AP Top 25 College Football Poll 2014 Week 13: Florida State Reclaims Top Spot, Bama Back to Second
ByThe new number one in the Associated Press' college football poll is the old number one, as the Florida State Seminoles reclaimed the top spot from the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Once again, Jameis Winston led Florida State to a comeback win and now the defending national champs are winners of 26 in a row. After beating Mississippi State, Alabama leapt to second overall while the Bulldogs fell to fourth and Oregon and TCU stayed put at third and fifth, respectively.
Mississippi State was not favored to beat Alabama on the road, so the defeat may have gone down as a "good loss" for the voters. Mississippi State may also be able to survive the loss, as they host Vanderbilt and visit Ole Miss for the Egg Bowl to end their season.
However, what remains to be seen is how Alabama will finish their season as they play both Western Carolina and Auburn at home. The College Football Playoff (CFP) committee will determine how far to drop the Bulldogs when they release their rankings Tuesday.
Ohio State inched closer to the top five, rising one spot to seventh overall, one behind a Baylor team that was inactive Saturday. While Georgia may have lost Todd Gurley to an ACL injury, their win over Auburn vaulted them seven spots to ninth overall, though they still remain a game behind Missouri (19) in the SEC East.
Still not technically out of the mix for the SEC West is Ole Miss, who rose to eighth despite being inactive. Their CFP outlook is still bleak, as they will have to beat Arkansas and Mississippi State and then hope for a top-four spot to open.
Rounding out the top 10 is another team whose CFP hopes are all but dashed, as Michigan State rose to 10th after beating Maryland. After losing to Ohio State, the Spartans will need to beat Rutgers and Penn State while the Buckeyes would have to lose to Indiana and Michigan.