Wow! What a great rivalry week to end this year’s regular season (except for Army/Navy and the Southern Cal/California make-up game). 83 teams are bowl eligible (for 82 spots – more on that later). In my last post, I talked about the scenarios for the division winners. In a quick sum up, here’s what happened:
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In the American, both Cincinnati (6) and Houston (21) took care of business and will meet each other with a combined record of 23-1. If the Bearcats win, will that be enough? Obviously, that depends on what else happens, but they have done what they had to do. They are the only 10-win teams in the conference. South Florida (98) and Tulane (80) lost 10 each. 7 of the 11 teams are bowl eligible.
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In the ACC, Wake Forest (11) won the Atlantic with a 10-2 record to meet Pittsburgh (19) who won to match the 10 wins. No other team won 10 and no team lost 10. 10 of the 14 teams are bowl eligible.
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In the Big 12, 11-win Oklahoma St (3) won Bedlam in a shootout and will face Baylor (9) next week. Joining Baylor in the 10-win club is Oklahoma (13). Only Kansas (68) lost double digits. 7 of the 10 teams are bowl eligible.
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In the Big 10, Michigan (4) won in the Big House and Iowa (15) won the West. Michigan has 11 wins, and Iowa, Ohio St (7), and Michigan St (10) have 10 each. Only Indiana (31) who played by far the most difficult schedule (their opponent’s had a combined .692 winning percentage) lost 10. 9 of the 14 teams are bowl eligible.
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In Conference USA, W Kentucky (60) won the East and will face UTSA (17) who suffered their first defeat to North Texas (128) who became bowl eligible in the process. UTSA, with their 11 wins are the sole CUSAer to do so and FIU (155) with 11 losses is the only double-digit loser in the conference. 8 of the 14 teams are bowl eligible.
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The Independents had Notre Dame (5) and BYU (22) with 11 and 10 wins, respectively. New Mexico St (110) lost 10 while UCONN (117) and UMASS (11) lost 11 each. 4 of the 7 are bowl eligible.
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In the MAC, Kent St (81) won the East and will face N Illinois (58). No team won more than 8 in the conference and only Akron (152) lost 10. 8 of the 12 teams are bowl eligible.
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In the Mountain West, Utah St (49) will represent the Mountain and face San Diego St (14) from the West. San Diego St with 11 wins is the only double-digit team and UNLV (88) is the only 10-loss team. 8 of the 12 teams are bowl eligible.
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In the Pac-12, Oregon (12) won the North and is the only 10-win Pac-12 team. They will face Utah (20) in the Championship. Arizona 1-11 (70) is the only double-digit loser. 6 of the 12 teams are bowl eligible.
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In the SEC, Georgia (1) and Alabama (2) will fight for the title. Georgia (12-0) joins Cincinnati as the only remaining FBS unbeaten teams. Alabama has 11 and Mississippi (8) has 10 wins. Only Vanderbilt (94) lost 10 games. The other 6 teams in the East and all 7 in the West are bowl eligible – 13 out of 14.
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In the Sun Belt, App St (25) will battle Louisiana (18). Louisiana is 11-1, and both App St and Coastal Carolina (33) are 10-2. Arkansas St (146) is the only 10-loss club member. 4 of the 10 teams are bowl eligible.
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That gives us 83 bowl-eligible teams and just 82 spots. The Power 5 are probably safe. There are 8 Group of 5. I have no clue how the selections will actually work but the teams at risk of being left out, based on GCR rank, are, in order: North Texas (128), Middle Tennessee (126), Old Dominion (123), Ball St (120), Wyoming (119), Memphis (117), Miami OH (109), and Tulsa (80).
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In the FCS, we had the first round of the playoffs. Holy Cross 10-2 (107) took out 8-4 Sacred Heart (158) and will face Villanova 9-2 (111) in round two. Kennesaw St 11-1 (76) beat Davidson 8-3 (143) and will play E Tennessee St 10-1 (91). South Dakota St 9-3 (134) eliminated UC Davis 8-4 (151) and will try to progress against Sacramento St 9-2 (118). Incarnate Word 10-2 (105) took 2 overtimes to down Steph F Austin 8-4 (148) and will be rewarded with a game at Sam Houston 10-0 (69), the only other perfect team in Division I. E Washington 10-2 (106) upended N Iowa 6-6 (182) and will face Montana 9-2 (115). Tennessee Martin 10-2 (103) took care of business against Missouri St 8-4 (140) and will tackle Montana St 9-2 (114). S Illinois 8-4 (171) outlasted South Dakota 7-5 (171) and will kickoff against North Dakota St 10-1 (87). SELA 9-3 (133) took out Florida A&M 9-3 (135) and will travel to James Madison 10-1 (86). All round 1 winners will be on the road.
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That’s it for this week. See the rankings below from Georgia (1), Alabama (2), Oklahoma St (3), Michigan (4), Notre Dame (5), and Cincinnati (6) to Morgan St (258), here is all of Division I. Thanks for reading and sharing with others, G
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