We did it. The final week of the FBS schedule. And after all the chaos of the regular season, it’s still about as clear as mud. FCS, D2, and D3 begin their playoffs, while FBS wraps up their regular season with WIVALWY WEEK.
Next week is Champinchip Week, and there are so many scenarios still in play (except for Western Michigan. They punched their ticket to the MAC Championship mid-recording), and AJ is here to take Carla through all of them.
(Note from Crappy: Perhaps a change of approach to The Game, as AJ notes, is warranted? See also: Convalescing = much time on couch = maximum CFB a...
We did it. The final week of the FBS schedule. And after all the chaos of the regular season, it’s still about as clear as mud. FCS, D2, and D3 begin their playoffs, while FBS wraps up their regular season with WIVALWY WEEK.
Next week is Champinchip Week, and there are so many scenarios still in play (except for Western Michigan. They punched their ticket to the MAC Championship mid-recording), and AJ is here to take Carla through all of them.
(Note from Crappy: Perhaps a change of approach to The Game, as AJ notes, is warranted? See also: Convalescing = much time on couch = maximum CFB absorption. Happy Thanksgiving, boys and girls!)
We begin, as always, with a look back at last weekend. Carla was the guest picker on Blue Raider Extra Point on Saturday and while Crappy and AJ said only attendance was mandatory, our picks and the Blue Raiders showed up in a big way. AJ found out that Delta’s Wi-Fi is capable of quadboxing and watched more of Miami-Virginia Tech than should be allowed. Pitt came from out of nowhere to beat Georgia Tech in the biggest upset of the weekend, Yale won the Ivy League by destroying Harvard. Butch Jones threw a hissy fit on a last second stop and missed call against Louisiana-Lafayette. Oh, and Brawl Of The Wild was just as good as we thought it would be.
Our friends at Blue Raider Extra Point asked Carla after her appearance if she wanted to be a part of their FCS Bracket Pool, so we went through the entire FCS bracket and picked every game. If this weekend’s rivalry games in the noon slot on Saturday aren’t to your liking, open up ESPN+ and get to quadboxing. Spoiler: The Bison are hard to pick against.
#GroupOfFiveAfterDark Report
AJ then takes us through each G5 conference’s championship game scenarios and what each team needs to do in the #GroupOfFiveAfterDark report.
Pac-12:
American:
-
Navy at Memphis (7:30 ET Thursday, ESPN): Navy needs to win and get some help
-
Temple at North Texas (3:30 ET Friday, ESPN)
-
Charlotte at No. 24 Tulane (7:30 ET Saturday, ESPNU)
Conference USA:
-
Western Kentucky at Jacksonville State (2 ET Saturday, ESPN+)
-
Kennesaw State at Liberty (3:30 ET Saturday, CBSSN)
-
WKU, Jacksonville State, and Kennesaw State are all 6-1 in conference. The winner of the WKU-Jax State game is in, the Owls just need to win and they’re in.
Sun Belt:
MAC:
-
Western Michigan at Eastern Michigan: Western won, so they’re in.
-
Ohio at Buffalo (Noon ET Friday, ESPNU): Ohio needs to win and get some help
-
Toledo at Central Michigan (Noon ET, ESPN+): Both teams need to win and get some help
-
Ball State at Miami (Noon ET, CBSSN): Miami wins and they’re in.
Mountain West:
-
San Diego State at New Mexico (3:30 ET Friday, CBSSN): SDSU wins and they’re in. New Mexico needs to win and Boise to lose.
-
Boise State at Utah State (4 ET Friday, CBS): Boise wins and they’re in
-
UNLV at Nevada (9 ET Saturay, CBSSN): UNLV needs to win and needs Boise loss
-
There’s a maximum chaos angle here somewhere…..
Big 12 Buffet
Next, we open the Big 12 Buffet for the last time this season. Don’t fill up on the dinner rolls!
-
No. 13 Utah at Kansas (Noon ET Friday, ESPN): Utes.
-
No. 25 Arizona at No. 20 Arizona State (9 ET Friday, FOX): The Territorial Cup is the buffet pick of the week.
-
No. 5 Texas Tech at West Virginia (Noon ET Saturday, ESPN): Should be Tech. But WVU has a knack in games like this one. Keep this game on your radar.
-
Houston at Baylor (Noon ET Saturday, TNT): Umm … sure.
-
Colorado at Kansas State (Noon ET Saturday, FS1): Powercats! Because holy cow, they almost beat Utah last week.
-
Iowa State at Oklahoma State (Noon ET Saturday, ESPNU) - Cyclones. We miss Bedlam.
-
UCF at No. 11 BYU (1 ET Saturday, ESPN2): Cougs are playing for something bigger.
-
Cincinnati at TCU (3:30 ET Saturday, FOX): Two teams trending the wrong way at the end of the season.
