Odds and Ends 9/18/24

Welcome Back!

We had a bunch of OOC games this past weekend, so lots to delve into those. Once conference games begin in earnest, I will stop updating the Inter-conference results each week, and pull them back out at the end of the year.

Interconference results

We had 63 games this past weekend, and almost all of them were of the non-conference variety. Here is where each conference stands in various categories after the 3rd week.

Overall:

1) Big Ten 37-7/.841 (9-3 last week)

2) Pac 2 5-1/.833 (1-1)

3) SEC 32-8/.800 (8-2)

4) ACC 32-9/.780 (8-4)

5) Big 12 34-11/.756 (10-3)

6) SBC 22-16/.579 (5-5)

7) AAC 18-18/.500 (5-8)

8) MAC 16-16/.500 (6-4)

9) MWC 14-20/.478 (3-8)

10) CUSA 8-16/.333 (1-6)

11) Ind 3-6/.333 (1-2)

12) FCS 4-97/.044 (0-11)

The Big Ten takes over the top spot as the SEC moves into 3rd, and the MAC moves past the Mountain West. The Big 12 had the best week at 10-3, and CUSA (1-6) had the worst week.

vs FBS

1) Big Ten 25-7/.781 (6-3 last week)

2) Pac 2 3-1/.750 (1-1)

3) SEC 21-8/.724 (8-2)

4) ACC 19-9/.679 (6-4)

5) Big 12 20-11/.645 (10-3)

6) SBC 10-16/.385 (3-5)

7) MAC  7-15/.318 (3-4)

8) AAC 8-18/.308 (4-8)

9) MWC 6-18/.250 (3-8)

10) Ind 2-6/.250 (1-2)

11) CUSA 3-15/.167 (1-6)

12) FCS 4-97/..040 (0-11)

The Big Ten moves into 1st place in this category as well, as the SEC (8-2) and the Big 12 (10-3) had the best weeks, and CUSA the worst.

Let's break this down a little further.

vs P5

1) Pac 2 2-1/.667 (1-1 for the week)

2) SEC 8-6/.571 (3-0)

3) Ind 2-2/.500 (1-1)

4) Big Ten 6-7/.462 (2-3)

5) Big 12 7-9/.438 (1-2)

6) ACC  6-8/.429 (1-3)

7) MAC 2-14/.125 (1-4)

8) MWC 2-16/.111 (1-7)

9) SBC 1-9/.100 (1-4)

10) AAC 1-11/.083 (1-6)

11) CUSA 0-7/.000 (0-1)

12) FCS 0-52/.000 (0-5)

As you can see, only 3 conferences (plus the Independents) have records of at least .500 against P5 teams. Again, the SEC had the best week, moving up to the #2 spot (from #6), while CUSA (0-1), the MWC (1-7), and the AAC (1-6) had the worst weeks.

Now let's check out how conferences fare against G5 competition.

vs G5

1) Big Ten 19-0/1.000 (4-0 this week)

2) Pac 12 1-0/.000 (1-0)

3) ACC 13-1/.929 (5-1)

4) SEC 13-2/.867 (5-2)

4) Big 12 13-2/.867 (9-1)

6) MAC 5-1/.833 (2-0)

7) MWC 4-2/.667 (2-1)

8) SBC 9-7/.563 (2-1)

9) AAC 7-7/.500 (3-2)

10) CUSA 3-8/.273 (1-5)

11) FCS 4-45/.082 (0-6)

12) Ind 0-4/.000 (0-1)

Only 1 of the P5 are still undefeated against G5 competition, as the Big 12 went 9-1, the Big Ten 4-0, and CUSA was a paltry 1-5.

One could surmise that the Big Ten is off to the best start among all the conferences, but the SEC is moving up fast. The G5 is starting to be dominated by the MAC. Of course, there is much more season to be played, so this could all change.

Intraconference results

The only conference with divisions is the Sun Belt, and they have yet to play a game within the conference. That will change this weekend.

Undefeated/Winless teams

Here are the remaining undefeated teams, listed alphabetically. All records are 3-0 unless otherwise indicated.

Alabama

Arizona State

Army 2-0

BYU

California

Coastal Carolina

Duke

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa State 2-0

James Madison 2-0

Kansas State

Liberty

Louisiana 2-0

Louisville 2-0

Memphis

Miami, Fl

Michigan State

Missouri

Navy 2-0

Nebraska

North Carolina

Northern Illinois 2-0

Ohio State 2-0

Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Ole Miss

Oregon

Penn State 2-0

Pittsburgh

Rutgers 2-0

San Jose State

Syracuse 2-0

Tennessee

Texas

Toledo

UCF

ULM 2-0

UNLV

USC 2-0

Utah

Washington State

18 teams suffered their 1st loss in week 3, so we are down to 43 out of 134 teams (32.1%) that are still undefeated. Here is how they break down by conference:

Pac-1 out of 2 teams (.500)

Big Ten- 9 out of 18 teams (.500)

SEC- 7/16 (.438)

Big 12- 7/16 (.438)

ACC- 7/17 (.412)

SBC- 4/14 (.286)

AAC- 3/14 (.214)

CUSA- 2/10 (.200)

MAC- 2/12 (.167)

MWC- 1/12 (.100)

Ind- 0/3 (.000)

These teams are still winless, again listed alphabetically. All records are 0-3 unless listed otherwise.

