- The ACC is guaranteed one spot in the College Football Playoff but is vying for a second.
- No. 6 Oregon faces a crucial game against Iowa to keep its at-large playoff hopes alive.
- Colorado coach Deion Sanders is under pressure as his team struggles through a difficult season.
That’s guaranteed, of course, since the playoff grants automatic bids to the five highest-rated conference champions — the ACC is better than every Group of Five league, though the SEC, Big Ten and even the Big 12 are on a different level.
Every weekend until the end of the regular season, including the ACC championship game, will serve as a referendum on whether the conference warrants multiple teams in the tournament. A year ago, the ACC placed conference champion Clemson and runner-up SMU.
The drama begins on Saturday, when No. 11 Virginia hosts Wake Forest, No. 15 Louisville takes on California and No. 18 Miami hosts Syracuse. The one-loss Cavaliers are the only unbeaten team in ACC play and own the tiebreaker over the Cardinals, giving them some wiggle room in the race for Charlotte. But Virginia has just one other victory against a Power Four opponent with a winning record and would have slim odds of landing an at-large spot with a second loss. On the other hand, the Cardinals have wins against James Madison, Pittsburgh and Miami, giving them the foundation for an at-large run.
The Hurricanes are in dire straits after coming in eight spots behind No. 10 Notre Dame in the debut playoff rankings. League losses to Louisville and SMU have already doomed their shot at the conference crown, leaving only a single path to the playoff: Miami has to win out — and win out in style — while getting buckets of help from other Power Four leagues.
The ACC leads the USA TODAY Sports preview of the team, game, coach and quarterback facing the most pressure in Week 11 of the regular season:
Team: No. 6 Oregon
Landing at No. 9 in the debut playoff rankings should be a wake-up call for the Ducks, who might have to run the table from here, earning key wins against No. 24 Iowa, No. 21 Southern California and Washington along the way, to lock down a place as the second Big Ten team to earn an at-large berth. Looking ahead to Saturday, a loss in Iowa City would move the Hawkeyes into third among Big Ten teams in the playoff rankings.
A loss could even drop Oregon behind USC, which hosts Northwestern on Friday night. For now, the Wildcats are the Ducks’ best win, which justifies the three-spot difference between where Oregon falls in the US LBM Coaches Poll and in the playoff rankings.
Whether the Ducks can snap Iowa’s three-game winning streak is another question. The Hawkeyes’ two losses came by a combined eight points to Iowa State and No. 2 Indiana. In terms of shared opponents, both teams were competitive against the Hoosiers and both narrowly escaped against Penn State, while the Ducks were more dominant against Rutgers and the Hawkeyes much more impressive against Wisconsin.
The stakes are clear for Oregon. While the selection committee is impressed by what the Ducks bring to the table, chairman Mack Rhodes said on Tuesday night, a second loss in as many games against ranked competition could put their playoff hopes on life support.
Game: No. 8 Brigham Young at No. 9 Texas Tech
This is a highly meaningful matchup for the Big 12 that reflects the league’s increased strength compared to last season, when conference champion Arizona State was the only team to make the playoff. At no point last year did the Big 12 have more than one team inside the top 15 of the playoff rankings.
The best-case scenario has Texas Tech winning a well-played, close game that moves the Red Raiders inside the top eight of next week’s top 25 while not causing too much of a drop for the Cougars. But the opposite wouldn’t be bad, either, making BYU an even firmer playoff contender even at the expense of nearly erasing Tech’s at-large chances.
The two share the same ranked win, against No. 19 Utah, but the Red Raiders have been much more dominant in league play despite an October loss to the Sun Devils. Tech has won every other game by at least 24 points, including recent wins against Oklahoma State and Kansas State by a combined 65 points.
Coach: Deion Sanders, Colorado
Colorado won four games in Sanders’ debut, climbed to nine wins last year but may be capped at three wins this season with a loss on Saturday at West Virginia. Bowl eligibility is a pipe dream; the Buffaloes aren’t good enough, to be blunt, and will be pretty heavy underdogs in games against Arizona State and Kansas State to end the year.
It’s just been a rough year, period, raising concerns that last year’s breakthrough was an aberration. The Buffaloes have cycled through multiple quarterbacks, eventually landing on true freshman Julian Lewis against the Mountaineers. Sanders has also changed offensive coordinators, demoting Pat Shurmur in the wake of a loss to Utah in late October in favor of tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Brett Bartolone.
And things have gotten worse. Since beating Iowa State on Oct. 11, Colorado has been outscored 81-7 in the first half by the Utes and Arizona and lost by a combined score of 105-24. The lack of competitiveness is concerning.
Even WVU might be too much for the Buffaloes to handle. While the Mountaineers have struggled in Rich Rodriguez’s first year back on the sidelines, they did beat Pittsburgh earlier in the year and are fresh off an upset of Houston.
Quarterback: Matt Zollers, Missouri
No. 17 Missouri’s playoff chances hinge on the right arm of backup quarterback Matt Zollers, who will replace an injured Beau Pribula against No. 3 Texas A&M and become the first freshman to start for the Tigers since Drew Lock in 2015.
A four-star recruit and one of the top prospects in Pennsylvania, Zollers has played in five games and made 29 attempts, nearly all coming as Pribula’s replacement in a 17-10 loss against No. 16 Vanderbilt to end October. Zollers played well enough against the Commodores to justify the praise he’s drawn from coach Eli Drinkwitz since spring practices.
The extra week of preparation should help Missouri build a scheme and game plan to match Zollers’ skill set. The Aggies’ pass defense ranks fourth in the SEC in yards allowed per attempt but has allowed 13 touchdowns against just two interceptions, the fewest in the conference. A&M has also given up at least 218 yards in the air in each of the past three games.
A loss would drop Missouri out of the playoff conversation and inch A&M one step closer to locking down an at-large berth before meeting No. 13 Texas on Black Friday. But a win would move the Tigers closer to the Longhorns and No. 12 Oklahoma in next Tuesday’s playoff rankings.
