Somehow, some way, there are only two more weeks left in the 2024 college football regular season after Week 12 concluded. It's crunch time for a lot of teams, so let's get into all the action below. Note: team rankings are based off last week's CFP poll.
Top 10 Headlines
●#1 Oregon nearly got jumped around in Madison, but ultimately escaped with a win over Wisconsin to move to 11-0 for the first time since 2010. The Ducks' offense was stymied all night long by Wisconsin’s salty defense, but the Badgers’ ineffective offense allowed Oregon to stay in the game and ultimately win. A fake field goal attempt gone awry did give Wisconsin a shot to tie/take the lead, but Oregon head coach Dan Lanning probably knew the Badgers wouldn't cross midfield anyway. Only 6-5 Washington stands in the way of an undefeated regular season and a berth in the Big Ten title game.
●#2 Ohio State beat lowly Northwestern at Wrigley Field to set up a top 5 matchup with #5 Indiana, who was idle this week, next weekend in Columbus. The Buckeyes overcame an early 7-0 deficit thanks to Northwestern mistakes like this failed punt. The winner of next week's OSU/IU game likely has the inside track to make the Big Ten championship game.
●#3 Texas took care of business against Arkansas, though once again things were dicier than expected for the Longhorns. After shutting out the Hogs in the first half, they allowed Arkansas to creep within 3 points early in the 4th quarter. But football can be a cruel affair, one where a Texas fumble that could have given Arkansas a chance to go ahead was recovered by Texas, while an Arkansas fumble that sealed the game was recovered by Texas. UT stays at 1 conference loss with 2 conference games remaining, including that matchup at #15 Texas A&M to close the season.
●#4 Penn State demolished Purdue on the road, proving how far the gap between the top and bottom of the Big Ten is. There are 4 Big Ten teams in the CFP top 5, and none elsewhere in the rankings, and that's unlikely to change in Tuesday's new poll.
●#6 BYU's magic finally ran out in Week 12 as they fell for the first time this season. Kansas managed to contain the Cougars offense to 13 points and held on to win 17-13, their 2nd win in a row over a ranked opponent. Now here's my question: how far will the committee drop the Cougs? Behind some of the 2-loss SEC teams? BYU's path is still clear, which is winning out to win the Big 12, but any chance of making it as an at-large is likely gone.
●Don't worry, the SEC standings are still a mess. #12 Georgia made sure things stayed messy by beating #7 Tennessee in Athens to keep a 4-way tie for 2nd in the SEC. The Vols were shut out in the 2nd half, the 4th time they haven't scored in a half in SEC play. How will the committee rank the 2-loss quartet of #10 Alabama (who beat FCS Mercer badly this week), #11 Ole Miss, the Vols and the Dawgs? Your guess is as good as mine.
●#8 Notre Dame continues to make their loss to Northern Illinois a distant memory, this time by blowing out Virginia at home. They've won 8 in a row since that disastrous loss and are in prime position to not only make the CFP, but host a first round game.
●#9 Miami was idle this week to lick their wounds after suffering their first loss of the season last Saturday.
Best of the Weekend
●#20 Clemson really tried to throw away their chance to play for the ACC title (again), but Cade Klubnik's 50-yard TD run with less than a minute left ensured they left Pitt with a win. Meanwhile, #14 SMU survived a scare of their own at home against Boston College. SMU won by 10, but BC had this game within 3 points late, ultimately losing but giving SMU all they could handle. One more win and SMU will clinch a spot in the ACC championship game, an incredible feat in their first year in the conference.
●#17 Colorado continued their march towards Big 12 title game, running away from Utah 49-24. Travis Hunter had his 3rd interception of the year and a touchdown run to put this game on ice. But don't sleep on Arizona State in this race… They're 8-2 after an impressive 24-14 road win over #16 Kansas State. That team plays hard for Kenny Dillingham, and suddenly next week's BYU/ASU matchup in Tempe has massive Big 12 title game implications, just like we all thought would be the case in the preseason.
