon was idle. This game against Miami marked Florida State’s tenth game which matches Oregon’s number of games played. The Seminoles are 10-0 through this stretch, while the Ducks are 9-1, including a home loss to the Arizona Wildcats.

The Big 12

No. 5 TCU checks in just two spots above the Baylor Bears, despite a shockingly narrow victory against one of the worst teams in the power five conferences. TCU edged Kansas 34-30 in a game that was decided on the final drive. On the other hand, No. 7 Baylor was idle following a week in which the Bears handed Bob Stoops his worst loss at Oklahoma when Baylor thrashed the Sooners 48-14.

The Big 10

Halfback Melvin Gordon ran all over Nebraska all day long as the Badgers triumphed over the Cornhuskers in Madison. Gordon rushed for 408 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries, resulting in Wisconsin downing Nebraska 59-24. This performance garnered the Badgers the ranking of 16th, while the Cornhuskers found themselves down seven spots to 23rd.

Meanwhile Ohio State found itself moving up two spots to No. 6 after narrowly escaping Minnesota in a snowstorm. There is no doubt that the Buckeyes will certainly need help if they hope to get into the playoff picture. “Win and you’re in” is no longer an option for Ohio State, as the strength of its conference, paired with their loss, really hinders the Buckeyes.

Bested by the Beavers

Just a short week ago many were anointing Arizona State as one of the hottest teams in college football following a dominant blowout victory against Notre Dame. How do the Sun Devils follow up this performance? A loss to the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis. This terrible loss knocked ASU down seven spots to No. 13 and seemingly out of contentions to make it into the CFB Playoffs, even if there is a “two loss chaos” scenario, given the nature of their two losses.

The ACC

In total, the ACC placed 4 teams in the Top 25: FSU is No. 3, Georgia Tech is No. 18, Clemson is No. 22, and Louisville is No. 24.

Here is this weeks College Football Playoff Committee Top 25:

CFB Playoff Committee Rankings: