2016: TUCFC Week 6

The game of the week turned out to be Clemson beating Louisville 42 - 36.  Sad to say they are in the same division in the ACC so they cannot meat for the championship game.  We'll talk about that a bit later on.  Texas A&M defended their title beating South Carolina 24-13.  They now host an undefeated Tennessee team. 

OK I thought we'd do a quick break down of the conferences. 

ACC
Clemson and Miami are the only two undefeated teams left.  They will not meet during the regular season.  As of right now it is Clemson's conference to lose.  They still have to travel to Florida State on October 29th, but otherwise they are expected to win out.  If they do they are assured a spot in the playoff. 

AAC
The AAC is getting quite a bit of love this year because of Houston.  You may not remember but they got a lot of love last year as well until Houston, Navy, and Memphis all lost.  Houston is the big story though with their convincing win over Oklahoma to start the season.  What sets Houston up to be a real possible playoff contender is that they face Louisville on November 17th in their second to last game.  If they are undefeated going into that game and Louisville still only has one loss that will be a huge late season match up.  The tricky part for Houston is staying focused on their conference play right now.  This conference seems to beat itself up pretty good every year. 

Big 12
When Texas beat Notre Dame to start the season and Oklahoma lost to Houston we were all left to scratch our heads at the Big 12.  Time has not helped.  The Conference is down now to two teams with a shot at the playoff, Baylor and West Virginia.  The problem for Baylor is that no one, except Baylor fans, wants to see them in the playoff and they don't play any tough opponents outside of the Big 12.  West Virginia has wins over Missouri and BYU but this season those are not good wins and so like Baylor they are left to play the Big 12 and nothing else.  It is hard to imagine either of these teams getting a shot at the playoff, but I think West Virginia has the best shot if they can win out. 

Big 10
The Big 10 has the worst division setup in football.  Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State are all in the East.  This makes no sense to me.  What it means is that this year the big game will be on November 26th when Michigan plays at Ohio State.  I'm assuming one of these two teams will still be undefeated at that point and they will be playing for a playoff spot.  There are two other undefeated teams currently in the Big 10.  Maryland is also in the East.  They'll get their first real test this weekend going to Penn State.  If they are still undefeated after that then people will start to at least mention them.  The other undefeated team is Nebraska.  Nebraska has to travel to Wisconsin and Ohio State back to back weekends.  Before that they are at Indiana and the host Purdue.  They should be undefeated going into Wisconsin.

Conference USA
We'll be rooting for Western here.  So far this year the two teams to beat are Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee both at 4-1 and in opposite divisions. 

MAC
The MAC also has a team that could potentially make the playoff in Western Michigan.  They are currently 5-0 and have beaten two Big 10 teams.  Not good teams, but still two Big 10 teams.  What hurts them this year is that overall the MAC seems to be down.

Mountain West
It seems like every year there is a battle here between Air Force and Boise State.  Once again these two schools sit at 4-0 and will meet in the last game of the season.  If we give Western Michigan a chance we have to do the same for Boise State who has beaten two Pac 12 teams.  Two bad teams, but still Pac 12.

Pac 12
If Washington were to go undefeated and Michigan only had one loss, and Ohio State only had one loss, and Louisville only had one loss, and Clemson only had one loss, I don't think Washington would even be in the discussion for a playoff.  Their out of conference schedule is awful and the Pac 12 looks really bad this year.  Still destroying Stanford the way they did is impressive and now they get to travel to Oregon where they should do the same.  From what we've seen of the Pac 12 this year they seem to be the heavy favorite at this point.  Who knows the Pac 12 championship game could be Colorado vs. Washington.  That would be a strange affair. 

SEC
The SEC is getting to be a lot more fun that what I had expected.  We have three teams all at 5-0:  Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas A&M.  Tennessee and A&M play this weekend, then A&M and Alabama play, then Alabama and Tennessee play.  So these next three weeks should be quite fun.  Alabama is of course the heavy favorite to win the SEC and if they lost to any other team besides an undefeated SEC team I don't think any other SEC team could get into the playoff. 

Sun Belt
The Sun Belt always seems to have competitive seasons.  This year it looks like it will be a fight out between Troy, Georgia Southern, and Appalachian State.  I'm pulling for Troy. 


Games to Watch

Alabama (5-0) at Arkansas (4-1)
At this point this is Arkansas season.  If they could beat Alabama it would be huge and they are at home.  This makes me think of Kentucky going on the road in basketball.  I kind of feel sorry for the Alabama fans sweating it out each week, but not really.

Indiana (3-1) at Ohio State (4-0)
If this game were being played in Indiana it would be a classic trap game.  But as it is the assumption is that Indiana will get rolled. 

Houston (5-0) at Navy (3-1)
Navy once again seems to be pretty good and this could be a tricky game for Houston.  As I said the AAC seems to beat itself up.  Should be a good game, or Houston may prove to be really that good. 

Tennessee (5-0) at Texas A&M (5-0)
Two undefeated teams playing for the TUCFC, great stuff.  I would not be surprised to see Tennessee get blown out. 

Florida State (3-2) at Miami (Fla) (4-0)
Florida State is having a tough year after being ranked as high as number 2.  This will be a huge test for Miami.  This game used to be such a big deal game, wonder if it still has such meaning to these two programs. 

Virginia Tech (3-1) at North Carolina (4-1)
North Carolina has sneaked into the top 20.  A win here will move them up into the top 15. 

Maryland (4-0) at Penn State (3-2)
If Maryland moves to 5-0 with a win at Penn State they will jump into the top 20 is my guess.


Week 6 Power Ratings

Rank

	Team	Record	WP	WDiffP	LP	LDiffP	Power
1	Michigan	5-0	58.531	230.788	0.000	0.000	289.319
2	Alabama	5-0	41.938	204.975	0.000	0.000	246.913
3	Ohio State	4-0	23.313	220.700	0.000	0.000	244.013
4	Clemson	5-0	63.219	175.800	0.000	0.000	239.019
5	Washington	5-0	34.406	197.888	0.000	0.000	232.294
6	Texas A&M	5-0	53.250	175.525	0.000	0.000	228.775
7	Houston	5-0	31.625	193.750	0.000	0.000	225.375
8	Louisville	4-1	30.188	199.050	1.000	6.000	222.238
9	Western Michigan	5-0	37.906	173.025	0.000	0.000	210.931
10	Miami (Florida)	4-0	29.281	173.900	0.000	0.000	203.181