Bracketology 2024: Bubble Watch of key teams in early February
By Joey Loose
Colorado (15-7) (NET: 29)
1-4 (Q1), 5-3 (Q2), 2-0 (Q3), 7-0 (Q4)
It’s not exactly opportunities aplenty in this year’s Pac-12, but Colorado’s lone Quad 1 victory came less than two weeks ago with a solid road win at Washington. That actually completed a sweep of the Huskies, while the Buffaloes other Quad 2 wins include fellow bubble teams like Miami, Oregon, and Washington State.
Having three Quad 2 losses isn’t ideal, as Colorado lost early in the season to Florida State and dropped tough road contests to Arizona State and California nearly a month ago. While not a resume killing loss, it’s also disheartening that the Buffaloes lost at Arizona by 47 points back on January 4th.
Colorado dropped their last two games, falling in important road tests at Washington State and Utah. With the current state of this conference, there won’t be a lot of opportunities for this team to prove itself. This weekend gives them a second shot at Arizona, this time at home, but any other Quad 1 opportunity will come on the road, and likely not until a trip to Oregon in March.
Florida (15-7) (NET: 39)
1-7 (Q1), 3-0 (Q2), 7-0 (Q3), 4-0 (Q4)
This past week was very important for the Gators, who scooped up their first Quad 1 win of the season with an excellent performance at Kentucky on the final day of January. They’ve done well against Quad 2 opposition, with those wins coming against Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, and Richmond.
Any team without any losses lower than Quad 1 is doing something right, though that doesn’t mean Florida hasn’t had any bad performances. They lost by 18 at Ole Miss and 19 at Tennessee earlier in conference play and had a tough performance against Wake Forest much earlier in the year.
That win in Lexington was a major boost for the Gators, though some of that good will faded away with a loss at Texas A&M this past Saturday. Still, their resume is in decent shape and should continue to be there as long as they avoid the bad loss. Adding a few more Quad 1 wins certainly wouldn’t hurt and they get a great shot at that this weekend against Auburn.