Rivalry week in the NCAA shook up the college football landscape. A few teams made a last surge at the College Football Playoff. Meanwhile, others learned their efforts were all for naught.
Despite a dominating 52-0 win over Oklahoma State, Colorado missed out on the Big 12 championship, and it would appear that playoff hopes are effectively over. On Tuesday, the committee released its latest rankings, and there’s some surprise.
Let’s recap last week’s games before looming ahead to this week’s conference title games.
College Football Week 14 Saturday Spotlight: Texas at Texas A&M
Thanks to terrific efforts by both defenses, this was a low-scoring affair. Texas A&M sorely missed having Le’Veon Moss, which took much of their offense’s effectiveness. For Texas, you have to commend the toughness of Quinn Ewers playing through an ankle injury and still being willing to scramble outside the pocket when his team needed it, such as his long run, clearly hobbled, to pick up the first down for Texas that flipped the field.
What was foreshadowing and an ominous sign for the Aggies was getting stopped on 4th and 1 from deep inside Texas territory in the first quarter. That stop set the tone for the Texas front; more was in store from the Longhorns. It was a bold call by Elko, tipping his hand for how he would play down the stretch.
On the other hand, I give a lot of credit to Steve Sarkisian for using both quarterbacks in timely spots. Of all things, Arch Manning was used on 4th and 2 to go for it, and he got the score on the touchdown run.
Aside from that, it came down to some great throws from Ewers. He dropped a dime to Matthew Golden to set up a scoring drive, capped off by an equally impressive touchdown pass to Jaydon Blue to take a commanding 14-0 lead. Also, Quintrevin Wisener had a great day running the football, with over 100 yards rushing. Not sure why Coach Elko elected to go for it on down late in the fourth quarter, trailing by two scores and with all of his timeouts, but it was the exclamation point on a great defensive night for Texas who moves to play against Georgia in the SEC conference title game.
Recap of the Upset Special Tennessee at Vanderbilt
When Vanderbilt’s Junior Sherrill returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, and Dylan Sampson fumbled on the ensuing drive to give them a 14-0 lead, you started to wonder if Vanderbilt had another SEC upset in them.
Luckily, Tennessee responded quickly with a touchdown drive. They were staggered but not down. Once Tennessee stopped Vanderbilt on 4th down near midfield, it gave them a jolt and got them back in the game. Dont’e Thornton’s big catch and run for 87 yards and a score knotted the game up, and from there, Tennessee took over.
Iamaleava executed a 2-minute drive to perfection to give Tennessee the lead at the half, but they never looked back. Offensively, everything clicked for Tennessee once their playmakers settled in. Sampson eclipsed 100 yards for the 10th time this season, and Iamaleava was efficient in both the running and passing game.
Although they won’t play in the SEC title game, Tennessee is in the CFP presently. It was an excellent win for the Volunteers when they needed it most.
Why Ryan Day Hurt himself the most
With Saturday’s loss to Michigan, Ryan Day now falls to a 1-4 record against the Wolverines. He never beat Jim Harbaugh, which draws Ohio State fans’ ire.
A few weeks ago, it was asked if Penn State’s James Franklin can’t beat Ohio State when they are struggling, when he is ever going to beat them? Now, we can ask Ryan Day something similar.
If Michigan has no quarterback and no Jim Harbaugh, and you still can’t beat them, then when will you?
Day looks aloof after the loss, which resulted in a scuffle at midfield that was a commendable show of pride by the Ohio State players. He looks unsure of what is happening during and after the game. Things like that stand out to players.
Factoring everything, Day is treading the line of losing faith from his players and at this point in the year, it comes at the worst possible time. To make matters worse, Ohio State lost the right to compete for the Big 10 championship, losing their spot to Penn State, who they beat earlier this season.
Ohio State is still in the CFP, but they’ll have a lower seed than they would have wanted and likely won’t have a bye in the first round of the playoff.
The calls for his job are starting back up, and rumors are swirling that Urban Meyer may be interested in returning to Columbus. Day lost to a hated rival that was reeling, which didn’t bode well, and he easily hurt himself the most last week.
College Football Saturday Spotlight: UNLV at Boise State
A rematch of their earlier game this year that went down to the wire, which included Boise State running the clock out on an incredible 8-minute drive to earn the 29-24 victory. It’s an incredible story for UNLV to remain where they are in the title game after the fiasco with Matthew Sluka leaving the program after a 3-0 start because of a dispute over unpaid NIL funds.
Since then, Hajj-Malik Williams has lifted the Rebels offense to new heights. He and Jai’Den Thomas have provided a versatile rushing duo for UNLV that will tested in the trenches by Boise State.
Although Ashton Jeanty gets a majority of the headlines, his defense, especially the front four, is outstanding, and they can stop the run. Also, Ahmed Hassanein and Jayden Virgin-Morgan have combined for 17.5 sacks this season. Still, Jeanty is sensational and must-see TV. Conversely, UNLV is a top-ten rushing defense in the nation in terms of the fewest yards allowed per carry. The Heisman hopeful can carry his team with another dazzling performance. He has run for 2288 yards and 28 touchdowns. If Jeanty erupts against an elite unit in UNLV and Boise State wins, it would be hard not to solidify their case into the CFP and Jeanty’s bid for the most prestigious award in college football.
Upset Special Army over Tulane
It’s reasonable to expect that the wind has been taken out of Tulane’s sails after their loss to Memphis. Tulane was always considered a dark horse to crash the CFP and would have been an unconventional choice to make it. Now, other unexpected teams with stronger resumes will occupy their spot. That is if they are upset by Army this weekend.
The Black Knights, like Navy, who they’ll play next week, has a very similar offense. They will run the triple-option offense to confuse Tulane and keep them off balance.
The key for Army is time of possession and capitalizing with touchdowns once they get in the red zone to shorten the game on Tulane. Quarterback Bryson Daily won’t throw much, but he is effective when he does. Their Armed Forces counterpart, Navy, didn’t fare so well against Tulane but Army is better and much more disciplined to make the big mistake.
Look for the Louisiana native Connor Finucane to open big holes for Daily and running back Kanye Udoh. With two more wins, Army would be 12-1 and champion of the AAC. You can argue that the Black Knights should make the CFP with that resume. There’s a lot of riding on this week’s upset special.
