Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Is there anything better than the first snow game of the football season?
In today’s SI:AM:
🏈 Important CFB games
🏀 Important men's CBB games
⚾ Hardware for Ohtani and Judge
Believe it or not, there are only two weeks left in college football’s regular season. That means that the races for conference championships and the College Football Playoff will be decided by just a couple of games. Here are the most important ones left on the schedule.
(All rankings reflect the latest CFP committee rankings.)
This is the big one. Indiana is undefeated at 10–0 but has its fair share of doubters, including the playoff committee, which put a trio of one-loss teams ahead of the Hoosiers in this week’s rankings. That’s fair, considering that only one of Indiana’s wins has come against a team that currently has a winning record (a 31–17 victory over the Washington Huskies on Oct. 26). The Hoosiers can dismiss those concerns with a strong showing against the Buckeyes in Columbus on Saturday, though.
The game also has significant implications for the Big Ten championship. The Oregon Ducks (who are off this week) and Indiana are the only two teams left undefeated in Big Ten play. A Hoosiers win would basically guarantee them a spot in the conference title game. But if the Buckeyes win, they’d own the tiebreaker over both Indiana and the Penn State Nittany Lions, clearing the path for them to go to the title game.
Ohio State is the betting favorite over Indiana and the Hoosiers haven’t won in Columbus since 1987, but they’ve shocked people throughout this undefeated run. Why can’t they pull off another surprise?
The Big 12 is in a tricky place right now. BYU had been ranked No. 6 by the committee before last week’s upset loss to the Kansas Jayhawks dropped the Cougars to No. 14. That’s notable because the four highest-ranked conference champions get a first-round bye in the Playoff, and BYU slipped behind the No. 12 Boise State Broncos for that honor with the loss.
A bounceback win over a surprisingly good Arizona State team would strengthen BYU’s case for a first-round bye, provided it still manages to reach and win the conference championship game. Arizona State could also remain in conference title contention with a victory, leaving the Colorado Buffaloes as the only one-loss team remaining in the conference.
When this game was announced in February, it looked like it was just a fun throwback to a bygone era of college football, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Notre Dame’s famous 1924 win over Army at the Polo Grounds. It’s turned out to be one of the biggest games of the year.
The Playoff implications for this one are fascinating. First, there’s Notre Dame, which has one loss and probably needs to win this one to end up in the 12-team field. As an independent program that can’t get an automatic bid as a conference champion, the Irish need to finish in the top 12 of the committee’s rankings to earn a spot in the field. Would they get in over other two-loss teams?
An Army win opens up all sorts of fascinating Playoff possibilities, not only for the Black Knights but for the rest of the field. An undefeated AAC champion Army that also boasts a win over Notre Dame would rocket up the committee’s rankings and would have a compelling case to be ranked above the Big 12 champion. In that scenario—provided Boise State does not falter—the Big 12 could be left out of the playoff.
Army owns the nation’s longest active winning streak (13 games, dating back to November of last year) and has suffocated teams with its triple-option running attack and staunch defense that is allowing just 10.3 points per game (second fewest in the nation). Notre Dame is a two-touchdown favorite but don’t discount how difficult it can be for a team to adjust to Army’s ground-and-pound offense.
Fans of both schools have been looking forward to this game—the first meeting between the Longhorns and Aggies since 2011—ever since Texas joined the conference, and the stakes are as high as anyone could have hoped for.
In all likelihood, barring an upset this week, the winner of this game will go to the SEC championship game and the loser will not. The Playoff committee clearly likes Texas’s résumé, which includes ranked wins over the Michigan Wolverines, Oklahoma Sooners and Vanderbilt Commodores. So the Longhorns would have a shot to be in the field of 12 even with a loss, but they’d also be one of six SEC teams with two losses. Texas A&M is one of those teams, and a third loss here would knock the Aggies out of Playoff contention.
Even after losing to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets last week, Miami controls its own destiny in earning an ACC championship game berth. But the Hurricanes must win out to punch their ticket to Charlotte. A loss would put the Clemson Tigers (who have no more ACC games on the schedule) in the title game. This week’s game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (4–6) poses little threat to Miami’s conference title hopes. Next week, though, is a bit tougher.
Miami will close the regular season against a very respectable Syracuse team on the road. It’s been an up-and-down season for the Orange, who have two wins against ranked teams but also lost to a lousy Stanford Cardinal team and got blown out by the best team they have played, the Pittsburgh Panthers, 41–13.
Even setting the stakes aside, this should be a fun game. It features the nation’s No. 1 scoring offense (Miami) and its most productive quarterback (the Hurricanes’ Cam Ward, who leads the FBS in passing yards and touchdowns) against a Syracuse team that also likes to air it out. Orange quarterback Kyle McCord leads the nation in pass attempts and completions. (He’s also tied for second nationally with 12 interceptions.) It could be a shootout under the dome.
… things I saw last night:
5. This Jameis Winston throw—on the run, through heavy snow.
4. The Raptors’ new City Edition court.
3. Brandon Miller’s quick reaction and amazing leaping ability to steal an alley oop attempt right out of the air.
2. Franz Wagner’s game-winning step-back three-pointer against the Lakers.
1. Baylor star Jeremy Roach’s buzzer beater in double overtime against St. John’s. The Bears trailed by 18 in the first half and by five with 18 seconds left in the second OT.
Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).
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