| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior |
| 1 |  | Florida State | Florida State capped off a perfect 2013 campaign with a thrilling win in the BCS National Championship game. | 1 |
| 2 | 
| Michigan State | Michigan State ends the year at #2 after beating Stanford 24-20 in a great Rose Bowl. | 5 |
| 3 | 
| Auburn | The Tigers played well against Florida State and could have won it all. But in the end they lost twice. | 2 |
| 4 |  | South Carolina | South Carolina won their last six games of the year, including a 34-24 win over Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. | 7 |
| 5 |  | Alabama | Finishing at 11-2, Alabama lost the big game in Auburn and the Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma. | 3 |
| 6 |  | Oklahoma | The Sooners finished strong with a Bedlam win over OSU and a Sugar Bowl victory against Alabama. | 12 |
| 7 | 
| Missouri | Missouri had a great year and proved they can do more than just compete in the tough SEC. | 10 |
| 8 |  | Oregon | It was the always underappreciated Duck defense that won the Alamo Bowl against Texas. | 9 |
| 9 |  | Clemson | With a 40-35 win over Ohio State in the Orange Bowl, Clemson finally stepped up for a big game. | 11 |
| 10 | 
| UCF | UCF played Baylor's game and won 52-42 in a fun Fiesta Bowl. Overall, UCF and Blake Bortles had a memorable year. | 15 |
| 11 |  | Ohio State | Following a 24 game winning streak, Ohio State suddenly is carrying a two game losing streak into 2014. | 6 |
| 12 |  | Stanford | Stanford could not win another Rose Bowl, but were certainly right there with Oregon in the Pac-12 pecking order. | 8 |
| 13 | 
| Baylor | For now most will concentrate on the Fiesta Bowl loss, but Baylor will look back fondly at 2013. | 4 |
| 14 |  | LSU | LSU held on to beat Iowa in the Outback Bowl, but overall three SEC losses is not what this program expects. | 14 |
| 15 |  | UCLA | Thanks to a 28-point fourth quarter, UCLA blew out Virginia Tech in the Sun Bowl. | 17 |
| 16 |  | Louisville | In the end, Louisville's lone loss was against a very good UCF squad. The schedule was pretty easy though. | 18 |
| 17 | 
| Oklahoma State | Oklahoma State had a tough stretch of games to end the 2013 campaign and lost their last two. | 13 |
| 18 | 
| USC | USC handled Fresno State's potent offense in the Las Vegas Bowl and scored 45 points of their own. | 24 |
| 19 | 
| Arizona State | The Pac-12 title game and Holiday Bowl did not go well, but an 8-1 conference mark gives ASU a promising future. | 16 |
| 20 |  | Texas A&M | Combining for 100 points, Texas A&M beat Duke in a thrilling Chick-fil-A Bowl. But the Aggies were just 4-4 in the SEC. | 21 |
| 21 | 
| Notre Dame | It may not have been the 2013 Notre Dame was hoping for, but there were some quality wins for the Irish. | NR |
| 22 | 
| Wisconsin | The Badgers played well, but fell to South Carolina in the Capital One Bowl. They'll hope for more in 2014. | 23 |
| 23 | 
| Nebraska | Beating Georgia in the Gator Bowl was probably the best win of the year for Nebraska. | NR |
| 24 | 
| Fresno State | Despite the loss to USC in the Las Vegas Bowl, Fresno State deserves a ton of credit for their 11-2 record. | 19 |
| 25 | 
| Duke | Duke may have lost to Texas A&M in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, but they still did better than many expected. | 25 |
