2014 NCAA Football Thread

[DCarp1231]

Honestly, I wouldn't have any reservations about putting Mississippi State over Florida State. Yes, FSU is the reigning champs and yes, they're undefeated. But Mississippi State has looked better and beaten better competition. I thought Auburn was the most impressive team in the country, and MSU beat them.

It's not the way these polls work, but the Bulldogs should have the No. 1 spot.

And Notre Dame? Meh. They're winning in spite of themselves. They're not even close to being the 4th or 5th best team in the country. But they're undefeated and Notre Dame, so... Whatever.

I doubt this will happen, but if it does there could be a tie for 1 (Florida State, Mississippi State)

[hailstateunis]

Honestly, I wouldn't have any reservations about putting Mississippi State over Florida State. Yes, FSU is the reigning champs and yes, they're undefeated. But Mississippi State has looked better and beaten better competition. I thought Auburn was the most impressive team in the country, and MSU beat them.

It's not the way these polls work, but the Bulldogs should have the No. 1 spot.

And Notre Dame? Meh. They're winning in spite of themselves. They're not even close to being the 4th or 5th best team in the country. But they're undefeated and Notre Dame, so... Whatever.

I doubt this will happen, but if it does there could be a tie for 1 (Florida State, Mississippi State)

Ties are extremely rare. It was pure coincidence that Mississippi State and Ole Miss tied last week for #3.

You can make cases either way for who will be #1. I'm not sure how it will turn out; I wouldn't be surprised to see Mississippi State ranked #1 in the AP and FSU ranked #1 in the coaches poll.

[DS729]

Honestly, I wouldn't have any reservations about putting Mississippi State over Florida State. Yes, FSU is the reigning champs and yes, they're undefeated. But Mississippi State has looked better and beaten better competition. I thought Auburn was the most impressive team in the country, and MSU beat them.

It's not the way these polls work, but the Bulldogs should have the No. 1 spot.

And Notre Dame? Meh. They're winning in spite of themselves. They're not even close to being the 4th or 5th best team in the country. But they're undefeated and Notre Dame, so... Whatever.

I doubt this will happen, but if it does there could be a tie for 1 (Florida State, Mississippi State)

Ties are extremely rare. It was pure coincidence that Mississippi State and Ole Miss tied last week for #3.

You can make cases either way for who will be #1. I'm not sure how it will turn out; I wouldn't be surprised to see Mississippi State ranked #1 in the AP and FSU ranked #1 in the coaches poll.

Yeah, a "tie" isn't exactly something you're going to be able to bank on every week in the rankings. Mississippi State is the best team in the country at this point, they have 3 wins that can top anything FSU's done this year so far. But at this point, any unbeaten team is going to get in the Top 5 just because of the amount of upsets so far. If Ole Miss keeps up what the're doing (up 21-0 right now) they have a case to jump FSU too. In all honestly, I'd even put Baylor ahead of Florida State. If Ole Miss holds the standings should look like this:

1. Mississippi State

2. Ole Miss

3. Florida State

4. Baylor

5. Notre Dame

And ESPN finally has it's wet dream next week with FSU in Notre Dame in Tallahassee, two Top 5 teams that are unbeaten but winning by slim margins against mediocre opponents.

[Drew22]

Uh, did not think Georgia was going to do that, but I'm not mad about it.

[See Red]

Hate to see my team lose but hopefully that one puts us one step closer to Muschamp being gone and Driskel seeing the bench. What an ugly ending for the Gators. Dropped a sure-fire TD and had to settle for the FG and a tie, force a 3-and-out, and then give it away on a poor decision by Driskel.

[Kramerica Industries]

It has been so depressing watching Florida disintegrate into a lower-tier SEC team on the crappy side of the conference. Until they actually get back to being Florida, they entirely deserve their weekly spot on the ing SEC Network. Right now, the best thing Gator fans can hope for is a six-win season and a bowl berth, and when the standards have sunk so low at this school, then something needs to change, and change ASAP.

I mean, Florida still has to play at Florida State, neutral to Georgia, and at home to Mizzou and South Carolina. I get that the last two aren't all that great. I'd still be shocked if Florida won more than one of those games; it wouldn't be shocking at all if they dropped all four.

[TheRicSlick]

Ole Miss showing the win against Alabama wasn't a fluke. And it looks like Texas A&M needs you Johnny!

[crashcarson15]

That's very much the definition of a stupid game that Notre Dame teams typically lose that they actually didn't lose today so I'm very pleased. Then again, you take away the first five minutes of the game and it's 50-22 going into that last drive and nobody bats an eye at that.

Gonna have to not make a bunch of mistakes next weekend in Tallahassee but meh, North Carolina showed a little bit today why we all pegged them as a potential sleeper team this year, I guess.

Whatever. Survive.

[ninersdd]

USC-Arizona coming down to the wire!

[kewp80]

Uh, did not think Georgia was going to do that, but I'm not mad about it.

Don't think anyone did. I mean Missouri might have one of the best defenses in the nation, but it doesn't matter if the offense can't stay on the field for more than 2 minutes at a time. That was probably the worst showing of the Missouri offense that I've seen since the Larry Smith era. Sheesh.

