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 13.
Related: 5 Things to watch in college football week 13
With just one week left in the college football season, several teams have locked up their spot in the CFP. Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M are all undefeated and even if they lose in the last week of the regular season and then in the conference championship, they are in based on precedent. These teams will all be favored in the last week of the season and if they win, should have byes in the CFP regardless of the results in their conference championship games.
On top of those teams, there are a few more teams that are likely safe, even if they lose. Oregon, Ole Miss and Texas Tech have just one loss and are ranked high enough that another loss likely won’t hurt them. Other teams have a chance to lock up a spot with wins in rivalry week, including Oklahoma and Alabama, who have two losses, but have good enough resumes to stay in the CFP even if other teams have bigger wins in the last week.
Oregon has been a team that has played well, but didn’t have a marquee win under their belts. While they defeated Penn State, that win was fool’s gold, as Penn State struggled the rest of the way. They played a former Pac-12 foe in USC this week, who was rated 15th in the latest CFP rankings. Oregon was able to come away with a 42-27 win.
While the win likely locks the Ducks into the CFP, it also gives more confidence in the team as they head there to play better teams. Dante Moore is playing great at quarterback for the Ducks and they can also run the ball. The defense has developed well this season and the Ducks could be a tough out in the CFP.
BYU sat right outside the CFP after last week’s rankings. They had some work to do this week, as they traveled to play at Cincinnati, a team that has seven wins on the season. BYU handled things well, as they controlled the game. They won 26-14, but the result was never really in doubt.
With the win, BYU can go to the Big 12 Championship Game with a win or with a loss and some tiebreakers. The Cougars will need teams above them to lose and they’ll have to win next week against West Virginia to be in a spot to be in the CFP. From there, they can either win the Big 12 Championship or hope the committee holds onto last year’s precedent that teams in conference championship games won’t be penalized for losing.
Pittsburgh didn’t look great against Notre Dame last week and it didn’t help that head coach Pat Narduzzi mentioned that the game wasn’t important. The Panthers were able to regroup after the loss this week. They played Georgia Tech, needing a win to stay in contention for the ACC Championship Game. Pitt defeated Georgia Tech 42-28 in a funky game.
With the win, Pittsburgh can win this week and make the ACC Championship if SMU or Virginia loses. That is impressive, but so too is the future for Pittsburgh. Freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel has been incredible since entering the starting lineup. He has now been joined by freshman running back Boosie Turner, who rushed for over 200 yards in this game. If the Panthers can find a way to retain these two, they could compete in the ACC for the next few years at least.
College football has good weeks and bad weeks like any other sport. Fans are driven by the chaos of what can happen any week of the season, but sometimes it falls short. This week, there were not many big games or upsets. The CFP picture in large part stays the same, which is a bit anticlimactic right before the end of the season. In rivalry week, things will ramp up again, but this week took some momentum out of things.
Next season, the SEC will go to nine conference games. They will also require them to play at least one power conference team in their nonconference schedules. That will make weeks like this a bit better, as there likely won’t be as many matchups against FCS teams. Conferences have expanded and now that they will play each other more, it will create better matchups and also help them separate from each other.
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