Odds and Ends 10/31/18

Welcome Back!

Here at Odds and Ends, I plan to look at some stats, trends, storylines, etc. as they play out.  I will also give my opinion on some issues, but you can take that for what it's worth.

LIR

I think we can declare Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama the winner in this category.  He has attempted 152 passes without an interception, which is more then double the next person.  Also, he has surpassed the earlier 2018 mark of 143 set by Cole McDonald of Hawai'i. The only question now is when (or if) he throws his first one. 

All Wins and No Wins

This is where I will list all the teams that are still undefeated, and all the teams that are winless.  These lists will get smaller as the season goes on, of course.

Undefeated

Alabama

Clemson

Notre Dame

UCF

Winless

UTEP

Some interesting tidbits:

There is now only 1 winless team, with San Jose State defeating UNLV last week. Undefeated teams have been whittled down to 4, as USF suffered its first loss last week to Houston.

There are no games between undefeated teams in week 10.  In fact, there are no games between the 4 remaining undefeated teams.  This means the only chance we have for such would be in a bowl game (or playoff).

Here are the conference standings in relation to undefeated and winless teams.  The 1st number is the number of undefeated teams, the 2nd is the number of winless teams.  I trust you to know how many teams are in each conference.

AAC 1-0

ACC 1-0

SEC 1-0 

Independents 1-0

Big 10 0-0

Big 12 0-0

PAC 12 0-0

MAC 0-0

SBC 0-0

MWC 0-0

CUSA 0-1

There are now only 5 teams (plus winless UTEP) that have yet to win against an FBS foe:

Bowling Green
Central Michigan
Rice
Tulsa
UConn

Kent State played Bowling Green Tuesday night, so the Golden Flashes are no longer on this list.  

Conference Standings

I will also be keeping up with how the conferences are faring in non-conference games.  I have dropped the records against FCS teams and are just presenting the non conference records against FBS foes.   Lately, there haven't been too many non-conference games, but there are a few.  The Big 12 and PAC 12 have finished their non-conference slates.  Here is where we stand:

1) SEC 23-5 .821 winning percentage

2) Big 12 15-6 .714

3) Big 10 25-13 .658

4) ACC 19-13 .594

5) Pac 12 15-11 .577

6) Independents 22-19 .537

7) MWC 15-20 .429

8) AAC 14-19 .424

9) SBC 11-17 .393

10) CUSA 11-26 .297

11) MAC 8-29 .216

Here are the rankings against P5 conference teams:

1) SEC 6-2 .750 winning percentage
2) Big 10 7-5 .583
3) Ind 8-6 .571

4) PAC 12 3-4 .429

5) AAC 7-10 .412
6) Big 12 4-6 .400
7) ACC 3-6 .333
8) MWC 4-13 .235
9) MAC 3-19 .136
10) CUSA 2-16 .111
11) SBC 1-10 .091

Here are the rankings against G5 conference teams:

1) Big 12 11-0 1.000 winning percentage
2) SEC 17-3 .850
3) ACC 16-7 .696
4) Big 10 18-8 .692
5) PAC 12 12-7 .632
6) MWC 11-7 .611

7) SBC 10-7 .588

8) Ind 14-13 .519

9) CUSA 9-10 .474

10) AAC 7-9 .438

11) MAC 5-10 .333

Which Conference Division is the best?

In order to figure this out, I simply took the winning percentage of each team in the divisions and ranked them.  Yes, I included intra-division games.  Here is how it looks now, after 4 weeks:

1) SEC West 37-20 .649

2) SBC East 25-14 .641

T3) SEC East 35-20 .636

T3) ACC Atlantic 35-20 .636

5) AAC East 29-17 .630

6) Big 10 East 35-22 .616

7) Pac 12 North 30-19 .612

8) Big 12 46-33 .582

9) Independents 27-22 .551

10) ACC Coastal 29-25 .537

11) MWC West 27-24 .529

12) Big 10 West 29-27 .518

13) Pac 12 South 25-24 .510

14) MWC Mountain 25-25 .500

15) CUSA West 27-30 .474

16) CUSA East 26-30 .464

17) MAC East 21-26 .448

18) MAC West 23-29 .442

19) AAC West 21-28 .429

20) SBC West 16-24 .400

The SEC West has reasserted its dominance and now sits at the top, followed by the SBC East.  The SEC is the only conference with both divisions in the top 43.  In fact, they're the only conference with both divisions in the top 10!  Obviously, as most of the games being played now are conference games, the percentages should be collapsing toward .500, being affected only by the non-conference and cross-division games.

The divisions that did well last week were B10E at 3-1 and the MAC East at 2-0.  The worst division was the MAC West at 2-4.  All of the other divisions were at .500 or a game away.

Which Division in each Conference is best?

Here are the standings for each conference in cross divisional games.

SEC East is 5-5 vs. the West (very competitive!)
Big 10 East is 11-5 vs. the West
PAC 12 North is 7-7 vs. the South
ACC Atlantic is 4-4 vs. the Coastal
AAC East is 7-3 vs. the West
MWC West is 7-5 vs. the Mountain
MAC West is 5-5 vs. the East
CUSA West is 2-2 vs. the East
SBC East is 10-2 vs. the West!