[FiddySicks]

:censored:ing seriously, USC?

I can't wait to hammer this stupidly overrated Wildcats team later this season.

Edit: BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ninersdd]

F Alex Zendejas jr

Seriously how the hell do you miss 2 30 yarders?

[hbgoo1975]

You know why the defense sucks there? Cuz their leading CB jumped off the roof after trying to assault his girlfriend! THEY SHOULD NEVER HAVE WON THIS GAME! THEY GOT LUCKY! Their racist water polo team gets all the breaks!

[FiddySicks]

Yeah except for the fact that Arizona is the biggest paper tiger in the top 25.

[crashcarson15]

And Notre Dame? Meh. They're winning in spite of themselves. They're not even close to being the 4th or 5th best team in the country. But they're undefeated and Notre Dame, so... Whatever.

I've thought about this but... if you're going to say that Notre Dame isn't the fifth-best team in the country, then who is? Contenders for me would be...

• Auburn: Beat handily by a top-four team, lone good win was one they won in spite of themselves at Kansas State who really probably isn't better than Stanford — we'll likely find that out when they start running through the Big XII "gauntlet."
• Alabama: Lost on the road to Ole Miss. Narrowly beat a team that's now lost 15 straight conference games this week — not really a better team than UNC. Best win is West Virginia? Meh.
• Oklahoma: Best win is also West Virginia. Lost to TCU who in turn lost to Baylor. Struggled to beat a 2-4 Texas team yesterday — once again, not different than Notre Dame's win yesterday.
• TCU: Just blew a 21-point, fourth-quarter lead. But might still have the best argument here.
• Oregon: Lost to Arizona. Narrowly beat Washington State (hey, I'm noticing a trend here too!). Just beat UCLA which is about as good of a win as Stanford is for Notre Dame.
• Michigan State: Lost to Oregon by 19. Almost lost to Purdue yesterday. Best win is... Nebraska? Similar to Stanford?
• Georgia: Lost to South Carolina who... really isn't that good. Best win is Clemson, I guess, who is maybe about as good of a win as Stanford.
• Arizona: Beat Oregon, sure, but lost to a USC team that has a horrible loss to Boston College. Not really in the discussion.

So, yeah, say what you want but that's a group of teams that also don't really have better wins (TCU excluded) and have, in many cases, also struggled with bad teams.

Granted, this week might (and probably will) change that. My hunch is that Notre Dame really isn't the fifth-best team in the nation. But there's nobody else right now that really looks the part.

[crashcarson15]

Also an interesting question worth posing as we head down the road:

Is the committee looking to find the four best teams to compete in the playoff or is the committee looking to find the four teams that might be the best ones in college football?

Example with two teams for the final spot:

Notre Dame goes 11-1, loses to Florida State and Stanford beats USC in the Pac-12 championship game.

Michigan State goes 12-1 with a loss to Oregon and wins over Ohio State and Nebraska (x2).

Who do you put in?

We know Notre Dame wouldn't be better than Florida State but the Irish would both have the better loss and the better top wins.

Do you put in Michigan State though because Notre Dame shouldn't get another crack at FSU in the national semi-final? Or Notre Dame because they have the better resume?

Also what if next weekend's FSU/ND game goes to overtime? Will the loser get a boost because it wasn't a regulation loss? How will the committee look at overtime games?

Can't wait for that first set of rankings to come out in two weeks.

[crashcarson15]

Coaches' Poll is out.

1. Mississippi State
2. Florida State
3. Ole Miss
4. Baylor
5. Notre Dame
6. Michigan State
7. Alabama
8. Auburn
9. Oregon
10. Georgia

[hailstateunis]

Coaches' Poll is out.

• Mississippi State
• Florida State
• Ole Miss
• Baylor
• Notre Dame
• Michigan State
• Alabama
• Auburn
• Oregon
• Georgia

Wow. I did not expect to jump from #6 to #1 in that poll. I thought it would be in the AP poll if it happened. I'm sure Ole Miss fans will complain about being behind FSU (they have a case.). Certainly worth the hour long wait.

EDIT- One vote was the difference. Mississippi State had 1490 votes, FSU had 1489.

FSU had 31 first place votes. MSU had 26, OM had 5.

[hailstateunis]

AP Poll:

1. Mississippi State

2. Florida State

3. Ole Miss

4. Baylor

5. Notre Dame

6. Auburn

7. Alabama

8. Michigan St

9. Oregon

10. Georgia

Mississippi State had 1480 points to FSU's 1415. Ole Miss at 1413.

1st place votes

Mississippi State 45

FSU 12

OM 3

[rams80]

Also an interesting question worth posing as we head down the road:

Is the committee looking to find the four best teams to compete in the playoff or is the committee looking to find the four teams that might be the best ones in college football?

Example with two teams for the final spot:

Notre Dame goes 11-1, loses to Florida State and Stanford beats USC in the Pac-12 championship game.

Michigan State goes 12-1 with a loss to Oregon and wins over Ohio State and Nebraska (x2).

Who do you put in?

Sparty and publicly lament that Notre Dame decided to only keep the Purdue series going of the three B1G series.