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SEC ROOTING GUIDE
In which we tell you which teams you should root against in the upcoming week.
The initial College Football Playoff selection committee poll hit the ESPN broadcast Tuesday night. The SEC was represented by two teams in the top four — opponents Saturday in Tuscaloosa. So at least one of those, Alabama or LSU, will remain in the top four next week.
But the playoff picture remains muddy, as 11 FBS teams entered November without a loss. One power-conference matchup features two unbeatens. The ACC’s lone unbeaten is facing its toughest regular-season game, and still others in the playoff picture must navigate tricky foes.
This could be a week of big-time eliminations around college football.
Here are the Week 10 teams that SEC fans should root against.
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh (noon ET, Saturday): The Notre Dame-Stanford game (Nov. 28) could carry College Football Playoff implications. A 6-2 ACC Coastal Division team doesn’t exactly cause Fighting Irish standouts to quiver inside their shiny helmets. But Pitt is a single-digit home underdog playing against a beatable Notre Dame team with three one-possession wins this season. A loss here most certainly would propel the Irish out of the College Football Playoff discussion, and assuming Florida dispatches Vanderbilt, likely would leave the SEC with three top 10 teams in next week’s College Football Playoff poll. (Yes, we’re assuming the LSU-Alabama loser will not fall past No. 10.)
Florida State at Clemson (3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday): It’s hard to envision the ACC getting a one-loss team into the College Football Playoff without some major attrition. Clemson’s schedule, though, gets toilet-paper soft if the Tigers can knock of the nemesis Seminoles and erase the painful memory of that ’13 home game. A Clemson win here doesn’t guarantee them a spot in the College Football Playoff, but fans can pencil them into the bracket. However, this game shouldn’t be a cake walk. And if Florida State can pull the upset, the ACC’s College Football Playoff hopes will be on life support — or beyond.
TCU at Oklahoma State (3:30 p.m. ET, Saturday): Both of these teams currently are unbeaten. The Big 12 round robin — at least among this year’s power brokers — is just beginning. But we’ll finally see some attrition among the power conference with the most unbeaten or one-loss teams. TCU’s offense is threatening. Just ask Ole Miss. But in some ways, Oklahoma State may be the better football team in 2015. It’s hard to pick which team would benefit the SEC most. But carnage among some of the nation’s top teams is good for teams like Alabama, LSU and Florida.
Michigan State at Nebraska (7 p.m. ET, Saturday): An unbeaten College Football Playoff contender is traveling to a team that lost six games prior to November. This should be no contest, right? Well, the Spartans are only 5.5-point favorites. Michigan State has won four one-possession games, including a narrow victory against Purdue. The team’s defense has suffered a slew of injuries this year. A Nebraska upset is at least plausible. If the Cornhuskers win, it won’t cripple the Big Ten. But it will at least put the impetus on Ohio State to win out, narrowing the margin of error. If Michigan State and Ohio State meet as unbeatens, it’s very likely the winner reaches the playoff, barring an upset in the conference championship. But if a one-loss Michigan State were to beat the Buckeyes…
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
