2014 College Football Poll – Week 11 Results

I thought it might be interesting to write one of these after the College Football Playoff poll of the week had come out, to give some thoughts on the process.  This week is a prime example that the committee does things differently than the “old school” way of thinking.  How so? How about a one-loss team (Oregon) leapfrogging an undefeated, defending national champion (Florida State) for the #2 spot?  The AP and coaches polls almost never do such a thing.  Speaking of Frogs, how about TCU using an impressive win over what was then the #7 team to jump a perennial contender in Alabama (fresh off a hard-fought overtime win over the then-#16 team) for the 4^th position?  By the way, Baylor, the team TCU lost to, is 7^th in the poll; that represents another unusual circumstance of two teams with the same number of losses and the head-to-head winner ranked lower.  Of course, there is still time for everything to change, so it really isn’t worth losing sleep over at this point, but it just goes to show you that the way things were done in the past doesn’t mean a thing to the 12 people deciding the fate of the college football world.

The fastest game in college football this year may very well be played on Saturday.  When Georgia Southern takes on Navy in Annapolis, it will be a matchup of the #1 and #2 rushing attacks in the country.  GSU leads the nation with 386.5 rushing yards per game; the Midshipmen average 350.4 per game.  The teams have only attempted 223 passes between them all year, so there won’t be a lot of those pesky incompletions to slow the game down, either.  For comparison, Washington State has thrown the ball 646 times this year – almost three times both GSU and Navy combined!

In small-school news, Harvard isn’t just an academically elite school; they can play some ball as well!  The Crimson currently stands at 8-0 and can wrap up its first undefeated season since 2004 (Ivy League schools do not participate in the postseason) with wins over Pennsylvania on Saturday and Yale in the 131^st edition of “The Game” next week.  Harvard has won the last seven meetings against Yale, and twelve of the last thirteen, but this year’s game will be no simple matter; Yale is currently 7-1.  Yale and Harvard are the two winningest programs in Division I-AA, with 877 and 838 wins, respectively.

Congratulations to GODAWGS, who wins week 11 via tie-breaker over AUBrian!  Both finished with 150 points.  Rudy Ruettiger and Allison each had 147 points, and War Ralphie and JG Bama finished two points farther back at 145 points.

Overall standings after 11 weeks:

As we get deeper into November, the points become more and more crucial, so pick this week’s 15 games wisely and well!  The first games begin on Saturday, November 15 @ Noon ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!