The biggest things that happened this weekend:
BYU: Done.
Maybe the committee was right about the Cougars after all. A ten-point road favorite, BYU couldn’t get fully into gear against Coastal Carolina, with a second-half fumble proving costly and the final drive coming up Friday Night Lights short. It was up for debate whether BYU could make the playoff or not. It is no longer up for debate.
But, Coastal Carolina?
Here’s where it gets interesting. There’s still the possibility, faint as it might be, that the AAC, Sun Belt, Cincinnati, and Coastal Carolina will work something out where the two can play on the 19th. We aren’t there yet, but at the very least, it isn’t impossible. In the meantime, Coastal Carolina made a big legitimization stride on Saturday.
More Pac-12 Winnowing
Washington’s loss to Stanford (in a week that saw Stanford practice in a city park) took down another undefeated team. Oregon is evidently in tailspin mode. But Colorado won on the road to stay unbeaten, and more importantly, USC spent their Sunday afternoon blasting Washington State into the dirt. It was a strong showing for the Trojans, and while Ohio State is certainly the better of the two, comparing their résumés is fair.
Indiana Impressed
Similarly to the Ohio State/USC comparison, there’s a Texas A&M/Indiana comparison to be made. Indiana has the closer loss. Texas A&M has the better win. But now, Indiana’s a bit closer in that latter metric, handling Wisconsin on Saturday.
Undefeateds Notes
Buffalo’s game got canceled and San José State won, but Marshall and Western Michigan lost, leaving us with four Group of Five undefeateds to keep an eye on (we won’t have trouble keeping an eye on Coastal Carolina or Cincy).
***
‘Til tomorrow.
