So all of you "Let's go 1-0ers" might go crazy about this post, but I wanted to get a better sense of the rest of the year for all of the teams ranked ahead of us and their remaining schedules, so I made the following chart. For the most part I was only looking at games against ranked opponents, but there are some (like TCU v UT) that I included just because I could see a possible upset. Here's the chart, with some observations below:
| Team | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 |
| Alabama | x | LSU | x | x | Auburn |
| PSU | OSU | Mich St | x | x | x |
| UGA | Florida | x | Auburn | x | GT |
| TCU | Iowa St | Texas | Oklahoma | x | x |
| Wisconsin | x | x | x | Michigan | x |
| OSU | PSU | x | Mich St | x | Michigan |
| Clemson | x | NC State | x | x | x |
| Miami | x | VT | Notre Dame | x | x |
| Notre Dame | NC State | x | Miami | x | Stanford |
| Oklahoma | x | Ok State | TCU | x | WVU |
| Ok State | WVU | Oklahoma | Iowa St | x | x |
| Washington | UCLA | x | Stanford | x | WSU |
| VT | x | Miami | GT | x | x |
Some observations:
1) Wisconsin's SoS is pathetic. They have a real shot at going undefeated in the regular season because will have likely played no ranked teams. The toughest team on their schedule is Michigan.
2) Clemson also has a relatively easy rest of the year, though their schedule was pretty frontloaded.
3) There are a decent amount of games between teams currently ranked ahead of us:
-PSU v OSU
-TCU v Oklahoma
-VT v Miami
-Notre Dame v Miami (won't matter since it's the week after we beat Miami)
-Oklahoma v Ok State
4) The next 3 weeks will have some big match-ups that will likely make the rankings look very different from where they are now.
5) Week 12 will either be super boring, or will be crazy like our bye week with a lot of teams getting upset.
6) None of this matters, let's go 1-0 this week...better?
Comments
Solid post. I have one critique: Could you add '@' to the chart to show who goes on the road for these matchups?
Any chance you could fill in all the remaining opponents and make the "BIG" games in bold? At least one or more of these teams will lose one of the non-BIG games, and it would be fun to speculate which.
Wisconsin @ Indiana, or vs Iowa the week after, should be circled in red.
I would agree, I would like to see all remaining games with ranked teams having a ranking and being in bold. There could be some matchups where these ranked teams could lose to an unranked team like Clemson lost to Syracuse. Georgia still has to play GT for example.
Wisconsin is reminding me off Iowa from a few back they went undefeated. Will get exposed when they play a top team.
They somehow avoided tOSU, Penn State, and Michigan State this season. If they are ever going to make the playoffs, this is the year for them to do it.
FTFY
As if they'll make it past the B1G championship.
eh they got the terrible scheduling luck last year and played all 3. Hate how those divisions were split up
Almost makes the "Legends and Leaders" thing (before Maryland and Rutgers joined) sound like a good idea.
totes agree, and I watch my fair share. Dont think itll be ugly but I dont think they can hang with the Alabama's of the world. That being said I could see them winning the only game on their schedule worth noting (the big 10 championship) and sneaking into the playoffs. Their defense just isnt as good as last years, although hornibrook has definitely taken a step forward and Jonathan Taylor is an absolute stud
Miami vs ND will matter. We need Miami to beat ND after we beat Miami. That makes our win over Miami that much better and gives ND two losses.
Exactly. And if Clemson or NCST could run the table and look convincing doing so....that'd be great.
I checked your math
Yep, you're right
Notre Dame with two losses, NC State would like to have a word...
I wouldn't criticize Wisconsin too much on the Strength of Schedule, the games are scheduled years in advance and they just happen to be on the other side of Mich, Mich St, OSU and Penn St. They'll most likely play Penn St in the Big 10 Championship so that will tell a lot. What I'm not for is picking all these big 10 teams to go to the NY Six bowl games, I think last year they had 4 teams (OSU, MICH, WIS and Penn State).
I think the ACC is still strong, there is a little more partity and with North Carolina being down, our conference is looking weaker but at least from Coastal its us Versus Miami. In the Atlantic, you have NC State on the Rise, Clemson is still strong and Louisville is pretty good not great. I just don't like these committees hyping up the Big 10, if anything I would rather give one of those slots to a Pac-12 team
I would, they could have been playing us this year instead of their trash schedule but they pushed it back after previously pushing it back once from the 08/09 seasons as well
I would definitely want to take away one from the B1G, but the PAC-12 is hot garbage.
I wouldn't discount GT, either, even though they don't control their own destiny.
Curious to see how Clemson handles GT this weekend.
Really nice work.
I would include Navy for Notre Dame if you are going to include UCLA for UDub.
This time of year, teams can go on runs. Turn one big win into a few big wins. Continue to improve. I've liked how VT's schedule has set up for that all along. We made some nice strides last week with QB pressure and turnovers. I would hope to see some progression this week with the running game. #getbetter
Not worried about Wisconsin. They will immediately drop to the back of the pack of 1-loss teams due to SOS if they lose the B1G championship. And if they manage to win the B1G, well...they probably deserve the playoff for staying undefeated that long and beating a likely #2 team at the most important time of the year.