CFB takeaways: The 12-team playoff is coming one year too
Nov 20, 2023, 08:00 AM ET With Thanksgiving (and Rivalry Week) right around the corner, to be followed carefully by Championship Week, ideas invariably turn to possible College Football Playoff scenarios and the decisions the CFP selection committee will face.There are more contenders than we generally see at this stage of the season, but among them– unbeaten Florida State– was dealt a severe blow with an injury to quarterback Jordan Travis, further complicating an already complex picture.For groups outside the playoff sphere, it’s a time to appreciate unexpected success(such as at New Mexico State)or search for a clean slate and a brand-new coach (like Syracuse ). ESPN’s college football press reporters take it all in with the Week 12 takeaways.The 12-team CFP is coming a year far too late This would have been the ideal season to begin the 12-team playoff field, which does not begin till next year. There haven’t been this many competitors this deep into the season before during the four-team playoff era. Four of the Power 5 conferences still have at least one undefeated team remaining, the lone exception being the Huge 12. There are still 8 teams with a path to the playoff– 9 if you include Louisville, though the selection committee would have a difficult time getting past the Cardinals’loss to Pitt, and other conference champs will likely have more powerful résumés.Ohio State-Michigan will settle itself on the field, but this might still be the choice committee’s toughest job in a years.
While the weekly Tuesday rankings have actually done not have drama and major motion, the more they remain the exact same, the harder it will be on Selection Day.Possibly the most challenging scenario would be if Alabama beats Georgia in the SEC championship game, one-loss Texas wins the Big 12 and 2 other undefeated conference champions– in addition to the Big Ten champ– stay. The Longhorns’ head-to-head win at Alabama will continue to loom large as long as their records are the exact same and their résumés are comparable.– Heather Dinich Florida State provides test case for CFP committee Florida State’s fortunes may have altered on a penny with the injury quarterback Travis suffered late in the first quarter of its 58-13 victory over North Alabama, a game in which Florida State scored 58 unanswered points
to end the game. Since of his leadership and multidimensional abilities out of the game’s essential position, Travis ‘absence triggers a critical cause and effect.Allstate Playoff Predictor How will Saturday’s top games impact the College Football Playoff chase after? What are the existing odds for the
leading 4? The Allstate Playoff Predictor has the answers. Examine back weekly as the chances are updated following that week’s games. Florida State enters its yearly competition game with Florida at 11-0
for the very first time since 2014. Redshirt junior Tate Rodemaker likely will take the reins to the offense for the rest of the season. Rodemaker, who had tossed only eight passes this season before being thrust into the spotlight, finished Saturday
night 13-of-23 passing for 217 lawns and two goals. Rodemaker, who stimulated a win at Louisville last September after Travis was hurt, will make his very first profession start in the Swamp while leading an offense that is seventh in the FBS in scoring(40.1 PPG) and 17th in overall offense( 451.6 YPG). With Washington likewise 11-0 for the very first time considering that 1991– when it split the nationwide title with Miami– ahead of the Apple Cup with Washington State, an intriguing debate might surface if both teams continue to win.ESPN’s Heather Dinich referenced the 2014 playoff, when the committee moved Ohio State into the top four for the very first time after Cardale Jones led the Buckeyes to a knocking of Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game. Led by Jones, Ohio State would go on to win the inaugural CFP title after dispatching of both Alabama and Oregon.Rodemaker and the Seminoles will have that same opportunity to reveal what they merit and efficient in.
However what happens if Washington leaps them this Tuesday after winning at Oregon State? Florida State has Louisville waiting in Charlotte for the ACC crown in two weeks while Washington may need to go to Las Vegas and beat Oregon a 2nd time to earn the Pac-12 title. Just how much does the quality of competition matter? We might end up finding out if both groups can add 2 more wins each by the time Dec. 3 rolls around.– Blake Baumgartner Babers, Syracuse face stark reality Syracuse parted methods with coach Dino Babers on Sunday after the Orange fell to Georgia Tech 31-22. Babers ends his eight-year period with the Orange with an ACC record of 20-45(41-55 general )and simply two bowl quotes. Given those numbers, the decision is barely a surprise.But dig a little much deeper into the scenario at Syracuse, and Babers ‘termination signifies a bigger set of problems– problems that echo the uphill battle many low-end Power 5 teams will face
moving forward in the brand-new era of college
football.Editor’s Picks 2 Related Babers was 12-12 in the past 2 seasons, which is actually better than Miami’s Mario Cristobal or Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, and the same as Houston’s Dana Holgorsen and Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi because the start of 2022. However the fan base had actually soured on Babers after Syracuse squandered back-to-back strong starts– 6-0 in 2022, 4-0 this year– and athletic director John Wildhack went with a change.But look at the cards Babers was dealt: The loss to Georgia Tech came with a converted tight end playing quarterback for the 2nd straight week.
