College Football Tournament Week 11 - Separation

Week 10 Recap

Despite the best efforts of Big 12 Refs and Tom Herman and Sam Ehlinger’s many “But but, we’re Texas” complaints, Will Grier and David Sills threw the Horns Down into the elimination bin. I don’t know how I will be able to discuss with my children the horrors of putting one’s outstretched pinky and pointer fingers towards the ground, simply a despicable display that must be eradicated from our delicate society. I could never imagine any opposing player or coach ever showing such a low level of class in victory.

Elsewhere, Mizzou chomped up the Gators in Gainesville to snuff out any glimmer of hope Florida had of staying around in the SEC East race. The Georgia Southern dream ended too soon, just a week following one of its biggest wins as an FBS team, the Eagles got fully dominated by at UL-Monroe and will now have to defeat Troy to regain top position in the Sun Belt East. Out in Dallas, the Ponies bucked Houston out of the Tournament and now SMU could run the table and have a shot at the AAC West title.

The only Top Contenders to lose were those in head-to-head matchups with other Top teams, as Kentucky and LSU have now fallen well behind in the division races and will face elimination in each remaining game.

Frogs O’ War readers again proved their intelligence by overwhelming (73%) selecting the Longhorns as the most likely team to be eliminated, with Florida selected the 2^nd most at 7%.

Week 11

Week 11 has potential to be frisky. Every alive team is favored to win, but 12 of the remaining 14 squads face off against real opponents with high level talent capable of reaching up and beating even the best teams. The exceptions are Michigan (traveling to FPI #105 Rutgers, the lowest rated Power 5 team) and Utah State (hosting FPI #119 San Jose State). A loss in either of those games would be truly shocking, but any other of the Final 14 dropping a game this week shouldn’t bring wild headlines. Sure, the Sooners have been dominant at home, but this is Bedlam and anything can happen. Sure, Bama, UCF, Notre Dame, and Clemson have looked untouchable, but being 3 TD+ favorites over Mississippi State, Navy, Florida State & Boston College feels like it could be a bit much. West Virginia could be in for a let-down/look-ahead spot – climbing into the Committee’s top 10 coming off an emotional victory on the road over a top team and now returns home to face our struggling Frogs team reeling from accumulating injuries, with the Sooners still to come on their schedule. Only six teams face the chopping block this week, will any be eliminated or will everyone continue into Week 12.