CFB Week 14 Recap: The Longhorns play big brother & The Upset in The Game

After a long, arduous and often unpredictable season, we have our conference title games set for each conference, as well as a slew of teams likely to land in the CFP without winning their conference. Let's recap the final week of the regular season below!

●The Upset: #2 Ohio State and their $20m roster were 21-point favorites against Michigan, the biggest ever in the 119-year history of The Game. But it didn’t matter in the 120th affair, with the undermanned and less-talented Wolverines going punch for punch with the Buckeyes. Ohio State didn’t score in the 2nd half, and their last 1st down came with 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Michigan dominated on defense, and did just enough on offense (with a QB who averaged 3.9 yards a throw) to eke out a late field goal and win 13-10, the 4th year in a row they’ve beaten their rivals. All of this came in front of a stunned Ohio Stadium, and things got ugly in the postgame when Michigan tried to plant a flag at midfield. The Buckeyes are likely still CFP bound, but why should I have confidence in Ryan Day to coach this team to a national title?

●#3 Texas and #20 Texas A&M met on the gridiron for the first time in 13 years, and a defensive slugfest went the way of the Longhorns. An early 4th down stop set the tone early, with UT’s defense frequently confusing Aggies QB Marcel Reed. The Aggies’ only score came on a 93-yard pick-six in the 3rd quarter that briefly looked to give A&M momentum. A blocked punt in the 4th really could’ve changed things, but the UT defense held strong at the goal line to keep A&M out of the end zone again. The Horns relied heavily on their run game, with RB Quintrevion Wisner totaling 186 rushing yards mostly up the middle of the Aggie defensive line. The win sends the Longhorns to Atlanta to try and avenge their loss to Georgia from earlier this season.

●#1 Oregon blasted rival Washington 49-21 to finish up their first undefeated regular season since 2010. HC Dan Lanning got his first win over the Huskies in four tries, and now they’ll take on #4 Penn State in the Big Ten title game next weekend. The Nittany Lions took advantage of Ohio State’s slip up to punch their ticket to Indianapolis by beating up on Maryland. Both teams are CFP locks at this point.

●#5 Notre Dame solidified their CFP resume with a double digital road win over rival USC. A 99-yard pick-six sealed things for the Fighting Irish, who will likely end up hosting a CFP first-round game. Mighty impressive work from ND after their early loss to Northern Illinois.

●#6 Miami let a win that would've sent them to the ACC Championship Game slip through their fingers. A 21-point Canes lead vanished thanks to Kyle McCord and Syracuse refusing to back down. The Orange took leads on this scoop-n-score and a late TD run up the gut, and salted things away with that running game to knock Miami out of ACC contention and, most likely, CFP contention.

●#7 Georgia already clinched a spot in the SEC Championship Game, but they didn't look like a championship team for most of their game against Georgia Tech. They faced a 17-0 halftime deficit and only a miracle fumble late in regulation allowed UGA to tie the game. It then took EIGHT overtimes, the second most OT periods in CFB history, to see the Dawgs eke out a 44-42 win. Credit to GT, who plays really hard for coach Brent Key, but Georgia is likely in the CFP even if they lose the SEC Championship Game next weekend.

●#8 Tennessee trailed early to Vanderbilt, but recovered to win by double digits and finish the regular season 10-2. Barring any weirdness next weekend I think we can safely put the Vols in the CFP.

●#9 SMU finished undefeated in ACC conference play with a 38-6 win over Cal. I have the Ponies as a CFP lock even if they lose the ACC Championship Game next weekend, and outside of their loss to BYU in Week 2, they’ve looked like the best ACC team all season long.

●#10 Indiana claimed the Old Oaken Bucket in style, crushing Purdue 66-0 to finish with 11 regular season wins for the first time ever. Thanks to Ohio State’s loss, they finished ahead of the Buckeyes in the Big Ten standings, something that I did not expect to type at the beginning of this season.

●From preseason bottom feeder to the Big 12 title game, #16 Arizona State has had a hell of a season. They’ll play in Arlington next weekend for a conference title in their first season in the Big 12 after a 49-14 thrashing of rival Arizona. This one was never close, and Sun Devils RB Cam Skattebo had another excellent day with 177 rushing yards and three touchdowns. They’ll take on #19 Iowa State, who beat Kansas State in a riveting round of Farmageddon to win 10 games for the first time in school history. Thanks to #19 BYU’s win over Houston, the Cyclones will play in the Big 12 title game for the 2nd time in 5 years, and will try to win their first conference title since 1912.

