FBS/FCS Power Points Standings: Week 4

I am trying out a new format this week. The FBS and FCS standings are listed separately with each classification’s schedule for the following weekend listed to the right in red. The games are ordered by their participants’ combined numbers in the Power Points Standings.

FWIW, FYI, and WTF(rack)!

1-Michigan and Arkansas join the top four for the first time this year. The Wolverines are the fifth first place team in four weeks. Georgia and Oregon remain in the top four for a third and fourth straight week respectively.
2-The top game in the FBS and FCS for week 5 matches #2 and #3. In the FBS, #2 Arkansas visits #3 Georgia while #2 Eastern Washington hosts #3 Montana in FCS action.
3-They’re not so grrrrrreat! The Clemson Tigers suffered their second defeat which almost certainly ends their playoff streak at six years. The Memphis Tigers blew a 21-0 lead to UTSA and lost on a walk-off field goal. The Auburn Tigers needed a touchdown pass on fourth down and nine from the ten to escape Georgia State.
4-Survive and advance. There have been a record number of losses by AP ranked teams through four weeks and I am relieved my favorite team did not join the party. The Hawkeyes trailed Colorado State 14-7 at halftime as its offense continued to struggle scoring points and its stellar defense could not buy a third down stop. The defense forced an early third quarter fumble that quickly led to the game tying touchdown as Iowa outscored the Rams 17-0 in the second half to escape with a 24-14 win. As much as wins like this are used to downgrade teams in the beauty contest polls, an ugly win is still a win and there is a team up North that would love to be to celebrating an ugly win today.
5-Kudos to UCLA for bouncing back from a heartbreaking loss to Fresno State with a 35-24 win at Stanford.
6-Dear Iowa State and North Carolina. We hardly knew you. Signed the Playoff Race.
7-Is the offense free to commit any penalty without consequence to prevent a defensive return in overtime?
8-Why are there half the distance to the goal penalties? If the offensive team is penalized, I would like to the team penalized to the one-yard line and any remaining yards added to the line to gain for a first down. If the defensive team is penalized, penalize to the one-yard line too. If the penalty is greater than the distance to the endzone, the offense receives an automatic first down or gains a down. For example, if the offense has third and goal at the one-yard line and the defense commits an offsides penalty, the offense now has second and goal if we apply the latter suggestion.
9-I do not know how to fix the targeting rule. That said, instead of an ejection, how about the offending player is placed in a “penalty box” for 10 to 15 minutes of game time? An ejection seems to be too punitive when no one can seem to agree when targeting occurs and many of us are left to wonder what the player was supposed to do.
10-If College Football adopts the proposed 12-team playoff format, the SEC will not get six teams in. The SEC plus Oklahoma and Texas average just under four top 12 finishes in the AP poll since 1978. With the top six conference champions guaranteed spots, the SEC would have to take five of six at-large berths. When the SEC placed six teams in the BCS top 12 in 2012, they only played 10 of 15 possible matchups between each other. Unless conference scheduling allows the top teams to miss each other, the top six teams will likely suffer too many losses to take up half the field. Keep in mind that the nearly four per year average is helped by Oklahoma and Texas not playing an SEC schedule all those years.