Updated: December 5, 2011, 5:19 PM ET
College Football Power Rankings - Week 14
The debate from Sunday evening still rages into Monday. At the end of the regular season, we find ourselves where we were on Nov. 5: LSU and Alabama playing for all the marbles.
Many teams will feel aggrieved, Oklahoma State especially, but also Boise State. The Broncos again proved that only absolute perfection is acceptable for their inclusion in the BCS. USC also will rue a postseason ban that kept it from playing for a Pac-12 title and a possible Rose Bowl berth.
Southern Miss is the only addition to this week's rankings.
Here are the final Power Rankings for the regular season:
Overall | Voters 1-6 | Voters 7-12 | Voters 13-18 | Voters 19-25| College Football Power Rankings - Week 14 | |||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | PTS | COMMENT | |
| 1 | -- Last Week: 1 | 625 | The past five SEC champions have gone on to win the BCS National Championship Game, and LSU is looking to become the sixth. A largely unpredictable season that seemed to have fallen down a rabbit hole had one certainty: the Tigers' dominance. | ||
| 2 | -- Last Week: 2 | 592 | Alabama's inclusion in the BCS title game ensures the SEC will crown a sixth straight champion, whether it's the Tigers or the Tide. Only a field goal in OT separated the two in their previous meeting. Nick Saban will welcome a chance at redemption. | ||
| 3 | -- Last Week: 3 | 583 | Oklahoma State needed a big night and delivered. However, a dominating Bedlam win didn't deliver enough points to make up the necessary ground on Alabama. Crushing OU to earn the Cowboys' first BCS berth isn't the worst consolation prize, however. | ||
| 4 | -- Last Week: 4 | 537 | Once again, Oregon proved to be Stanford's nemesis, but like last year, it didn't prevent the Cardinal from reaching a BCS bowl game. Andrew Luck will (in all likelihood) end his career in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State. | ||
| 5 | 1 Last Week: 6 | 504 | Oregon has proved proficient at beating Pac-12 teams. It's the rest of the country that has stymied the Ducks in recent years. They're off to the Rose Bowl for the second time in three seasons but are looking for their first win there since 1916. | ||
| 6 | 1 Last Week: 7 | 502 | It's unfortunate, really, that Pac-12 fans were deprived of a rematch between USC and Oregon. Instead, the Trojans watched as UCLA, a team they beat 50-0, took their place in the league's inaugural championship game. | ||
| 7 | 3 Last Week: 10 | 463 | The margin for error is slimmest for a team like Boise State, which will have to settle for the Las Vegas Bowl despite being eligible for a BCS at-large berth and finishing No. 7 in the final BCS standings. | ||
| 8 | -- Last Week: 8 | 461 | Bobby Petrino picked a bad season to have his most complete team at Arkansas. Despite injuries, the Razorbacks managed 10 wins but ran into the buzz saws that were LSU and Alabama in the SEC West. | ||
| 9 | 4 Last Week: 13 | 440 | The Big Ten should have tried this whole league championship thing sooner. Wisconsin edged Michigan State in the league's inaugural championship game in one of the most thrilling contests this season. A return to the Rose Bowl awaits. | ||
| 10 | 6 Last Week: 16 | 378 | Kansas State was passed over for a BCS bowl appearance, but the Wildcats finished the season with 10 wins for the first time since 2003 and await perhaps the most enticing of the non-BCS bowls: versus Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. | ||
| 10 | 5 Last Week: 15 | 378 | South Carolina lost its starting quarterback and star running back during the season but managed 10 wins and a Capital One Bowl appearance. Still, the Gamecocks will be disappointed to have lost the SEC East title to Georgia, a team they beat. | ||
| 12 | 5 Last Week: 17 | 331 | The Sugar Bowl can expect Michigan fans to descend en masse to New Orleans for the Wolverines' matchup against Virginia Tech. It's quite the turnaround for a team that gave up 52 points to Mississippi State in last season's Gator Bowl. | ||
| 13 | 2 Last Week: 11 | 298 | It seems a cruel joke to play on Michigan State. The Spartans finally got a chance to play for their BCS destiny but fell to Wisconsin. Adding insult to injury, they have to watch Michigan, a team they beat, play in the Sugar Bowl. | ||
| 14 | 5 Last Week: 19 | 279 | Not since 1991-92 has Baylor beaten Texas in consecutive seasons. The drumbeat for Robert Griffin III's Heisman candidacy is becoming louder after he passed for 320 yards and accounted for four touchdowns in the Bears' win over the Longhorns. | ||
| 15 | 6 Last Week: 21 | 272 | The misery of a late-season swoon dissipated with the prospect of Miami sun. Clemson booked a place in the Orange Bowl with a resounding win over Virginia Tech in the ACC championship game, the Tigers' first league title since 1991. | ||
| 16 | 4 Last Week: 12 | 247 | Georgia started brightly and looked as though it was capable of troubling LSU. But as is typically the case against LSU, the Bulldogs were unable to maintain their momentum into the second half, as the Tigers swept them away and into the Outback Bowl. | ||
| 17 | 1 Last Week: 18 | 245 | TCU had an outside chance at earning a BCS berth but was stuck at No. 18 in the final BCS standings. The Mountain West champions will have to settle for the Poinsettia Bowl against Louisiana Tech. | ||
| 18 | 13 Last Week: 5 | 235 | Virginia Tech was probably the biggest surprise on Sunday night, as the Hokies found themselves playing in the Sugar Bowl against Michigan despite being pasted by Clemson in the ACC championship game, their second loss of the season to the Tigers. | ||
| 19 | 10 Last Week: 9 | 154 | The bright lights of a prospective BCS bowl blinded Houston in the Conference USA championship game, as the Cougars couldn't handle the pressure of the moment and fell to Southern Miss 49-28. The TicketCity Bowl and Penn State await. | ||
| 20 | -- Last Week: 20 | 149 | Nebraska finished 5-3 in the league in its inaugural season in the Big Ten, losing to Wisconsin, Northwestern and Michigan. The Cornhuskers face an enticing postseason matchup against South Carolina in the Capital One Bowl. | ||
| 21 | 7 Last Week: 14 | 143 | Oklahoma was dealt a humiliating defeat at the hands of its in-state rival, the likes of which it has rarely seen. Oklahoma State's 44-10 win ended the Sooners' eight-game winning streak against the Cowboys and relegated them to the Insight Bowl. | ||
| 22 | 4 Last Week: NR | 110 | Southern Miss won a Conference USA championship, crushed Houston's hopes of a BCS bowl and earned itself a trip to Hawaii all in a weekend's work. The Golden Eagles will face Nevada in Honolulu. | ||
| 23 | 1 Last Week: 22 | 88 | West Virginia was expected to be the Big East's representative in a BCS bowl at the beginning of the season. Who could have foreseen then that WVU would soon no longer represent the Big East at all? | ||
| 24 | 1 Last Week: 23 | 62 | Penn State faced rather extraordinary circumstances en route to a 9-3 finish this season. The Nittany Lions finished tied with Wisconsin in the Leaders Division but will face Houston in the TicketCity Bowl. | ||
| 25 | -- Last Week: 25 | 23 | Florida State had as high of expectations as any other team in the country, but a three-game losing streak early in the season destroyed any prospect of realizing them. The Seminoles will finish in the Champs Sports Bowl against Notre Dame. | ||
| Others receiving votes: Cincinnati (17), Notre Dame (6), Virginia (1), Arkansas State (1), Northern Illinois (1) | |||||
 
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