CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

The 2014 season

Ohio State finished No. 1 in the final AP poll, 14–⁠1 under Urban Meyer, after it beat Oregon 42–⁠20 in the CFP National Championship. The biggest game by the rankings: No. 3 Mississippi State 38, No. 2 Auburn 23 (Oct 11, 2014). 56 ranked teams lost to unranked or lower-ranked opponents.

Heisman Trophy: Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon, who also won the Maxwell, Walter Camp, Davey O’Brien, Unitas Golden Arm and Manning.

The Heisman vote: Marcus Mariota 2,534 points, Melvin Gordon 1,250
PlayerPoints1st2nd3rd
Marcus Mariota QB, Oregon2,5347887422
Melvin Gordon RB, Wisconsin1,25037432275
Amari Cooper WR, Alabama1,02349280316
Trevone Boykin QB, TCU218845104
J.T. Barrett QB, Ohio State7801940
Jameis Winston QB, Florida State5141019
Tevin Coleman RB, Indiana442822
Dak Prescott QB, Mississippi State422428
Scooby Wright LB, Arizona210413
Bryce Petty QB, Baylor13134

First-, second- and third-place votes (3, 2 and 1 points), from the season’s Wikipedia article, as published.

Scoreboards

Final AP poll

1Ohio State (59)Big Ten
2OregonPac-12
3TCUBig 12
4AlabamaSoutheastern Conference
5Florida StateAtlantic Coast Conference
5Michigan StateBig Ten
7BaylorBig 12
8Georgia TechAtlantic Coast Conference
9GeorgiaSoutheastern Conference
10UCLAPac-12
11Mississippi StateSoutheastern Conference
12Arizona StatePac-12
13WisconsinBig Ten
14MissouriSoutheastern Conference
15ClemsonAtlantic Coast Conference
16Boise StateMountain West Conference
17Ole MissSoutheastern Conference
18Kansas StateBig 12
19ArizonaPac-12
20USCPac-12
21UtahPac-12
22AuburnSoutheastern Conference
23MarshallConference USA
24LouisvilleAtlantic Coast Conference
25MemphisAmerican Athletic Conference

Biggest upsets

Nov 28, 2014Western Kentucky 67, 19Marshall 66Western Kentucky +23
Oct 2, 2014Arizona 31, 2Oregon 24Arizona +22.5
Oct 3, 2014Utah State 35, 18BYU 20Utah State +21
Sep 13, 2014Boston College 37, 9USC 31Boston College +20
Dec 6, 2014Oklahoma State 38, 18Oklahoma 35Oklahoma State +19.5
Nov 15, 2014Northwestern 43, 15Notre Dame 40Northwestern +16.5
Sep 20, 2014Indiana 31, 18Missouri 27Indiana +16
Nov 8, 2014Texas A&M 41, 3Auburn 38Texas A&M +14.5
Nov 29, 201416Georgia Tech 30, 8Georgia 24Georgia Tech +14.5
Oct 4, 2014Utah 30, 8UCLA 28Utah +12.5
Sep 6, 2014Virginia Tech 35, 8Ohio State 21Virginia Tech +12
Oct 18, 201414Kansas State 31, 11Oklahoma 30Kansas State +12

Ranked teams that lost as the betting favorite, the longest shots first, with the winner’s odds on the line; before lines are on file, ranked teams beaten by unranked or lower-ranked ones.

Most exciting games

Sep 13, 2014Middle Tennessee 50, Western Kentucky 47
Sep 27, 2014California 59, Colorado 56
Dec 22, 2014Memphis 55, BYU 48
Nov 15, 201417Arizona 27, Washington 26
Oct 10, 2014UNLV 30, Fresno State 27
Oct 11, 20145Baylor 61, 9TCU 58
Oct 18, 2014Ohio 23, Akron 20
Sep 13, 2014Bowling Green 45, Indiana 42

By CollegeFootballData.com’s excitement index: how far each team’s chance of winning swung, play by play. Games with an FBS team, decided by 16 points or fewer.

