No. 19 Mississippi at No. 23 Mississippi State. Will Fuller and Chris Brown have combined for 1,564 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns while Amir Carlisle has 29 receptions. But will a one loss Clemson team with the ACC title make it in?
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Despite the seeming invincibility of Alabama (No. 2 AP) as of late, the Crimson Tide must still defeat rival Auburn in this week’s Iron Bowl to secure a spot in the SEC championship game opposite of Florida (No. 10 AP). They may be out of the playoff race, but this is still a very good football team. Florida (10-1, SEC) 13. Baylor can win the Big 12 title by winning its remaining games combined with an OSU victory over Oklahoma. While the voters love them, it’s a risk they better not try to mess with. It goes with the history of the program. But the Sooners are a win away from punching their ticket. Notre Dame will still be able to snag a playoff spot, as long as Oklahoma State trumps Oklahoma.
It finally appears the Big 12’s backloaded schedule is an important talking point in the selection committee meeting room.
Unbeaten Iowa (11-0) and No. 5 Michigan State (10-1) can setup a possible playoff play-in game in the Big Ten championship if both win this weekend.
UNC would be a one-loss ACC champ (with two FCS wins and a terrible loss to South Carolina).
Alabama plays at Auburn, Florida State is at Florida, and the Big 12 Conference offers Baylor at TCU as well as Oklahoma at Oklahoma State. Oklahoma lost to Texas, a team that Notre Dame beat by 35! Still, folks in the Big 12 have to feel a lot better about its chances of having a league member in the playoff this time around. Again, the conditions were a big reason for the struggles on offense, but it still is weird to see from these juggernauts.
The Cardinal will face Notre Dame knowing very well what kind of statement they can make to the committee. The Irish could be blocked without an upset or two in the Big Ten over the next couple weeks. So the team that ended up facing Miami was Nebraska – which lost its final regular season game 62-36 to Colorado and wasn’t even the Big 12 champion. Luckily for Notre Dame, the College Football Playoff committee seems to really like and respect Stanford.
And the Fighting Irish’s Brian Kelly is like all other coaches in contention. Stanford (9-2, Pac 12) 10. The Irish trail 67 other FBS programs in their ability to slow the opposition’s running game, which is precisely what Stanford (9-2) want to do all night. A one-loss SEC team isn’t going to be left out. That D has just as many sacks as Alabama and two more interceptions. A two loss Florida team? Still, they’re not out of it yet. The final one will occur on December 6 and determine which teams play in the national semifinals. It’s worth remembering that Baylor still have a game against Texas, 4-6 Texas, to end the season. Watch the QB matchup of UCLA prized freshman Josh Rosen vs. USC polished senior Cody Kessler. No. 25 Temple gives the American Athletic Conference three ranked teams, joining No. 16 Navy and No. 21 Houston. Stanford all but ended the conference’s hopes of a playoff berth with its 38-36 loss to OR two weeks ago. “They certainly have a more defined body of work at the end of the season”. A spot in the College Football Playoff will likely be on the line as well. Wouldn’t it just be more fun with them in the Playoff?
-LB Jaylon Smith collected 11 tackles last week against Boston College, reaching double digits in four of the last five games.
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The NCAA football oversight committee is waiting until next week to come up with a plan on bringing in sub-.500 teams if the number of bowl-eligible teams falls short of 80. The committee jumped them into the top 4 this week. “But they know that they control the way they prepare and the way they play on Saturday”.
