Recap: Conference Races Get Cleared Up

November 11, 2018 by Dave Congrove

Virginia Tech's young and banged-up defense surrendered 494 rushing yards and 52 points to Pitt in a 52-22 walkover that gives the Panthers control of the ACC Coastal. One more win, at either Wake Forest or Miami, and the Panthers will move on to the ACC Championship game to face Clemson. The Tigers clinched the Atlantic division with a 27-7 win at Boston College.

The Hokies, on the other hand are in jeopardy of seeing their 25-year bowl appearance streak come to an end after dropping to 4-5 on the season with home games versus Miami and Virginia remaining.

Florida State is staring at the very real possibility that its annual bowl appearance streak won't make it past 36 years after falling to 4-6 with a 42-13 loss at Notre Dame. The 'Noles have home games with Boston College and Florida left on the schedule.

Northwestern rallied in the 4th for a 14-10 win over Iowa that, along with Minnesota's shocking 41-10 demolition of Purdue and Wisconsin's 22-10 loss at Penn State, locked up the Big Ten West division title. Pat Fitzgerald's team has won 10 straight over divisional opponents.

The Wildcats appear destined to face Michigan or Ohio State in the conference championship game at Indianapolis. Michigan was a 42-7 victor versus Rutgers, and Ohio State put a methodical 26-6 whupping on Michigan State. Of course, the Buckeyes and Wolverines end the season against each other in Columbus on November 24.

Both SEC division champions, Alabama and Georgia, continued their winning ways. The Tide blanked would-be contender, Mississippi State 24-0, a week after shutting out LSU 29-0. The Bulldogs downed Auburn 27-10.

West Virginia and Oklahoma moved closer to a possible Big 12 title showdown in Arlington. The two schools, which will meet in a regular season-ending clash in Morgantown on November 23, won in completely divergent manners on Saturday. The Mountaineers punished TCU 47-10 while the Sooners had a 42-41 escape in their 'Bedlam' rivalry clash with Oklahoma State in Norman after the Cowboys failed on a 2-point conversion attempt with just over a minute to go in the game.

Iowa State and Texas, which trail WVU and OU by a game, are still in the Big 12 chase. The Cyclones took down Baylor 28-14 and the Longhorns prevailed 41-34 over Texas Tech on  a late TD in Lubbock after giving up a 17-point lead. The Cyclones and Longhorns battle next week in Austin.

The Apple Cup rivalry matchup of Washington and Washington State continues to set up as a de facto PAC-12 North title game. The Cougars herded Colorado 31-7 while the Huskies enjoyed a bye week. The Buffaloes started the season 5-0, but are now 5-5.

The Chaos cleared a little bit in the PAC-12 South, thanks to USC's 15-14 loss at home to Cal to end a 14-game Trojan winning streak over the Golden Bears. Three teams, however, are still essentially tied atop the standings with Utah moving to 5-3 with a 32-25 win at home versus Oregon, while the Sun Devils fended off UCLA 31-28 to move to 4-3. Arizona, also 4-3, was idle. Utah has already defeated Arizona, but lost to Arizona State, so the Sun Devils completely control their own destiny as they can claim the crown with wins over Oregon and Arizona in the final two weeks.

The lone guaranteed spot in a New Year's Six bowl for the highest-ranked team from the Group of Five conferences (American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt), is coming down to UCF and Utah State. After Fresno State lost 24-17 at Boise State on Friday, the undefeated Knights won 35-24 over Navy on Saturday while the Aggies stomped Utah State 62-24.

UCF can clinch the American's East division title with a win at home over a red-hot Cincinnati team next week. The Bearcats improved to 9-1 overall and 5-1 in the conference with a 35-23 win over slumping USF on Saturday. The Bulls have lost 3 straight after beginning the season with 7 consecutive wins. The American West division has a 3-way tie consisting of Houston, SMU and Tulane.

In Conference USA, UAB ran its conference record to 7-0 with a much closer than anticipated 26-23 win in overtime over Southern Miss. The Blazers will take it as the victory clinches the West division title for a program that re-started play last year after being eliminated by the school following the 2014 season. FIU or Middle Tennessee will be their opponent, and UAB can earn the right to host the championship contest with a win at home over Middle Tennessee in the regular season finale on November 24.

The MAC East is Buffalo's to lose. The Bulls clinch with a win over Ohio on Wednesday, or a victory at Bowling Green on November 23. The West can be clinched by Northern Illinois with a win at Miami (O) on Wednesday, but a loss by the Huskies coupled with a Western Michigan win over Ball State on Tuesday would set up a season-ending de facto division championship game between NIU and WMU in DeKalb.

Utah State and Fresno State each control their own destiny in the Mountain West divisional races, while Troy and Louisiana-Monroe lead their respective Sun Belt divisions.

Conference and Division Races

Clemson, Northwestern, UAB, Georgia and Alabama are the only teams that have clinched a berth in their conference championship game. Here is how every conference and division looks after Saturday's games.

American - UCF or Cincinnati (East) vs. Houston, SMU or Tulane (West)
ACC - Clemson (clinched Atlantic) vs. Pittsburgh (most likely, but Virginia is still in it.)
Big Ten - Michigan or Ohio State (East) vs. Northwestern (clinched west)
Big 12 - Oklahoma vs. West Virginia (most likely, but Iowa State and Texas still in it.)
CUSA - FIU or Middle Tennessee (East) vs. UAB (clinched West)
MAC - Buffalo (most likely, but Miami and Ohio still in it) vs. Northern Illinois or Western Michigan
MWC - Utah State (Mountain) and Fresno State (West) control their own destiny.
PAC 12 - Washington or Washington State (North) vs. Utah, Arizona or Arizona State (South)
SEC - Georgia (clinched Eastern) v.s Alabama (clinched Western)
Sun Belt - Troy and Louisiana-Monroe control their own destiny.

FBS vs. FCS

Army defeated Lafayette 31-13 in the lone FBS-FCS game and FBS teams are now 97-7 (.933) vs. the FCS this season, and 1,316-124 (.914) since 2003.

Here are all of the FCS victories over FBS teams, so far, in 2018:

August 30: UC Davis 44, San Jose State 31
September 1: Villanova 19, Temple 17
September 1: Northern Arizona 30, UTEP 10
September 1: Nicholls State 26, Kansas 23 (OT)
September 2: North Carolina A&T 28, East Carolina 23
September 8: Maine 31, Western Kentucky 28
September 22: Illinois State 35, Colorado State 19

Streaks

UCF - Won 22 straight overall (FBS longest), Won 15 straight conference games including AAC title last year (FBS longest). Won 35-24 at home over Navy on Saturday.

Alabama - Won 24 straight home games (FBS longest). Won 24-0 at home over Mississippi State on Saturday.

Oklahoma - Won 19 straight true road games (FBS longest). Won 48-47 at home over Oklahoma State on Saturday.

Rice - Lost 10 straight overall (FBS longest). Lost 28-13 at Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
(NOTE: Rice also owns the longest current conference game losing streak at 14.)

Charlotte - Lost 12 straight road games (tied FBS longest). Lost 30-13 at Marshall on Saturday.

San Jose State - Lost 12 straight road games (tied FBS longest). Lost 62-24 at Utah State on Saturday.