Odds and Ends 10-26-22

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Welcome Back!

I hope you have been enjoying this blog. Once October ends, I will be exploring each team's path to the conference championship game as an added feature. 

Enjoy!

Inter-conference results 

With most of the out-of-conference games completed, I will revisit this again at the end of the season. Otherwise, you'll just be looking at incremental changes each week, which can be kind of boring. For example, we only had 2 non-conference games this week. Look for this again at or near the end of the season, when I'll devote one whole blog to just this section.

I will do the same on the "Which Conference is Best" and Which Division is Best" sections as well.


Intra-conference results

Here is how the divisions are stacking up against each other within each conference:

The SEC West is 6-5 against the SEC East
The Big Ten East is 9-5 against the Big Ten West
The ACC Atlantic is 4-1 against the ACC Coastal
The MWC Mountain is 6-4 against the MWC West
The SBC East is 5-3 against the SBC West
The MAC East is 5-3 against the MAC West

The SEC East was 1-0 against the West again this week; the Big Ten East was 3-0 against the West; the ACC Atlantic was 1-0 against the Coastal; the MWC Mountain was 1-1 against the West; the SBC West was 0-0 against the East; and the MAC West was 1-3 against the East.



Undefeated/Winless teams

The following teams are currently undefeated (listed alphabetically):

Clemson
Georgia
Michigan
Ohio State
TCU
Tennessee


There are now 6 (out of 131) undefeated teams in FBS, a reduction of 3 from last week. There are NO winless teams.


Here are the undefeated teams by conference:

SEC -2
Big Ten- 2
ACC- 1
Big 12 -1
Pac 12 -0
SBC- 0
AAC- 0
CUSA- 0
Ind -0
MAC- 0
MWC- 0

In addition, there are 3 teams with only 1 win, but no wins over an FBS opponent, as 1 team earned their 1st FBS win this past week. Those teams are:

Akron
UMass
USF


Bowl eligible/eliminated 

The following teams have already earned their 6th win, and thus are bowl eligible. Two teams, Army and Marshall, play 2 FCS teams, so they will need 7 wins to qualify. James Madison is ineligible for a bowl no matter how many games it wins. Since there are 43 bowl games, 86 teams will be needed. Teams that finish 5-7 may fill some of those slots if enough teams don't qualify with 6 wins. So far, we have 27 teams eligible. The teams are listed alphabetically.

Alabama
Cincinnati
Clemson
Coastal Carolina
Georgia
Illinois
Liberty
LSU
Maryland
Michigan
North Carolina
Ohio State
Oklahoma State
Ole Miss
Oregon
Oregon State
Penn State
Syracuse
TCU
Tennessee
Troy
Tulane
UCLA
USC
UTSA
Wake Forest
Washington


The following teams have 7 losses, and therefore are eliminated from participating in a bowl, unless their are not enough 6-win teams available:

Akron
Charlotte


In a week or 2, I will list every team and their chances of making a bowl.

In case you are interested, here are the number of teams with each amount of wins:

8 wins- 1 team 0.7%
7 wins- 9 teams 6.9%
6 wins- 17 teams 13.0%
5 wins- 23 teams 17.6%
4 wins- 29 teams 22.1%
3 wins- 30 teams 22.9%
2 wins- 16 teams 12.2%
1 win- 6 teams 4.6%
0 wins- 0 teams 0%

Note: Figures may not add up to 100% due to rounding to nearest tenth.

Here are the amount of teams with each amount of losses:

0 losses- 6 teams 6.9%
1 loss- 15 teams 11.5%
2 losses- 16 teams 12.2%
3 losses- 34 teams 26.0%
4 losses- 29 teams 22.1%
5 losses- 19 teams 14.5%
6 losses- 10 teams 7.6%
7 losses- 2 teams 1.5%



Updates on my playoff picks 

Georgia was off this week. Alabama handled Mississippi State easily, and can still qualify for and win the SEC Championship Game. Ohio State still looks like a strong choice. Utah has been eliminated with their 2nd loss, and has been reduced to the role of spoiler, which they handled quite well against USC. Of those I didn't pick, Clemson looks like the best bet to make it in, though I am less sure of how well they would match up against the others. Other possibilities are whoever else emerges as an undefeated or 1-loss Pac 12 champion (now down to UCLA, Oregon, or USC), or an undefeated or 1-loss Big 12 champion (TCU or Oklahoma State). Tennessee is also now a viable candidate.


Games I'm Excited About


Ohio State @ Penn State- Can the Buckeyes continue blowing everyone out? Will the Nittany Lions actually make a game of this?

TCU @ West Virginia- Will the Horned Frogs spot the opposing team a double digit lead again, and be forced to make a comeback? Can the Mountaineers catch TCU in a letdown situation and pull the big upset?

Notre Dame @ Syracuse- Will the Orange be able to recover from their disappointing loss to Clemson and focus on a down, but still dangerous, Notre Dame? Will the Fighting Irish be able to move the ball against the Syracuse defense?

Toledo @ Eastern Michigan- Can the Rockets rebound from their loss to Buffalo and take control of the MAC West? Or will the Eagles seize 1st place by virtue of the tiebreaker advantage over all the other contenders?

Florida vs Georgia- Can the Dawgs avoid the upset, or will they be caught looking ahead to Tennessee next week? Can the Gators stay with the Bulldogs by forcing turnovers and getting key stops?

Illinois @ Nebraska- Will the Illini continue their march to the Big Ten Championship Game? Can the Cornhuskers derail Illinois?

Cincinnati @ UCF- Can the Bearcats play better than they have the last few games and put their opponent away after getting a lead? Will the Knights be able to bounce back from their disappointing performance against ECU?

Oklahoma State @ Kansas State- Can the Cowboys stay in the top 2 in the Big 12 and all but eliminate KSU from the race? Will the Wildcats keep the 2nd place spot muddled with a win at home?

Kentucky @ Tennessee- Can the Wildcats pull the huge upset and perhaps set up a chance to win the SEC East in Athens on Nov 19? Can the Volunteers stay focused and avoid looking ahead to next week's game in Athens?

Colorado State @ Boise State- Can anyone in the MWC beat the Broncos? Are the Rams capable of pulling the upset?

Michigan State @ Michigan- Can the Spartans defeat UM for a 3rd year in a row? Will the Wolverines pulverize MSU like they have everyone else on their schedule?



Feel free to leave a comment. Check out yesterday's Power Rankings, and come back tomorrow for Paul's Picks! 

Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!     

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