All Quiet on the College Football Front.
Not a lot happened at the top of the rankings this week as the top three were all off, as they prepared for what could be pivotal games next week. Still, with both the remaining undefeated Group of Five teams losing, the race for the Cotton Bowl has suddenly ignited.
Sadly the Sun Belt won’t be getting their first-ever New Year Bowl slot after all as Appalachian States loss to Georgia Southern will not only knock them out of contention but probably see them tumble out of the rankings too.
In the nights big game, Georgia took control of their destiny thanks to a hard-fought win at Florida. They now control the SEC East and a win in the Conference Final would see them in the final four. The games official attendance was listed at 84,789, yet the TIAA Bank Stadium where the game was played has an official capacity of 67,164 expandable to 82,000. They must have been packed in like sardines!
Cotton Bowl Place Still Up For Grabs
With the Group of Five having no unbeaten teams now the picture is quite murky. The AAC has four (all ranked) one-loss teams, and UCF still lurking a game back, while Boise State at 21 is keeping the Mountain west’s hopes alive. Outside of these the only team with a chance is Louisiana Tech who are 7-1, but being in the C-USA their wins have not been great. Still, some of the AAC teams still have to play each other so it remains a possibility even if an extremely remote one.
Playoff Position
Georgia moved back into contention with their win over Florida and they now look odds on to face the winner of Saturdays Alabama – LSU clash. Baylor kept their hopes alive with a far from impressive performance against West Virginia. Beating the Mountaineers by a field goal won’t put them anywhere close, but if they beat Oklahoma twice who knows. The Big Ten had no game with any significance at the top so it was left to the PAC 12 to make the biggest move.
A few weeks ago we thought their hopes were gone, but suddenly there is a path open – admittedly they will need some help but its there. With Oregon & Utah now controlling the divisions, one could finish 12-1 with a conference title to boot. Would that be enough? Well, it wasn’t for Penn State back in 2016, but who knows.
New Year Bowl Candidates (and still just about alive in the playoff hunt)
Not a lot of change here with Florida still in with a chance despite dropping to 7-2 we can still see them in either the Orange Bowl or Sugar Bowl unless they lose another. Penn State & Ohio State are both very much alive in the playoff race and Minnesota who remains unbeaten still have to be included in the conversation. They play Penn State on Saturday so we will have a clearer picture of their potential then.
Over in the PAC 12, Utah & Oregon are in contention & in the Big 12 Baylor and Oklahoma are the only teams with realistic chances.
The Group of Five at large place in the Cotton Bowl could be any one of seven teams and that’s unlikely to change in weel 11 unless we get a shock result or two.
Our Predictions
Including Thursday nights games we ended up 12-2 straight up and 9-4-1 against the spread.
AP Top 25 Results For 2019 Week Ten
West Virginia 14 @ No 12 Baylor 17
Georgia Southern 24 @ No 20 Appalachian State 21
No 14 Michigan 38 @ Maryland 7
North Carolina State 10 @ No 23 Wake Forest 44
Virginia Tech 20 @ No 16 Notre Dame 21
No 8 Georgia 24 @ No 6 Florida 17
No 22 Kansas State 38 @ Kansas 10
Wofford (FCS) 14 @ No 4 Clemson 59
No 9 Utah 33 @ Washington 28
No 17 Cincinnati 46 @ East Carolina 43
Ole Miss 14 @ No 11 Auburn 20
No 15 SMU 48 @ Memphis 54
No 7 Oregon 56 @ USC 24
No 21 Boise St. 52 @ San Jose State 42
Only three ranked losses this week so don’t expect too much change in the rankings going into the pivotal week 11.
Racking them up
Liberty 63 – Umass 21
Liberty became bowl eligible with a big offensive performance, which included 730 yards of offense. They also turned the ball over three times so who knows what the score could have been without these. QB Stephen Calvert had a career-high 474 yards passing and also threw 4 TDs.
Entertaining Game of the Week
It’s hard to look past that shoot out between Memphis & SMU, however, outside the top 25 the one we enjoyed the most was:
Oregon State 56 Arizona 38 – nearly 1100 yards of offense a nice balance between passing and rushing and a bit of a comeback with Arizona rallying back from 42-19 down to almost get back within one score before they missed a field goal. Both now have 4 wins, but with their remaining schedules, we can’t see either making it to a bowl game.
Performance of the Week
Outside of the AP top 25, our vote goes to:
Virginia 38 North Carolina 31 – this was a key ACC Coastal clash and the win leaves them in with a chance at the Conference Final and possibly an Orange Bowl place. Their hero was QB Bryce Perkins who amassed 490 total yards and five touchdowns. As well as keeping their Orange Bowl hopes alive they became bowl eligible.
Honourable mention goes to Navy 56 UConn 10. Ok beating the Huskies is no biggie, but it was the way they controlled the second half on Friday night that impressed us. All UConn could muster was 4 punts and a turnover on downs after half time. Navy should be in the rankings after this and are very much alive in the Cotton Bowl race.
One you might have missed
Central Michigan 48 Northern Illinois 10 – So what’s the significance of a MAC beat down? Well apart from the Chippewas playing one of there best games in a while putting up 615 yards of offense, while the defense forced 4 Turnovers they became the first team to reach bowl eligibility in the Mid Am Conference. They only have five places allocated and with three games left for some they might struggle to fill their allocation at this rate.
Worth a mention here is Clemson v Wofford if only for the fact that Clemson running back Travis Etienne had 9 carries for 212 yds & 2 TD. That’s an average of 23.6 yards a carry! He is only the third player since 2000 to go over 200 yards with single-digit carries. The other two are Ty Johnson in 2016 & Melvin Gordon in 2012
Looking Good
Indiana 34 Northwestern 3 – The Hoosiers are 7-2 but have gone somewhat unnoticed in the Big Ten. They still have Penn State & Michigan to play so we are not holding out any hope for them breaking into the top 25 for the first time since 1994, but even so, this is shaping up to be a good season for them and a nice bowl game no doubt awaits.
Still Unbeaten now only seven
The remaining undefeated Group of Five both lost – so at least the Bowl Committee won’t have to explain them leaving an undefeated one out for a third consecutive season. There is a good chance that the playoff final four are listed below, although at least two them will be gone next week.
In The ACC – Clemson
In The Big 12 – Baylor
In The Big 10 – Ohio State, Penn State & Minnesota
In The SEC – Alabama & LSU
Please, can we have a win!
Another bad week for the winless teams with Rice & Arkon both dropping to 0-9; New Mexico State had the week off:
Marshall 20 @ Rice 7 – what can we say apart from the fact that the result was not quite as bad as last weeks (which was 20-6)
Arkon 6 @ Bowling Green 35 – at least the Zips didn’t get shut out this week (they lost 49-0 last week)
Stat Attack
A few facts and figures from week ten:
Most Team Yards: Liberty vs. Massachusetts, Liberty 730
Most Yards Combined: BYU (643) vs. Utah State (521), 1164
Biggest Margin of Victory: Navy 46 points
Most Combined Points: Memphis vs. SMU 102 points
Busiest player: AJ Dillon – Boston College: 35 carries for 242 yds & 3 Tds
