early New Year's Six projections

We're still another week away from the committee starting their rankings, but seeing as how I've been easing into football season this year, I thought I'd create a refresher as to what we're looking at for the New Year's Six this year.

The Peach and Fiesta Bowls are the semi-finals this season, which means that there is only room for one at-large team, who will play the G5 representative in the Cotton Bowl.  This also means that none of the champs who aren't in the CFP will be getting displaced from their regular landing spot.

I'm using the latest AP Poll for the rankings and projections.

Of course, as I do this, we have a historic weekend coming up on November 9.  There are 2 games featuring 8-0 teams playing each other (all four teams have a bye this coming weekend).  That means there is a lot of wiggle room in the projections.

Coming up with the top four teams is difficult at the moment.  The current top 5 contains teams that will play each other soon.

The top four I will project at this point are Ohio State, Clemson, Oregon, and the LSU/Alabama winner.

Peach:  Clemson (#4) vs. LSU/Alabama winner (#1/2)
Fiesta:  Ohio State (#3) vs. Oregon (#7)

The only bowl not needing a replacement for their champ is the Sugar for the Big 12.

Sugar:  LSU/Alabama loser (#1/2) vs. Oklahoma (#10)
Rose:  Penn State (#5, Big Ten replacement) vs. Utah (#9, Pac-12 replacement)
Orange:  Wake Forest (#23, ACC replacement) vs. Florida (#6, highest ranked non-champ/non-replacement out of SEC/Big Ten/ND)
Cotton:  SMU (#15, G5) vs. Georgia (#8, highest ranked team not already placed)

These projections are very volatile, and I don't expect a lot of them to hold up as teams knock each other down the rankings. 

Week 9 wrap up

I admit, I didn't watch much this weekend.  With a VT bye week and the last weekend before Halloween, I gotta focus on family stuff.  But man, did the ACC not disappoint.

We have reached the point of the season when the magic number is back.

Week 8 wrap up

The NCAA adopted a new overtime rule this year.  Starting with the 5th OT, teams alternate 2 point attempts.  The first game to utilize this new rule was played in Lane Stadium on October 19, 2019, when the Virginia Tech Hokies beat the cheating Tarheels of North Carolina 43-41 in 6 OTs.

Oh, and the ACC Coastal went into full chaos mode.  And, we're getting close to eliminations.

The Coastal did it again!

Eight weeks might be a record for this division!

2019 Season: Halftime Report

Like Chip, I've spent some time away from this place over the past several months. Not as "busy" as Chip per se, but just not around the blog-o-sphere.

But in any case, it's great to be back - and just in time to share some thoughts on the first half of the 2019 season.

Week 7 wrap up

Getting back into the football groove.  Had some crazy games this weekend, causing some significant shake ups in the conference races.

Week 6 wrap up

We've missed a few weeks, but fortunately those weeks were light on conference action.  Well, compared to late October.  The ACC front loaded a bit to push their new network.

As always in the conference races, we're only counting conference games.

Week 2 wrap up

I know I'm seriously behind, but a busy summer has transformed into a busy fall.

As always in the conference races, we're only counting conference games.

ACC
Atlantic
Controls destiny:
-Clemson (1-0) has a cross-divisional win.
-BC (1-0) cross-divisional win.

Coastal
Controls destiny:
-UVA (1-0) has a tiebreaker over Pitt.
-UNC (1-0) has a tiebreaker over Miami.
-VT (0-1) has a cross-divisional loss.
-GT (0-1) has a cross-divisional loss.

Needs help:
-Pitt (0-1) needs two UVA losses.
-Miami (0-1) needs two UNC losses.

SEC
East
Controls destiny:
-Georgia (1-0) has a tiebreaker over Vanderbilt.

Needs help:
-Vanderbilt (0-1) needs two Georgia losses.

West
Controls destiny:
Ole Miss (1-0) has a tiebreaker over Arkansas.

Needs help:
Arkansas (0-1) needs two Ole Miss losses.

Big Ten
East
Controls destiny:
-Rutgers (0-1) has a cross-divisional loss.

West
Controls destiny:
-Iowa (1-0) has a cross-divisional win.

Pac-12
North
Controls destiny:
-Cal (1-0) has a tiebreaker over Washington.
-Stanford (0-1) has a cross-divisional loss.

Needs help:
-Washington (0-1) needs two Cal losses.

South
Controls destiny:
-USC (1-0) has a cross-divisional win.

Big 12
Yet to play conference games.

Week 1 wrap up

And suddenly, the college football season has begun.

Thanks to a family wedding, I missed out on a lot of week 1 action.  Normally, I'm very anti-wedding during football season, but I had a great time and my team ended up losing anyway, so overall, my Saturday was better than it would have been had I not gone.

Thanks to a new network, the ACC jumped into action early, and 8 of the 14 teams were showcased on the first weekend of ACCN, and all but 2 playing conference games.  The only other conference game came from the SEC East.

ACC
Atlantic
Controls destiny:
-Clemson (1-0) has a cross-divisional win.
-BC (1-0) cross-divisional win.

Coastal
Controls destiny:
-UVA (1-0) has a tiebreaker over Pitt.
-VT (0-1) has a cross-divisional loss.
-GT (0-1) has a cross-divisional loss.

Needs help:
Pitt (0-1) needs two UVA losses.

SEC
East
Controls destiny:
-Georgia (1-0) has a tiebreaker over Vanderbilt.

Needs help:
-Vanderbilt (0-1) needs two Georgia losses.

2018 Season Thoughts: Post-Regular Season

From the August Week 0 games to today's Army-Navy game, the regular season is now in the books. With that being the case, let's look back on what made it so different/special.