2018 College Football Season/Playoff Thread

[Stark]

New AP Poll:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Notre Dame
5. LSU
6. Michigan
7. Texas
8. Georgia
9. Oklahoma
10. UCF
11. Florida
12. Oregon
13. West Virginia
14. Kentucky
15. Washington
16. North Carolina State
17. Texas A&M
18. Penn State
19. Iowa
20. Cincinnati
21. South Florida
22. Mississippi State
23. Wisconsin
24. Michigan State
25. Washington State

 

[I'mWithDan]

Torn between this and having the Buckeyes winning out and having Michigan State beating Michigan. One would think that beating Penn State and Michigan in back to back weeks would vault Sparty into the top 15 or so. Might add an additional quality win to our resume.

At the risk of inviting this upon myself (6 days from now), Michigan State isn't very good. MSU barely squeaked by Utah State, lost to (3-3) ASU, lost by 10 at home to (3-3) NW.....I think it's a stretch to say they are a top 25 team. They're middle of the pack in both scoring offense and defense and have played a relatively soft schedule.

The path for OSU to have one of the better quality wins at years end, is Michigan winning out in impressive fashion. Michigan's only loss was @ND, breaking in a new QB......and they had the ball with a chance to tie late.

At this point, given how the rankings are breaking, it is in Michigan and Ohio State's best interest to cheer for each other, if the CFP is the ultimate goal here (or at least a preferred one). SEC winner, Clemson and ND have the inside track....meaning just one spot remains. OSU and Michigan need a truly marquee win to stave off Alabama inexplicably losing and finishing 11-1 or 12-1 (with another SEC winner)...or to potentially hold off someone like Texas, who also has a road win over OU and WVU still on the schedule.

No one wants to hear that but 11-0 OSU vs. 10-1 UM (IMO) guarantees the winner of that game gets in to the CFP. In OSU's case, it could mean the difference between Alabama in the semis or Alabama in a potential title game.....that game could be the seeding decider between CLEM / ND / OSU when stacking resumes.

 

[Ohio]

Ohio State doesn't need a resume booster. If we finish undefeated we will be ranked in the top two. If we finish with 1 loss and the Big 10 Championship, we will almost certainly be in the top 4.

The Big 10 has already started cannibalizing itself and at this point, I'm hoping it continues. Basically, what I'm hoping for is to avoid any divisional tiebreakers, which is what left us out of the Big Ten Championship Game in both 2015 and 2016. Because if we lose a game, we will need to win the Big Ten to get in.

How does this happen? It happens by our competition for the division losing. Thankfully, Penn State already has 2 conference losses, one of them to us, so they're pretty much screwed. Michigan State also has 2 losses, one of them being a conference loss to Northwestern. Michigan has 1 loss to Notre Dame.

Here are the tiebreakers, by the way:

https://bigten.org/news/2011/8/10/Big_Ten_Conference_Football_Divisional_Tiebreaker.aspx

So, I'm absolutely rooting for Michigan State to beat Michigan on Saturday. I also hope Penn State beats Michigan the following Saturday. It'd also be nice if MSU lost again, so they'd have 2 conference losses.

This would give us breathing room if we were to lose a game.

 

[AZ_]

Ohio State doesn't need a resume booster. If we finish undefeated we will be ranked in the top two. If we finish with 1 loss and the Big 10 Championship, we will almost certainly be in the top 4.

The Big 10 has already started cannibalizing itself and at this point, I'm hoping it continues. Basically, what I'm hoping for is to avoid any divisional tiebreakers, which is what left us out of the Big Ten Championship Game in both 2015 and 2016. Because if we lose a game, we will need to win the Big Ten to get in.

How does this happen? It happens by our competition for the division losing. Thankfully, Penn State already has 2 conference losses, one of them to us, so they're pretty much screwed. Michigan State also has 2 losses, one of them being a conference loss to Northwestern. Michigan has 1 loss to Notre Dame.

Here are the tiebreakers, by the way:

https://bigten.org/news/2011/8/10/Big_Ten_Conference_Football_Divisional_Tiebreaker.aspx

So, I'm absolutely rooting for Michigan State to beat Michigan on Saturday. I also hope Penn State beats Michigan the following Saturday. It'd also be nice if MSU lost again, so they'd have 2 conference losses.

This would give us breathing room if we were to lose a game.

Yep.

Not rooting for anyone else in the B1G this year. OSU just needs to take care of business.

 

[col63onel]

Ohio State doesn't need a resume booster. If we finish undefeated we will be ranked in the top two. If we finish with 1 loss and the Big 10 Championship, we will almost certainly be in the top 4.

The Big 10 has already started cannibalizing itself and at this point, I'm hoping it continues. Basically, what I'm hoping for is to avoid any divisional tiebreakers, which is what left us out of the Big Ten Championship Game in both 2015 and 2016. Because if we lose a game, we will need to win the Big Ten to get in.

How does this happen? It happens by our competition for the division losing. Thankfully, Penn State already has 2 conference losses, one of them to us, so they're pretty much screwed. Michigan State also has 2 losses, one of them being a conference loss to Northwestern. Michigan has 1 loss to Notre Dame.

Here are the tiebreakers, by the way:

https://bigten.org/news/2011/8/10/Big_Ten_Conference_Football_Divisional_Tiebreaker.aspx

So, I'm absolutely rooting for Michigan State to beat Michigan on Saturday. I also hope Penn State beats Michigan the following Saturday. It'd also be nice if MSU lost again, so they'd have 2 conference losses.

This would give us breathing room if we were to lose a game.

Yup

PSU winning against Michigan is one thing that is unequivocally good for OSU.