FSU

Jacksonville State

Kennesaw State

Kent State

Miami, Oh 0-2

New Mexico

ODU

Temple

Troy

UMass

UTEP

Wyoming

6 teams earned their 1st win, so we are down to 12 out of 134 teams (8.9%) that are still winless. FSU is the only P5 team that is still winless. Here is how they break down by conference:

SEC 0/16

Big Ten 0/16

Big 12 0/16

Pac 2 0/2

ACC 1/17

AAC 1/14

SBC 2/14

MWC 2/12

CUSA 2/10

MAC 3/12

Ind 1/3

These are the teams that have a win, but none against FBS teams. These are also listed alphabetically.

Air Force

Akron

Ball State

Bowling Green

Central Michigan

Charlotte

Colorado State

Florida

Hawaii

Kansas

La Tech

Marshall

Middle Tennessee

Mississippi State

New Mexico State

Purdue

Rice

San Diego State

South Alabama

Southern Miss

Stanford

Tulane

Tulsa

UAB

UConn

Utah State

Wake Forest

West Virginia

Western Michigan

 

Overall 29 teams have a win, but no FBS wins. Here is how that breaks down by conference:

MWC- 5

AAC- 5

MAC- 5

CUSA- 3

SBC- 3

SEC- 2

Big 12- 2

ACC- 2

Big Ten- 1

Ind- 1

Pac 12- 0

Bowl eligible/eliminated

I will start listing these as soon as teams become bowl eligible (6 wins) or eliminated (7 losses). Look for this in October.

Paul's Playoff Picks

All of my picks are still in play (obviously), but Notre Dame is probably the closest to being eliminated. This could also affect the ACC as a whole.

As a refresher, here is the setup for the CFP:

5 slots are reserved for the 5 highest ranked conference champions; 7 slots are at-large (any team)

The top 4 conference champions get a bye for the 1st round. The next 4 seeds get a home game for the 1st round, and the 9-12 seeds travel to play 4-8 (4 vs 12, 5 vs 11, etc.). Teams are not reseeded after the 1st round, and Notre Dame cannot be a top 4 seed because they are not a member of any conference. After the 1st round, it plays out like any tournament- quarterfinals, semifinals, then finals, all at neutral sites (which I hope will change in future years).

Having said all that, here is who I think makes it into this year's 12-team CFP, presented in no particular order:

Georgia

Ohio State

FSU- already with 3 losses- ELIMINATED

Utah

Notre Dame- loss to a MAC team

Boise State- loss to Oregon by 3

Clemson- bounced back after a big loss to UGA

Texas- has a big win over Michigan

Oregon- looked shaky in 2 close wins, but better in win over Oregon St

Iowa- has a loss to rival Iowa State

Missouri

LSU- loss to Notre Dame 

Some of you are probably screaming at me right now with, "what about...?" and you would probably be right. This is all just a colossal guess. So to hedge my bets a bit, here are the teams I think also have a chance to make it in:

Alabama

Ole Miss

Tennessee

Penn State

Michigan- loss to Texas can be overcome 

USC

Rutgers

Miami, Fl

SMU- has a loss to BYU

Va Tech- already suffered a loss...against VANDY!

Louisville

NC State- big loss to Tennessee

Kansas State

Oklahoma State

Arizona- loss to Kansas State

West Virginia- now has 2 losses

Kansas- losses to Illinois and UNLV probably eliminates the Jayhawks

UTSA- blowout losses to Texas State and Texas

Tulane- close loss to Kansas State, bigger loss to Oklahoma

Memphis- win over FSU

East Carolina- close loss to App St

Air Force- loss to SJSU

Appalachian State- blowout loss to Clemson, but still a viable candidate

Texas State- big win over UTSA, loss to Ariz St

Toledo- big win over Mss St

Northern Illinois- big win over Notre Dame!

Liberty

This is obviously an extensive list, because I basically listed every P5 team with a chance to get 9+ wins, and every G5 team that I think could get 10+ wins. I am 99.9% sure that I will be wrong about much of this, but I would be happy if I get at least 6 of the 12 teams right, and 10-12 come from these 2 lists.

I'll update how my picks are doing each Wednesday throughout the season.

Feel free to leave a comment. Come back tomorrow for Paul's Picks! 

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