AP Top 25 College Football Poll 2014 Week 11: SEC Losing its Grip in National Rankings?
ByAuburn and Alabama changed places in the Associated Press college football poll's otherwise unchanged top five.
In week 11 of the rankings, Auburn moved up to third after beating Ole Miss (12) on the road, as an inactive Alabama slid to fourth. Mississippi State (1), Florida State (2) and Oregon (5) all recorded wins and stayed put.
Auburn went into halftime trailing Ole Miss 17-14, having at that point already surpassed what the Rebels allow opponents on average. Auburn outscored Ole Miss 21-14 in the second half, putting up 35 points on a defense that had been allowing about 10 points per game.
While the SEC West still seems to control the top five, the Big 12 is doing the same with the other half of the top 10. After beating West Virginia on the road, TCU jumped four spots to rank sixth in the nation. Leading the Big 12, Kansas State jumped two spots to the ninth spot after beating Oklahoma State. With the nation's highest-scoring offense, Baylor moved up two spots to occupy the 10th spot after beating Kansas.
Kansas State may be undefeated against the Big 12, but that unblemished mark is certainly going to be tested, as three of their last four scheduled games are against TCU, West Virginia and Baylor.
Michigan State (7) remains the Big Ten's highest ranked team, but the Spartans may have to beat Ohio State (13) this Saturday to keep things that way.
Aside from Oregon, Arizona State (11) is the only Pac-12 team on the upper half of the AP's top 25. The Ducks are coming off a 45-16 rout of Stanford and will visit Utah (20) this weekend.
Georgia (17) may no longer be the favorites to win the SEC East, as they conceded the division lead to Missouri after losing 38-20 against Florida. However, the Bulldogs will have Todd Gurley for their final three games, the first of which is against Auburn.