The Rest of College Football

[iam416]

If Notre Dame wins out, they'll go ahead of any 2-loss team. The reality is that the 2-loss possibilities are P12 and M. If ND wins out, that'll include a win over Stanford to go along with a win over USC. If it's ND-M, M will have 3 quality wins to ND's 2, but ND showed more in their loss. Eh, whatever.

Right now it would seem like the SEC Champ and ACC Champ are in (I think UNC is in if the beat Clemson). It also seems like the B12 will get a team in. That leaves the B10, ND and the P12 in order of likelihood (Iowa and OSU are shoe-ins if they win out -- ND is not and the P12 needs massive amounts of help).

What could also be really, really interesting is if Oklahoma wins out. Who goes? 11-1 OU or 11-1 ND? Since the B12 doesn't have a CG, they're on even footing with ND.

Of course, if Okie State loses this weekend -- surely a possibility -- and then beats OU, the B12 is a clusterfuck. If both Oklahoma teams wins this weekend (both at home), then the B12 is, IMO, in. I think they'll take 11-1 Sooners over ND.

[iam416]

Some early lines of note:

Ohio State -13 (ummm...right...Sparty=$$$$$$$$$$$)
M -5 (down from 5' and trending toward 4')
Okie State -1 (up from a PK)
Wisconsin -11
Oregon -4 (up from 1')

No line yet on TCU-OU given the Boykin situation.

Others:

Indiana +2' (at Maryland)
Illinois +5' (at Minnesota)
Iowa -21 (up from 17')

[Mike]

That line indicates that Cook's shoulder is messed up pretty good.

[Hannibal]

I like Indiana +2. A lot.

[Ghengis Jon]

No kiddin', Indiana should destroy Maryland if they can cobble some semblence of a pass defense in the next week. I think the question is "Is Indiana demoralized after the UM loss or pissed off?"

[UMStan White]

Or is IU demoralized or pissed off after the OSU, MSU, Iowa and UM game?

[Prime2]

LOL

Indiana is the best 6 -loss team in the nation and with a few fames remaining, an opportunity to pad that stat.

I expected them to fold early, they didn't but now really have nothing to play for.

[iam416]

That line indicates that Cook's shoulder is messed up pretty good.

I sort of thought the opposite. MSU w/o Cook isn't very good. They'd be closer to 21 w/o him.

[Da Geezer]

I'm fairly certain advanced stats will say it's at least a credible possibility.

UM was 18% chance of winning out before the IU game. It's got to be over 20% now, and I believe this means the regular season only.

[UMStan White]

UM's line has dropped to 3.5

[iam416]

It's still mostly 4, but it's definitely dropping. What's interesting about that is that the public has been about 50/50 at 5 and 4' and 4. It's like they're begging people to back M (if it's 50/50, then why drop it from 5?).

Then again, the public percentage numbers this early in the week are weak sauce data.

Also, the public is big on Michigan State (66%), but the line is holding at 13. Again, caveats wrt data, but it's interesting.

More conventionally, people are all over Oregon...it was 1' then up to 4...62% backed Oregon at 4, so now it's 4' and Oregon is still a slight betting favorite.

[Ghengis Jon]

Given the last couple of road games, I'm surprised the line is above 2, either direction.

[klondike]

Maryland has one of the best unsung defenses. I think they will destroy Indy.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Having read pretty much everything there is to have read about IU's offense v. M (and others), Kevin Wilson has produced one of the best offenses in CFB nationally. They are the second best offense in the BT just behind MSU in FEI (which I find strange). Still .....

It's a very hard offense to defend when the QB and RB are both killing it and the D is short handed. Everybody thought M would handle IU, they didn't.

Wouldn't be so surprised in the least if Maryland won't be the team to be run out of their house by IU.

[iam416]

No. IU does not have one the best offenses in CFB. It's a good offense.

Maryland will score gads of points on IU because everyone scores gads of points on IU. M's 34 regulation points were the fewest IU has surrendered in its past 4 games.

I think IU can get the win, but I would have also though they could beat Rutgers.