2 weeks Ago By Zain Bando
With the Week 10 AP Poll released Sunday afternoon, some new additions entered the coveted top 10. Check out how the SEC , Big Ten , and Big 12 fared in Week 9. Move over, Texas.
There is a new sheriff in town One of the biggest surprises came out of the SEC. With a plethora of parity in the conference, including Alabama keeping its College Football Playoff hopes alive with a win against Missouri, Mike Elko’s No. 10 Texas A&M squad also decided to join the party.
A 38-23 home win against LSU delivered a fiery response from Elko, who took the reins in College Station after bringing Duke back to national relevance a few years ago. “I think it’s the way we talk to the young people and the things we talk about, the messaging, how we bring really good people into the building,” Elko told reporters after the win (H/T Awful Announcing ) “We talk about doing things together, we talk about culture. And everyone talks about it, but we go out and live it every day.
And I think we back up our actions, we’re very honest, we’re very open.” Elko made sure to re-emphasize that Texas A&M football is the furthest thing from an infomercial. “This is a real program,” Elko continued.
“It is not fake. It is not a politician running this program, talking fast and BSing everybody. This is a real program.
And for all the recruits out there, this is a real place. And if you want to be really good at football..
.” Elko’s authenticity has made members of the college football community believe in the Aggies. Now sitting at 7-1, the Aggies have a fast track toward a College Football Playoff berth.
The Aggies travel to South Carolina this coming Saturday in what is likely to be a hostile environment. Is it 1981 again? BYU is one of college football’s greatest success stories thus far. While it may be one of the new kids on the block in the Big 12, it is far from unfamiliar to the tune of winning.
Just ask Jim McMahon. The No. 9-ranked Cougars took care of UCF, 37-24, to improve to 8-0.
It is a logjam for the Big 12 conference title, too. BYU holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against newly minted No. 17 Kansas State.
The Cougars have yet to play a team that has been ranked since. They might only if they make the 12-team field, much less the conference championship game. BYU travels to Utah this Saturday, which kicks off the season's final month.
The Cougars have two more games at home, finishing the season with Houston on Thanksgiving weekend. Similarly to Texas in the SEC, BYU must keep winning to guarantee its place amongst the college football’s elite. Illini have been here before Despite a 38-9 loss against No.
1 Oregon Saturday, 6-2 (3-2 Big Ten) Illinois finds itself in a familiar position. It’s back to No. 24, the same ranking it held in September when it upset then-ranked No.
22 Nebraska in Lincoln. While it may seem like a distant memory, it’s part of a much larger olive branch. Illinois continues to make history.
Ranked for seven weeks, it boasts a 5-0 record at Memorial Stadium, which has seen coach Bret Bielema deliver some of his best outings during his tenure thus far. This included holding then-ranked No. 24 Michigan to seven points in an eventual field-storming win.
According to Circa Sports , the Illini enter their return to Champaign against Minnesota as a three-point favorite this Saturday (noon ET, FS1). A win here would likely give Illinois an inside track to a 10-2 season, avoiding Ohio State and Indiana in its final month. There is only time to tell for now, but the stakes in the Power Four will continue to ramp up in the weeks ahead.
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