After the Buckeyes’ loss Saturday night, Ezekiel Elliott complained about how poorly Ohio State’s coaches managed the game.
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If this season has proven anything, there are no givens. Good-bye. MI State loses at Nebraska in November. Not for unbeaten Iowa. That being said, Stanford appears to be in the best spot of any two loss team in the nation. They close the year against rival SC and will face a stern test in the form of No. 14 North Carolina in the ACC Title Game. North Carolina 10-1 15. If the Hawkeyes beat Nebraska and Sparty then no amount of screaming will keep a 13-0 team out of the playoff. The Tide will finish off their regular season in the famed Iron Bowl against Auburn on the road.
Who do they have left? . He is the fourth Irish player with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and ranks second all-time with 28 TD catches.
Week 13 was an interesting one for the Big Ten football conference as there were a few matchups between teams in the top half of our power rankings from the last edition. It likely will require staying undefeated, and that alone will be hard.
The Big Ten Championship Game could end up serving as a de facto play-in game for a spot in the College Football Playoff. Should MI State win against Penn State, their Big Ten Championship match-up against Iowa will basically be a play-in for the College Football Playoff.
The other is No. 3 Oklahoma of the Big 12 (10-1), which has an early-season upset loss to Texas but can put forth a solid resume if it wins Saturday at 10-1 Oklahoma State. The Mids are one of two American Athletic Conference teams ranked in the Top 25 and the highest ranked team among the Group of Five. But the Spartans were ranked fifth in the rankings. The Spartans now have beaten both teams that played for the championship a year ago, and you can bet that line of thinking plays in the committee’s minds. Granted, Ohio State would need considerable help outside of the Big Ten, but it’s not impossible.
Oklahoma will travel to Oklahoma State for their in-state rivalry game.
The Oklahoma Sooners are 10-2 straight up and 8-4 against the spread in their last 12 games against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. That might clinch a spot for the Irish because they (a) are Notre Dame and (b) have a better loss, on the road at Clemson, than any Big 12 team. In that scenario, Baylor would serve as the Big 12 champion by virtue of its head-to-head win over OSU. The Sooners lost to Texas, a team Notre Dame defeated by 35 points, but is No. 3 this week. Washington State (CFP: No. 20) 19. Anyone who doubts the importance of a conference title game should go talk to TCU or Baylor fans. But the Gamecocks have won 5 of their past 6 against the Tigers, though Clemson won previous year. We wouldn’t know this if it weren’t for the weekly announcements of why certain teams are ranked in certain places.
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After struggling to beat Florida Atlantic on Saturday, SEC East champ Florida dropped from No. 8 to No. 12.
