Saturday, October 8, 2016

Top 10 vs. Top 10

When Bucky played #8 MSU this season both teams were ranked in the top 10 (Bucky was 10 in coaches, 11 in AP). Big games when both teams are ranked in the top 10 are rare during the regular season. Even very good teams with very good schedules often only get one of these games a year, maybe 2. 

For example:
Alabama, despite probably being in the top 10 all year, will likely only have 1 top 10 regular season opponent all year- Texas A&M.
MI and OSU both will play top 10 UW, and will play each other so they could both have 2. 
Louisville got Clemson and FSU in the top 10, but with Houston's loss today they will likely finish with 2 top 10 matchups. 
Washington's whooping of Stanford will likely be their only Top 10 matchup of the year. 
Clemson's defeat of Louisville will likely be their only matchup this season.

It's hard to stay in the top 10 all year, especially when you are playing other top 10 teams. Bucky has had 2 of these games already with the MSU game and against #4 MI when UW was #8. With Houston and Tennessee losing today, UW should return to the top 10 prior to the #2 OSU matchup giving UW it's 3rd such matchup of the year. If UW were to pull off an upset over OSU, and beat Iowa on the road, (also no small feat) they could then have a 4th top 10 matchup if Nebraska were to defeat Indiana and Purdue in the next 2 weeks (no large feat). Mind you this does not include UW's win over #5 LSU because Bucky was not ranked at the time. 

At worst, UW will have 3 Top Ten Matchups this season. What a great fucking season.

While it seems unlikely, UW could also have a Top 10 opponent in a Big Ten Championship game, and another in a Bowl game, or maybe 2 in the playoff. 7 Top 10 matchups for UW is theoretically possible in one season. 

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