Section 400’s Week 13 College Football Roundtable

Happy Saturday to all that celebrate! As they do every Saturday, the guys from Section 400 will go through the top storylines heading into the monstrous slate on each College Football Saturday.

Find out below what Section 400 writers Brian Hauch, Jack Albanese, Matt Kolen, and Zach Meyers are most intrigued about in week thirteen.

Final Countdown

Boys we are entering the penultimate week of the college football regular season. We have plenty of paramount matchups on the docket today, but which game(s) will you be watching?

BH: The race for the BIG 12 has my full attention. Can BYU avoid a two-game losing streak as 3-point underdogs against two-loss Arizona State? Will Colorado keep its conference championship hopes alive in Lawrence against a Kansas team that just knocked off the aforementioned Cougars? Both matchups are at 3:30 eastern, and YouTube TV better allow me to watch both in ‘Multi-View’.

JA: I’ll be at a wedding, but I’ll find a way to keep tabs on the most important game of the season. The only answer is No. 2 Ohio State against No. 5 Indiana.

MK: I’m looking forward to see if the Indiana “Hoo Hoo” Hoosiers are real, or frauds. Also, let’s see if Army can knock off Notre Dame and force the committee to make a tough decision!

ZM: Indiana vs Ohio State obviously. I will be BOOTS ON THE GROUND.

Massive Matinee

We had this debate on the latest podcast, but let’s do it again. Does Indiana go into ‘The Shoe’ and beat No. 2 ranked Ohio State? More importantly, do the Hoosiers play well enough to warrant a spot in the College Football Playoff?

BH: I’ll reiterate what I said on the Thursday’s show. As long as the Hoosiers keep this game within two possessions wire-to-wire, there is absolutely zero reason the committee should slide them out of the 12-team Playoff. The Hoosiers won’t win, but a 31-23 loss should be more than enough to warrant the No. 9 or No. 10 seed when the final rankings come out in a few weeks.

JA: No they won’t win, but yes, they’ll probably get into the Playoff depending on the outcome of this OSU game. I don’t think the Hoosiers deserve to be in with a loss though.

MK: It’s going to be tough. I want the Hoosiers in the playoff but if they suffer a bad loss to Ohio state I don’t know if they deserve it. Indiana’s best win is against a five-loss Michigan team.

ZM: I really think it will be a close game, I won’t say the Hoosiers 100% win. It will be close enough that there won’t be a debate, the Hoosiers are a playoff team.

Tigers Playing Spoiler?

Texas A&M has the opportunity to fight for a SEC title if they get by Auburn this weekend and Texas next week. Can the Aggies run the table to secure the automatic bid in the Playoff?

BH: Hugh Freeze has been the Auburn head coach for over two calendar years. Other than two phenomenal recruiting classes, the former Liberty head coach has done nothing to stamp his name in Auburn lore. He can do just that by leading his team to wins over A&M and Alabama to end 2024. While Auburn won’t win both, I am actually fairly confident in the Tigers pulling off the upset under the Jordan-Hare lights this weekend against an Aggies team that lost star running back Le’Veon Moss for the season.

JA: Texas A&M is a good team this year. I still don’t think they’ll get past Texas though, even if they beat our Tigers this weekend.

MK: Eh who cares, the Aggies don’t pose a threat to win it all.

ZM: No, Texas will kill them.

Let’s have a Saturday

Favorite bet(s) today?

BH: I really believe we are destined for a BYU vs. Colorado “win and in” BIG 12 championship game in three short weeks. Because of that, I’ll be taking BYU (+3) on the road against Arizona State and Colorado (-3.5) on the road in Kansas.

JA: Rutgers (+2.5) against Illinois on a beautiful November day in Piscataway.

MK: Let’s double up on some 40 point spreads on senior day. Georgia (-42) vs. UMass and Tennessee (-41) at home against UTEP.

ZM: Ole Miss (-12.5) on the road against Florida.

Underdog

Which underdog shocks the world today?

BH: Ever to conquer, never to yield. The Auburn Tigers (+125) are going to spoil Texas A&M’s Playoff hopes Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

JA: Rutgers (+120) is my favorite bet and they are my favorite underdog.

MK: Army (+475) against Notre Dame, Boston College (+110) at home against UNC, and Pitt (+225) on the road in Louisville.

ZM: Indiana (+310) against Ohio State , Minnesota (+335) at home against Penn State, and Wake forest (+24) on the road in Miami.