AP Favors One-Loss Oklahoma over Undefeated Iowa in Latest Top 25 Rankings

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Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

Associated Press voters have seemingly voted on a breeze all season long quick to strike down a team for poor play and over evaluate a team for a lopsided win. Nothing changed in the Week 14 voting seeing a one-loss Oklahoma team jump up a spot over undefeated Iowa to claim the No. 3 spot in the nation.

Oklahoma put up an impressive 58-23 win over Oklahoma State on Saturday but all things with the Big 12 are a lot of smoke and mirrors with a non-impressive non-conference schedule across the board. The proverbial “eye ball” test is all fans and voters have to go by other than Oklahoma’s 31-24 win over Tennessee. What is forgotten is their 24-17 loss to a lowly Texas squad. The Sooners closed out the season with five wins over teams ranked at the time of the contest; then- No. 23 Tennessee, No. 23 West Virginia (44-24), No. 6 Baylor (44-34), No. 18 TCU (30-29), and No. 11 OSU (58-23).

The team downgraded in the Week 14 rankings was Iowa despite remaining undefeated. On Friday Iowa took care of business beating Nebraska 28-20. Nebraska is the one team to defeat Michigan State, 39-38, just four weeks ago. The Hawkeyes have just two wins over teams ranked at the time of play, then- No. 19 Wisconsin (10-6) and No. 20 Northwestern (40-10), but both on the road.

AP No. 4 Iowa will get their day in the spotlight this weekend facing No. 5 Michigan State.

If the AP rankings have any bearing on the College Football Playoff Committee rankings, the top four sports are locked-in with the only positioning left coming from the Michigan State vs. Iowa game. A huge public outcry would take place if Ohio State snuck in the backdoor appearing in the playoffs after not winning their division or the Big Ten Championship Game. After beating Notre Dame 38-36, Stanford knocked the Fighting Irish out of contention but due to their two losses, the Cardinal will not be able to leap frog into a playoff berth even with an impressive win over USC in the Pac-12 Championship Game this weekend.

In and Out

Utah, LSU, USC, and Wisconsin are back in the rankings replacing then- No. 20 Washington State, No. 22 UCLA, No. 23 Mississippi State, and No. 24 Toledo. Without their starting quarterback, WSU fell in the Apple Cup 45-10 to Washington, Utah beat Colorado 20-14, USC knocked off UCLA 40-21, Ole Miss beat MSU 38-27, and Toledo lost 35-30 to Western Michigan at home.

Coming Up in Week 14

The AAC’s competitive balance was on display again seeing Houston defeat then- No. 15 Navy 52-31. Houston and Temple will square off in a highly anticipated AAC Championship Game this week.

North Carolina can play spoiler against Clemson in the ACC Championship Game and Florida gets a chance to knock Alabama out of the playoffs in the SEC Championship Game.

 

Week 14 AP Top 25 Rankings

  1. Clemson (53)
  2. Alabama (8)
  3. Oklahoma
  4. Iowa
  5. Michigan State
  6. Ohio State
  7. Stanford
  8. North Carolina
  9. Notre Dame
  10. Florida State
  11. TCU
  12. Baylor
  13. Northwestern
  14. Oklahoma State
  15. Oregon
  16. Ole Miss
  17. Houston
  18. Florida
  19. Michigan
  20. Temple
  21. Utah
  22. Navy
  23. LSU
  24. USC
  25. Wisconsin

Photo credit: Brody Schmidt; No. 32 Sam Perine gets a first half rushing touchdown against Oklahoma State in the Bedlam Rivalry game.

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