Next to last week of the regular season! 1. Alabama at Arkansas. The Razorbacks seem to have found their man in new coach Sam Pittman, who was a ho hum hire. But he has transformed the Hogs into a solid team this season, he's been screwed out of a win by the refs vs Auburn and played tough in some of the losses. I imagine the Tide will have to work a little bit at least to get the win, but they just have too much talent even if they show up somewhat disinterested in the game...which I don't see happening. 2. Notre Dame - Bye 3. Ohio State vs Michigan. This has a lot of drama, it does appear that the game is going to be played, but the focus is likely to be more on Jim Harbaugh than it will on the Buckeyes. If you remember Day reportedly said after Harbaugh accused him of breaking some rules, that he was going to hang a 100 on them. While I doubt that happens even as bad as Michigan has been I seriously doubt that happens. But I won't be shocked if they don't hang a lot of points on them if they can. Style matters right now, with the Buckeyes having played fewer games than some of their competitors for the CFP a close win over Michigan wouldn't bolster their case. They do need to keep the pedal to the metal and pour it on if they can. Bob mentioned the potential for Harbaugh to get an extension, would have to be awkward if the Buckeyes lay 60 points on him to announce he's being extended. As I said the focus is likely to be more on Harbaugh than the game. 4. Clemson - Bye 5. Texas A&M - Ole Miss Game cancelled 6. Florida vs LSU - Gators should roll here. 7. Cincinnati at Tulsa - Big game in the AAC. Both are undefeated in conference and Tulsa is a good team. This should be a great game, Bearcats need the win of course to keep their slim CFP hopes alive, and if they can get some style points they need to do it, sportsmanship be damned. 8. Georgia at Missouri - Georgia snuck back into the top 10 while we weren't looking!! They have a new QB who is an accomplished passer in JT Daniels, Missouri has had a good season losing only to Fla, Alabama and Tenn before the Vols fell apart. Dawgs might be in for a battle in Columbia. 9. Iowa State - season finished next will be Big 12 Champ game vs OU. Amazing season for the Cyclones behind Brock Purdy and Breece Hall one of the best RB's in the country. 10. Miami vs UNC This game doesn't mean anything other than you always want to win whatever the game is in front of you. But it has the potential to be a very exciting game. Both D'Eriq King the Miami QB and Sam Howell the UNC QB are dynamic players and UNC has 2 excellent RB's. Both team can light up the scoreboard. I won't be shocked if the O/U on this game is 90 points. Other games. Utah at Colorado - Colorado is undefeated still although they have only played 4 games, yet only played 3 conference games. As a result an unusual situation is developing in the Pac12. USC is undefeated in the South along with Colorado. Their game was cancelled and there is no makeup possible. So the South could end up with USC at 5-0 if they beat UCLA and Colorado at 4-0, while if Oregon defeats Washington this weekend the North will have no teams with fewer than 2 losses. So who goes to the Pac12 Championship game? Do they change the rules so that Colorado and USC play? That makes sense to me, but probably not to the teams in the North. Minn at Nebraska - A chance for the Huskers to finish out 2020 on a up tick. Is the Big 10 still going to play the "Cross Over" games on the 19th? Coastal Carolina at Troy...can the get back down to earth and show up mentally ready to play a good Troy team and keep the dream season going? Let downs after big emotional wins is a pretty common problem for coaches. Army v Navy Always a big game! Navy has not had a great season, started with the blowout by BYU and just has been a struggle for them. Army has had a good season and are 7-2 with losses to Cincinnati and Tulane. Been awhile since this game was not the only game being played. Wisconsin at Iowa. Hawkeyes started slow, 2 very close losses to start the season but since then 5 wins in a row, they might be the best team in the West but Northwestern holds the tie breaker should they both end up with 2 losses. Another situation where teams aren't playing the same number of games. Should Iowa win and finish 6-2 and Northwestern lose to Illinois and finish 5-2 who is the champion of the West? Texas at KU ...might not be played. The Longhorns should crush them if it is played but the narrative will be is this Tom Hermans last game? Washington at Oregon. Oregon was the pre-season favorite to be the top dog in the Pac12 now they have lost a couple of games, Washington was looking good till they spit the bit against Stanford last week. Now as I said earlier if Oregon can beat them then the best record a North team can have is 2 losses. USC at UCLA ...USC after winning a couple of games with lucky highlight reel plays has looked better in their last couple of wins. UCLA is sitting at 3-2 and a win here would cement the best season so far for Chip Kelly. If USC wins then that gives them the edge I guess over Colorado for the Pac 12 Champ game. I don't think an undefeated Pac 12 champion this year will sniff a CFP berth. In a normal year they'd be in the CFP.
