Welcome to the stretch run of the first college football season with a 12-team playoff at its highest level.
Welcome also to every showdown — well, maybe not Alabama-Mercer or Georgia-UMass — from here on out being referred to as an “elimination game.”
There already have been matchups within Southeastern Conference play such as Alabama-Tennessee and LSU-Ole Miss get tagged with that label, but all four of those teams reside among the top 16 of this week’s initial installment of the College Football Playoff rankings. Yet SEC teams knew coming into this season that a 9-3 regular-season record would likely result in elimination, so the pairing of Alabama and LSU in Baton Rouge on Saturday night (7:30 Eastern on ABC) will produce a loser that has three setbacks.
Thus finally giving the moniker of an “elimination game” some accuracy.
“If this is an elimination game, then every SEC game that’s being played this weekend involving somebody with one or two losses would be characterized the same,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said during Wednesday’s weekly SEC Zoom call. “The narrative would cover every SEC game, and I just think because this is the national game, it sells it better that way. Everybody knows where this is at.
“You’ve got four or five teams in this league with one loss and then a bunch of two-loss teams, and at the end of the day, all these games matter. Isn’t Texas-Florida an elimination game if you really look at it hard? Isn’t Tennessee-Mississippi State an elimination game if you really look at it hard? You can go right down the list. Each one of them is an elimination game.”
Alabama first-year coach Kalen DeDoer has yet to win an SEC road contest, falling at Vanderbilt and at Tennessee, so he isn’t consuming himself with the “elimination game” aspect.
“We know we have to keep winning, and that’s what it’s all about,” DeBoer said. “Each week is what it’s about for us, and if we do what we need to do, it will work itself out. That’s the approach we have, and that’s the approach we had after Tennessee as well.”
Several SEC coaches have been asked this season about facing the Crimson Tide without Nick Saban at the helm. On Wednesday, it was Kelly’s turn.
“In some instances, this football team still resembles the building blocks of Coach Saban,” Kelly said. “It is Coach DeBoer’s team, and it will continue to take on his personality and his direction, but a lot of the work in terms of building the foundation is still there. Kalen took over a program that was in great shape, and when you talk about him not being on the sideline anymore, I think he still has an office there.
“There is still that sense that there is a man behind the curtain, if you will, and you sense that in terms of the overall program. I don’t want to take anything away from Coach DeBoer, because it’s his team, but you do sense a little bit of Nick there.”
The Florida Gators went 2-2 before their first open date of the season and are 2-2 since.
Not all 2-2 records transpire the same.
Florida was hammered within the season’s first month in the Swamp by Miami and Texas A&M, falling behind after three quarters of those games by a combined 71-24. In the two losses since, the Gators have been topped 23-17 in overtime at Tennessee and 34-20 this past weekend against Georgia in a game that was 20-20 with five minutes remaining.
“It gave us a time to come up for air,” Florida coach Billy Napier said of the Sept. 28 break from action. “Our players were disappointed with the way we had performed, and I think there was really good dialogue and a collaboration between the players and the coaches. This group stuck together and was very solution-oriented, and ultimately we formatted our practices that week in a way that I think really helped our team develop a competitive spirit.
“We divided up the teams and practiced our process of in between plays on defense, and we made it extremely competitive. That Wednesday of that first bye week was probably the best practice I’ve ever been a part of in 20 years of coaching, and since then, I think we’ve had a little bit of a different edge. It exposed the character of our team, because a lot of groups would have splintered.”
In South Carolina’s season opener, redshirt freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers threw for only 114 yards, was sacked four times and averaged 3.1 yards per carry in a lackluster 23-19 escape of Old Dominion.
Fast forward to this past Saturday night, and the 6-foot-3, 242-pounder threw for 244 yards, wasn’t sacked and rushed for 144 yards and 7.2 yards per carry in a 44-20 throttling of Texas A&M.
“It’s been gradual and nothing he’s tried to force,” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said. “Even before the start of the season, he had the respect of his teammates. He wasn’t the most vocal leader, but they respected the heck out of him because of his ability and work ethic and the kind of person he is. The way the first four games went, he didn’t get a ton of experience.
“He played a full game against Old Dominion but got knocked out against Kentucky for a period of time in the first half. He didn’t play the whole second half against LSU and didn’t play at all against Akron, but he’s a football junkie who studied it when he wasn’t playing. As he gets more experience, we’re putting more on his plate.”
Pasquali’s Pix
Miami at Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets have never lost three straight games under Brent Key. Hurricanes 27, Yellow Jackets 22.
Florida at Texas: The Gators last played Texas in 1940. They last scored against the Longhorns in 1924. Longhorns 30, Gators 13.
UTC at The Citadel: The Mocs are the homecoming foe for the Bulldogs. Mocs 28, Bulldogs 19.
Georgia at Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin is 3-15 against top-10 teams, which simply dwarfs James Franklin’s 3-18 mark. Bulldogs 31, Rebels 24.
South Carolina at Vanderbilt: The Gamecocks have defeated the Commodores 15 consecutive times. Gamecocks 20, Commodores 17.
Mississippi State at Tennessee: Volunteers coach Josh Heupel has never faced Mississippi State as a player, assistant or head coach. Vols 31, Bulldogs 16.
Alabama at LSU: Kelly is 13-0 in night games inside Tiger Stadium. Tigers 27, Crimson Tide 24.
Oklahoma at Missouri: The Tigers need two more wins for their first undefeated home season since 2007. Tigers 28, Sooners 23.
Other picks:
Memphis 34, Rice 19
Ohio State 49, Purdue 6
Syracuse 30, Boston College 27
Liberty 28, MTSU 21
Indiana 31, Michigan 10
Iowa State 25, Kansas 24
Army 21, North Texas 18
Clemson 27, Virginia Tech 24
N.C. State 30, Duke 23
Texas Tech 31, Colorado 30
Oregon 42, Maryland 15
Notre Dame 35, Florida State 6
Penn State 34, Washington 13
Boise State 38, Nevada 19
Pittsburgh 24, Virginia 21
Brigham Young 29, Utah 26
Washington State 31, Utah State 14
Winners — 13
Throat slashes — 12
Pasquali is 193-57 overall (77.2%) this season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.