Weekly Preview: Nov. 9-Nov. 13

November 11, 2021 by Staff

The college football week got underway Tuesday night another dose of MACtion, i.e., early-week games from the Mid-American Conference. In those contests, Western Michigan avoided the upset bud by Akron and eked-out a 45-40 win in the final minute, while Ohio pulled off a 34-26 at Eastern Michigan, and Miami (Ohio) opened a 45-18 can on Buffalo.

Three more MAC games filled the Wednesday night slate, including a huge west division confrontation in Dekalb, Illinois where the division-leading NIU Huskies edged Ball State 30-29 to eliminate the Cardinals from having any chance repeating as MAC champs.

MAC East division leader Kent State traveled to Mount Pleasant to face a Central Michigan team that is still alive in the MAC West chase, and the Chippewas stormed to a 54-30 win.

Thursday presents a lone ACC affair with UNC at Pitt, and a pair of Friday night contests highlight the American and Mountain West conferences with Cincinnati at USF and Wyoming at Boise State.

Only 5 FBS teams are idle this week - BYU, Illinois, Liberty, Navy and Nebraska.

Come Saturday, Oklahoma will have a chip on their shoulder after the College Football Playoff Committee leaves the Sooners at No. 8, despite being one of just two undefeated teams among Power 5 schools and ignoring a 17-game winning streak - the current longest streak in the country. The Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com have Oklahoma at No. 2 and the Super 16 Poll has them at No. 3 Still, the Sooners are only a 4.91-point computer pick when they visit a Baylor team that was upset 30-28 at TCU, just days after running off their head coach of 20+ seasons, Gary Patterson.

Michigan State should be just as p.o.'d. after watching the playoff committee drop the Spartans behind Michigan in its second set of rankings. We understand that the Spartans lost to Purdue, Both Michigan State and Michigan now have one loss, but the entire nation witnessed the Spartans beat the Wolverines ten days before the new rankings came out. This week, MSU welcomes to Maryland to East Lansing as a 9.26-point computer favorite.

That Purdue team, dubbed the Spoilermakers and now ranked 19th by the committee, will travel to Columbus to take on the No. 4 Buckeyes as a 15.75-point underdog.

Consensus No. 1 Georgia faces Tennessee in Athens as a 16.49-point pick. This past Saturday, the Vols registered 45 points on just 13:52 time of possession in a 45-42 win at then-No. 18 Kentucky.

Cincinnati goes to USF on Friday with a 20.21-point computer edge to remain unbeaten, and UTSA (also undefeated) is a 26.90-point home favorite over woeful Southern Miss.

Interestingly, the computer's picks of Oklahoma, Michigan State, Ohio State, Georgia, Cincinnati and UTSA are all under the spread.

Conversely, Alabama is a whopping 51.5-pont home favorite over New Mexico State, and the computer has the Tide beating that spread with a 53.13-point advantage.

Meanwhile, Michigan goes to Happy Valley as a 1.02-point computer underdog, while Notre Dame visits Virginia as a mere 4.14-point favorite, and Oklahoma State is favored by 10.55 points at home against TCU.

Texas A&M is only a 2.87-point computer favorite at Ole Miss in a No. 12 at No. 15 matchup

The computer says Wake Forest could lose a second straight game after an 8-0 start. Coming off a fall-from-ahead 58-55 loss at North Carolina, the Demon Deacons host NC State as the computer underdog by just over a point.

Three days after this week's games, the playoff committee will issue its third set of rankings. Let's hope they make a little more sense.

SEE: Weekly Picks

FCS vs. FBS

2 teams will play 2 FCS teams this fall (UConn and UMass), and 115 teams will play 1 FCS school for a total of 117 such matchups. 107 of those 117 games have been played.

There are 3 such games this week with Maine at UMass, Samford at Florida, and Bucknell at Army. Maine is actually a slight computer favorite in its game against the Minutemen which just lost last weekend to Rhode Island. UMass also fell in 2019 to Southern Illinois.

The FBS is 98-11 vs. the FCS this season. Since we began tracking this in 2003, the FBS teams are now 1,567-139 (.919).

Last year, 30 FBS teams played a total of just 34 games against FCS schools and the FCS won just 1 game (1-33). That honor also went to Jacksonville State with its 19-10 victory over FIU.

Here are the FCS wins in 2021:

September 2: UC Davis 19, Tulsa 17
September 2: Eastern Washington 35, UNLV 33 (2 OT)
September 3: South Dakota State 42, Colorado State 23
September 4: Holy Cross 38, UConn 28
September 4: Montana 13, Washington 7
September 4: ETSU 23, Vanderbilt 3
September 11: Duquesne 28, Ohio 26
September 11: Jacksonville State 20, Florida State 17.
September 18: Incarnate Word 42, Texas State 34.
September 18: Northern Arizona 21, Arizona 19
November 6: Rhode Island 35, Massachusetts 22

This was the only FCS win vs. the FBS in 2020:
October 23: Jacksonville State 19, FIU 10

In 2019, FBS teams were 111-3 (.974) in such games. These were the only FCS wins that season:
August 29: Central Arkansas 35, Western Kentucky 28
September 7: Southern Illinois 45, Massachusetts 20
September 14: The Citadel 27, Georgia Tech 24 (OT)

Streaks

OKLAHOMA: Won 17 straight over-all (FBS longest).
Last: Won 52-21 at home vs.Texas Tech on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Next: Visits Baylor on Nov. 13.

OHIO STATE - Won 27 straight conference games (FBS longest), and 13 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 26-17 at Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 6. 
Next: Hosts Purdue on Saturday, November 13.

CLEMSON - Won 32 straight home games (FBS longest).
Last: Won 30-24 at Louisville on Nov. 6.
Next:: Hosts UConn on Saturday, November 13.

NEW MEXICO STATE - Lost 16 straight road games (FBS longest).
Last: Lost 35-13 vs. Utah State on Saturday, Nov. 6.
Next: Visits Alabama on Saturday, November 13.

KANSAS - Lost 8 straight over-all (tied FBS longest with Vanderbilt and FIU), Lost 21 straight to FBS schools (FBS Longest). Lost 18 straight conference games (tied with Vanderbilt for FBS longest).
Last: Lost 35-10 vs. Kansas State on Saturday, Nov., 6.
Next: Visits Texas on Saturday, November 13.

ARIZONA - Ended losing streaks of 20 straight over-all (was FBS Longest) and 19 straight to FBS schools (was FBS second-longest) with a 10-3 win over Cal..
Last: Won 10-3 vs. California on Saturday, Nov. 6.
Next: Hosts Utah on Saturday, November 13.

VANDERBILT - Lost 18 straight conference games (tied with Kansas for FBS longest)..
Last: Lost 37-28 at home to Missouri on Saturday, Oct. 30.
Next: Hosts Kentucky on Saturday, Nov. 13.