Clear Your Schedule – The Sixer 2015, Week 10

By Brian Wilmer -

Greetings, everyone!

We’re approaching the most important time of the year in college football, and here in our contest! Time to make your move!

On to the standings:

Last Week

1 Brian 6-0 6
1 D1FFL.com Commish 6-0 6
1 dukeallstar 6-0 6
1 jerryw 6-0 6
5 no_clue97 5-1 5
5 Jeffbell57 5-1 5
7 Msstate_Texan 4-2 4
7 HuskerNation14 4-2 4
7 RebelLandShark 4-2 4
10 StadiumJourney 3-3 3
11 JoeCle 0-6 0
11 mbettenco 0-6 0

Season

1 Brian 40-14 40
1 StadiumJourney 40-14 40
3 dukeallstar 39-15 39
4 jerryw 38-16 38
5 HuskerNation14 32-22 32
5 Jeffbell57 32-22 32
7 RebelLandShark 30-24 30
8 D1FFL.com Commish 28-26 28
9 no_clue97 24-30 24
10 Msstate_Texan 13-41 13
11 JoeCle 12-42 12
12 mbettenco 6-48 6

 

 

Just a few short weeks remain in the regular season! We may even pick some bowl games — stay tuned!

Now, on to trivia…

The Sixer Trivia, Week 10 (answer at the end of the column): LSU’s Leonard Fournette has rushed for greater than 100 yards in nine consecutive games. Who was the last opponent to hold Fournette under 100 yards, and what was his rushing total in that game?

Keyword Search (all times Eastern and rankings AP)

Duke (6-2, 3-1 ACC) at #21 North Carolina (7-1, 4-0 ACC)
Noon | ESPN2

Visit this week’s ACC edition of Clear Your Schedule for further details on this game.

#8 Notre Dame (7-1) at Pittsburgh (6-2, 4-1 ACC)
Noon | ABC

Visit this week’s ACC edition of Clear Your Schedule for further details on this game.

#17 Florida State (7-1, 5-1 ACC) at #3 Clemson (8-0, 5-0 ACC)
3:30pm | ABC

Visit this week’s ACC edition of Clear Your Schedule for further details on this game.

#5 TCU (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) at #12 Oklahoma State (8-0, 5-0 Big 12)
3:30pm | FOX

  • Top-ranked success: If you’re looking for a team that handles prosperity well, look no further than the Horned Frogs. Gary Patterson’s teams have won 38 of their 41 games played with the team being ranked in the top 10. TCU has won 22 consecutive games while ranked in the AP Top 5, and have won 27 of 28 since 2000 while being ranked in the top five of either major national poll.
  • Success against top-ranked teams: While TCU has had great success as a top-ranked team, Oklahoma State has enjoyed considerable success against teams in that stratosphere. The Cowboys have four victories against top-ten teams in the last seven years. Oklahoma State has beaten 16 ranked teams in Mike Gundy’s tenure in Stillwater.
  • Offense in Oklahoma: Stillwater will feature — as one might expect, with Big 12 foes facing off — two of the more impressive offenses in the nation when these two tee it up on Saturday afternoon. The only major offensive category in which either team does not find itself nationally ranked in the top 15 is rushing offense, where Oklahoma State ranks 92nd (151.4 yards per game). For their part, TCU ranks 75th in run defense (172.5 yards per game), so this should not be a primary part of Gundy’s gameplan. The Cowboys have gained greater than 400 yards in six of eight games this year, while the Horned Frogs have gained greater than 449 in each game this season. Six of those TCU games have produced an offensive output of greater than 600 yards.

