{"id":242405,"date":"2025-10-22T01:58:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T01:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/242405\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T01:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T01:58:07","slug":"heather-dinich-reveals-stakes-for-missouri-vanderbilt-huge-one-for-college-football-playoff-implications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/242405\/","title":{"rendered":"Heather Dinich reveals stakes for Missouri, Vanderbilt: ‘Huge one for College Football Playoff implications’"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN College GameDay is headed to Missouri<\/a> vs. Vanderbilt<\/a> this weekend, which should underscore for fans just how big a matchup it is. But while it\u2019s a big-time game, it\u2019s also a must-win game. For both teams.<\/p>\n

ESPN analyst Heather Dinich opened up on that topic on College Football Playoff: Top 25 on Tuesday night. She explained why Vanderbilt has a lot to prove still.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge one for College Football Playoff<\/a> implications, and it\u2019s because when you look at the AP Poll and you see Vandy sitting there at 10 they are a fantastic story,\u201d Dinich said. \u201cClark Lea<\/a> has done an amazing job. But I think they might have more to prove in the selection committee meeting room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take a look at Vanderbilt\u2019s current resume and it\u2019s not as strong as it might have appeared before the season. Or even earlier in the season.<\/p>\n

At the time, a win over No. 11 South Carolina<\/a> looked excellent. It was a dominant win, too. But since then, South Carolina has fallen to 3-4 on the year, with a 1-4 mark in SEC play. The big Vanderbilt win has lost some luster. Dinich pointed out that issue with the resume for the \u2018Dores.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the win against LSU<\/a>, it was big but it was also their first win against a Power Four opponent over .500,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they beat Mizzou, their playoff chances will jump to 49%, according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game carries similar stakes for Missouri, too. Missouri has yet to beat a ranked team this year. It\u2019s lone chance came against Alabama<\/a>, and the Tigers came up short.<\/p>\n

\u201cMizzou is in a similar spot, right, because they also lost to Alabama but they have even less to compensate for it on their schedule right now,\u201d Dinich said. \u201cBecause not only do they need a win against a ranked opponent, this would be their first win against an opponent with a winning record.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are things the committee looks at. You know this, they look at their opponents\u2019 winning percentage, and right now Mizzou is one of the worst in the country. They\u2019re No. 103 with opponent winning percentage.\u201d<\/p>\n

So while the rankings look nice \u2014 No. 10 vs. No. 15 \u2014 there\u2019s plenty that needs to be justified still for both Missouri and Vanderbilt. The two teams are set to kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday on ESPN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN College GameDay is headed to Missouri vs. Vanderbilt this weekend, which should underscore for fans just how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-242405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}