What a weekend of college football. Most importantly, the Aggies handled business in Columbia and blew out Missouri.
After all the games have ended, and we officially move onto week 12 tomorrow night, seven games stuck out as having a significant impact in narrowing the prospective CFB Playoff field.
Playoff field narrowing steadily thanks to a heavy dose of week 11 chaos
Starting it off on Friday night, the Tulane Green Wave knocked off Memphis and handed them their second loss of the season. Barring a miracle, Memphis is virtually out of the AAC conference title race, effectively eliminating them from contention for the coveted G5 playoff spot.
On Saturday morning, the Texas Tech Red Raiders demolished the BYU Cougars. Neither team was necessarily eliminated from the playoffs after this game, but it has put both teams on completely different paths. Texas Tech looks primed to walk into the BIG 12 title game as their starting quarterback has come back from injury, and their only remaining games are against UCF and West Virginia. Win out, and they are in the Playoff. Lose in the title game, and they may need some help.
BYU, on the other hand now has a much tougher road ahead. They still have games at home against TCU and UCF with a road game at Cincinnati sandwiched in between. They will likely need to win out to make it into the playoffs. A loss to at Cincinnati, or even another loss in the conference title game, will have them on the outside looking in.
Texas A&M went to Columbia in the late afternoon window and beat the Missouri Tigers and handed them their third loss of the season, and third conference loss. With no real way to make the conference championship game, Missouri has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Let's take a look at the BIG 10. Washington headed to Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers. Going into the game Wisconsin had yet to win a conference game or beaten a P4 opponent. Through all the rain, the Wisconsin defense shut down to huskies to win 13-10 (I told you all to watch out for this game). With 3 losses, all in conference, and no real way to make the BIG 10 title game, Washington has been eliminated from playoff contention.
One state away, and in similarly awful weather, the Oregon Ducks traveled to Iowa City and beat the Iowa Hawkeyes with a sub-two minute drive and a FG as time expired. This game could've really complicated the BIG 10's playoff chances, but the simplest outcome occurred. With 3 overall losses, and no real way to make the BIG 10 title game, Iowa has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Now we get to the ACC. The two games I told you to look out for were Louisville at home against Wake Forest and Virgina at home against Cal. Somehow, both teams lost on Saturday.
The ACC is an absolute mess now. 5 Teams now sit with 1 conference loss, with Louisville and Miami sitting behind the pack with 2 conference losses. The only team with one loss on the year would be Georgia Tech.
At this point, the ACC is effectively a one bid conference, and even that may not happen if Duke can win out. The only hope would be for Georgia Tech to win out and lose in the conference title game. Even if this happened, the Yellow Jackets would still likely be on the outside looking in.
It was an awesome weekend of college football, and it looks like we could have an even better one ahead. All the possible scenarios will play themselves out in the weeks to come, and in 27 days we will have our 12 Team CFB Playoff field set.