The AP poll, week by week

The AP poll’s top 10 in 2014, week by week1510152025Wk 1Wk 3Wk 5Wk 7Wk 9Wk 11Wk 13Wk 15FinalUCLA: Wk 1 No. 7, Wk 2 No. 11, Wk 3 No. 12, Wk 4 No. 12, Wk 5 No. 11, Wk 6 No. 8, Wk 7 No. 18, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 No. 25, Wk 10 No. 25, Wk 11 No. 18, Wk 12 No. 14, Wk 13 No. 11, Wk 14 No. 9, Wk 15 No. 16, Wk 16 No. 14, Final No. 1010 UCLAGeorgia: Wk 1 No. 12, Wk 2 No. 6, Wk 3 No. 6, Wk 4 No. 13, Wk 5 No. 12, Wk 6 No. 13, Wk 7 No. 13, Wk 8 No. 10, Wk 9 No. 9, Wk 10 No. 9, Wk 11 No. 17, Wk 12 No. 16, Wk 13 No. 9, Wk 14 No. 8, Wk 15 No. 15, Wk 16 No. 13, Final No. 99 GeorgiaGeorgia Tech: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 unranked, Wk 7 No. 22, Wk 8 unranked, Wk 9 unranked, Wk 10 unranked, Wk 11 unranked, Wk 12 No. 24, Wk 13 No. 17, Wk 14 No. 16, Wk 15 No. 12, Wk 16 No. 10, Final No. 88 Georgia TechBaylor: Wk 1 No. 10, Wk 2 No. 10, Wk 3 No. 8, Wk 4 No. 7, Wk 5 No. 7, Wk 6 No. 7, Wk 7 No. 5, Wk 8 No. 4, Wk 9 No. 12, Wk 10 No. 12, Wk 11 No. 10, Wk 12 No. 6, Wk 13 No. 6, Wk 14 No. 5, Wk 15 No. 5, Wk 16 No. 4, Final No. 77 BaylorFlorida State: Wk 1 No. 1, Wk 2 No. 1, Wk 3 No. 1, Wk 4 No. 1, Wk 5 No. 1, Wk 6 No. 1, Wk 7 No. 1, Wk 8 No. 2, Wk 9 No. 2, Wk 10 No. 2, Wk 11 No. 2, Wk 12 No. 2, Wk 13 No. 1, Wk 14 No. 1, Wk 15 No. 2, Wk 16 No. 2, Final No. 55 Florida StateMichigan State: Wk 1 No. 8, Wk 2 No. 7, Wk 3 No. 13, Wk 4 No. 11, Wk 5 No. 9, Wk 6 No. 10, Wk 7 No. 8, Wk 8 No. 8, Wk 9 No. 8, Wk 10 No. 8, Wk 11 No. 7, Wk 12 No. 12, Wk 13 No. 10, Wk 14 No. 10, Wk 15 No. 7, Wk 16 No. 7, Final No. 55 Michigan StateAlabama: Wk 1 No. 2, Wk 2 No. 2, Wk 3 No. 3, Wk 4 No. 3, Wk 5 No. 3, Wk 6 No. 3, Wk 7 No. 7, Wk 8 No. 7, Wk 9 No. 4, Wk 10 No. 3, Wk 11 No. 4, Wk 12 No. 4, Wk 13 No. 2, Wk 14 No. 2, Wk 15 No. 1, Wk 16 No. 1, Final No. 44 AlabamaTCU: Wk 1 unranked, Wk 2 unranked, Wk 3 unranked, Wk 4 unranked, Wk 5 unranked, Wk 6 No. 25, Wk 7 No. 9, Wk 8 No. 12, Wk 9 No. 10, Wk 10 No. 10, Wk 11 No. 6, Wk 12 No. 5, Wk 13 No. 5, Wk 14 No. 6, Wk 15 No. 4, Wk 16 No. 6, Final No. 33 TCUOregon: Wk 1 No. 3, Wk 2 No. 3, Wk 3 No. 2, Wk 4 No. 2, Wk 5 No. 2, Wk 6 No. 2, Wk 7 No. 12, Wk 8 No. 9, Wk 9 No. 6, Wk 10 No. 5, Wk 11 No. 5, Wk 12 No. 3, Wk 13 No. 3, Wk 14 No. 3, Wk 15 No. 3, Wk 16 No. 3, Final No. 22 OregonOhio State: Wk 1 No. 5, Wk 2 No. 8, Wk 3 No. 22, Wk 4 No. 23, Wk 5 No. 22, Wk 6 No. 20, Wk 7 No. 15, Wk 8 No. 13, Wk 9 No. 13, Wk 10 No. 13, Wk 11 No. 13, Wk 12 No. 8, Wk 13 No. 7, Wk 14 No. 7, Wk 15 No. 6, Wk 16 No. 5, Final No. 11 Ohio State
The top 10 of the final AP poll and where each stood every week before it; a gap is a week out of the Top 25. Hover or tab to a line for its weeks.

