College football week 10 is in the books. After every week fans can take away things from what happened on the field. Here are 5 things learned from college football week 11.
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The biggest game of the week featured Texas Tech hosting BYU in a battle of teams that were atop the Big 12 standings. The winner of the game has a big edge on making the Big 12 Championship Game, while the loser is not out of making it either. Texas Tech handled business in this game, winning 29-7. The Red Raiders showed up in all facets of the game to get the win.
Texas Tech now has just one loss and looks like they will make the CFP. They stick out above the rest of the Big 12, even with one conference loss. BYU showed they are a bit away from competing in a game like this. Utah and Cincinnati are also solid, but the talent Texas Tech has helped them lead the Big 12. They aren’t infallible and could slip up, but they look like the best team in the league by a decent margin.
It was not a good week for the ACC. First, on Tuesday, the CFP committee didn’t rank the teams very highly, indicating that it would be tough for their teams to move up. On top of that, the weekend games didn’t go well. Wake Forest upset Virginia, who was a team taht was projected to make the field based on the CFP committee’s initial rankings. Louisville dropped a game to Cal as well and they were ranked 15th in the initial rankings.
Georgia Tech looks like the best bet to make the CFP from the ACC now, as they sit at 8-1. Things could still be shaken up further and they still have a tough out-of-conference game against Georgia Tech at the end of the regular season. With other teams losing, including Duke dropping a nonconference game to UConn, the ACC Champion will likely be the only team in the CFP.
Oregon lost a big game to Indiana earlier this season. In other games, they have blown teams out or at least won pretty handily. This week, they had to win a close game, which was nice to see. They were on the road at Iowa in a game that had some pretty bad weather. The Ducks battled tough, but were losing late when Dante Moore made a great pass to set the Ducks up in field goal range. They won 18-16.
The win is encouraging, as the Ducks got a big win and in a hostile environment. They can win some close games and winning a rock fight against Iowa makes them more trustworthy. Oregon winning also sets up a great probability that they make the CFP, even if they take one more loss the rest of the way.
Penn State has had a rough game, but it was still a tough environment for Indiana to play in this week. The Nittany Lions have plenty of talent on the team and can make it a game against most teams in the country, despite their bad record. Indiana has been dominating teams this season, but in this game, they needed a big drive to win. Fernando Mendoza found Omar Cooper in the back of the end zone to give the Hoosiers the 27-24.
Indiana proved they were clutch and can win a close game, which could come in handy down the road in the CFP. With a 10-0 record, Indiana is virtually in the CFP already now after this win. They could lose both of their next two games, against Purdue and Wisconsin, which could put them in danger, but they are a pretty safe bet to make the CFP.
One of the biggest tie-breaker scenarios fans will see this year could take place in the American Conference. Not only are there five teams with just one conference loss on the year, but the winner of the conference is in contention to make the CFP, so the stakes are high. This week, Tulane defeated Memphis, which kept Tulane in the race, but now leaves the Tigers on the outside looking in and needing help to make the conference championship game.
Navy is one of the teams tied at the top of the American Conference and they play two tough games before the championship game, against USF and Memphis. USF is another one of the one-loss teams and they will have to get through Navy. North Texas has just one conference loss and has a manageable schedule down the stretch and so too does Tulane. East Carolina has a big game against Memphis, but look like they will be favored in their other games. Simply put, the American Conference will have a great finish to the season one way or another.
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