The 2018 College Football Empires Map, updated after Week 2

Welcome to Week 3 of the 2018 College Football Empires Map.

To begin the season, each FBS team was given control of its surrounding territory. Each game that involves one or two teams with territory results in the winner claiming all of it. Results carry on week to week, so teams are always in the process of trying to regain or expand land. For more detailed rules, check out Week 1’s explanation.

Here’s the updated map, with notes to follow.

Week 2’s largest land exchanges

• The largest: Arizona State conquering Michigan State to take over both Michigan State’s and Utah State’s territories. MSU had beaten USU in Week 1, so the Sun Devils now control a large portion of the West in addition to a foothold in Michigan and the portion of Texas they took in Week 1.
• Colorado took over a large chunk of land with its win over Nebraska, despite Nebraska’s heralded new general, Scott Frost.
• Ohio State took two relatively small territories by area, but beating Rutgers meant taking over New York City and taking the lead in population controlled.
• They also are tied for the lead in territories owned with Arizona State, California, Stanford, and Duke, each of whom has four original territories.

Some teams kept their empires contiguous

• Stanford consolidated much of the land in Southern California with its win over USC, combining the former lands of USC, UNLV, and San Diego State.
• Georgia conquered the other USC to combine Georgia, South Carolina, and Coastal Carolina.
• Penn State, Iowa, and Notre Dame took over significant portions of their home states with their wins this weekend over Pitt, Iowa State, and Ball State, respectively.
• ULM expanded to its east with a close win over Southern Miss.

Some other changes of note

• Kentucky’s win over Florida not only resulted in breaking a 31-year streak, but also in the Wildcats taking Gainesville.
• Texas is back ... onto the map, after a win over Tulsa.
• Air Force couldn’t withstand the aerial attack of the Owls of FAU.
• Army went against its native instincts and fought against Liberty, rather than for liberty. The result was Army taking Liberty’s and Old Dominion’s land.

Four FCS teams won or retained territory in Week 2.

• North Carolina A&T, UC Davis, and Villanova defeated their attackers this week.
• Eastern Washington conquered Northern Arizona and, in the process, painted UTEP’s original territory the same color as EWU’s football field.

But Nicholls State, despite a heroic defeat of Kansas last week, was not able to hold off the attack of Tulane, giving Kansas’ original territory to the Green Wave.

Here’s how the entire season looks so far:

Week 3 will feature plenty of battles over significant land.

• College GameDay once again made the choice to attend a game in which both teams have land at stake with the TCU-Ohio State game. The game will be for possession of four of the 15 largest cities in the United States (New York City, Dallas, Columbus, and Fort Worth).
• Hawaii and Army will attempt to expand their coastal reaches, as they fight for possession of the Virginia and Maryland coast as well as the state of Hawaii.

• Stanford will also look to expand its coastline, while UC Davis will hope to pull of the upset and become the owner of much of California.

• The Fighting Irish and the Commodores will duke it out for possession of five territories scattered throughout the country.
• Georgia Southern will look to defend their homeland from the destructive Tigers of Clemson.
• LSU vs. Auburn, in potentially one of the most important games of Week 3, will fight for possession of both Alaska and Puerto Rico (Miami’s starting territory, due to the Canes having no mainland counties their campus could claim), along with both of their home territories.
• Washington State and Eastern Washington find themselves fighting over ... the New Mexico-Texas border.

• And if you need a reason to watch college football on Thursday night, the Wake Forest-Boston College game features two teams with land to win (or lose).
• West Virginia-NC State, South Florida-Illinois, Oklahoma State-Boise State, Alabama-Ole Miss, Buffalo-EMU, and Mississippi State-Louisiana also have both teams with land going into the game.

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We’re also updating an ongoing version of 2017’s final map.

In the Historical Map, we had the largest land transfer to date, with Penn State taking 22 territories from Pitt, tying PSU for first with Ohio State in territories. These two teams play in week 5, so their game would be worth 62 territories if they both stayed undefeated until then. Duke’s win over Northwestern also joined several territories together.

There are no Historical Map games this week featuring two teams with land, but that doesn’t mean there will not be land exchanged. The most likely games to result in land transfer are the Vanderbilt-Notre Dame game and the Boise State-Oklahoma State game. All other land holders are the favorites in their games.