Steppe’s Week 14 AP ballot: Re-evaluating Indiana, Ole Miss after their losses

WASHINGTON — Week 13 was a humbling experience for many college football teams.

Four of the top 16 teams from last week’s poll lost to unranked foes. That includes then-No. 7 Alabama’s 21-point loss to Oklahoma and then-No. 16 Colorado’s 16-point loss to Kansas.

Consequently, my AP ballot ahead of Week 14 has an abundance of movement. All but four teams on my ballot moved up or down by at least two spots. (The exceptions were Oregon at No. 1, Ohio State at No. 2, Texas at No. 3 and Penn State at No. 5.)

Notre Dame leapfrogged Penn State on my ballot for the No. 4 spot, where I previously had no-longer-undefeated Indiana. Penn State struggled against five-loss Minnesota, barely escaping Huntington Bank Stadium with a one-point win. The Fighting Irish, on the other hand, routed then-undefeated Army and now have four ranked wins.

Indiana fans have a long couple days of waiting to see how far they fall in the College Football Playoff rankings after Saturday’s loss to Ohio State. It obviously is not easy to go into Ohio Stadium and win, but the Hoosiers did not look particularly competitive against top-tier competition.

As a result, I dropped the Hoosiers from No. 4 to No. 11 on my ballot. That’s behind two-loss Georgia and Tennessee — teams with much stronger wins on their resume — and fellow one-loss teams Miami (Fla.), Boise State and SMU.

Boise State was much more competitive against in its loss to No. 1 Oregon than Indiana was against No. 2 Ohio State. SMU has better wins on its resume than Indiana has.

Ole Miss, meanwhile, fell seven spots from No. 8 to No. 15 on my ballot after losing to five-loss Florida. The Rebels have quality wins against South Carolina and Georgia, but their three losses — Kentucky, LSU and now Florida — do not look great right now. They remain one spot ahead of the Gamecocks on my ballot because of their head-to-head win.

Four-loss Louisville reentered my ballot after trouncing Pittsburgh. Three of Louisville’s losses were by one possession to teams ranked No. 10 or higher on my ballot, and the other was on a last-second field goal on the road three time zones away.

John Steppe’s Week 14 AP ballot:

Also warranting consideration: Colorado, Syracuse, Kansas State

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

Sign up for our curated Iowa Hawkeyes athletics newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks.