[BostonCard]

The marquee match-up will be Arizona at USC.  Arizona has looked great of late, and Tate has had four consecutive Pac-12 offensive player of the week awards (unprecedented).  USC looked better last week, but you have to figure Arizona will be rocking.  USC is favored by 7, which seems a bit generous.  The winner will be in control of the Pac-12 South.

On Friday, UCLA will be at Utah.  Two teams that have struggled of late.  The question is whether UCLA will have Rosen or not (no line set as a consequence).

On Saturday, Oregon State will play at Cal, which represents Cal's best chance to get to 6 wins and bowl eligibility (they would need one more win between Stanford and UCLA); if not they will need to sweep the two.  Cal is favored by only a TD, which seems low, but then again OSU almost upset Stanford, and Cal has been playing poorly of late.

Oregon travels to UW; UW is favored by 21.  Not much to say here; Oregon had been in a tailspin until beating Utah at home last week.

Colorado at ASU; If Colorado wins, it will (perhaps surprisingly) be bowl eligeable, despite not looking so good much of this year.  If ASU wins, they will be one win away from bowl eligibility with Oregon State and UCLA left to play.  ASU is favored by four.

Wake Forest is at Notre Dame; should be an easy game for the Domers (favored by 2 TDs).

The Sequon Barkeley show goes to Michigan State.  Here's my prediction: Barkeley gets 120 yards on 20ish carries, has a nice kickoff return, Penn State wins and the talking heads revert to talking about how "it's Barkeley's to lose"

tOSU and JT Barrett are at Iowa.

BC

[BostonCard]

The marquee match-up will be Arizona at USC.  Arizona has looked great of late, and Tate has had four consecutive Pac-12 offensive player of the week awards (unprecedented).  USC looked better last week, but you have to figure Arizona will be rocking.  USC is favored by 7, which seems a bit generous.  The winner will be in control of the Pac-12 South.

On Friday, UCLA will be at Utah.  Two teams that have struggled of late.  The question is whether UCLA will have Rosen or not (no line set as a consequence).

On Saturday, Oregon State will play at Cal, which represents Cal's best chance to get to 6 wins and bowl eligibility (they would need one more win between Stanford and UCLA); if not they will need to sweep the two.  Cal is favored by only a TD, which seems low, but then again OSU almost upset Stanford, and Cal has been playing poorly of late.

Oregon travels to UW; UW is favored by 21.  Not much to say here; Oregon had been in a tailspin until beating Utah at home last week.

Colorado at ASU; If Colorado wins, it will (perhaps surprisingly) be bowl eligeable, despite not looking so good much of this year.  If ASU wins, they will be one win away from bowl eligibility with Oregon State and UCLA left to play.  ASU is favored by four.

Wake Forest is at Notre Dame; should be an easy game for the Domers (favored by 2 TDs).

The Sequon Barkeley show goes to Michigan State.  Here's my prediction: Barkeley gets 120 yards on 20ish carries, has a nice kickoff return, Penn State wins and the talking heads revert to talking about how "it's Barkeley's to lose"

tOSU and JT Barrett are at Iowa.

BC

[hayaka]

QB Justin Herbert is expected back for Oregon after missing four weeks. With him the Ducks are 4-1 this year.  I see a mild upset possibility with Herbert back, as UW has looked vulnerable at times.

[hayaka]

QB Justin Herbert is expected back for Oregon after missing four weeks. With him the Ducks are 4-1 this year.  I see a mild upset possibility with Herbert back, as UW has looked vulnerable at times.

[Langdude]

Man, I am glad that we are not facing Zona this year.

-m.

[Langdude]

Man, I am glad that we are not facing Zona this year.

-m.

[ChicagoCard]

I hope Stanford does face them this year.

[ChicagoCard]

I hope Stanford does face them this year.

[BostonCard]

I hope Stanford does face them this year.

Agree.  It might be ugly given our run defense... but it would mean we are in the PAC-12 championship.

BC

[BostonCard]

I hope Stanford does face them this year.

Agree.  It might be ugly given our run defense... but it would mean we are in the PAC-12 championship.

BC

[teejers1]

Related predictions randomly buried in this thread: 

1.  ND wins out and makes the CFP; and

2.  The ND RB wins the Voldemort.

That would be bad/wrong on so many levels, but I think it's gonna happen.

[teejers1]

Related predictions randomly buried in this thread: 

1.  ND wins out and makes the CFP; and

2.  The ND RB wins the Voldemort.

That would be bad/wrong on so many levels, but I think it's gonna happen.

[BostonCard]

Related predictions randomly buried in this thread: 

1.  ND wins out and makes the CFP; and

2.  The ND RB wins the    .

That would be bad/wrong on so many levels, but I think it's gonna happen.

I worry about that.  We may be the only ones standing between Notre Dame and the playoffs and between Adams and the H-award, though I think they also have to play Miami.  But if they clinch a spot in the playoffs by beating us... ugh.

BC

[BostonCard]

Related predictions randomly buried in this thread: 

1.  ND wins out and makes the CFP; and

2.  The ND RB wins the    .

That would be bad/wrong on so many levels, but I think it's gonna happen.

I worry about that.  We may be the only ones standing between Notre Dame and the playoffs and between Adams and the H-award, though I think they also have to play Miami.  But if they clinch a spot in the playoffs by beating us... ugh.

BC

[Goose]

[quote author=ChicagoTree link=topic=17848.msg209388#msg209388 date=1509406744]
I hope Stanford does face them this year.

Agree.  It might be ugly given our run defense... but it would mean we are in the PAC-12 championship.

BC
[/quote]
Fortunately, Arizona is not a "power" running team. They are more like Oregon than like USC. They are, however, like Oregon of old, very quick. I think we could match up with them pretty well, or at least OK. While their defense is much improved, it is still pretty small. We pushed them around last year and could probably do so again, given the chance. Against Arizona last year, BTW, Chryst played pretty poorly until later in the game when Arizona went strictly man-to-man in the secondary. After that, he did better.

[Goose]

[quote author=ChicagoTree link=topic=17848.msg209388#msg209388 date=1509406744]
I hope Stanford does face them this year.

Agree.  It might be ugly given our run defense... but it would mean we are in the PAC-12 championship.

BC
[/quote]
Fortunately, Arizona is not a "power" running team. They are more like Oregon than like USC. They are, however, like Oregon of old, very quick. I think we could match up with them pretty well, or at least OK. While their defense is much improved, it is still pretty small. We pushed them around last year and could probably do so again, given the chance. Against Arizona last year, BTW, Chryst played pretty poorly until later in the game when Arizona went strictly man-to-man in the secondary. After that, he did better.

[thunder_chik]

Related predictions randomly buried in this thread: 

1.  ND wins out and makes the CFP; and

2.  The ND RB wins the    .

That would be bad/wrong on so many levels, but I think it's gonna happen.

Hope we can play the spoiler on that.  I would absolutely hate to see ND in the CFP.  >:(

[thunder_chik]

Related predictions randomly buried in this thread: 

1.  ND wins out and makes the CFP; and

2.  The ND RB wins the    .

That would be bad/wrong on so many levels, but I think it's gonna happen.

Hope we can play the spoiler on that.  I would absolutely hate to see ND in the CFP.  >:(

[needle]

Stanford has a five-game winning streak. Arizona has a four-game winning streak.

No other team in the Pac-12 has a winning streak. (One game does not a streak make.)

[needle]

Stanford has a five-game winning streak. Arizona has a four-game winning streak.

No other team in the Pac-12 has a winning streak. (One game does not a streak make.)

[BostonCard]

Speaking of which, here is the updated college football imperialism map:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/79...alism_map/

SC, Arizona, and Stanford are all in the top 6 (though SC drops out if you exclude Alaska).  We, along with Notre Dame, carry 4 territories.  But if Notre Dame manages to beat Miami (and not subsequently lose), and we continue to win until that game, we could pick up 22 more territories.  If we then face the USC-Arizona winner in the Pac-12 championship (assuming they don't lose any more games), we could pick up another 17.  By my best estimate, we could control 43 territories before bowl season if we win out.

BC

P.S.  By beating the USC/Arizona winner, we would get our home territory back.

[BostonCard]

Speaking of which, here is the updated college football imperialism map:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/79...alism_map/

SC, Arizona, and Stanford are all in the top 6 (though SC drops out if you exclude Alaska).  We, along with Notre Dame, carry 4 territories.  But if Notre Dame manages to beat Miami (and not subsequently lose), and we continue to win until that game, we could pick up 22 more territories.  If we then face the USC-Arizona winner in the Pac-12 championship (assuming they don't lose any more games), we could pick up another 17.  By my best estimate, we could control 43 territories before bowl season if we win out.

BC

P.S.  By beating the USC/Arizona winner, we would get our home territory back.

[stupac2]

It's still a bit early for gaming through playoff stuff too much, but ND might have a bit of a handicap by virtue of not being in a conference. Also, don't take @Miami for granted, that ought to be a real test.

[stupac2]

It's still a bit early for gaming through playoff stuff too much, but ND might have a bit of a handicap by virtue of not being in a conference. Also, don't take @Miami for granted, that ought to be a real test.

[BostonCard]

I would love nothing more than an 11-1 Notre Dame team being left out of the playoffs because they are not in a conference.  We will get a sense of whether that is possible one the first playoff rankings are released.  In the AP poll, ND is fifth, but Alabama/Georgia and tOSU/Wisconsin would play each other in a conference championship if each goes undefeated from here on out.  So two of Clemson, Oklahoma/TCU/Oklahoma State, and UW would have to jump over the Domers.

In the Coaches poll, Clemson is ahead of ND, so only a Big12 or UW would need vault ahead to deny the one loss Domers of a playoff birth.

BC

[BostonCard]

I would love nothing more than an 11-1 Notre Dame team being left out of the playoffs because they are not in a conference.  We will get a sense of whether that is possible one the first playoff rankings are released.  In the AP poll, ND is fifth, but Alabama/Georgia and tOSU/Wisconsin would play each other in a conference championship if each goes undefeated from here on out.  So two of Clemson, Oklahoma/TCU/Oklahoma State, and UW would have to jump over the Domers.

In the Coaches poll, Clemson is ahead of ND, so only a Big12 or UW would need vault ahead to deny the one loss Domers of a playoff birth.

BC

[stupac2]

I would love nothing more than an 11-1 Notre Dame team being left out of the playoffs because they are not in a conference.  We will get a sense of whether that is possible one the first playoff rankings are released.  In the AP poll, ND is fifth, but Alabama/Georgia and tOSU/Wisconsin would play each other in a conference championship if each goes undefeated from here on out.  So two of Clemson, Oklahoma/TCU/Oklahoma State, and UW would have to jump over the Domers.

In the Coaches poll, Clemson is ahead of ND, so only a Big12 or UW would need vault ahead to deny the one loss Domers of a playoff birth.

BC

We get some sense I suppose, but after the year where TCU and Baylor both got leapt I don't think we can really take too much from it. When you sit idle on championship weekend, you're liable to move down.

Anyway I'd be annoyed to see 11-1 ND get left out of the playoff because it means we lost to ND.

[stupac2]

I would love nothing more than an 11-1 Notre Dame team being left out of the playoffs because they are not in a conference.  We will get a sense of whether that is possible one the first playoff rankings are released.  In the AP poll, ND is fifth, but Alabama/Georgia and tOSU/Wisconsin would play each other in a conference championship if each goes undefeated from here on out.  So two of Clemson, Oklahoma/TCU/Oklahoma State, and UW would have to jump over the Domers.

In the Coaches poll, Clemson is ahead of ND, so only a Big12 or UW would need vault ahead to deny the one loss Domers of a playoff birth.

BC

We get some sense I suppose, but after the year where TCU and Baylor both got leapt I don't think we can really take too much from it. When you sit idle on championship weekend, you're liable to move down.

Anyway I'd be annoyed to see 11-1 ND get left out of the playoff because it means we lost to ND.

[French Rage]

Speaking of which, here is the updated college football imperialism map:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/79...alism_map/

SC, Arizona, and Stanford are all in the top 6 (though SC drops out if you exclude Alaska).  We, along with Votre Dame, carry 4 territories.  But if Votre Dame manages to beat Miami (and not subsequently lose), and we continue to win until that game, we could pick up 22 more territories.  If we then face the U$C-Arizona winner in the Pac-12 championship (assuming they don't lose any more games), we could pick up another 17.  By my best estimate, we could control 43 territories before bowl season if we win out.

BC

P.S.  By beating the U$C/Arizona winner, we would get our home territory back.

So we gain nothing by beating Wazzou, right?

[French Rage]

Speaking of which, here is the updated college football imperialism map:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/79...alism_map/

SC, Arizona, and Stanford are all in the top 6 (though SC drops out if you exclude Alaska).  We, along with Votre Dame, carry 4 territories.  But if Votre Dame manages to beat Miami (and not subsequently lose), and we continue to win until that game, we could pick up 22 more territories.  If we then face the U$C-Arizona winner in the Pac-12 championship (assuming they don't lose any more games), we could pick up another 17.  By my best estimate, we could control 43 territories before bowl season if we win out.

BC

P.S.  By beating the U$C/Arizona winner, we would get our home territory back.

So we gain nothing by beating Wazzou, right?

[CowboyIndian]

I would love nothing more than an 11-1 Votre Dame team being left out of the playoffs

I'd prefer a 10-2 USB.

[CowboyIndian]

I would love nothing more than an 11-1 Votre Dame team being left out of the playoffs

I'd prefer a 10-2 USB.