Week 13 Preview

November 15, 2017 by Dave Congrove

After a week that saw 14 ranked teams play each other and 9 of those teams go down to defeat, this week's slate seems quite peaceful and serene.

Using the Playoff Selection Committee's Top 25 as a guide, the only top 25 battle this week has No. 24 Michigan at No. 5 Wisconsin.

This week's action opened on Tuesday night with an upset in the MAC as No. 77 Akron edged 26th-ranked Ohio 37-34. The Zips, who had lost 9 straight to the Bobcats, became bowl eligible while Ohio slipped to 8-3.

Another Tuesday night MAC contest saw Central Michigan thump Kent State 42-23.

Three more games take place Wednesday night, followed by double-headers on Thursday and Friday, all featuring MAC or other Group of Five conference schools.

125 of the 130 FBS teams see action this week in 65 games.

Unlike last week, there isn't a lot of interplay among the top 25 teams and a lot of the higher-ranked schools are playing walk-overs. I specifically allude to such 'contests' as Mercer-Alabama, The Citadel-Clemson, and Louisiana-Monroe at Auburn.

Similarly, no one expects UVa to give Miami much of a fight, Illinois to come close to threatening Ohio State, Oklahoma to lose at Kansas, or Nebraska and embattled head coach Mike Riley to have any chance of winning at Penn State.

Aside from the aforementioned Michigan-Wisconsin affair, the best games on the docket are Kansas State at Oklahoma State, UCF at Temple, and Utah at Washington, along with the traditional rivalry clashes of Navy at Notre Dame, UCLA at USC, and Cal at Stanford.

Call this the set-up week for what's about to unfold over the 3 weeks that follow.

FBS vs. FCS

5 schools - Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina and South Carolina - play FCS members this week. FBS teams are 84-9 (.903) vs. the FCS this season, and 1,214-117 (.912) since 2003.

These are the FCS victories in 2017:
September 23: Western Illinois 52, Coastal Carolina 10
September 16: North Carolina A&T 35, Charlotte 31
September 16: Idaho State 30, Nevada 28
September 9: South Dakota 35. Bowling Green 27
September 9: New Hampshire 22, Georgia Southern 12
September 2: Liberty 48, Baylor 45
September 2: Howard 43, UNLV 40
September 2: James Madison 34, East Carolina 14
August 31: Tennessee State 17, Georgia State 10.

98 FBS teams are playing 98 games vs. FCS members this year, down substantially from the 110 FBS schools that played 113 games vs. FCS squads last year.

Streaks

Alabama - Won 39 straight regular season nonconference games (FBS longest). Won 18 straight home games (FBS longest). Won 14 straight road games (FBS second-longest). Won 24 straight conference games (FBS longest). Hosts FCS member Mercer on Saturday.

Oklahoma - Won 15 straight road games (FBS longest). Visits Kansas on Saturday.

Miami (Fla.) - Won 14 straight overall (FBS longest). Hosts Virginia on on Saturday.

UTEP - Lost 10 straight overall (FBS longest). Hosts Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

Coastal Carolina - Lost 12 straight conference games (FBS longest). Visits Idaho on Saturday.

Kansas - Lost 45 straight road games (FBS longest). Hosts Oklahoma on Saturday.