Another week down, another wild slate of games in college football. Six undefeated teams remain, as well as 22 one-loss power-conference teams. Mississippi State has officially removed Florida State from the top spot, with Ole Miss and Baylor filling out the other two hypothetical playoff spots in both the AP and Coaches Polls.
2014 college football rankings, Week 8: The composite Top 25
Before this season, Ole Miss hadn’t ranked in the AP Poll’s top five since 1964. Mississippi State had never ranked higher than No. 7. Now one of them is No. 1 and both are in the top three.


We’ve combined those polls with two long-running computer standings for this week’s broadest look at college football rankings:
| Composite | Average | AP | Coaches | F/+ | Sagarin | ||
| 1 | Mississippi State | 1.75 | 1 | Mississippi State | Mississippi State | Ole Miss | Auburn |
| 2 | Ole Miss | 2.25 | 2 | Florida State | Florida State | Mississippi State | Ole Miss |
| 3 | Auburn | 4.5 | 3 | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Auburn | Mississippi State |
| 4 | Baylor | 5 | 4 | Baylor | Baylor | Oklahoma | Oklahoma |
| 5 | Florida State | 7.25 | 5 | Notre Dame | Notre Dame | TCU | Baylor |
| 6 | Alabama | 7.5 | 6 | Auburn | Michigan State | Oregon | Alabama |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 7.5 | 7 | Alabama | Alabama | Baylor | Georgia |
| 8 | Oregon | 8.5 | 8 | Michigan State | Auburn | Stanford | TCU |
| 9 | Georgia | 9 | 9 | Oregon | Oregon | Georgia | Texas A&M |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 9 | 10 | Georgia | Georgia | Alabama | Oregon |
| 11 | TCU | 9.25 | 11 | Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Clemson | Florida State |
| 12 | Michigan State | 11.75 | 12 | TCU | TCU | Louisville | LSU |
| 13 | Ohio State | 14.25 | 13 | Ohio State | Ohio State | Notre Dame | Notre Dame |
| 14 | Stanford | 16.75 | 14 | Kansas State | Kansas State | Florida State | Michigan State |
| 15 | Kansas State | 18.5 | 15 | Oklahoma State | Oklahoma State | UCLA | Ohio State |
| 16 | Clemson | 18.75 | 16 | Arizona | East Carolina | Ohio State | Stanford |
| 17 | Nebraska | 21 | 17 | Arizona State | Arizona | USC | Kansas State |
| 18 | USC | 21.25 | 18 | East Carolina | Arizona State | Virginia Tech | Clemson |
| 19 | Texas A&M | 21.75 | 19 | Nebraska | Nebraska | Michigan State | Florida |
| 19 | UCLA | 21.75 | 20 | Utah | Stanford | Marshall | UCLA |
| 21 | Oklahoma State | 22.25 | 21 | Texas A&M | Texas A&M | Georgia Tech | USC |
| 22 | Arizona State | 22.5 | 22 | USC | Clemson | Nebraska | Tennessee |
| 22 | Arizona | 22.75 | 23 | Stanford | Utah | Virginia | Utah |
| 24 | Utah | 23.5 | 24 | Clemson | Marshall | Rutgers | Nebraska |
| 25 | LSU | 25.25 | 25 | Marshall | USC | Miami | Arkansas |
The four rankings we use:
The Associated Press Top 25: The longest-running and best-respected human poll. Didn’t have any official bearing on the latter years of the BCS, and won’t have any official bearing on the Playoff. Expect it to set the course for the committee, however, as most outlets (including SB Nation) will use the AP’s rankings as the standard until the committee takes over in October. Usually comes out Sundays around 2 p.m. ET.
The USA Today Coaches Poll: Formerly part of the BCS, and now just a poll. It tends to be more conservative than the AP’s. Though polling athletic departments in order to rank other athletic departments is dubious, we still want multiple human polls in here, and it’s the other big one. Releases early Sunday afternoons.
Jeff Sagarin’s Sagarin Rating: An early-morning insta-ranking that combines three of Sagarin’s computer formulas into one. This is not the formula the BCS used, which excluded margin of victory.
Football Outsiders’ F/+ rating: A synthesis of ratings by smart persons Bill Connelly and Brian Fremeau and our personal go-to overall team stat. It tends to come out later than the others.
Last week’s composite Top 25:
| Composite | Average | AP | Coaches | F/+ | Sagarin | ||
| 1 | Auburn | 2.5 | 1 | Florida State | Florida State | Ole Miss | Auburn |
| 2 | Ole Miss | 2.75 | 2 | Auburn | Auburn | Mississippi State | Oklahoma |
| 3 | Mississippi State | 4.75 | 3 | Mississippi State (tie) | Baylor | Oklahoma | Ole Miss |
| 4 | Alabama | 5.5 | 4 | Ole Miss (tie) | Ole Miss | Alabama | Alabama |
| 4 | Baylor | 5.5 | 5 | Baylor | Notre Dame | Auburn | Baylor |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 6.25 | 6 | Notre Dame | Mississippi State | Oregon | Texas A&M |
| 7 | Florida State | 6.75 | 7 | Alabama | Alabama | TCU | TCU |
| 8 | Notre Dame | 7.75 | 8 | Michigan State | Michigan State | Stanford | Mississippi State |
| 9 | TCU | 8.75 | 9 | TCU | Oklahoma | Baylor | Notre Dame |
| 10 | Oregon | 10 | 10 | Arizona | Georgia | UCLA | Georgia |
| 11 | Michigan State | 11 | 11 | Oklahoma | Oregon | Notre Dame | Oregon |
| 12 | Texas A&M | 12.5 | 12 | Oregon | TCU | Florida State | UCLA |
| 13 | Georgia | 13.5 | 13 | Georgia | Arizona | Ohio State | Florida State |
| 14 | UCLA | 14.25 | 14 | Texas A&M | Texas A&M | Michigan State | Michigan State |
| 15 | Ohio State | 15 | 15 | Ohio State | Ohio State | Marshall | Stanford |
| 16 | Stanford | 17.5 | 16 | Oklahoma State | Kansas State | Texas A&M | LSU |
| 17 | Arizona | 18.25 | 17 | Kansas State | UCLA | Louisvlle | Ohio State |
| 18 | Kansas State | 21.25 | 18 | UCLA | Oklahoma State | Virginia Tech | Clemson |
| 19 | Clemson | 22.25 | 19 | East Carolina | East Carolina | Arizona | USC |
| 20 | Nebraska | 22.5 | 20 | Arizona State | Arizona State | Clemson | Florida |
| 21 | LSU | 24.25 | 21 | Nebraska | Nebraska | Georgia | Kansas State |
| 22 | Louisvlle | 25 | 22 | Georgia Tech | Stanford | USC | Arkansas |
| 22 | USC | 25 | 23 | Missouri | Georgia Tech | LSU | Nebraska |
| 24 | Oklahoma State | 25.5 | 24 | Utah | Missouri | California | Wisconsin |
| 25 | Marshall | 26.5 | 25 | Stanford | Clemson | Nebraska | Louisvlle |

















