Not often does a team pull their starting quarterback in the middle of a game and have it work as well as it did for Texas A&M. Marcel Reed came in for a struggling Conner Weigman and turned LSU on its head. He only completed two passes for 70 yards, but he also rushed for 62 yards and three touchdowns to propel the Aggies to a 38-23 win over the Tigers.
Texas A&M is now in sole possession of first place in the SEC as the calendar flips to November.
I did a little shuffling of the teams that were in the 7-11 seed range from last week, but nobody dropped out of this week's College Football Playoff projections. The changes were primarily due to rethinking future game results. Also, current and future strength of schedule rankings are becoming more reliable.
Oregon remains atop the Big Ten after a convincing 38-9 win over Illinois. The Ducks travel to struggling Michigan next week, although the Wolverines did beat Michigan State on Saturday.
Ohio State is the projected Big Ten champion and will face Penn State next week in a game that will have significant CFP implications. A loss for the Buckeyes will pretty much end any shot at the Big Ten title and the bye in the CFP.
College Football Playoff
Quarterfinals
| Date | Game / Location | Projection |
|---|---|---|
Jan. 1 | Sugar Bowl | (1) Georgia vs. (8/9) Winner |
Jan. 1 | Rose Bowl | (2) Ohio State vs. (7/10) Winner |
Jan. 1 | Fiesta Bowl | (4) Iowa State vs. (5/12) Winner |
Dec. 31 | Peach Bowl | (3) Miami vs. (6/11) Winner |
First round
| Date | Location | Projection | Winner faces |
|---|---|---|---|
Dec. 20 or 21 | Autzen Stadium | (5) Oregon vs. (12) Boise State | (4) Iowa State |
Dec. 20 or 21 | Beaver Stadium | (8) Penn State vs. (9) Texas A&M | (1) Georgia |
Dec. 20 or 21 | Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium | (6) Texas vs. (11) Clemson | (3) Miami |
Dec. 20 or 21 | LaVell Edwards Stadium | (7) BYU vs. (10) Alabama | (2) Ohio State |
Navy took its first loss of the season 51-14 at Notre Dame. That should put an end to the Midshipmen's hopes for a spot in the CFP. Army is still unbeaten and will get a shot at the Fighting Irish on Nov. 23.
The Independence Bowl announced this week that the American Athletic Conference will be represented in the game this season against a former Pac-12 team. Army had been contracted to that game for this season prior to joining the AAC. There is no guarantee Army will play in the Independence Bowl if available, but I expect that to be the case.
I will have my first projected CFP Rankings of the season on Tuesday. It is the warmup act to the real thing, which will be released for the first time on Nov. 5. That also happens to be Election Day, so the CFP Rankings reveal may be overshadowed a bit that evening.
After two weeks of not needing sub-.500 teams for the bowl projections, I came up one eligible team short this week: UCF is in the postseason with a projected 5-7 record.
Don't see your team? Check out Jerry Palm's complete bowl projections.