Freshman 15 College Football: Championship Week

Week 14 served as one last chance for teams to make their bid for the College Football Playoff. Meanwhile, others hoped to put on a show to improve their seeding. This led to a wild week of late finishes, convincing wins, and a surprise entry into a conference championship.

In an unlikely turn of events, Duke will compete in the ACC championship following their win over Wake Forest. Meanwhile, Oklahoma also escaped against LSU, and “The Game” was over in Ann Arbor midway through the third quarter. Before we examine an exciting slate on championship weekend, here’s one final look at last week.

College Football Week 14 Recap

Saturday Spotlight: Miami vs. Pitt

The Miami Hurricanes made a strong final impression on the College Football Playoff Committee, thoroughly crushing the Pitt Panthers on the road. Miami ran the ball well in the first half and begin to impose itself on a Pitt defensive front that prides itself in its physicality. The x-factor for Miami was Malachi Toney, who was Mr. Do-Everything. He threw for a touchdown pass and caught 13 passes for 126 yards and another score.

Carson Beck continued his red-hot ways. Beck completed 23-of-29 for 267 yards and three touchdowns versus the Panthers. In Miami’s four-game win streak to end the season, Beck has thrown for 1125 yards with 10 touchdowns, and has limited turnovers. As for Pitt, they hurt themselves with mistakes and poor discipline.

First, the Panthers missed a makable 43-yard field goal. They also committed multiple penalties that extended drives for Miami after they were already down in the game. They lost their composure, and lost the game in the process. By the most unlikely outcomes, Miami will not play in the ACC title game, and Duke and Virginia will decide the conference champion.

Upset Special: Texas over Texas A&M

The biggest question was how Marcel Reed would handle a defense that could limit him to playing from the pocket and keeping him contained. Once he got hurt with a foot injury, Texas A&M became more conservative with designed quarterback runs. Instead, they tried to spread the Texas defense out and hit quick crossing patterns. For a time, it worked, as the Aggies took a lead into halftime, and Texas looked lost offensively.

However, after the break, everything flipped. Suddenly, Texas found a running game behind Quintrevion Wisner. He broke out for 155 yards rushing, the first 100-yard rusher of the season for the Longhorns. It took him a while, but once Arch Manning got settled in, you saw the flashes of what everyone has been talking about for years.

How he navigated the pocket on one throw under pressure to Jack Endries was terrific. He slid laterally, stepped up, and delivered a dart to get Texas past midfield, holding on to a three-score lead. The dagger might have been his 29-yard run to give Texas a two-score lead once again.

From there, Texas’ defense made Reed win from the pocket. Their secondary ended any comeback chance with back-to-back interceptions from Michael Taaffe and Kobe Black. Following the game, Steve Sarkisian pulled no punches in how bullish he was that his team belonged in College Football Playoff, having beaten three top-10 teams this season.

Coach has a point.

Who Helped Themselves the Most in Week 14?

Although they currently aren’t in the College Football Playoff by the latest rankings, Texas helped themselves tremendously with their win over Texas A&M. As stated, that’s their third win over a top-10 team this season; and, albeit a loss, played a very close matchup against the best team in the country on the road at Ohio State. Sure, it would have benefitted them to play in a conference championship this week, but they made a convincing statement against the Aggies that will stick in the minds of the committee members.

BYU and Virginia will play in their conference title games this week. It’s very plausible that one or both slip up against their respective opponents (Texas Tech and Duke). One could also lump Alabama in there as well against Georgia this weekend. From there, you have to factor in whether Texas has a better case for the CFP than Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, a potential two-loss BYU, Virginia, and a potential three-loss Alabama team. You can make a strong argument that they have a better resume.

What Texas showed is that they have a great defense that isn’t yet at full strength, a burgeoning running game, and Arch Manning ascending right before the playoffs. The Longhorns did themselves a huge favor last week.

College Football: Week 14 Spotlight and Upset Special

Saturday Spotlight: Ohio State vs. Indiana

This week features a matchup of the two best teams in the country. Ohio State has dominated its opponents all season and has a premier defense led by Matt Patricia. Quarterback Julian Sayin is firmly in the Heisman conversation and has some of the best receiving weapons anyone could ask for. For Indiana, Curt Cignetti gets to prove how his team stacks up against Ohio State after they were thoroughly beaten by them in Bloomington last year.

Fernando Mendoza has powered the Hoosiers’ offense alongside Elijah Sarratt, with the former also garnering recognition as a Heisman hopeful. It’s going to be a matter of strength versus strength. Roman Hemby is a physical, downhill runner who will be tasked with running into the teeth of a fearsome front seven for the Buckeyes.

For fans, and for the programs, it’s a win-win situation. Assuming the game is narrowly decided, both teams will come out unscathed regardless of the outcome. Get your popcorn and get ready to watch the up-and-coming Hoosiers versus the Ohio State powerhouse in the Saturday Spotlight for the Big Ten championship.

Upset Special: Duke Over Virginia

The ACC has been such an unpredictable conference this season that it’s only fitting that a 7-5 Duke team could win the conference title. Duke had played Virginia earlier this season. They lost pretty convincingly, largely because the Blue Devils’ offense never got on track. That was uncharacteristic, since Duke is one of the more productive passing games in the country, ranked 16th overall. Also, Darian Mensah has been much better since their loss against the Cavaliers.

Over the last two weeks, in wins over North Carolina and Wake Forest, he has completed 68-percent of his passes for 443 yards. He also has a QBR of 83 or better in both contests. This is the week that Duke’s leading receiver Cooper Barkate gets back on track and paces the offense in targets. Expect the Blue Devils to force Chandler Morris to have to pass the ball much more than he had to in the first meeting and minimize the Virginia running game. Defensively, Vincent Anthony Jr. has had a cold spell over the last few weeks, but this is where he breaks out of it and gets multiple sacks this game. The ACC does another weird twist, and the Blue Devils upset the Cavaliers in the ACC title game.