Update on Paul's Playoff Picks:

My picks are pretty much a disaster at this point.  Washington and Wisconsin each have 3(!) losses, so they won't sniff the playoff.  Georgia has one loss, which means its only chance would be to win the rest of their games, and then the SECCG over Alabama (or LSU in a rematch).  Clemson is the only one still on pace to make it. The top 2 spots seem set, with Alabama and Clemson appearing to be head and shoulders above anyone else.  The fight for the last 2 spots should be interesting!

Teams that have achieved 6 Wins, i.e. Bowl Eligibility
There are 39 bowl games this year, which means there are 78 slots for 130 teams.  The minimum standard is 6 wins.  These are the teams that are already eligible for a bowl:

Alabama
Army
Boise State
Boston College
Buffalo
Cincinnati
Clemson
FIU
Florida
Fresno State
Georgia
Georgia Southern
Hawai'i
Houston
Iowa
Kentucky
La Tech
LSU
Michigan
North Texas
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Penn State
San Diego State
Syracuse
Texas
Troy
UAB
UCF
USF
Utah
Utah State
Virginia
Washington
Washington State
West Virginia
Western Michigan

This means 38 of the available slots have been filled (almost half).

Games I'm excited about this weekend:

Temple @UCF- Can the Owls end UCF's 20-game winning streak?  Which team will stay undefeated in the AAC? Can the Knights justify their #12 CFP ranking?
Pitt @ Virginia- Which Panther team will show up? The one that beat GT, Syracuse, and Duke, or the one that lost to UNC and UCF, and got blasted by Penn State?  Can the Cavaliers put a stranglehold on 1st place in the Coastal by defeating the 2nd place Panthers?
Texas A&M @ Auburn- The narrative is that the Aggies are much better than the Tigers.  But with a week to prepare, can the Tigers pull the upset?
South Carolina @ Ole Miss- This is an intriguing cross-divisional matchup.  Can the Gamecocks go on the road in the SEC and win?  Will the bye help the Rebels be better prepared?
Michigan State @ Maryland- How will the Terp players react to Maryland reinstating DJ Durkin as coach?  Can MSU take advantage of the possible chaos?  Or will the Terrapins look at things as "us against the world"?  Who wins this battle for 3rd place in the Big 10 East?
Air Force @ Army- Can the Black Knights extend their winning streak to 5 games? Will the Falcons claim the Commander-in-Chief Trophy with a win?
Georgia Southern @ ULM- Will the Eagles be able to stay focused and not let down after last week's big win over App St? Or will the Warhawks use their bye week to earn their 3rd straight win?
Georgia @ Kentucky- Will the Dawgs clinch the SEC East?  Or will it be the Wildcats, who have already clinched their first winning SEC record since 1977?  Will the Kentucky D be able to stop Georgia?  Will the Dawg D be able to contain the UK rushing offense?
West Virginia @ Texas-  Which team will stay alive in the Big 12 race while virtually eliminating the other? Can the Longhorns bounce back from their loss last weekend?  Can the Mountaineers win on the road?
Iowa @ Purdue-  Which team will be able to bounce back from last week's loss?  Will the Hawkeyes be able to go on the road and win at West Lafayette?  Or will the Boilermakers eliminate Iowa in the division race?
UTEP @ Rice- Which of these teams will get their 1st win against an FBS team?  Can the Miners get their 1st win of 2018?
Penn State @ Michigan- Can the Nittany Lions spoil Michigan's season?  Will the Wolverines eliminate any chance PSU has to win the division?
Boston College @ Va Tech-  Will the Eagles be able to remain a contender in the ACC Atlantic, setting up a virtual winner-take-all game against Clemson on Nov 10?  Will the Hokies be able to keep pace with UVA and/or Pitt in the ACC Coastal?
Missouri @ Florida- Will the Gators be able to bounce back after their loss to UGA?  for that matter, will the Tigers be able to bounce back from their devastating loss to UK and get their 1st SEC win of 2018?
Utah @ Arizona State- Will the Utes begin to distance themselves from the rest of the pack in the PAC 12 South?  Or will the Wildcats drag them back down to the rest of the division?
Appalachian State @ Coastal Carolina- Will the Mountaineers bounce back from their loss?  Or will they look past the Chanticleers, who are on the verge of bowl eligibility?
UConn @ Tulsa- Which of these teams will get their 1st win against an FBS foe?
Notre Dame @ Northwestern- Which NW team will show up?  The one that squeaked by Nebraska and Rutgers, and lost to Akron and Duke, or the one that beat Purdue and Mich St and routed Wisconsin?  Will the Fighting Irish be able to stay undefeated?
Alabama @ LSU- Can anyone beat the Crimson Tide?  For that matter, can anyone play within 3 TDs of them?
Oklahoma @ Texas Tech- Will the Red Raiders be able to knock the Sooners out of playoff consideration, and put themselves squarely in the conference race?  Or will OU eliminate TT?
Stanford @ Washington- Which team will stay in the PAC 12 North race?

That's all for now.  Tomorrow, I will have my picks for Week 10.  Feel free to leave a comment.  Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!