NCAAF Week 10 Takeaways & Week 11 Picks

This past Tuesday night was a momentous evening for the United States of America. Democracy was reigning as the nation gathered to watch projections roll in on a historic moment in American history. On November 5th, in primetime, Americans were glued to their televisions as ESPN revealed the first 12-team CFP playoff projection.

Here are the big takeaways:

• In a season of chaos, I’m not sure there are any locks at this point to make the playoff. Oregon and Miami are the closest things to it with easy schedules remaining. Oregon has Maryland, Wisconsin and Washington, Miami has Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Syracuse. Barring a major upset, both these teams should cruise to their conference championships and in all probability make the playoff even if they don’t come out victorious in their respective conference crowning games. At this stage for Miami, the real intrigue lies with who they will play in the ACC championship, SMU or Clemson.

• Ohio State is in the next tier of lock status. The only thing that can upset the apple cart is if Indiana pulls off a win in Columbus in a couple of weeks.

• The SEC will be a dogfight all the way to the finish line. #3 Georgia has #16 Ole Miss this week, #7 Tennessee next week. #11 Alabama has #15 LSU this weekend in the game of the week, loser will eliminated from playoff contention. #5 Texas may have a path to squeeze up the middle, but their season ending game vs #14 Texas A&M is looming. This is a long way of saying, there are still seven SEC teams vying for the first round bye and the degree to which they beat up on each other will determine if the SEC is a three or four bid playoff conference.

• #9 BYU is in, but precariously in. They have emerged as the unlikely front-runner for the Big 12 champion bye. Given the cannibalization that has been going on in that conference, the Big 12 will probably be a one-bid conference to the playoff. #17 Iowa State, #21 Colorado and #22 Kansas State are still lurking.

• I’m already salivating for the #10 Notre Dame vs #25 Army game in two weeks time. That will be a defacto playoff game. As a fan of both programs, this one puts me in a tough spot, but I can’t not root for a service academy making the playoff. Go Army.

Eye-test only top 10:

1. Oregon

2. Miami

3. Indiana

4. Georgia

5. BYU

6. Notre Dame

7. Texas

8. Ohio State

9. Penn State

10. Boise State

Back with the picks.