Climbed

  1. TCUunranked → No. 3
  2. Georgia Techunranked → No. 8
  3. Mississippi Stateunranked → No. 11
  4. MissouriNo. 24 → No. 14
  5. Boise Stateunranked → No. 16

Fell

  1. OklahomaNo. 4 → unranked
  2. South CarolinaNo. 9 → unranked
  3. AuburnNo. 6 → No. 22
  4. StanfordNo. 11 → unranked
  5. LSUNo. 13 → unranked

From the season’s first AP poll (the preseason poll) to the final one.

The College Football Playoff

Semifinal

National Championship

Champion: Ohio State

National leaders

Passing yardsBrandon Doughty (Western Kentucky)4,830 yds
Passing touchdownsBrandon Doughty (Western Kentucky)49 TD
Passer ratingMarcus Mariota (Oregon)181.7
Rushing yardsMelvin Gordon (Wisconsin)2,587 yds
Rushing touchdownsMelvin Gordon (Wisconsin)29 TD
Yards per carryJhurell Pressley (New Mexico)9.5
ReceptionsAmari Cooper (Alabama)124 catches
Receiving yardsRashard Higgins (Colorado State)1,750 yds
Yards per catchDevin Smith (Ohio State)28.2
Receiving touchdownsRashard Higgins (Colorado State)18 TD
PointsJarvion Franklin (Western Michigan)150 pts
Points per gameSamaje Perine (Oklahoma)14.0
Total offenseMarcus Mariota (Oregon)5,224 yds
Total offense per gameConnor Halliday (Washington State)415.8
Punt return averageTyler Lockett (Kansas State)19.8
Kickoff return averageJ.J. Nelson (UAB)38.3

The NCAA’s official leaders; our own top-five lists are hidden for 2014, because our source’s player stats miss players for too many teams that season to rank the nation fairly. From Wikipedia’s yearly NCAA leader lists for passing, rushing, receiving, scoring, total offense and returns.

Conference champions

FBS

American Athletic Conference
Cincinnati, UCF and Memphis (shared)
Atlantic Coast Conference
Florida State
Big 12
Baylor and TCU (shared)
Big Ten
Ohio State
Conference USA
Marshall
Mid-American Conference
Northern Illinois
Mountain West Conference
Boise State
Pac-12
Oregon
Southeastern Conference
Alabama
Sun Belt Conference
Georgia Southern

