#1 Georgia handled business vs. Georgia Tech to finish off their third consecutive undefeated regular season. They’ve won 29 games in a row and 45 of their last 46. Up next is the SEC Championship game versus Alabama.
#2 Ohio State finally proved fraudulent, falling to #3 Michigan for the third season in a row. Ryan Day coached conservatively, while Wolverines interim HC Sherrone Moore played aggressively. Michigan has #17 Iowa up next in the Big Ten title game, and they’ll get Jim Harbaugh back for that game.
#4 Washington escaped rival Washington State on a last-second field goal to complete a perfect regular season. Michael Penix has come back down to earth as of late but he did enough late to put the Huskies in position to win the game. Next up is a date with #6 Oregon in the final Pac-12 championship game.
#5 Florida State overcame a very slow start to pull away from lousy Florida in the Swamp to finish undefeated. Next up, a matchup with a top 15 Louisville team in the ACC title game.
#6 Oregon cruised to a win in their last matchup with Oregon State for the foreseeable future. They’ll get their shot at a rematch with Washington on Friday night with a trip to the CFP on the line.
#7 Texas demolished Texas Tech 57-7 in their final scheduled matchup. They get Oklahoma State in the Big 12 title game and have to hope for some chaos in front of them to make the CFP.
#8 Alabama won on one of the most improbable throws you’ll ever see, with QB Jalen Milroe completing a 31-yard pass on 4th and goal (yes, you read that right) to escape Auburn with a 27-24 victory. Why did Auburn only rush two on that final play? Why did they spy Milroe when he would’ve needed to run 30+ yards? We may never know. Regardless, the Tide’s CFP hopes are alive with only #1 Georgia standing in their way next week. No biggie.
Apparently, that play was called the “gravedigger”, and WR Isaiah Bond had a James Bond-inspired celebration for it.
#9 Mizzou completed their best season in a decade with a 48-14 destruction of Arkansas.
They’ll make one of the NY6 bowls as an at large, likely the Cotton or Peach.
#10 Louisville lost any remote chance of making the CFP by losing to rival Kentucky for the 5th year in a row. They’ll still take on Florida State for the ACC crown next weekend.
Best of the Weekend
Iowa State defeated Kansas State in Farmageddon to finish 7-5 on the season and 4th overall in the Big 12. But the real story lies in the numbers: KSU ran 102 plays and gained 497 yards. ISU ran 35 plays and gained 488 yards. They had scoring plays of 71, 77, 79, 60, 33 and 82 yards!
Old Dominion scored a touchdown on the final play of their finale vs. Georgia Southern to clinch the third bowl bid in team history. They trailed by 10 with 4 minutes left, but got a field goal, forced a safety, and drove for that touchdown on their final play.
James Madison and Jacksonville State became bowl-eligible in spite of the NCAA’s stupid rules due to there not being enough other bowl-eligible teams!
NC State reached 9 wins with a victory over North Carolina. Did you know there are only four programs with 8 or more wins every year this decade? They are Georgia, Alabama, Clemson and the Wolfpack.
Worst of the Weekend
In yet another game featuring Iowa that set a record for lowest over/under, the Hawkeyes prevailed 13-10 over Nebraska to deny the Huskers a bowl bid. And the O/U closed at 24.5, so the under hit! In the last 2 years, Iowa is 10/10 in hitting the under in games that closed with an O/U of 35 or less. They averaged 18 ppg and went 10-2.
Florida entered the home stretch 5-2 needing to only win one more game to make a bowl. They went 0-5 with a hideous loss to Arkansas that left them at 5-7 and with major questions about the direction Billy Napier has the program going.
Despite two kick return touchdowns from Richard Reese, Baylor fell to West Virginia to finish their season 3-9, including winless at home against FBS competition.
Obligatory Colorado mention: they fell to Utah and their 5th string QB to finish 4-8. It was clearly an improvement over the 1-11 2022 campaign they had, but also a disappointment given how they started.
Small School Survey
Tulane and SMU will battle for the AAC championship in New Orleans next weekend, with the winner likely getting a berth in a NY6 bowl. Tulane would win consecutive conference titles after a 2021 season that saw them go 2-10, while SMU would leave the American with their first conference crown. SMU lost QB Preston Stone in their game vs. Navy, so they might have to turn to a backup QB in the ACC CCG.
11-1 Toledo will take on Miami (OH) at Ford Field in Detroit for the MAC championship, with Toledo seeking back-to-back MAC titles.
Undefeated Liberty will face 10-win New Mexico State for the Conference USA crown. The Flames have an outside shot at the NY6 bid if SMU wins the AAC.
Troy and App State will go at it for the Sun Belt championship. Troy is looking for their second conference championship in a row.
We had to wait until Sunday morning to find out who would play for the Mountain West conference championship thanks to some computer formulas. The BCS is alive and well after all! The computers chose UNLV and Boise State, with the Rebels hosting.
Coaching Carousel
Texas A&M will hire former DC and current Duke head Mike Elko as their next head coach… but only after a drama-filled Saturday evening where it looked like Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops was their choice. Not so fast my friend! A&M’s board reneged at the last second after Stoops apparently told UK he was leaving. Oopsie! But Elko is the smart choice after all.
Michigan State hired Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith as their next HC. Smith leaves a school with no conference, no future revenue and a roster that’s soon to see an exodus of players. Sad Beaver noises.
Mississippi State seems likely to hire Oklahoma OC Jeff Lebby as their next head coach. Miss St AD Zac Selmon came from Oklahoma so the connection is sound. But will he bring his father-in-law Art Briles along with him?
Arkansas and Baylor announced they will bring back their embattled head coaches, Sam Pittman at Arkansas and Dave Aranda for the Bears.
Other firings: Indiana fired Tom Allen, Houston moved on from Dana Holgerson, UTEP moved on from Dana Dimel, Louisiana-Monroe fired Terry Bowden and New Mexico fired Danny Gonzalez. Those five schools along with Oregon State, San Diego State, Syracuse and Boise State are still in need of a new coach.
Fun Corner
Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler had a great reaction to Alabama’s improbable game winning touchdown.
Liberty hired a whole mariachi band to play in the locker room after defeating UTEP in celebration of their undefeated season.
My favorite tweet about the Mark Stoops/Texas A&M saga.
Virginia Tech celebrated beating rival Virginia with a photo on the Cavaliers’ field. So Virginia turned on the on-field sprinklers during the photo op.
A couple of Iowa fans came to the game just to celebrate the greatness of Tory Taylor’s punting ability.
Ahead of OU’s 10th win of the season, Brent Venables fell in the tunnel and got trampled by his own players.
CFP Top 12 Projection
1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Washington
4. Florida State
5. Oregon
6. Texas
7. Alabama
8. Ohio State
9. Mizzou
10. Penn State
11. Ole Miss
12. Oklahoma
My Heisman Poll
1. Jayden Daniels, LSU, QB: Most of his numbers are comparable to or better than every Heisman winner since 2010. Just give him the award already.
2. Bo Nix, Oregon, QB: Bo’s best hope is beating Penix & Washington in the Pac-12 title game and hoping voters value winning more than the biggest stats.
3. Michael Penix Jr., Washington, QB: My preseason pick was leading the race for a while, but he’s cooled off of late and has fallen behind.
4. Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State, WR: If one non-QB had to win the award, it’d have to be the expected Biletnikoff winner.
5. Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma, QB: DG will finish his career in the top 10 in all-time passing yards, passing touchdowns, and touchdowns responsible for. Plus, it’d be funny for an OU QB to finish ahead of a Lincoln Riley QB in Heisman voting.