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The regular season is over for all except Army-Navy, and here were are looking at how things played out. We've been doing weekly poll articles on Sundays (and Tuesday with the playoffs) all season, but I figured this one could wait until Monday. For one, it's not relevant to a game week this week, and for another things are going to be a bit slow over the next week. We'll be taking a bit of a break in posting while there's no football or basketball for a few days. You're still going to get at least two articles a day (and sometimes more) and you're still going to get breaking news, but posting may still hit a bit of a lull.
So, let's take a look at the final rankings:
| Playoff | AP | Coaches | Massey computer composite | |
| 1 | Alabama | Alabama | Alabama | Alabama |
| 2 | Oregon | Florida State | Florida State | Oregon |
| 3 | Florida State | Oregon | Oregon | TCU |
| 4 | Ohio State | Baylor | Ohio State | Ohio State |
| 5 | Baylor | Ohio State | Baylor | Florida State |
| 6 | TCU | TCU | TCU | Baylor |
| 7 | Mississippi State | Michigan State | Michigan State | Ole Miss |
| 8 | Michigan State | Mississippi State | Mississippi State | Mississippi State |
| 9 | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Georgia Tech | Michigan State |
| 10 | Arizona | Georgia Tech | Kansas State | Georgia |
| 11 | Kansas State | Kansas State | Arizona | Auburn |
| 12 | Georgia Tech | Arizona | Ole Miss | Kansas State |
| 13 | Georgia | Georgia | Georgia | Georgia Tech |
| 14 | UCLA | UCLA | Missouri | UCLA |
| 15 | Arizona State | Arizona State | UCLA | Wisconsin |
| 16 | Missouri | Missouri | Arizona State | Missouri |
| 17 | Clemson | Wisconsin | Wisconsin | Arizona |
| 18 | Wisconsin | Clemson | Clemson | LSU |
| 19 | Auburn | Auburn | Auburn | Oklahoma |
| 20 | Boise State | Louisville | Louisville | Clemson |
| 21 | Louisville | Boise State | Boise State | Arizona State |
| 22 | Utah | LSU | Nebraska | Boise State |
| 23 | LSU | Utah | LSU | USC |
| 24 | USC | USC | Oklahoma | Louisville |
| 25 | Minnesota | Nebraska | Utah | Nebraska |
For more on the rankings, visit SBNation.com
One of the things that may jump out at you is that while Auburn was ranked 19th across the board in all of the polls, the Massey Rankings have the Tigers as high as 11th. It's easy to see why even with their record, the Tigers are highly regarded.
Auburn played six teams that ended up ranked in the final College Football Playoff Top 25. Five of those were road games. That plays directly into the reason why the record was 8-4, but the Massey Rankings still have the Tigers as high as 11th. Auburn was a few turnovers and bad plays (and a consistent defense) from being a playoff team or at least one in the final discussion. Sometimes that's just the way things work out, though.
It's not over yet, though. The Tigers will face 18th ranked Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl. We wrote early in the season how the Tigers had as many as 8 Top 25 teams on their schedule at one point during the regular season. The final tally was 6 with a 7th in the bowl game. That is a very tough schedule. It's one that just couldn't overcome any mistakes at all, much less the penalties and turnovers that plagued the Tigers at the most inopportune moments.
This team should go into the offseason with high hopes for next season. Especially if we hear a BOOM in the next few days.
War Eagle, Always.