FCS

Big Sky
Eastern Washington
Big South
Coastal Carolina and Liberty (shared)
Ivy League
Harvard
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Bethune-Cookman, Morgan State, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central and South Carolina State (shared)
Missouri Valley Football Conference
Illinois State and North Dakota State (shared)
Northeast Conference
Sacred Heart and Wagner (shared)
Ohio Valley Conference
Jacksonville State
Patriot League
Fordham
Pioneer Football League
San Diego
Southern Conference
Chattanooga
Southland Conference
SE Louisiana and Sam Houston (shared)
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Alcorn State

Division II and below

Gulf South Conference
North Alabama
Lone Star Conference
East Texas A&M
Northeast-10 Conference
Long Island University

From each program’s Wikipedia article, with the conference’s name that season. Titles come from the articles of today’s FBS and FCS programs, so a title shared with a school outside them lists only one champion.

Consensus All-Americans

25 playersAll 11 selectors’ teams

Players picked by enough of the major selectors to count as consensus, shown in bold in Wikipedia’s 2014 All-America article. Every selector’s teams, first to last, are on the 2014 All-America teams page.

The 2014 awards

Every award

Player of the year

By position

Defensive player of the year

Scholarship and character

Coaches

The champion’s staff

Every title staff

Ohio State 43 on the staff list

  • Urban Meyerhead coach
  • Tom Hermanoffensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach (part of the season)
  • Ed Warinnerco-offensive coordinator, offensive line coach
  • Stan Draytonrunning backs coach (assistant head coach for offense)
  • Tim Hintontight ends, Fullbacks
  • Zach Smithwide receivers coach
  • Luke Fickelldefensive coordinator, linebackers coach
  • Chris Ashco-defensive coordinator, safeties coach
  • Kerry Coombscornerbacks coach, special teams coordinator
  • Larry Johnsonassistant head coach, defensive line coach
Support staff (33)

Strength and conditioning

  • Mickey Marotti Asst. AD for FB sports performance
  • Kenny Parker assistant strength & conditioning coach
  • Anthony Schlegel assistant strength & conditioning coach
  • Jeff Uhlenhake assistant strength & conditioning coach
  • Phil Matusz Ath Cond Spec-football (assistant strength & conditioning coach)
  • Scott Ray assistant strength and conditioning coach

Operations and recruiting

  • Brian Voltolini director of football operations
  • Mark Pantoni director of player personnel
  • Greg Gillum Dir, high school relations
  • Stan Jefferson Dir, player development
  • Fernando Lovo Coord, operations
  • Ryan Stamper Coord, player development
  • David Trichel Dir, video Post-Production
  • Mark Quisenberry Mgr, video (FB)
  • Amy Halpin Program Coord, Camps and administration
  • Shannon Smith Office Assoc
  • Larry Romanoff director of External relations, football

Sports medicine and nutrition

  • Doug Calland head athletic trainer (WHAC)
  • Bob Sweeney athletic trainer (WHAC)
  • Jason Rule Asst athletic trainer (WHAC)
  • Erin Scheper Asst athletic trainer (WHAC)
  • Michael Sypniak Asst athletic trainer (WHAC)
  • Shaun Barnhouse assistant athletic trainer (WHAC)

Equipment

  • Mike Caldwell Ath Equip Asst-WHAC
  • John Dunn Ath Equip Asst-WHAC
  • Kevin Ries Ath Equip Asst-WHAC
  • Sam Staley Intern-WHAC
  • Rob Lachey head equipment manager, manager, athletics equipment (football)

Video, communications and other staff

  • Derek Chang Intern
  • Jerry Emig associate SID, core athletics communications contact for football
  • Sean Perkins Building services coordinator, Les Wexner football Complex, Woody Hayes athletic center
  • Bill Moffitt assistant Building coordinator, Les Wexner football Complex, Woody Hayes athletic center
  • Don Patko assistant athletics director for Facilities

The staff as the school listed it that season, roles in the source’s words (students and graduate assistants left out). Names link to coach pages where we have one, else to Wikipedia. Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages.

