Where will Rece Davis and his crew of College GameDay park in Week 12?
With two weeks of the College Football Playoff rankings in the books, it’s time to rattle the committee’s feathers again in Week 12. Following a disappointment in the Washington-Southern Cal result in Week 11, will the featured College GameDay team experience the same fate?
Western Michigan will be recognized in Week 12 by ESPN for their tremendously good season. As a token of appreciation, ESPN’s College GameDay will make a pit stop in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where the Broncos face the Buffalo Bulls. Unlike Buffalo, who is 0-4 on the road, Western Michigan remains as one of two undefeated teams in the FBS, alongside Alabama.
Two unbeatens left. We're coming to see one of them. Get hyped, @WMU_Football! pic.twitter.com/YuGqwwsdNE
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) November 13, 2016
And there’s always room for newer things.
This will be the first time in program history that College GameDay has visited Western Michigan. It also marks the first time since 2003 that College GameDay visited a Mid-American Conference campus. That in mind, P.J. Fleck has made it his duty this week to help his players focus on other things besides the arrival of College GameDay.
Expected to be distracted by the additional lights and cameras, Fleck emphasized that this will be a lesson-to-be-learned. The young coach remarked, “…we’re…going to educate our players on how to handle it.” That is sound advice, since Kalamazoo isn’t always on everyone’s to-do list. But the city and the university might be unprepared to manage the national attention.
Other games that could have been considered as College GameDay hosts were Florida-LSU, which was rescheduled following the landfall of Hurricane Matthew in October. Another notable Week 12 matchup features Oklahoma traveling to Morgantown, WV to take on the Mountaineers.
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Before the committee selects the next wave of College Football Playoff contenders, Western Michigan occupies the No. 21 spot. Unfortunately for Western Michigan, they’re surrounded by two Pac-12 teams that are racing to catch up to Washington, of whom lost to No. 20 USC in Week 11.
Undeniably the best in the MAC, Western Michigan should be uncontested for the remainder of their season.