Some interesting research on Conference Championship Game rematches by a poster on NDNation. Besides ND/Clemson we also have Iowa State/OU. Summary: - In-season winners were 19-11 in post season rematches - 13 out of the 30 rematches were blowouts (21 points or more margin of victory) - In-season winners by 8 points or less were 5-9 in post season rematches - The average margin of victory for Game 1 was 12.7, Game 2 was 18.7 - Only 8 rematches were decided by fewer than 10 points The common axiom for football rematches within one season is that it is hard to win a rematch. I did a little internet research to identify the actual performance of past rematches (using sports-reference.com/cfb/ dating back to 1992). It might be true that it is difficult in terms of effort, but history also indicates that the first result is usually not a fluke. Out of 30 rematches between in-season opponents and their conference championship (and BCS Championship in 2011) rematches, the same team won both games 19 times - .633 winning percentage. The team that won both games won the second game by more than 21 points nine times (48% of the time). The team that lost the first game won the second game by more than 21 points four times out of their 11 victories (36% of the time). 13 of the 30 rematches were not competitive (43% of the time). Interesting stuff, but not predictive. I wish I could figure out how to embed this GoogleDocs Spreadsheet but I can't ...so click on the link for a good presentation of the data. Maybe Kes knows how to do it, i've seen that there are tools to give you <iframe> code that should work but could get past that. College Football Rematches - Google Drive
Former Texas coach, Fred Akers, died this week. Here's an article by one of the InsideTexas Mods on Coach Akers. 86-31-2. That’s the final record of Coach Fred Akers at the University of Texas in his 10 seasons at the helm. But to many he was so much more than his record. I spoke to Les Koenning Jr. yesterday about Coach Akers’ passing. Les was a receiver and multi-year starter for Akers and the Horns and a team captain of the 1979 team. Les said that he and many of his former teammates received text messages yesterday informing them of Coach Akers’ passing. Akers was largely well liked by his players, a second father figure to some. He had some interesting concepts as a coach, not just on the field where he believed in the I-formation, but also off of it, where he was an enormous advocate of mental strength and the power of positive thinking, instituting that into the normal routines of Texas players long before anyone had heard of Tony Robbins. Akers took the reins from the legendary Darrell Royal in 1977. I went to Akers’ first game against Texas A&M, as the No. 1 Horns and Earl Campbell made a stout Aggie team look second-best in College Station and cemented his eventual selection as Heisman Trophy winner. That victory also propelled the Horns to the Cotton Bowl to play Notre Dame with the national championship on the line. The Horns lost in decisive fashion, 38-10, in a game that was never really close. But it was quite the debut for the first-year Texas coach. In his first half-dozen years at Texas, Akers fielded such amazing defenses that it’s hard to single out just one. They were routinely devastating, overwhelming and absolutely stifling. Opponents advancing the ball past the 50-yard line against Texas sometimes took an act of Congress it seemed. But as more teams in the old Southwest Conference started to cheat, not just SMU which eventually got the death penalty with the Governor involved in a pay-for-play scandal, but also TCU and Texas A&M, Akers’ teams inevitably slipped. The talent wasn’t what it once was. An embarrassing 55-14 loss to Iowa in the 1984 Freedom Bowl, a year in which Texas had been ranked No. 1 in the country, started the calls for Akers to be replaced. It took two more years before Akers was let go. Recruiting had slipped and the in-game coaching, particularly on offense, seemed to not have kept up with the times as more advanced passing concepts proliferated. Akers went on to coach at Purdue, a proud school, but one that is traditionally in the middle of the pack in the Big 10. Akers was eventually let go by the Boilermakers after four years of mediocre results. After coaching, Akers retired to the Austin area, where he passed away yesterday at the age of 82.
I don't have a problem with that, except there's then a chance USC wins the conference. Can we skip that and just let CU be the P12 champs?
BWAHAHAHAH!!! I see what your writer did there... all of THEM were bad, but we were squeaky clean and slipped because of it. Yeah... I know a few guys from back in the day... and let's just say texas had plenty of money and cars floating around. But they also had friends on the enforcement committees... so...
I was a bit surprised that Iowa State moved up to #7 in the CFP rankings. They've had a great year no doubt, and if they can beat OU again in the B12 Championship game it will be an amazing year.
Washington v Oregon game is now in doubt as Washington shutdown football today due to the virus. If they play the game the winner is the Pac 12 N champion and would go to the championship game. If they don't play the game then Washington goes to the Championship game. Conspiracy theories anybody?
Some talk today on ESPNU how the ACC screwed Miami by allowing Clemson to not play a makeup game with FSU on the 12th. Clemson and Miami both have 1 loss and if Clemson were to lose to FSU (about as likely as an Astroid strike on Saturday) and Miami win out then the Hurricanes would go to the Title game. Of course little mention was given to the beatdown Clemson put on Miami head/head..but that's not good for stirring the pot.
C’mon Scott. If Bevo gets provided wheels like this, is it fair that the players have to drive rusted 10-year-old Toyota Corollas?
It's reported that the Big 10 AD's met and voted to change the rule from 6 games to 5 games to allow Ohio State to play in the Big 10 Championship game. Seems practical since if the Buckeyes had another game this weekend they wouldn't even have to win it to make the Big 10 Championship game since they have the tiebreaker with IU.
No complaints from this Miami fan, the best two teams in the ACC Clemson and Notre Dame will make for a great rematch. Notre Dame is playing some good football at the moment and Clemson in my opinion hasn’t been very impressive. Miami is not at the caliber of either of the above two teams yet Besides we have to get past a pretty good North Carolina team this weekend...
Barry led the charge to get OSU into the title game. But there might be some strings attached to his bequest.
Bob, note the AC unit above the open air livestock area of the trailer. Those Texas design engineers really are on the ball!
Great Player, I remember him so well from his days with the Colts more so than his playing days at Alabama. He was overshadowed just a bit by Namath and Stabler. He was an AA in 1966, looking at his stats shows you how different things were back then. 1964: 11 catches for 139 yards and 1 touchdown. 1965: 19 catches for 279 yards and 1 touchdown. 1966: 33 catches for 490 yards and 7 touchdowns RIP