The selection committee

The College Football Playoff committee that ranked the teams and picked the field in 2014, as Wikipedia lists its members by season (CC BY-SA). The list doesn’t name that season’s chair.

Bowls and playoff

Scoreboard
Dec 20, 2014Louisiana 16, Nevada 3New Orleans Bowl
Dec 20, 2014Utah State 21, UTEP 6New Mexico Bowl
Dec 20, 201423Utah 45, Colorado State 10Las Vegas Bowl
Dec 20, 2014Air Force 38, Western Michigan 24Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Dec 20, 2014Bowling Green 33, South Alabama 28Camellia Bowl
Dec 22, 2014Memphis 55, BYU 48Miami Beach Bowl
Dec 23, 2014Marshall 52, Northern Illinois 23Boca Raton Bowl
Dec 23, 2014Navy 17, San Diego State 16Poinsettia Bowl
Dec 24, 2014Western Kentucky 49, Central Michigan 48Bahamas Bowl
Dec 24, 2014Rice 30, Fresno State 6Hawai’i Bowl
Dec 26, 2014Louisiana Tech 35, Illinois 18Heart of Dallas Bowl
Dec 26, 2014Rutgers 40, North Carolina 21Quick Lane Bowl
Dec 26, 2014NC State 34, UCF 27St. Petersburg Bowl
Dec 27, 2014Virginia Tech 33, Cincinnati 17Military Bowl
Dec 27, 201415Arizona State 36, Duke 31Sun Bowl
Dec 27, 2014South Carolina 24, Miami 21Independence Bowl
Dec 27, 2014Penn State 31, Boston College 30Pinstripe Bowl
Dec 27, 201424USC 45, 25Nebraska 42Holiday Bowl
Dec 29, 2014Texas A&M 45, West Virginia 37Liberty Bowl
Dec 29, 201418Clemson 40, Oklahoma 6Russell Athletic Bowl
Dec 29, 2014Arkansas 31, Texas 7Texas Bowl
Dec 30, 2014Notre Dame 31, 22LSU 28Music City Bowl
Dec 30, 201413Georgia 37, 20Louisville 14Belk Bowl
Dec 30, 2014Stanford 45, Maryland 21Foster Farms Bowl
Dec 31, 20146TCU 42, 9Ole Miss 3Peach Bowl
Dec 31, 201421Boise State 38, 12Arizona 30Fiesta Bowl
Dec 31, 201410Georgia Tech 49, 8Mississippi State 34Orange Bowl
Jan 1, 201517Wisconsin 34, 19Auburn 31Outback Bowl
Jan 1, 20157Michigan State 42, 4Baylor 41Cotton Bowl
Jan 1, 201516Missouri 33, Minnesota 17Citrus Bowl
Jan 1, 20153Oregon 59, 2Florida State 20Rose Bowl, CFP Semifinal
Jan 1, 20155Ohio State 42, 1Alabama 35Sugar Bowl, CFP Semifinal
Jan 2, 2015Houston 35, Pittsburgh 34Armed Forces Bowl
Jan 2, 2015Tennessee 45, Iowa 28TaxSlayer Bowl
Jan 2, 201514UCLA 40, 11Kansas State 35Alamo Bowl
Jan 2, 2015Oklahoma State 30, Washington 22Cactus Bowl
Jan 3, 2015Florida 28, East Carolina 20Birmingham Bowl
Jan 4, 2015Toledo 63, Arkansas State 44GoDaddy Bowl
Jan 12, 20155Ohio State 42, 3Oregon 20CFP National Championship

Rule book changes

Every rule book

There’s no 2014 rule book in the dataset. The changes in the 2015 book took effect in 2014 or 2015.

Only the first sentence of each article is compared, so a change deeper in an article (most penalty clauses, the overtime procedure) doesn’t show here, and a change that shows may be rewording. No rule text is kept: only numbers and headings. Rule books: NCAA, via Pierce’s provision dataset (Zenodo, CC BY 4.0).