Print that, tweet that, whatever: The Big 12 has been wildly unpredictable this season, and this should be no different. If either team can just get one stop late…

Navy (6-1, 4-0 AAC) at #15 Memphis (8-0, 4-0 AAC)
7:00pm | ESPN2

  • On the Ball: Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds tied the NCAA career rushing touchdowns record, held by former Wisconsin running back Montee Ball, of 77 by finding the end zone in last week’s 29-17 victory over South Florida. Reynolds has 13 rushing touchdowns this year, ranking second nationally among quarterbacks. Fellow AAC passer Greg Ward, Jr. of Houston tops the list with 16. Four of Reynolds’ touchdowns have come over the last two games, after being shut out in the previous two against Air Force and Notre Dame.
  • In good company: Memphis’ victory against Tulane last week extended their active winning streak to 15 games. That is good for third-best among FBS teams. Only Ohio State (21 games) and TCU (16) have more consecutive victories. Houston was the last team to beat the Tigers, claiming a 28-24 decision in Memphis last October 11th. Houston, coincidentally, has a nine-game winning streak of their own.
  • Anything you can do, I can do better: These teams are almost polar opposites, in terms of offense. Memphis has the seventh-ranked passing offense, throwing for 358 yards per game. Navy has the fourth-ranked rush offense, galloping for 319.7 yards per game. Memphis is somewhat underrated against the run, as their renowned offense gets most of the publicity. The Tigers are 22nd against the run, allowing 118.75 yards per contest. Navy is 56th in pass defense, giving up 213.7 yards per game.

Print that, tweet that, whatever: This is a fun battle of two of the better non-P5 teams, and what will be two of the hottest coaches for every upcoming job opening.

#4 LSU (7-0, 4-0 SEC) at #7 Alabama (7-1, 4-1 SEC)
8:00pm | CBS

  • Halting the hundred: LSU running back Leonard Fournette has an impressive nine-game streak of 100 or more rushing yards, which we referenced in this week’s trivia question. Alabama has not allowed a 100-yard rusher in over a month, as Georgia’s Nick Chubb was the last to achieve the feat (146 yards on October 3). The Tide have only allowed opposing teams to rush for greater than 100 yards twice — the aforementioned victory over Georgia (193 yards) and last week’s win over Tennessee (132 yards).
  • Ruling the run game: We’ve already covered the SEC’s leading rusher (Fournette) facing the conference’s leading rush defense (LSU). We also need to look at the conference’s second-leading rusher and second-leading rush defense. Alabama’s Derrick Henry averages 130.5 yards per game, with five of his own hundred-plus yard rushing games. Henry has 379 rushing yards in the Tide’s last two victories against Texas A&M and Tennessee. LSU, meanwhile, allows just 93.5 rushing yards per game, as only three opposing teams have broken the hundred-yard barrier against the Tigers.
  • Mastering the millenium: A victory for the Tigers would extend one of the more intriguing streaks in college football. LSU has won eight or more games in every season this millenium, as a 28-14 Peach Bowl victory over Georgia Tech in the 2000 season began the run. LSU has won 158 games since the start of the 2000 season.

Print that, tweet that, whatever: LSU has made a strong statement all year. Alabama is 19-1 in their last 20 home games (243-53-3 overall). Get ready for a great one.

Trivia answer: I asked earlier: LSU’s Leonard Fournette has rushed for greater than 100 yards in nine consecutive games. Who was the last opponent to hold Fournette under 100 yards, and what was his rushing total in that game?

Fournette was last held under 100 yards by Arkansas on November 15, 2014. Fournette had five carries for nine yards in a 17-0 Razorback victory.

Comments (2)

Nice slate of games this weekend. Ok, I will take N.Carolina over Duke. ND will hand Pitt its 3rd lose, Memphis will remain undefeated, TCU in another boat race with the Cowboys but I think TCU will pulls it out. I think Clemson beats FSU & goes on to the ACC title game. FSU looks the same as last year, playing with no energy, the lose at Ga.tech 3-5 proves my point. Not sure how Clemson is going to handle being the #! new kid on the block but good luck to them!
I’m sure Patrick Ryan would be proud!

Navy’s Ken Niumatololo will be a hot coaching candidate? I can’t see it. Maybe if Nebraska had waited a year…take a triple option guy and go back to their roots…but I can’t see one of these P5 programs taking a chance on KN.