Weekend Recap - The Top 6 Teams All Protect Their Ranking

December 6, 2020 by Staff

Week 14 of the college football season is finally in the books after a pair of games on Sunday saw Western Kentucky upset Charlotte 37-19, and USC rout Washington State 38-13.

On Saturday, the teams at the top of the College Football Playoff Committee Rankings had no issues as Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Clemson all won with ease.

Five of the top six teams won on the road.

The top-ranked Crimson Tide rolled 55-17 at LSU, the second-ranked Fighting Irish ditched Syracuse 45-21 in South Bend, the 3rd-ranked Tigers thumped Virginia Tech 45-10 on the road, and the 4th-ranked Buckeyes clubbed Michigan State 52-12 in East Lansing.

Meanwhile, No. 5 Texas A&M fought off the upset bid by Auburn for a 31-20 road win, and No. 6 Florida chomped on Tennessee 31-19 in Knoxvile.

No. 7 Cincinnati and No. 8 Georgia were idle while and 9th-ranked Iowa State crushed West Virginia 42-6, and 10th-ranked Miami (FLA) skunked Duke 48-0 to end a 2-year losing streak to the Blue Devils.

Other games of note saw No. 11 Oklahoma down Baylor 27-14, and No. 12 Indiana upend No. 16 Wisconsin 14-6.

Meanwhile, Coastal Carolina prevailed 22-17 in the battle of unbeatens with BYU. With three seconds left, the Cougars' Zach Wilson completed a 17-yard pass pass to Dax Milne, but he was stopped a yard short of the goal line and the 18th-ranked Chanticleers improved to 10-0 while No. 13 BYU fell to 9-1.

No. 15 Oklahoma State also fell, 29-22 at TCU.

22nd-ranked Washington was an 11-point favorite over Stanford, but fell 31-26. And 23rd-ranked Oregon lost 21-17 as a 10-point favorite to California to give the Golden Bears their first win of the season.

But the big upset of the day came in Huntington, West Virginia where undefeated, 23.5-point favorite and 21st-ranked, Marshall was shut out 20-0 by Rice. It was even more shocking given that Rice was without starting QB Mike Collins and leading receiver Austin Trammell.

Another large upset saw winless New Mexico snap a 14-game losing streak with a 17-16 win over Wyoming as a 16.5-point underdog.

Akron also ended a couple of long losing streaks with a 31-3 victory over Bowling Green that gave head coach Tom Arth his first win (1-16). The Zips ended a 20-game losing streak and a 9-game home losing streak, both of which were FBS longest. Now they have to work on ending their 11-game road losing streak.

On Friday night, Louisiana won 24-21 at Appalachian State for the school's first-ever victory over their Sun Belt nemesis. The Ragin' Cajuns are now 1-8 in that series.

Conference Championship Matchups and Possibilities
(As best we can determine)

*-Denotes team has clinched a berth

American: *Cincinnati vs. *Tulsa, most likely at Cincinnati

ACC: *Clemson vs. *Notre Dame at Charlotte

Big Ten: *Northwestern vs. Ohio State at Indianapolis
Still Alive: Indiana (If Ohio State does not complete requisite number of games)

Big Twelve: *Iowa State vs. *Oklahoma at Arlington
Note: Oklahoma State and West Virginia both lost on Saturday and were eliminated from the discussion.

CUSA: Marshall vs. UTSA or UAB, most likely at Huntington
Still Alive: No one has clinched and half the field is still mathematically alive.

MAC: Buffalo vs. Western Michigan or Ball State at Detroit
Still Alive: Several teams are in the chase

MOUNTAIN WEST: Boise State vs. San Jose State, most likely at Boise
Still Alive: Nevada

PAC-12: Washington vs. USC or Colorado

SEC: *Alabama vs. *Florida at Atlanta

SUN BELT: *Coastal Carolina vs. *Louisiana at Conway, SC

FCS vs. FBS

30 FBS teams are playing a total of 35 games against FCS schools this season.

There was one such game this week as North Carolina routed Western Carolina 49-9.

Next week, Incarnate Word goes to Arkansas State.

FBS teams are 33-1 in such matchups this season. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS teams are 1,468-128 (.920).

Last year, FBS teams were 111-3 (.974) in such games.

Here is the only FCS win vs. the FBS this season:
October 23: Jacksonville State 19, FIU 10

These were the FCS wins vs. the FBS in the previous 2 seasons:

2019:
August 29: Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28
September 7: Southern Illinois 45, Massachusetts 20
September 14: The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24 (OT)

2020:
August 29: 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

NOTRE DAME - Won 16 straight over-all (FBS longest).
Last: Won 45-21 at home over Syracuse on Saturday, December 5.
Next: Regular season complete. Plays Clemson in Charlotte for ACC title on Saturday, December 19.

OHIO STATE - Won 20 straight conference games (FBS longest). Won 9 straight road games (FBS longest). Won 21 straight regular season games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 52-12 at Michigan State on Saturday, December 5.
Next: Hosts Michigan on Saturday, December 12.

CLEMSON - Won 28 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 45-10 at Virginia Tech on Saturday, December 5.
Next: Regular season complete. Plays Notre Dame in Charlotte for ACC title on Saturday, December 19.

NEW MEXICO - Ended 14-game losing streak and FBS longest 20-game conference losing streak with 17-16 win over Wyoming in make-shift home of Las Vegas. Lost 13 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 17-16 vs. Wyoming in Las Vegas on Saturday, December 5.
Next: Hosts Fresno State in Las Vegas (New Mexico's adopted home) on Saturday, December 12.

AKRON - Ended FBS longest losing streaks of 20 straight overall and 9 straight home games with 31-3 rout of Bowling Green.
Still owns 11-game road losing streak (FBS second-longest).
Last: Won 31-3 at home over Bowling Green on Saturday, December 5.
Next: Visits Buffalo on Saturday, December 12.

KANSAS - Lost 13 straight overall (FBS longest), 6 straight home games (tied with Rutgers for FBS longest).
Last: 16-13 loss at Texas Tech on Saturday, December 5.
Next: Hosts Texas on Saturday, December 12.

UTEP - Lost 14 straight conference games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 52-21 at UTSA on November 14.
Next: Visits North Texas on Friday, December 11.