Believe it or not, Drake vs. Iowa State could end up impacting the Playoff
The Cyclones winning a close one at home to a non-scholarship program could drop them out of the Top 25. That’s slightly important.
Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images
Let’s keep in mind Drake is a non-scholarship football program!
The Bulldogs, 7-3 on the season, kept this game close throughout, and even led twice in the back-and-forth contest. Inside the final minute, the Cyclones put together a 10 play, 67-yard scoring drive to take a 27-24 lead heading into the fourth.
Drake had a couple chances to put together a scoring drive, but Iowa State’s defense didn’t let it, and the Cyclones pulled out a close victory.
If Oklahoma finds itself needing a quality win over Iowa State to hold off Ohio State for the No. 4 Playoff seed, this result could be costly.
The committee entered the weekend saying OU had the schedule strength advantage over Ohio State, but Iowa State winning a really close one against this team might be enough to drop the Cyclones out of the Playoff Top 25 and narrow that gap somewhat between OU and OSU.
That may not mean much to you initially, given that the Cyclones were only 23rd, but the selection committee might care about this. If ISU is dropped out of the top 25, the Big 12 champion — either Texas or Oklahoma — would have one less win over Playoff top-25 teams, something the committee talks about when evaluating teams.
Perhaps a team like 10-2 Sun Belt champ Appalachian State could move up to replace the Cyclones.
Pair that with West Virginia being the only Big 12 team aside from the Longhorns and Sooners left in the rankings heading into Saturday, and that makes things even more interesting.
Wait, why was Iowa State playing Drake on Championship Saturday anyway?
The Cyclones’ Week 1 game against South Dakota State was canceled, and then the makeup game against Incarnate Word also got canceled when UIW made the FCS playoffs, so Iowa State scheduled local Drake to make up for it instead.
Obviously this one team falling out of the rankings wouldn’t have a huge impact on the Playoff picture.
But when certain teams fighting for a Playoff spot rank very closely to one another, the committee will use every metric it can to determine which teams make it in.
Additionally:
- Drake ranked No. 219 out of 255 in the Sagarin ratings, which rank all of Division I, not just FBS
- It hasn’t awarded scholarships since 1986
- The last time it won its Pioneer Conference was in 2012
- Did I mention Iowa State was expected to win by 41?
Championship Saturday was supposed to have several games impacting to the New Year’s picture.
This game was not supposed to be one of them, even if it did a little bit!
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