Alabama holds onto No. 1 spot in Power Rankings after Week 13
Finales are tricky. How do you sum up something that meant so much and had so much work put into it with one episode or a single event? By their very nature, finales only invite failure and disappointment.
If you leave it up to interpretation (think The Sopranos) you run the risk of not saying enough for your viewer. If you check off all the boxes and make it neat and tidy (Breaking Bad, for instance), you’re not giving your audience enough credit. The shows that get canceled and really shouldn’t have been -- Freaks and Geeks comes to mind, and more recently, the short-lived Fox show Enlisted -- sometimes get it right on accident. There’s something more natural about an unexpected finish.
Finales are, well, final, but when they’re scripted, they don’t feel that way. Thankfully we don’t have to worry about that with college football. The end of the regular season has plenty of storylines that need closure, but even when we think we have it all figured out, something like the 2013 Iron Bowl happens. As finales go for the general college football viewing public, that was perfect. Unless of course you’re an Alabama fan.
It’s time to see what happens when we close the book on the 2014 regular season before conference championships effectively put a coda on the year and set the stage for the first College Football Playoff.
• ELLIS: Bowl Projections: Can Baylor make late playoff surge?
1. Alabama Crimson Tide
PREVIOUS: 1
RECORD: 10-1
2. Florida State Seminoles
PREVIOUS: 2
RECORD: 11-0
3. Oregon Ducks
PREVIOUS: 3
RECORD: 10-1
Next game: Saturday at Oregon State
4. Baylor Bears
PREVIOUS: 4
RECORD: 9-1
Next game: Saturday vs. Texas Tech
5. Mississippi State Bulldogs
PREVIOUS: 5
RECORD: 10-1
6. TCU Horned Frogs
PREVIOUS: 6
RECORD: 9-1
Next game: Thursday at Texas
7. Ohio State Buckeyes
PREVIOUS: 7
RECORD: 10-1
Next game: Saturday vs. Michigan
8. Michigan State Spartans
PREVIOUS: 8
RECORD: 9-2
Next game: Saturday at Penn State
9. Georgia Bulldogs
PREVIOUS: 10
RECORD: 9-2
Next game: Saturday vs. Georgia Tech
10. Kansas State Wildcats
PREVIOUS: 11
RECORD: 8-2
Next game: Saturday vs. Kansas
11. UCLA Bruins
PREVIOUS: 12
RECORD: 9-2
Next game: Friday vs. Stanford
12. Arizona State Sun Devils
PREVIOUS: 13
RECORD: 9-2
Next game: Friday at Arizona
13. Arizona Wildcats
PREVIOUS: 14
RECORD: 9-2
Next game: Friday vs. Arizona State
14. Wisconsin Badgers
PREVIOUS: 15
RECORD: 9-2
Next game: Saturday vs. Minnesota
15. Auburn Tigers
PREVIOUS: 16
RECORD: 8-3
Next game: Saturday at Alabama
16. Colorado State Rams
PREVIOUS: 18
RECORD: 10-1
Next game: Friday at Air Force
17. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
PREVIOUS: 19
RECORD: 9-2
Next game: Saturday at Georgia
18. Marshall Thundering Herd
PREVIOUS: 17
RECORD: 11-0
Next game: Saturday vs. Western Kentucky
19. Missouri Tigers
PREVIOUS: 21
RECORD: 9-2
Next game: Friday vs. Arkansas
20. Oklahoma Sooners
PREVIOUS: 23
RECORD: 8-3
Next game: Dec. 6 vs. Oklahoma State
21. Ole Miss Rebels
PREVIOUS: 9
RECORD: 8-3
Next game: Saturday vs. Mississippi State
22. Clemson Tigers
RECORD: 8-3
Next game: Saturday vs. South Carolina
23. Louisville Cardinals
RECORD: 8-3
Next game: Saturday vs. Kentucky
24. Boise State Broncos
RECORD: 9-2
Next game: Saturday vs. Utah State
25. Minnesota Golden Gophers
RECORD: 8-3
Last game: Beat Nebraska, 28-24 Next game: Saturday at Wisconsin
Next five: Nebraska, Arkansas, LSU, USC, Memphis
• STAPLES: Rivalry week set to bring playoff picture into focus
