AP Top 25 College Football Poll 2014 Week 8: Florida State Replaced At the Top By Surging Mississippi State
ByThe Florida State Seminoles (2) have been losing first-place votes atop the AP Top 25 College Football Poll and were finally displaced by the Mississippi State Bulldogs (1).
The new number one beat the then-second-ranked Auburn Tigers (6) Saturday to take a commanding share of first-place votes with 45. Florida State received 12 and third-ranked Ole Miss got three.
Rounding out the top five in week eight of the poll are the Baylor Bears (4) and Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5). Aside from Marshall, which just entered the rankings, the top five teams are the only unbeaten squads left in the poll.
After a dramatic shakeup last week, this one was quite tame in comparison. The Texas A&M Aggies (21) had the largest fall, dropping seven places after losing to Ole Miss, their second consecutive. The Rebels went into College Station and held what may be the most explosive passing game in the sport to 20 points. Even though Texas A&M outgained their opponent, registered more first downs and converted more third downs, they committed more penalties and surrendered three turnovers.
Alabama (7), Auburn, Michigan State (8) and Oregon (9) were four of the most heavily favored teams in preseason to make the inaugural College Football Playoff, but are currently on the outside looking in. Since strength of schedule is bound to be a major factor, Mississippi State and Ole Miss are making compelling cases to represent the SEC in the postseason playoff.
As defending national champions, Florida State figures to take a spot if they can stay undefeated (they play Notre Dame next Saturday). That would leave one more spot open and it is unclear if the selection committee would vote in three teams from one conference.
Teams like Oregon, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Oklahoma are going to need to finish strong in order to get in. The selection committee is not just going to take the AP's top four teams and they will want to draft teams that will make for the most competitive playoff possible.