(9) Alabama 30-24 (11) Ole Miss
Ole Miss ran the ball effectively throughout, but on the last drive when they needed a TD to save the game--a drive that was keyed by big runs early on into Bama territory--they go for four straight useless pass plays and the game was over. Why do teams give up on what works? Alabama's offense was better in the 2nd half but I'm still dubious of their ability to outscore, say, Georgia. And the run the defense got routinely gashed here. Ole Miss could've won this game and I don't think that really occurred to them until they were back in the locker room. Weird game, feels like the bad guys won and I feel bad.
Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Georgia, (2) Ohio State, (3) Michigan, (4) Texas Christian, (5) Tennessee, (7) Louisiana State, (8) Southern Cal, (9) Alabama, (10) Clemson, (13) Utah, (14) Penn State, (15) North Carolina, (19) Kansas State, (20) Notre Dame, (22) Central Florida, (23) Florida State, (25) Washington
Bad beat
(11) Mississippi. Could've won, it just got away from them.
(18) Texas. TCU is good this year, I was rather impressed the Longhorns made a game of it.
Not so good
(6) Oregon. Gotta beat Washington, especially at home.
(12) UCLA. Gotta beat Arizona, especially at home.
(16) North Carolina State. Gotta beat Boston College at home. (The previous two are unfortunate, but this one's unforgiveable--I'm long done with NC State)
(17) Tulane. *sigh* *See above about dropping conference home games.
(21) Illinois. What? Another one!
(24) Kentucky. Clean up in aisle SEC! UK dropped home games to South Carolina and Vandy--and you thought they had a shot at UGA? Come on, man, the Wildcats should've been dropped weeks ago.
Next week's intriguing matches:
(19) Kansas State @ West Virginia (looks like a walkover since K State is rolling, but don't sleep on the Mountaineers, this has upset written all over it)
(7) Southern Cal @ (16) UCLA (I think Southern Cal is vastly better, but this is an upset potential)
(10) Utah @ (12) Oregon (in the big picture both of these squads are played out, only USC can come out of the Pac, but this still makes for a fun game)
Top 12 (/16) (*)
(1-4) Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas Christian (I agree with the consensus and while Michigan and Ohio State still have yet to meet, I don't see how the loser gets knocked out of the top 12)
(5-10) Tennessee, LSU, Clemson, Alabama, Southern Cal, Penn State (I've got the same teams as the polls but in a different order; USC, LSU and Clemson can still play their way into the top 4, but Tennessee, Bama and Penn St cannot; I anticipate that Clemson will sneak ahead of Bama by year's end)
(11-12) Utah, North Carolina (these two had good, not great seasons, both have disappointing L's but promising W's)
(13-16) Oregon, Mississippi, Kansas State, Notre Dame (this is the overflow pile, ready to sneak in if any of the top 12 falter; also Notre Dame still has USC on the schedule, they're still alive for top 12 position)
(Imaginary 12-team playoff)
(Week 1) Georgia, Ohio St, Michigan, TCU off
I'd say: Tennessee over UNC, Penn St over LSU, Clemson over Utah, Bama over USC
(Week 2 Quarterfinals)
I'd say: Georgia over Bama, Buckeyes over Clemson, Michigan over Penn St, Tennessee over TCU
(Week 3 Semifinals)
I'd say: Georgia over Tennessee, Ohio State over Michigan
(Week 4 Final)
I dunno: OSU over UGA
Now this illustrates that there are still meaningful games ahead, the season is far from over. But also: there's a lot of rematches in your playoff. Also, seems like 4 extra games to win it all would necessitate a lighter non-conference schedule and getting conference games earlier. 12 teams just gets you more mediocre teams, which plays injury risk to the better teams but not much else. Do you see how adding more teams just ups the Rollerball factor?
(*) Why 12? Well, because in the next few years, that's where we're going, figure we may as well get the feel for it now.
As of week 11, I got 15 teams, 2 of which (Kansas St, Mississippi) I think are probably not real contenders and no one else. If we looking at a meaningful top 12, I'd say the top 10 are solid, UNC is probably in and either Utah or Oregon takes #12.
Does any of this matter? Not yet, but a 12 team playoff is probably happening pretty soon.
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