Last week we wondered where all the drama was for this season and finally we got some good stuff on our television screens. Florida was upset in hilarious fashion, Miami was absolutely stomped, while we couldn’t be so lucky as to witness UCLA upset USC. Still, it was a good bye week for Notre Dame that quite possibly made it a near certainty the Irish will make the College Football Playoff.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | NEXT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 10-0 | 52-3 Win at Arkansas |
| 2 | Notre Dame | 10-0 | BYE |
| 3 | Clemson | 9-1 | BYE |
| 4 | Ohio State | 5-0 | BYE |
| 5 | Cincinnati | 8-0 | BYE |
| 6 | Texas A&M | 7-1 | BYE |
| 7 | Coastal Carolina (+1) | 11-0 | 42-38 Win at Troy |
| 8 | USC (+1) | 5-0 | 43-38 Win at UCLA |
| 9 | Indiana (+1) | 6-1 | BYE |
| 10 | Iowa State (+2) | 8-2 | BYE |
| 11 | Oklahoma (+2) | 7-2 | BYE |
| 12 | Louisiana (+2) | 9-1 | BYE |
| 13 | Northwestern (+2) | 6-1 | 28-10 Win vs. Illinois |
| 14 | BYU (+2) | 10-1 | 28-14 Win vs. SDSU |
| 15 | Florida (-8) | 8-2 | 37-34 Loss vs. LSU |
| 16 | Georgia (+2) | 7-2 | 49-14 Win at Missouri |
| 17 | Iowa (NR) | 6-2 | 28-7 Win vs. Wisconsin |
| 18 | Miami (-7) | 8-2 | 62-26 Loss vs. UNC |
| 19 | Tulsa | 6-1 | BYE |
| 20 | Buffalo | 5-0 | 56-7 Win vs. Akron |
OUT: Colorado
IN: Iowa
Week 15 Recap
Texas A&M had their game with Ole Miss postponed but were still a winner as Florida’s loss increases the Aggies chances of a backdoor into the playoffs.
The Gators seemingly had the game won against LSU but the now-infamous cleat throw from Marco Wilson allowed the Tigers’ late drive to continue culminating in a long field goal try. Their freshman kicker nailed it and Florida’s kicker missed his long attempt half a minute later. Ballgame.
Alabama has to be licking their chops. They destroyed Arkansas and now get a demoralized Florida team in the SEC Championship.
Miami was quietly working its way up our rankings ever-so-slowly and then completely bombed against North Carolina while giving up 778 yards and 62 points to the Heels. That’s a new school record for UNC breaking their mark set earlier this year.
Coastal Carolina avoided a classic let down spot and after falling behind with less than a minute to go scored a quick touchdown to avoid an upset at Troy.
UCLA blew a 28-10 lead in the 3rd quarter, as well as a 2-point lead with 36 seconds left by giving up a long kick return before USC scored a touchdown in just 2 plays for the win.
The slide by Wisconsin continues as they lose for the 3rd straight game. Since the Badgers opened the season with 94 points in 2 wins they’ve scored a combined 20 points over their last 3 contests.
***
AP Top 25: Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Clemson, Texas A&M, Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, USC, BYU, Northwestern, North Carolina, Louisiana, Tulsa, Liberty, Buffalo, NC State, San Jose State.
CFB Top 25: Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Florida, Georgia, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Indiana, Coastal Carolina, USC, Northwestern, North Carolina, Iowa, BYU, Miami, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma State, NC State, Tulsa, San Jose State, Colorado.
Week 16 Games to Watch
Pac-12 Championship
Washington Oregon (+3) at USC
Washington is coming off a week of rest while USC should be awfully tired following a spirited victory over their city rivals. We can’t possibly witness an undefeated Pac-12 Champion USC, right? I want nothing to do with that, lame as this season as been out west.
So, Washington bows out with Covid issues and Oregon takes their place. This is awesome.
Big Ten Championship
Northwestern (+20.5) vs. Ohio State [Indianapolis, IN]
This game was 52-3 last year and that type of score line wouldn’t surprise me this weekend. Let there be no doubt college football is working hard to get the Buckeyes in the playoff.
Texas A&M (-14) at Tennessee
A&M needs some help to get into the playoffs and surely doesn’t want to trip up in embarrassing fashion to lowly Tennessee. You’d hate to see it happen.
Big 12 Championship
Oklahoma (-6) vs. Iowa State [Arlington, TX]
From losing their opener to Louisiana to beating Oklahoma twice and winning the Big 12 for their first league title in over 100 years? Unfortunately, that seems to be a little too good to be true for Matt Campbell. It would be one heck of a story, though.
Sun Belt Championship
Louisiana (+3.5) at Coastal Carolina
This is the win where Billy Napier’s stock skyrockets after the Ragin’ Cajuns beat Coastal Carolina. It’s so fun to type Ragin’ Cajuns.
SEC Championship
Alabama (-17) vs. Florida [Atlanta, GA]
There’s probably a scenario where this is a tight game but Florida has become so one-dimensional on offense that Alabama is likely to have some big moments of feasting. A win would be Alabama’s 28th SEC title and the 7th for Nick Saban.
AAC Championship
Tulsa (+15) at Cincinnati
This looks like a lot of points for Tulsa if you’re into the whole betting thing. However, Cincinnati’s defense has stifled just about everyone holding 7 out of their 8 opponents at 20 points or fewer. This game could have a lot of low-scoring energy, though.
Georgia outside the Top 15, Coastal ahead of Iowa State, 18Stripes is the only good poll.
Georgia with JT Daniels is the 2nd best team in the sec and a top 10 team. I get that they should likely be behind Florida but I think they would beat them by 10+ now.
Miami sticking around while getting blown out in there two biggest games and leaving a recently dominant UNC team out?
