College Football Weekend Preview

Finally! The weekend again!

At this time of year in college football, the ECF championship can get pretty confusing. There's so many teams still in the race, it's hard to figure out all of the implications of every game. The following games are some of the biggest this weekend (All rankings come from College Football News, link at the right):

#25 NC State at #6 Ohio State - The Wolfpack 9.5-point underdogs, have to go into Columbus and beat one of last year's ECF Champions, or be eliminated.

#23 Iowa at # 67 Iowa State - Iowa is a 4-point favorite on the road in the big revenge match. Iowa State killed any chance Iowa had in the BCS last year, although the Hawkeyes were alive in the ECF until being trounced by USC.

#16 Notre Dame at #5 Michigan - Michigan is a 10-point favorite. Lucky for them that this only their third game of the year. A loss at home would still be protected by the "3 Weeks" rule. Notre Dame already has a Half-Acceptable Loss, so a Michigan blowout, however unlikely, would end the Drunken Leprechaun's season.

#51 Penn State at #30 Nebraska - Penn State (not PSU - that's Portland State) is on the ropes. A loss and they are out.

#31 Purdue at # 19 Wake Forest - The Boilermakers, a 1-point underdog, are eliminated with a loss.

#21 Arkansas at #2 Texas - An old rivalry. The Longhorns are 13-point favorites.

And say goodbye to . . .

#41 Fresno St, at #3 Oklahoma - The Bulldogs, a 28.5-point underdog, have to win on the road.

Here are this weekend's Playoff Games:

At #17 Alabama -13.5 #54 Kentucky

#47 BYU -2.5 at #60 New Mexico
All of New Mexico riveted to their TVs today for this playoff game and the next.

At #42 Oregon St -21 #97 New Mexico St
Both state universities in playoff games.

#71 Miami-OH -3 at #72 Northwestern
A MAC team favored on the road against a Big Ten team.

At #87 Wyoming -4 #81 Kansas

At #75 Duke -11 Rice
Two of your better southern universities. Academically.

There are now only 98 teams left in the ECF competition. Here are the standings, as of Friday Night:

Teams That Are Eliminated From The ECF Championship Race:
Auburn, San Jose St, Indiana, Maryland, UNC, California, East Carolina, Tulane, Akron, Mid Tenn St, Baylor, La-Monroe, Idaho, Troy St, UTEP, Tulsa, Utah St, La-Lafayette, Buffalo

Teams Protected By The Three Weeks Rule That Have Suffered An Unacceptable Loss:
Washington, CSU, Clemson, BC, Fresno St, S. Miss, Illinois, W Virginia, Miss St, Miami OH, Duke, N Texas, USF, La Tech, Vanderbilt, Rice, Kansas, SMU, C Mich, UAB, Penn St, Purdue, Virginia, Army, Northwestern, Ohio, Ball State, Wyoming, UNLV, Kent St, Alabama, BYU, Houston, E. Michigan, Kentucky, NM St, Arizona

Teams With One Acceptable Loss:
Oklahoma St, Ga Tech, Toledo, Temple, W Michigan, Arkansas St, NC St, SD St, Mississippi, Rutgers, UCLA, Marshall, New Mexico, Navy, Florida, Oregon St, Utah, Nevada

Teams With A Half-Acceptable Loss:
N Illinois, Washington State, Notre Dame

Teams With A Perfect Record Who Haven't Beaten A Top 10 Team:
Everyone else except for...

The One Team With A Perfect Record That Has Beaten A Top Ten Team:

USC!

Tune in Sunday for the Weekend Wrapup.

Eisenberg's College Football Championship Rules

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