November 17, 2016 v3 p63
Week 11 in college football made me think I was reading a Batman comic, “Holy shake ups, Batman!” Things didn’t go the way I had hoped for my team, but they didn’t go the way a lot of fans had hoped they would for a lot of teams. Here’s what I took away.
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Michigan – The Wolverines faced their toughest task of the year to date, a true road game against a tough opponent (yes, MSU was a road game, but really just down the road, and they weren’t a real tough opponent). The defense performed to the standard top tier level. The offense has started to become a little stagnant, the Jabrill experiment isn’t as tricky as before, and with Wilton Speight going down with a broken collar bone what will the offense look like going forward?
Michigan State – The Spartans had their best game of the year with a 49-0 victory over Rutgers, and saved themselves from being called “Green Rutgers” for the next year. That should help them gain some confidence moving forward for the rest of the season. But will it really make a difference as they face two top 10 CFP ranked teams for their final two games of the year?
Ohio State – The Buckeyes traveled to Maryland to face former Michigan assistant DJ Durkin and took care of business. Urban Meyer has his team primed and they are peaking at just the right time in the season. They look like they are heading towards competing for another national title, except a slip by the special teams late in a game in October may keep them out of the B1G title game and the college football playoffs all together.
Wisconsin – The Badgers welcomed The Fighting Illini to Camp Randall Stadium. They weren’t very good hosts as they rolled over Illinois 48-3. Wisconsin should cruise through their last two games as they travel to lowly Purdue and close out the regular season by hosting Minnesota.
Notre Dame – The Irish continued their fight against our service academies as they hosted Army. They had little trouble this week as they rolled by the Knights 44-6. This keeps their slim bowl hopes alive as they finish their schedule against Virginia Tech and USC, but that could be difficult.
Alabama – The Tide blew out Mississippi State at home. This wasn’t really a big deal, or anything unexpected. Alabama looks poised to continue to roll through the rest of their schedule and move on to the SEC Championship game before heading to the college football playoffs without a loss.
Clemson – The Tigers were another one of the teams that didn’t perform as well as their fan base would have liked. The hosted a Pitt team that looked to be headed towards possibly not making a bowl game, but couldn’t score in the fourth quarter to put them away. This may not hurt Clemson in the long run for their chances to win the ACC and make a return appearance in the playoff.
Washington – The Huskies were the third team in the top four to suffer a loss last weekend. After falling behind by two touchdowns in the first half they just didn’t have enough fire power to catch up. Washington is still on pace to win the PAC 12, if they can get by Washington State.
Oklahoma – The Sooners proved why they were ranked in the top five in the preseason. After suffering two losses in the first three weeks Oklahoma has righted the “Schooner” and looks to be the team to beat in the Big 12. Unfortunately for them those early losses will keep them out of the playoffs.
Western Michigan – Week 11 came early for the Broncos as they played last Tuesday and helped them become the first team to 11 wins on the year. With the MAC wanting more exposure on a national level they have to play games on strange days in order to get it. Coach Fleck has gotten the Broncos to Row The Boat successfully to the point where ESPN is bringing their pregame show, College GameDay, to Kalamazoo for the first time ever.
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Michigan really hasn’t played under too much adversity this year. They only left the friendly confines of The Big House twice prior to their matchup with Iowa. The first trip was to New Jersey to face lowly Rutgers, and the second one was a little over 70 miles down the road to East Lansing to face Michigan State. Neither of those games were really in doubt the whole time. Iowa proved why they were the preseason favorite to win the western division of the B1G by playing big in a big game. The Hawkeyes were able to expose the biggest problems on Michigan’s team, their offensive line and their linebackers. A lot of people have complained that because of a favorable home schedule, the Wolverines haven’t played anyone tough this year. When the rankings from the College Football Playoff committee came out this past Tuesday it told a different story. The Wolverines have played, and beaten, three teams that are in the top 10. If you want to make the argument that they weren’t all ranked that high when Michigan played them, then you have to look at everyone’s schedule and do the same thing. Against Colorado they struggled in the beginning but ultimately put the Buffaloes away in convincing fashion. Against Penn State they were able to shut down their top player, Saquon Barkley. This allowed them to dominate them for the whole game. Against the Badgers of Wisconsin, Michigan didn’t allow them to do much of anything on offense. Their defense really had a field day whenever Wisconsin had the ball. A 14-7 victory looks a lot more impressive at 23-7 if their field goal kickers could have converted their attempts. No other team has three wins against top 10 teams, so the weak Michigan schedule argument is invalid.
With the teams ranked 2, 3, and 4 all losing this weekend it really has shaken up the playoff picture. There are so many variables that are starting to come into the equation before the final four are announced on December 4, at noon. Alabama looks headed towards a conference championship and undefeated season, leading to the top seed in the playoffs. Clemson looks to get in too, with one loss and a conference championship. The big mess really comes with the final two spots. If Ohio State beats Michigan and Penn State wins their final two games, then because of tie breakers PSU goes to the conference championship with two losses, ahead of a one loss Buckeye team. If Michigan wins out, they go to the conference championship, and a victory there would send them to the playoffs as well. Washington can still win the PAC 12 with only one loss. That might be enough to get them in the playoffs, might. The real mess that the committee has to decide on is what to do with a couple of one loss teams, Ohio State and Louisville, that may not have won conference championships. Louisville has to get by a very tough Houston team this week though. That may not look as daunting as it once did. Other Matchups in the top six include Michigan hosting Indiana, Ohio State visiting Michigan State, Alabama hosts Chattanooga (seriously?), Clemson travels to Wake Forest, and Washington hosts Arizona State. Penn State travels to Rutgers and Wisconsin visits Purdue. These games are all very winnable for the teams that are still in the playoff picture.
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With this much up in the air with only two weeks remaining in the regular season it will certainly make things very interesting. As much better than the BCS the playoffs are, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the system. This mess is helping the case for adding more teams to the picture. Be sure to check back here next week to see what I took away from week 12.
The Sporting Dad 