●#25 Tulane and #24 Army will play each other for the AAC title in December after the Green Wave took out Navy on Saturday. The host team would be whoever has the better conference record, but if they both finish undefeated (a real possibility), the higher ranked team in the CFP would host. And with Army playing Notre Dame next weekend, things are looking good for Tulane.
●New Mexico QB Devon Dampier caught my attention in their close Week 0 loss to FCS Montana State (who's still undefeated by the way). He's a raw dual threat monster whose potential is frequently on display, and it all came together in the Lobos’ upset of #18 Washington State. He totaled nearly 400 scrimmage yards by himself, including 194 rushing yards to go along with 3 rushing touchdowns. The final of those came with 21 seconds left to give New Mexico their first win over a ranked team since 2003! Wazzu's slim playoff hopes are completely extinguished thanks to some of the magic Bronco Mendenhall has worked in his first season in Albuquerque.
●Other notes: Baylor is bowl eligible and will bring back HC Dave Aranda after beating West Virginia. Colorado State is undefeated in Mountain West play and could be the opponent for #13 Boise State in the MWC title game. South Alabama held off Louisiana's 2-pt play to get a clutch win.
Worst of the Weekend
●The dream of an 8-way tie for first place in the SEC has died, thanks to #22 LSU and #23 Missouri continuing their slides. The former Tigers lost their third in a row, this time to a Florida team they hadn't lost to since 2018. The offense kept sputtering and Brian Kelly was caught yelling at his wide receivers on the sideline. The latter Tigers have been the biggest paper tigers of the 2024 season and they again folded when playing solid competition. #21 South Carolina scored with less than a minute left to knock off Mizzou for a double dose of SEC Tiger sadness.
●#19 Louisville's three losses were tight ones to teams in the CFP top 15, so what the hell were they doing letting a team that had lost 6 in a row keep this game close? Stanford erased a 14-point deficit in the final quarter, and after an untimely unsportsmanlike penalty call against Louisville, kicked the game winning field goal to win 38-35. An ugly loss for a very competitive Cardinals team.
●The slide for Nebraska hit 4 games on Saturday, with a 28-20 loss to USC keeping them away from bowl eligibility yet again. New Huskers OC Dana Holgerson could only get his offense into the end zone once, and the stink of their 56-7 loss to Indiana a month ago is still lingering around the team.
●UMass is a terrible football team that showed why they stink against Liberty. The Minutemen actually had a chance to win in regulation, but badly missed a potential walk off FG. In OT, they scored first, but missed the extra point, meaning all Liberty needed to do was score a TD and make their XP, which they did.
Fun Corner
●The best touchdown catch of the weekend came courtesy of Auburn freshman Cam Coleman, who only needed one hand to complete this work of art.
●The best interception of the weekend came at the FCS level. Just watch the chaos during this play between Idaho and Weber State
●Washington crossed over with World of Warcraft for their Friday night win over UCLA. Of all the collaborations across the sport this year, this is certainly one of them.
●Texas State is bowl eligible for the second time in school history after crushing Southern Miss, and they celebrated by jumping into the San Marcos River.
●After his viral comments about how only “winners get washed” last weekend, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown definitely enjoyed his victory shower after the Orange beat Cal.
Week 12 Heisman Standings
1. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State RB: The Broncos star powered his team to a win over San Jose State after facing an early 14-point deficit. He totaled 159 rushing yards to break the school's single season record, as well as three more touchdown runs.
2. Travis Hunter, Colorado DB/WR: Hunter recorded his 3rd interception of 2024 against Utah, putting him at 3 INTs and over 40 receptions on the season. He's now done that two years in a row, and he's the first player to record those stats since Champ Bailey did so with Georgia in 1998
3. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon QB: Gabriel and his team had a rough go of it at Wisconsin, but credit to him for doing enough to get a win on a night they didn’t play well. Still, he falls further behind the non-QB duo at the top.
4. Cam Ward, Miami QB: Can Ward do enough over his final few games to impress enough voters to win the Heisman? I’m doubtful, but Ward’s numbers through his first 10 games show he can do pretty much anything.