Scenarios to make Big 12 Championship Game
-
BYU: Beat UCF
-
Texas Tech: Beat WVU
-
Arizona State: Beat Arizona, BYU loses
-
Utah: Beat Kansas, Texas Tech loses
Big Boy Games
It’s time to peer into the Large Adult Son Time-Space Continuum and figure out which timeline we’ll be on next weekend. It’s Wivalwy Week, so the records may not matter. Let’s go conference by conference:
SEC:
-
No. 4 Georgia at No. 23 Georgia Tech (3:30 ET Friday, ABC): The Bees should be pretty mad about the past three weeks, and this game being at 3:30 is a blessing for many of us, but it’s likely going to take more than Haynes King running into that Georgia defensive line to win.
-
No. 3 Texas A&M at No. 16 Texas (7:30 ET Friday, ABC): Did you know these two teams do not like each other? It’s true. Texas can play spoiler at home and plays to the level of its competition. Can Texas A&M get the win on the road?
-
No. 14 Vanderbilt at No. 19 Tennessee (3:30 ET Saturday, ESPN): Yes, these rankings are correct and accurate. Tennessee may be favored at home, but Vandy’s got the offense to make this a rough night for the Vols. Do they have the defense to shut down Tennessee?
-
No. 7 Ole Miss as Mississippi State (12:00 ET Friday, ABC): This game kicking off at 11 a.m. local is gross. ESPN should face some sort of penalty for this. Ole Miss will need to focus to beat possibly the best CLANGA team we’ve seen in a while. There’s probably nothing happening after this game that would be distracting. No, we’re not talking about the cowbells.
-
No. 10 Alabama at Auburn (7:30 ET Saturday, ABC): Normally, the Iron Bowl in Jordan-Hare is cause for concern for Tide fans. Even Nick Saban was likely to drop a game here. We don’t think Auburn has it this year.
Scenarios to make SEC Championship Game
ACC:
-
No. 12 Miami at No. 22 Pitt (Noon ET Saturday, ABC): Pitt shocked the world and proved that Pat Narduzzi wasn’t joking about not caring about losing 103-10 to Notre Dame; he cared about the conference wins. Miami played with its food a bit against Virginia Tech, but pulled away. It’s going to be cold in Pittsburgh on Saturday. Surely Miami won’t mind that.
-
No. 21 SMU at Cal (8 ET Saturday, ESPN2): SMU faces a tough test to make the ACC title game.
-
Virginia Tech at No. 18 Virginia (7 ET Saturday, ESPN): Virginia can punch its ticket to the ACC Championship. Their longtime rivals probably have something to say about that.
-
Duke at Wake Forest (3:30 ET Saturday, ACCN): Duke needs some help, but a win here keeps them in the ACC title hunt.
Scenarios to make ACC Championship Game
-
SMU: Beat Cal
-
Virginia: Beat VT
-
Pitt: Beat Miami, SMU or UVA lose
-
Georgia Tech: Pitt beats Miami, SMU and UVA lose
-
Duke: Miami beats Pitt, SMU or UVA lose
-
Miami: Beat Pitt, SMU or UVA lose
Big 10:
-
No. 1 Ohio State at No. 15 Michigan (The Biggest Nude, FOX): Ohio State is better in every statistical category. Michigan’s offense is not great; its defense is fine. (Editor’s note: these are new words this year and not a copy and paste from last year’s notes.) All Ohio State has to do is get out of their own heads and play football. Pro tip: win the toss and elect to receive.
-
No. 6 Oregon at Washington (3:30 ET Saturday, CBS): Oregon’s on a roll after a pasting of USC, but a road trip to a long-time rival to end the season could dash the last hopes of a Big 10 Championship Game opportunity. Can the Huskies get loud enough to drown out the Ducks?
-
No. 2 Indiana at Purdue (7:30 ET Saturday, NBC): Indiana rolls, come on now.
Scenarios to make B1G Championship Game
-
Ohio State: Beat Michigan
-
Indiana: Beat Purdue
-
Oregon: Beat Washington, Ohio State loses
-
Michigan: Beat Ohio State, Oregon loses
-
There’s a maximum chaos scenario that is a true nightmare for one of these teams!
Honorable mentions:
We wrap up with some Games Of Local Interest to the hosts of this show:
-
MTSU at New Mexico State (3 ET Saturday, ESPN+): Would be awesome for MTSU to win two in a row to end the season.
-
Penn State at Rutgers (3:30 ET Saturday, BTN): Bowl eligibility for Penn State is on the line!
-
Wyoming at Hawaii (11:00 ET Saturday, TheMW Mobile App): Bows can finish the season with a W and go 8-4 for the first time since 2018.
And with that … we’re almost to the playoffs, friends. Watch college football … at all levels this weekend. We’ll see you here next week for Champinchip Week! Cheers, yinz and y’all!
View more