Probably best that MSU beats Michigan as well. But if 2015 happens again, we'd be screwed.

One thing to look out for: PSU travels to Iowa and Wisconsin. If they beat both, Wisconsin likely is the B10 champs, but with 3 losses. If Iowa beats PSU, then we could be looking at an 11-1 Iowa in the B10 title game.

But a 12-1 B1G Champ OSU isn't getting left out.

 

[Ohio]

Michigan, however, is in a bit of a different situation since they already lost to Notre Dame, who is still undefeated and ranked in the top 4. Even if Notre Dame drops a game, one would think they'd remain ahead of Michigan due to the H2H win. Notre Dame is basically blocking a playoff spot from Michigan...thus, it definitely makes sense for Michigan to root for OSU to be 11-0 heading into The Game to get a resume booster.

If Michigan loses again they are out of the playoff anyway, so they might as well hope for the best resume possible.

 

[Wulfgar1224]

I'm not as worried about resumes and what the Wolverines do. My concern is that with Nick Bosa quitting the team, the defense just won't be good enough if they do get into the playoff. His presence created a lot of problems for opposing offenses. His ability to attack the QB and the fact that defense had to game plan him made it easier for the entire defense. With that gone, I feel the secondary and LB corps will be exposed against the better teams.

 

[Cratylus]

I'm not as worried about resumes and what the Wolverines do. My concern is that with Nick Bosa quitting the team, the defense just won't be good enough if they do get into the playoff. His presence created a lot of problems for opposing offenses. His ability to attack the QB and the fact that defense had to game plan him made it easier for the entire defense. With that gone, I feel the secondary and LB corps will be exposed against the better teams.

They're already being exposed by the Indianas and Minnesotas of the world. Not sure what can be done at this point other than to change schemes. That slot receiver slant has been shredding our D for the last three games and it appears Schiano has no desire to do anything to stop it.

This team has multiple serious issues - LBs... the entire secondary... the O-Line apparently forgot how to pass block and open up holes for our RBs... this does not have the feel of a championship team. They need some sort of a shake-up, something to wake them up and light a fire.

Oh, and if I have to see Isaiah Prince play one more down at the RT spot I swear to God I'm going to shoot my television.

 

[col63onel]

Oh, and if I have to see Isaiah Prince play one more down at the RT spot I swear to God I'm going to shoot my television.

I fail to understand this.

Prince has been a solid 2+ year starter. He was awful vs PSU in 2016, and had an awful stretch vs Minnesota. Our guard play has been way worse than Prince this year, and Jordan hasn't transitioned all that well to center. Of all the possible moves to make at OLine, benching Prince would be near the bottom of the list.

 

[col63onel]

Games of the week

Ranked games:
Michigan @ MSU - It's a trap game for sure for Michigan. But I think they are better than MSU. Unsure of noon kick helps either team. I think MSU might be undefeated if LJ Scott is healthy.

NC State @ Clemson - Line is 17.5 but the SECFans model has it as a 5 point game. If somehow NC State wins, then their 2 toughest remaining games are Cuse and Florida State. They'd have to lose 2 for Clemson to make the ACCCG. A lot riding on this one.

Mississippi St @ LSU - Miss St has 2 losses, their best wins are over 4 loss KSU and 3 loss Auburn. But sure, let's rank them.

Oregon @ Wazzu - Winner is probably the last hope for the Pac12 (unless Colorado runs the table). However, Oregon's toughest remaining games are probably Utah and Arizona St, so solid chance they at least get to the champ game with 1 loss if they win this. Wazzu still has @Stanford, @Colorado and vs UW, so unlikely they run the table.

Other games:
Oklahoma @ TCU - Remember when we thought this would be a preview of the B12CG? Instead, TCU needs to win to stay above .500. Thanks Gary!

Colorado @ Washington - 2016 PAC12CG rematch. Colorado somehow not ranked at 5-1. Mindboggling.

PSU @ Indiana - PSU needs to be careful. Got Michigan next week, and they haven't won since Sep 21st. Indiana is Indiana, but last time PSU went to Bloomington, they needed a ton of turnovers to win. And this Indiana team is solid defensively.

Virginia @ Duke - These teams are a combined 9-3. And Duke has a better resume than Miss St. But neither are ranked. If Duke wins, they better be ranked.

Stanford @ Arizona St - Stanford is 4-2, with wins over 5-1 SDSU, @ 5-1 Oregon and USC, losses to undefeated Notre Dame and 4-2 Utah, yet aren't ranked. Guess if they had beaten Kansas State and Auburn they'd be top 10.

 

[Ohio]

Michigan & Michigan State in their typical cripple fight right now.

It's been pretty entertaining though.

7-7 early 3Q.

 

[TheLand1287]

Michigan & Michigan State in their typical cripple fight right now.

It's been pretty entertaining though.

7-7 early 3Q.

MSU had their chances after tying it up... couldn't do a damn thing on offense. Refs calling ticky tack personal fouls on them didn't help either. This one was basically over the minute the rain relaxed and Michigan connected on the 78 yard TD pass.

 

[Ohio]

Yep. Michigan pulled away. They're definitely better this year now that they have an average (at least) offense.

 

[col63onel]

Michigan & Michigan State in their typical cripple fight right now.

It's been pretty entertaining though.

7-7 early 3Q.

Michigan tried stomping the Spart logo and has multiple personal fouls. Very undisciplined today.

 

[Ohio]

Michigan tried stomping the Spart logo and has multiple personal fouls. Very undisciplined today.

Yeah now that they have a kinda cushy lead they are out here going wild. Interesting.