Paul Prattles On

Welcome Back! Before I get to the Rankings, I would like to spend a little time on the conference races. AAC In the East, UCF has clinched. In the West, Memphis clinched the division by beating Houston. ACC In the Atlantic Division, Clemson has clinched. In the Coastal, Pitt has clinched. Big 12 Oklahoma will play Texas in the Red River Rematch. Big 10 In the East, Ohio State clinched by defeating Michigan.. Northwestern has already clinched the West. CUSA In the East, Middle Tennessee clinched by beating UAB and FIU losing to Marshall. In the West, UAB has clinched the division. Independents Though technically not a conference, I have kind of been treating them as one all year, so why stop now?  Notre Dame is 12-0 and has a 2-game lead over Army (9-2).  BYU is 6-6, and Liberty (!) is 5-6, with UMass and NM St bringing up the rear at 4-8 and 3-9, respectively. MAC In the East, Buffalo clinched by b...

Welcome Back! Last weekend was a wild weekend!  If only we could have more weekends like that.  Here are my thoughts on each game. Let's jump right in! FBS vs. FBS games On Tuesday, Miami defeated Ball State 42-21 to earn bowl eligibility.  The Cardinals end up 4-8, which is a 2-game improvement over 2017 in Mike Neu's 3rd year here.  The Redhawks improved by 1 game, to 6-6. Western Michigan upended Northern Illinois in a mild upset 28-21, but NIU has already clinched a MACCG berth.  The Broncos finish 7-5, a 1-game improvement over 2017, good for bowl eligibility.  The Huskies are 8-4, the same as last year, with 2 games still to play (MACCG and bowl). On Thursday, Air Force edged Colorado State 27-19 at home.  The Falcons finish 5-7, the same as last year, while the Rams drop to 4-8, winning 3 less games than in 2017. Mississippi State won the Egg Bowl by destroying Ole Miss 35-3.  The B...

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. 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 NONE Some interesting tidbits: There are now no winless teams.  Undefeated teams remain at 4. There are no games between undefeated teams in week 13.  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 ...