Week 14 Recap: No Chaos for Stanford Men

Your Top 25:

That offsides penalty was also a reach.

[Streeter Lecka/Getty Images]

Rk	Δ	Team	Pts	SD
1	+2	Clemson	66.2	22.3

Clemson retook the top spot after winning the ACC Championship and ending the season as the lone undefeated team. The Tigers dominated statistically, but North Carolina had a chance before an erroneous offsides penalty undid a Tarheel-recovered onside kick. UNC would still have had to score a touchdown and two-point conversion just to send the game into overtime, but it would've been nice for the boys in the blue and the boys in the orange to have decided the outcome of the game instead of the zebras.

2

0

Alabama

62.3

16.7

Bama likewise dominated Florida statistically in the SEC Championship, getting 18 more first downs, 257 more yards, and nearly 27 more minutes of possession. Derrick Henry rushed for 189 yards, breaking Herschel Walker's SEC record for most rushing yards in a season in the process.

3

-2

Oklahoma

62.2

27.2

Not having a conference championship game to play in, Oklahoma fell to #3. But fret not, the Sooners are in.

4

0

Ohio State

60.6

25.0

The Buckeyes may not have played in the Big Ten Championship, but the Math still thinks they're the best team in the conference.

5

+3

Michigan State

54.1

17.6

MSU put together a 82-yard, 22-play drive to score the game-winning touchdown to beat Iowa 16-13 in a defensive battle worthy of the Big Ten Championship. Brushing aside Archie Griffin to accept the MVP Trophy half-named after Archie Griffin? Not so worthy of the Big Ten Championship.

6	-1	Navy	53.5	24.0
7	+2	Houston	52.4	19.1
8	+2	Notre Dame	52.1	10.1
9	+2	Stanford	49.6	18.9
10	+2	Florida State	49.6	18.1
11	-5	Iowa	49.3	20.2
12	+24	North Carolina	48.8	23.1
13	-6	Baylor	47.4	18.0
14	0	Ole Miss	44.1	18.5
15	-2	TCU	44.0	19.4
16	-1	Michigan	43.2	23.7
17	+2	LSU	42.3	20.0
18	+2	Toledo	42.2	16.7
19	-1	Appalachian St.	41.5	22.7
20	-4	Utah	41.4	18.1
21	0	Memphis	41.4	24.2
22	+5	Bowling Green	41.1	22.1
23	+2	Northwestern	40.6	26.2
24	-2	Oregon	40.2	25.2
25	+1	Wisconsin	39.7	16.0

See full rankings here.

Teams falling out of the Top 25:

(29) Florida tumbled after losing the SEC Championship to Alabama.

(37) Georgia Southern was upset by Georgia State. The Eagles' vaunted rushing offense was held to 135 yards.

(39) USC let Christian McCaffrey have his way with the Trojans (McCaffrey had 461 all-purpose yards, topping Barry Sanders' single-season record in that statistic), as USC gave up 41 points to Stanford (again) and lost the Pac-12 Championship.

Team worse than the average FCS team: In the end, it was (129) North Texas. It was always North Texas. But hey, the Mean Green just hired a new coach, North Carolina's OC Seth Littrell. 

Largest improvement in rank: +24 North Carolina rose meteorically after holding their own against #1 Clemson and after, uh, I fixed a mistake in the code.

Largest drop in rank: -20 Georgia Southern has the rushing-est offense in the nation, but last week's 135 yards in a 34-7 loss to Georgia State was the worst this season. The Eagles even managed 195 yards in their season-opening 44-0 loss to West Virginia.

Most consistent team: Notre Dame finished 10-2, earning them a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. The Irish only lost to conference champions Clemson and Stanford.

Least consistent team: New Mexico didn't play last week and retained this title.

Conference Rankings

Conference	Average
SEC	30.92
Big Ten	30.74
ACC	30.56
Big XII	29.74
Pac-12	28.59
American	25.41
Mountain West	18.63
MAC	18.18
Sun Belt	13.81
C-USA	12.94

THREE MORE THINGS

[Chris Morris/ESPN]

They’re In: Clemson, Alabama, and Michigan State won their respective conference championships, joining Oklahoma in this year's Playoff. Stanford, for their part, got it done against USC, but as a two-loss team, the Cardinal needed Florida or North Carolina to knock off the presumptive conference champion to open a spot for them. That didn't happen, so Stanford joins the Michigan State-defeated Iowa and Ohio State as the first three out.

Nope [Jay Janner/Amercian-Statesman]

Baylor-Texas: Injuries took their toll on the Bears. Just four weeks ago, Baylor looked like the best team in the Big XII before falling to Oklahoma, TCU, and now Texas at home. Third-string quarterback Chris Johnson got injured in this game, and fourth-string Lynx Hawthorne averaged less than three yards per attempt and threw two interceptions. Add in two fumbles and you get a foot-shooting total of four Baylor turnovers (compared to Texas's zero) that the Bears couldn't overcome. Baylor played themselves out of a New Year's Six berth; meanwhile, Texas, despite being the only team to beat both Oklahoma and Baylor, finished the season 5-7. The Longhorns are probably the best team not going bowling.

The Prisoner Exchange [Danny Wild/USA Today]

Army-Navy: Both Army and Navy have some of the rushing-est offenses in the nation; both of their rushing offenses are in the top eight, and both of their passing offenses are in the bottom three. But the Midshipmen are at 9-2, while the Black Knights are at 2-9. What accounts for the differences? Navy's rushing offense is more prolific, running for 76 more yards per game, and the Midshipmen's turnover margin sits at +14 compared to Army's -8. The Math expects Navy to add on to their 13-game winning streak in this rivalry, marking them as 36-point favorites. The game airs on CBS at 3 PM ET.