2014 college football rankings, Week 5: The composite Top 25

A wild fourth week in college football saw more than a few upsets, but mostly saw a number of top teams survive tests. Oklahoma, Oregon, and Florida State each won conference games by a closer margin than they may have hoped, while LSU was the most notable casualty, falling to Mississippi State.

The polls are both here, as well as Sagarin’s and Football Outsiders’ rankings. The Bulldogs are the big risers, making their first appearance in the polls, while East Carolina enters as well. Explanations of the different rankings and what they mean follow below.

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.