It can be found in a season in which Babers changed both coordinators after the incumbents left in lateral relocations. Babers hired well enough to have 2 players from in 2015’s team drafted and another make an NFL roster. Undoubtedly, 4 others left for different Power 5 programs– the portal offering access to better NIL opportunities at bigger schools.Six weeks earlier, Babers was inquired about Syracuse’s depth in the middle of increasing injury attrition, and he used a blunt answer.
“It’s the exact same old thing: Depth is gone,”Babers stated.”Our depth remains in the transfer portal. You understand the number of guys we lost. You know what schools they dip into. Schools like us, we’re not going to have a lot of depth due to the fact that it gets purchased away. “More than a few Syracuse fans and critics recommended this was a simple reason for another down spiral, however Babers wasn’t incorrect. This is life on the fringes of big-time college football today. Winning at a location like Syracuse has actually been hard for a very long time, but Babers proved in 2018 that, with the ideal QB and a handful of rough diamonds, it was
possible. He led Syracuse to a 10-win season and a No. 15 ranking in the last AP survey– 2 things that had not happened in Central New york city in 17 years.But then COVID hit (and struck Syracuse harder than almost any group in the nation ), the portal opened, NIL ended up being the unwritten law and
, yes, a significant portion of Babers ‘finest talent walked out the door.That’s not to say Babers didn’t make mistakes. See Syracuse’s second-half collapse versus Clemson last year or the woeful efficiency against Virginia Tech last month coming off an open date. There’s merely no room for mistake when the margins are so thin.Perhaps the next coach will win more than 12 games in 2 years. It’s certainly possible. However the problems at Syracuse run deep, and a few of them just can’t be dealt with by employing a brand-new coach or funneling more cash into the football program.
— David M. Hale New Mexico State’s Jerry Eliminate a training treasure play 0:39 Auburn suffers problem vs. lively New Mexico State The Aggies snap the Tigers’three-game winning streak with a sensational 38-10 upset at Jordan-Hare Stadium.On a Wednesday in late October 2015, Jerry Eliminate sat before a microphone in Minneapolis, flushed with emotion, and announced he would be retiring as Minnesota’s coach. Kill, then 54, had actually been suffering more frequent seizures as a result of epilepsy.He had endured a seizure throughout a game in 2011, and left Minnesota for seven games in 2013 as he tried to get his condition under control. However on guidance of his doctor, Kill said he could no longer continue.”This is
not the method I wished to head out,”Eliminate said.”But you all know about the battles. And I did my finest to change. However some of those battles have actually returned. And I
do not want to cheat the game. And I ain’t going to alter. I understand somebody will ask,’ Coach, what are you going to do?’I do not know. I ain’t done anything else.
That’s the scary part.”Ends up, Eliminate would coach again. And again. And once again. Even when his health required another retirement in 2017 at Rutgers, he would return. Kill is among college football’s finest coaches. He’s quite perhaps the most resistant.
He survived kidney cancer while coaching at Southern Illinois.Nearly 3,000 days after the Minnesota retirement announcement, Kill led New Mexico State to a 31-10 win over Auburn. Although the Aggies can be found in at 8-3, overcoming a 2-3 start to win 6 straight,
they were 25.5-point underdogs. Didn’t matter. Eliminate’s crew dominated Auburn, almost doubling the Tigers in first downs(23-12 )and total backyards(414-213 )en path to their very first win against an SEC opponent.New Mexico State hadn’t beaten a Power 5 team given that 2011 against Minnesota, the day Eliminate had his seizure on the Gophers’sideline.Kill is 16-9 at New Mexico State, unquestionably among the toughest jobs in the FBS. Before Eliminate shown up, NMSU had made one championship game because 1960, the last time the program made consecutive bowls. The 9 wins mark the second most in team history and the most throughout its time in the FBS. New Mexico State is 6-1 throughout its first season in Conference U.S.A. and will deal with Liberty for the league title next week.At 62, Eliminate continues to write a distinct and motivating training story, and there are plainly more chapters to follow.– Adam Rittenberg