●#25 Colorado will not end up playing for a Big 12 title, but we can still appreciate the leaps they took in their 2nd season under Deion Sanders. They blasted Oklahoma State on Friday afternoon, and with a bowl game upcoming, they’ll have a chance to win 10 games for the first time since 2016. A bowl game win would be their first since 2004!

●What to make of the three 3-loss SEC teams? #13 Alabama, #14 Ole Miss and #15 South Carolina all won their rivalry games against Auburn, Mississippi State and #12 Clemson respectively. I don’t see any of them sneaking in personally, but who the hell knows at this point.

●#13 Boise State and #22 UNLV will play next Friday night for the Mountain West title, a game that will decide which G5 team goes to the CFP. The Broncos whooped up on Oregon State with Heisman frontrunner Ashton Jeanty having another 200+ yard day running the football. The Rebels meanwhile beat rival Nevada to set up a rematch of their only conference loss of the season. Get your popcorn ready!

●Other rivalry weekend results: #23 Illinois beat Northwestern to win 9 games for the first time since 2007, #21 Mizzou beat Arkansas with a late Brady Cook TD run to also win 9 games, and Virginia Tech clinched bowl eligibility with a 37-17 win over Virginia.

●#17 Tulane had a real shot to make the CFP if they beat Memphis, won the AAC and some Big 12 chaos happened. Instead, they crapped the bed on Thanksgiving, allowing the Tigers to dominate most of the game and knock off the Green Wave 34-24. Tulane will still play for the AAC title, but it’ll be at Army instead of hosting the game in New Orleans.

●#12 Clemson will play for the ACC championship and an automatic CFP berth, but they do not look like a playoff worthy team right now. They allowed a late long LaNorris Sellers touchdown run to lose to #15 South Carolina at home, only advancing to Charlotte thanks to Miami’s choke job. But they could still steal a bid thanks to the new 12 team CFP.

●FSU finished their season 2-10, with their loss total equaling their preseason ranking. Following their season-ending loss to Florida, the two teams broke out into a scuffle over, guess what, a flag plant. FSU coach Mike Norvell personally took the flag and chucked it away. At least FSU fans can look forward to… OC Gus Malzahn, who quit his head coaching job at UCF to come to Tallahassee. What a weird world.

●If those brawls weren’t enough for you, we saw NC State and North Carolina get into it after a 35-30 Wolfpack win. Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown, who was fired by the school this week but allowed to coach one last game, ends his career in Chapel Hill with a dud.

●Kent State finished as the only winless FBS team this season after a 41-7 throttling by Buffalo on Tuesday night. One of those losses was at home to FCS St. Francis, and only two of their losses were by single digits. Tough, tough times for the Golden Flashes.

●Most disappointing P4 teams this season: Oklahoma, who only won 2 SEC games in their first year in the conference and took a huge step back from last season. LSU, the team that beat the Sooners Saturday night, could also go on this list after wasting a great start. Nebraska is bowl eligible but finished 1-5 after starting 5-1. USC fixed their defense in the offseason only to win less regular season games than last year. Oklahoma State went from a Big 12 CCG appearance to winless in conference play. And of course, the aforementioned Florida State team that started in the preseason top 10 and ended up on this list instead.

●Arizona assistant coach Chuck Cecil started bleeding from his head after head butting his helmet-wearing players during pregame warmups. If only it actually helped the team play better.

●Syracuse head coach Fran Brown is becoming a viral sensation. After knocking out Miami and sending Clemson to the ACC title game, he shouted out Dabo Swinney in his postgame interview.

●One final postgame scuffle: Arizona State planted a trident at midfield of Arizona Stadium, and Arizona players were having none of that.

●At the FCS level, Illinois State knocked off Southeastern Missouri to move on to the semifinals. Oh, and their quarterback threw the ball 85 times. This statline has to be seen to be believed.

●A man was seen riding a longhorn ahead of the Texas/Texas A&M game. Rivalries bring the best out of people, don’t they?

#1. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State RB: 2,288 rushing yards and 28 rushing TDs. That’s how many Jeanty totaled in 12 games, two of which he only played the first half in. His numbers are better than any of the last three running backs to win the Heisman, and he’ll get one more chance to seal his award against UNLV next Friday.

#2. Travis Hunter, Colorado DB/WR: Hunter did all he could to make his case for the Heisman in his final game at Folsom Field, totaling over 100 receiving yards, three touchdown catches and an interception in the Buffs’ blowout of Oklahoma State. I don’t think it’ll be enough, but good lord has Hunter had an incredible 2024 season.

#3. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon QB: Leading the Ducks to an undefeated regular season won’t get Gabriel the Heisman like it would in most other seasons, but he’s been the best QB in the country and will get a deserved invite to New York for the Heisman ceremony in December.