Fun poll and fun picking nits.
Not sold on Georgia with Daniels being that great:
-Against Mississippi State, they scored 31 points. The next week, MSU also gave up 31 points to Ole Miss.
-Against South Carolina, they scored 45 points. The next week, South Carolina gave up 41 points to Kentucky.
-Against Missouri, they scored 49 points. The previous week, Missouri gave up 48 points to Arkansas.
Daniels might be a game changer for them, but it might just be that they’re catching bad opponents at the end of a crappy season full of covid.
Iowa State lost by 1 point to Oklahoma in 2019, beat ’em in 2020. I like them to cover a line of 6, at the very least.
I’m a bit surprised you don’t have UNC ranked.
Looks like he meant to have them at 10th
Or maybe i lied…i thought they were 11th last week, but tgat was Miami, my bad
3 losses is just too much for me.
Watch Northwestern play out of their minds only to be done in by a highly controversial call late in the game that seals the deal for Ohio State. The B1G is sparing no expense on this one.
The Buckeyes will win by a few scores, but the B1G had better hope that the game isn’t close. They’ve thrown all their cards on the table repeatedly, and if it’s close, any tough call against NW will be scrutinized, as well it should be.
Wishful thinking Andy. Unless they lose, tOSU is in. The fix is obvious and blatant.
(1) Whatever one thinks of Iowa st. The committee is setting them up get in the playoffs with a win over the Sooners and a Clemson loss (or an OSU loss but that’s not happening).
Which would turn out to be a huge bummer for us because we’ll go play OSU – fine I like that matchup. But Bama would get a cake-walk for a semi-final game for them.
I would assume A&M or Clemson would be a much stronger matchup for Bama.
So we need to be rooting hard for the sooners.
(2) If we lose a close one is it:
or Does ND stay at #3 and we have another re-match with Clemson (which is very plausible given OSU’s lack of games)? I’d certainly rather play Clemson again who I think we could beat rather than Bama. Getting a semi-final win is a legit win (benefit of the playoffs – getting a feather in your cap without winning it all).
I think there is a chance (small, but a chance) that if Clemson loses another close one to ND (i.e. 2 OT thriller), they still make the playoff. Especially if Iowa State loses to Oklahoma.
(There’s also a world where things go in a wildly different direction; ND blows out Clemson, ISU loses to Oklahoma, and Florida shocks Bama. ND #1, OSU #2, Bama #3, Florida #4?)
I don’t think the committee puts Clemson in if they lose to ND. It would not be fair or right to give Clemson a third kick at the can. JMO
Possibly. 2 losses would be a lot. But Iowa state of Oklahoma have 2 losses.
So it comes down to: do you give Clemson a shot at #1 Bama or A&M? We already saw A&M get the chance and they lost. I think it would kinda help Clemson that both their losses were to the same team, and a team that’s firmly #2
Also Clemson has been in 4 of the last 5 last NC games. Like Ohio State they’ll have a lot of good will for being one of the perceived “best” teams.
Not saying they’re definitely in, but if they lose close I could see the committee seeing Lawrence and a good team and wanting them for #4 to meet Bama. The Big12 champ has a better resume, but A&M already losing is a little wrinkle that could favor Clemson.
Could see it Clemson/Bama and ND/tOSU If Notre Dame wins. Or maybe not. Bama is a buzzsaw, I’d think Clemson probably has a good a chance at anyone at giving them a game
I’m thinking no. If Clem loses, then they’ve proven they just don’t have what it takes this year to beat the top teams. Regardless of what you thought of them before the season or whatever you think Lawrence is, two chances and they can’t get ONE top 4 win. Why would you think they could on their third try? Nah, if Clem’s Son loses I think they fall to around 6th or 7th.
I wouldn’t put Clemson in, but I don’t think fair or right has anything to do with this committee. If fair or right mattered, Coastal Carolina couldn’t possibly be 6 spots behind Iowa State.
I’m sorry, FAIR? You can’t claim FAIR and put tOSU in the playoff.
Agreed on this. Also, beyond eye test, what has Clemson done this year if they lose to ND again? What is their best win? Miami?
Why wouldn’t A&M be #4 in that 2nd scenario?
A&M didn’t even play in its conference championship. They lost by 28 to one of 2 ranked teams on their schedule. Their one win over a ranked team was more than 2 months ago (and that ranked team will likely be coming off 2 straight losses, including one to a team that finishes the year sub-.500).
I’m not saying it definitely happens (or that it is even likely it happens), but I can see a scenario where Dabo publicly turns up the heat and the committee completely melts.
I’m not saying why you think it shouldn’t happen but why wouldn’t the committee put them in? Your argument here is more like why they shouldn’t be #5 right now. Granting that they are #5, no way they aren’t the next one in in that scenario.
It’s certainly happened before that a non-conference championship game participant has jumped into the top 4 with the right losses.
Actually, my fault, I misread and see that you said when FLorida BEATS bama. That’s a different story.
Does anyone else here watch the SEC Shorts youtube channel? This week’s edition was HILARIOUS. It was all about the CFP throwing Florida out of the house and all of his belongings out on the lawn. The infamous shoe gets an appearance as well.
It’s not an uncertainty that we are in unless the worst we do is lose a close game. If we get boat raced, the November win will be seen as a fluke due to Clemson’s stars being out.
And in truth, we won’t belong if we get slaughtered yet again. Why then take another Bama beatdown?
I’m not saying we’ll lose, or lose big, but it’s no certainty we are in regardless of the outcome vs Clemson. I truly wish we had our starting center back on offense, and starting DBs stronger than Lewis and McCloud. I don’t think we survive another 430 yard passing day on defense.
That first sentence should be “a certainty “, not “an uncertainty “. Auto fill strikes again.