The college football picture is starting to come more into focus as we are nearing the end of the regular season in college football. The debates are already increasing in volume as we prepare to argue over which teams deserve to be in and which teams will be heart broken and left out. We were oh so close to finally getting the expanded college football playoff format that we have been wanting for years but Oklahoma’s sudden and short-sighted decision to leave the Big 12 for perceived greener grass in the SEC triggered an avalanche of conference moves and realignments that nixed the agreement made for the expanded playoffs. What is very interesting is that a very unique stage has been set that could have huge play-off implications. Next Saturday’s matchups feature Oklahoma versus Oklahoma State and Michigan vs Ohio State. The winners of these games could very well find themselves in the college football playoff! With that being said, more upsets showed up this weekend to continue the underdog upset theme. Let’s get into the College Football Rollup Week 12 edition.
Michigan beat down Maryland like the Terps stole something from them. Michigan is setup for a potential early playoff game against Ohio State. If Michigan wins, it puts them in the driver seat to get the playoff spot, but Ohio State’s offense looks scary good right now and Ann Arbor Harbaugh does not have a good track record in games like these. Despite that, this might be Jim Harbaugh’s time. Wolverine fans hope it is.
Ohio state jumped all over top 10 ranked Michigan State by scoring on their first 7 offensive possessions. This is not the same Ohio State team that lost to Oregon earlier in the year. They exposed the Spartan’s porous passing defense and beat them by a margin you expect to see in an FBS school playing an FCS school. This should officially eliminate Mich State from any college football playoffs aspirations. As my counterpart, Joseph Jordan predicted at the beginning of the season, Stroud has continued to improve.
Oklahoma survived against Iowa State. Oklahoma has had a lot of close calls this season. But they keep winning and keep their playoff chances alive.
Oklahoma State Cowboys with the shutout victory over Texas Tech. Texas Tech played the game without their homer commentators who went in on referees during last weekend’s game against Iowa State. Texas Tech is also looking for a new coach as well.
Houston got the show on the road on Thursday night with a decisive victor over Memphis.
San Diego State got an 8-point win over UNLV on Friday.
Texas A&M beat the brakes off Prarie View 52-3.
Clemson kept their home winning streak going and corrected some things in the Atlantic Division of the ACC with their “upset” (not really) win over top 10 ranked Wake Forest. Did anyone expect a different outcome in this game? Clemson still has an outside shot of making it into the ACC championship game, but they need some help to get in.
Georgia versus Charleston Southern….need I say anything more?
Illinois got a 10 point L from the former CFB playoff hopeful Iowa.
Notre Dame blanks ACC doormat Georgia Tech 55-0. Very impressive score-line. Don’t look now but the Irish still have a shot at the playoffs. It’s not a good shot though since they don’t play in a conference championship game.
Cincinnati with another meaningless decisive defeat of an opponent. This time the victim was SMU, but it doesn’t seem to matter much to the CFP committee because of the strength of schedule.
Pittsburgh clinches the Coastal division and their spot in the ACC Championship game with a tough win over the Virginia Cavaliers.
Nebraska and Frost with another close but no cigar loss to Wisconsin.
UTSA stays undefeated and climbs into the top 15 with a 3-point squeaker over UAB.
Arkansas played Alabama tough in a shootout against Bama. Their offense showed out and pulled their own weight, but their defense just couldn’t stop Metchie and Williams who made it for tough cover corners in this SEC showdown.
The Wolfpack whooped up on Syracuse. Orange seems to be a good color for Wolf food.
BYU and Louisiana both won comfortably over Ga Southern and Liberty respectively.
Oregon goes down in an unsurprising upset to the Utah Utes but, the margin by which they lost was surprising. 31-point differential. This definitely knocked the Ducks out of CFP discussions which could end up being a benefit to the Miami Hurricanes as they look to replace their coach who they haven’t officially fired yet.
Miami wins decisively over the Virginia Tech Hokies on their senior night. The game was played in a monsoon by young quarterback Tyler Van Dimes continued to light up the stat sheet with on point passes. Canes are now bowl eligible. Virginia Tech is looking for a new coach.
Baylor doubled up Kansas State. The Bears were only slightly more talented than KSU. Though Skylar Thompson is a six-year veteran, his inconsistent play continues to plague the Wildcat offense.
Mississippi wins by 14 over Vanderbilt. How is Vanderbilt still allowed in the SEC? They should be relegated to Conference USA at this point. Lane Kiffin is being linked to two coaching openings in the state of Florida. So, the real question here for Kiffin is: to stay or not to stay?
Florida lost to Missouri and it quickly cost Dan Mullen his job. This was a surprising and quick termination that I didn’t see coming.
Herm Edwards and Arizona State are struggling. They lost by 2 touchdowns to Oregon State. Could Herm be on the hot seat?
The rest of the SEC took their customary day off by playing cupcakes that they smashed in preparation for their final SEC games next week.
