We’re approaching the point in the season where losses seem to get penalized double and teams can go from safely in the College Football Playoff field to fully out of it. Just ask some teams after a wild Week 7 that produced a trio of coach firings, a rash of shocking upsets and more than a handful of must-win results for teams that badly need them.
We also have a lot more data on teams and their opponents so we can further refine the outlook for several of them when it comes to their chase to make the playoff. In the Big 12 for example, Texas Tech not only looks like the class of the league, but a real threat to run the table given how it has already beaten one of its top competitors (Utah), have others hit by the injury bug (Arizona State, Iowa State) and could benefit from a decent run by one who has obvious flaws (BYU). At this point, it would be a slight surprise if the Red Raiders didn’t run the table even in the unpredictable Big 12, which puts them firmly in line to snag a quarterfinal berth in their home state this December.
