The undefeated - after Week 9 | Syracusefan.com

The undefeated - after Week 9

SWC75

Bored Historian
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
32,269
Like
62,389
Every October I start charting the future games and possible fates of three groups of teams:
- The undefeated power conference teams, (and when that gets to be less than 4 teams, the one-loss teams), to anticipate who might be in the playoff.
- The top FBS non-power conference teams, the best two of which will play in the fictional “Pesci Bowl” to determine the best of such teams. I named it after the actor Joe Pesci, who plays vertically challenged but feisty characters. These teams never get selected for the playoff but still think they’re pretty good. (I’ll stick with the undefeated teams until there are less than 2 of them.)
- The worst FBS teams in the country, the two worst of which will play in the mythical “Ty-D-Bowl Bowl”, named after a toilet cleaning product, to determine who the worst major college team in the country is. (I’ll stick with winless teams until there are less than two of them.)
Each entry is the team name, with won lost record, their points for and against, their highest ranking among the writers, coaches and the playoff committee, (which means more than one team could have the same ranking – from different sources), then their ‘ART’, the points they got playing ranked teams and then their ‘RVU’, as a ranked team against an unranked team from my weekly “Against Ranked Teams” post. Games against teams on any of these three lists are in capitals. If a team is unranked or has not played a ranked team or played as one against an unranked team, those fields are not shown.

Here are the current lists:

The Playoff


GEORGIA 8-0 (303-53) ranked #1 ART: +149 RVU: +68
11/6 Missouri 4-4 (278-288) ART -16
11/13 at Tennessee 4-4 (299-212) ART: -7
11/20 Charleston Southern (FCS) 3-4 (188-188)
11/27 at Georgia Tech 3-5 (228-288) ART: +42
Comments: It’s hard to see how the Bulldogs will lose until the SEC title game, where Alabama looms. But this could be Georgia’s year. Their only title was in 1980, 41 years ago.

MICHIGAN STATE 8-0 (277-164) ranked #5 ART: +48 RVU: -3
11/6 at Purdue 5-3 (183-137) ART: +41 RVU: -18
11/13 Maryland 5-3 (234-243) ART: -46
11/20 at Ohio State 7-1 (378-154) ranked #5 ART: +22 RVU: +112
11/27 Penn State 5-3 (212-136) ranked #22 ART: +66 RVU: -4
Comments: The Spartans won their big confrontation with the Wolverines but they’ve got plenty left to do before they can think about being in the playoff. They play two 5-3 teams and then close against Ohio State and Penn State Then comes the Big Ten title game.

OKLAHOMA 9-0 (386-218) ranked #4 ART: +12 RVU: -17
11/13 at Baylor 7-1 (268-131) ranked #13 ART: +32
11/20 Iowa State 5-2 (299-155) ART: +27 RVU: -16
11/27 Oklahoma State 7-1 (235-144) ranked #11 ART: +41
Comments: The Sooners have been in low gear but finding ways to win, (their record includes a 76-0 win over Western Carolina). All three games are major challenges requiring their ‘A’ game. The top two teams in the conference meet for the championship, so ‘bedlam’ may be a double-header this year.

WAKE FOREST 8-0 (347-191) ranked #9 RVU: +26
11/6 at North Carolina 4-3 (258-202) ART: +5 RVU: +4
11/13 North Carolina State 6-2 (252-130) ranked #22 ART: +23 RVU: +17
11/20 at Clemson 5-3 (170-122) ART: +7 RVU: -6
11/27 at Boston College 4-4 (205-166) ART: -27
Comments: The Deacs, if they keep winning, might be favored in all these games. But they have yet to play a ranked team and have been mostly outscoring the unranked teams. Even if they run the table, will get them to the top 4?

The Pesci Bowl

CINCINNATI 8-0 (319-114) ranked #2 ART: +28 RVU: +46
11/6 Tulsa 3-5 (195-247) ART: -4
11/12 at South Florida 2-6 (181-255) ART: -6
11/20 Southern Methodist 7-1 (336-203) ranked #23 RVU: +15
11/26 East Carolina 4-4 (230-213)
Comments: The Bearcat express is still on schedule but it’s slowing down a bit. They aren’t blowing away teams as they were earlier. But still, they are #2 in both polls and if somebody knocks off Georgia, they will actually be #1. But where will the committee rank them? SMU looms and that could be a double-header as the ACC is now a one-division team like the Big 12, (and they will be a part of the Big 12 in the near future), so the championship game will be between the top 2 teams. And Houston is also 7-1 and beat SMU, so they may be the oppositon. If Cincinnati wins out, it will be hard to keep them out of the playoff with such a high ranking, (if the committee agrees with it). If they are in it, they can’t be in my fictional Pesci Bowl.


TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO 8-0 (315-150) ranked #16 RVU: +27
11/6 at Texas-El Paso 6-1 (174-135)
11/13 Southern Mississippi 1-7 (109-234) ART: -24
11/20 Alabama-Birmingham 5-3 (207-163) ART: -25
11/27 at North Texas State 2-6 (191-269)
Comments: Nobody knows about this team and that’s not likely to change. But if UTEP is the biggest threat to your going undefeated, you’re in pretty good shape.

The Ty-D Bowl

ARIZONA 0-8 (134-254) ART: +1
11/6 California 2-5 (164-165) ART: +10
11/13 Utah 5-3 (267-202) ART: +22 RVU: +7
11/19 at Washington State 5-4 (233-222)
11/27 at Arizona State 5-3 (242-166) ART: +18 RVU: +16
Comments: You’ve got to be able to score and this team can’t. If they caN’T BEAT Cal, they are looking at 0-12 and the Ty-D Bowl.

NEVADA-LAS VEGAS 0-8 (157-288) ART: -61
11/6 at New Mexico 3-5 (112-204) ART: -38
11/13 Hawaii 4-5 (263-305) ART: +11
11/19 at San Diego State 7-1 (237-140) ranked #21 RVU: +14
11/26 Air Force 6-2 (234-134) ART -2
Comments: If the Rebels can’t beat the Lobos, they are probably looking at 0-12 as well.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
167,140
Messages
4,682,227
Members
5,900
Latest member
DizzyNY

Online statistics

Members online
317
Guests online
2,011
Total visitors
2,328


Top Bottom