Bowl Predictions 2014: Updated Playoff Projections Before Crucial Week 13
Week 12 was everything college football fans could have asked for before it started.
An incredible 10 ranked teams lost, including No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 6 Arizona State and No. 9 Auburn, and the playoff picture is even more muddled than it was before after TCU and Florida State struggled against unranked foes.
However, at this point, winning is the most important thing. With that in mind, here is a look at some updated playoff projections heading into Week 13 before a closer look at what lies ahead for the postseason contenders.
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Bowl Predictions
Sugar Bowl: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Baylor
Rose Bowl: No. 2 Florida State vs. No. 3 Oregon
Championship Bowl (in Arlington, Texas): TBD (semifinal winners)
Week 13 Playoff Preview
Let’s just call Week 13 the eye of the storm.
The last couple of weeks saw a number of Top 10 teams fall, thrilling finishes and marquee showdowns between some of the best teams in the country. What’s more, rivalry games and conference title clashes await fans in Weeks 14 and 15.
You may want to get some chores done Saturday, though, because the schedule is lackluster at best. But Week 13 is absolutely crucial because the playoff contenders cannot afford any losses to lowly opponents if they want to be playing for a national title in January.
Ohio State starts it off when it hosts Indiana in a sleepy noon ET kickoff time. While the Buckeyes should roll, Indiana is 11th in the nation in rushing yards per game behind one of most underrated players in the nation in Tevin Coleman. If nothing else, it will be good practice for the Buckeyes before they battle Melvin Gordon in a potential Big Ten Championship Game.
Mississippi State will take out its frustrations from its loss to Alabama on poor Vanderbilt. The Commodores are 0-6 in the SEC and barely escaped Charleston Southern and Massachusetts earlier in the season. They are certainly not going to keep up with the Bulldogs.
Out west, Oregon faces Colorado. This is a perfect matchup if you are some type of masochist sports fan who loves painful blowouts. Marcus Mariota and the high-octane Ducks offense will make mincemeat of the Buffaloes’ 120th-ranked scoring defense.
Colorado has given up more than 30 points in nine of its 10 games this season and will have no chance at slowing Oregon down.
Alabama will take its momentum from the impressive victory over Mississippi State into a laughable November matchup against Western Carolina. Does anything really need to be said about this matchup? Just imagine the jokes if a Big Ten playoff contender played against Western Carolina in November.
Elsewhere, Florida State takes on Boston College.
If this game goes according to script, Boston College will seize a two-score lead in the first half and get everyone’s hopes up before the Seminoles come roaring back. Eventually, Florida State has to start getting credit for winning these games instead of getting criticized for not winning with enough style points.
Love them or hate them, the Seminoles will be in the playoffs if they take care of business against the overmatched Eagles, Florida and their ACC Championship Game opponent. Head coach Jimbo Fisher talked about how important and difficult it is to just win in college football, via Jared Shanker of ESPN.com:
"[Winning] is so much harder than we make it seem to be out there. If it wasn’t, guys would be undefeated all the time. … Why do you think I’m nervous every week? A college kid – think of all the things that went through your head at that age. It’s a challenge every week to control their minds to bring them to focus, to understand how to be consistent. That’s the hard thing.
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The best game featuring a playoff contender in Week 13 is the showdown between Baylor and Oklahoma State. On paper, this may be a decent contest based on the Oklahoma State name compared to the likes of Colorado, Western Carolina and Boston College, but the Cowboys are not a good football team this season, even if they did almost beat Florida State in the opener.
Oklahoma State is 5-5 and lost four games in a row. Its five wins came against Missouri State, Texas San Antonio, Texas Tech, Iowa State and Kansas, which is not exactly a murderer’s row. It was also destroyed by TCU, West Virginia, Kansas State and Texas and is giving up 30 points a game.
Baylor leads the nation with 50.1 points a game. This could get out of hand quickly if the Bears offense gets going in the first quarter.
What’s more, the Cowboys offense isn’t exactly dominant, as Jake Trotter of ESPN noted:
Chances are, the playoff contenders are going to live to see another day after Week 13 is in the rearview mirror.
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