NFL
By: Brock Vierra
This week of college football wrote another wild chapter on what has been a season of storylines and debate as we storm towards the college football playoffs. Several teams punched their ticket towards the postseason with Texas State, Rutgers, Arkansas State, Buffalo, Bowling Green, Miami (Ohio), Northern Illinois, and East Carolina all reaching bowl eligibility with a win this week.
Baylor also became bowl-eligible with a 49-35 win over West Virginia. Baylor HC Dave Aranda secures another season with the Bears as announced by the school as West Virginia HC Neal Brown’s time in Morgantown looks to be running out of time.
#13 Boise State is into the college football playoff if they win out as a strong second-half performance lifted them over San Jose State. Ashton Jeanty added to his Heisman campaign with 32 carries for 159 yards and three touchdowns. As Louisiana Lafayette picked up their second loss of the season with a home loss to South Alabama. Boise State isn’t the only team to have a clear path to the playoffs as a variety of upsets have set the table for a wild two weeks of college football.
Let’s recap this week in college football
#1 Oregon took a trip up to Camp Randall that got dangerous quickly. The Ducks looked terrible on offense as Dillon Gabriel’s Heisman campaign seems to have come to a stop. However, the Ducks erased a 13-6 deficient entering the fourth quarter by scoring ten unanswered to escape with the win. It seems the travel of the Big 10 has caught up with the team from Eugene.
#2 Ohio State took a trip to Wrigley Field as they easily dispatched the Northwestern Wildcats, #3 Texas escaped rival Arkansas 20-10 in a classic Southwestern Conference matchup, #4 Penn State blew out Purdue in West Lafayette, #8 Notre Dame takes care of business against Virginia as #10 Alabama wins a layup against FCS Mercer.
#6 BYU loses their first game of the season against a resurging Kansas 17-13 opening up the Big 12 to a variety of teams while #12 Georgia hands #7 Tennessee their third loss of the season. Tennessee is on the verge of playoff elimination, getting shutout in the second half as the Bulldogs’ 14 second-half points were more than enough to get them back into the SEC race. Georgia QB Carson Beck, a victim of public scrutiny in recent weeks, responded with 25/40 passing for 347 yards and two touchdowns.
#5 Indiana and #9 Miami were on the BYE but the big news out of Bloomington as Indiana HC Curt Cignetti signed an eight-year extension after taking the Hoosiers to one of their best seasons in school history. Wrapping up the top 10, let’s jump to the Big 12.
As a result of BYU’s loss, Colorado and Arizona State put themselves in prime position to make the playoff. Travis Hunter’s big day lifts Colorado over Utah, their first win over the Utes in eight years. Arizona State upset #16 Kansas State on the road to improve to 8-2 on the season. As a result, both teams are win and in for the playoffs. In terms of the conference title hunt, Iowa State’s win over Cincinnati sets up a four way race for the title.
In the ACC, #19 Louisville hands victory to Stanford via a wild sequence of events including a turnover on downs, an unsportsmanlike penalty followed by an offsides call against Louisville and a 52 yard field goal by Stanford kicker Emmet Kenney giving the Cardinal their first ever ACC home win. All of that happened with ten seconds remaining in the game.
#20 Clemson escaped a tough battle at Pitt to keep pace in the ACC and North Carolina became bowl eligible as Omarion Hampton had 35 carries for 244 yards and a touchdown in a win over Wake Forrest. The win gives Mack Brown his twelfth season of bowl eligibility at Chapel Hill. In fact, Mack has been bowl eligible 28 times in his career.
In the Big 10, Jedd Fisch gets Washington bowl eligible with a win over UCLA. Desmond Williams Jr, the expected QB1 for the future is a man to watch. Coming into a tight game, his 7/8 passing for 67 yards and one touchdown lifted the Huskies over the Bruins. Williams Jr is a duel threat, running for 31 yards.
USC gets a big win over Nebraska. Jayden Maiava was given the start over Miller Moss as the duel threat QB opened up USC’s offense with 25/35 passing for 259 yards and three touchdowns. Woody Marks had 19 carries for a career high 146 yards but it was the refs that were the difference as a blatant DPI in the endzone against USC was not called late in the game, leading to the victory over the Huskers. The Huskers started the season 5-1 but have lost four straight. They need one more win for bowl eligibility but play Wisconsin and Iowa to end the season. Nebraska hasn’t been to a bowl game since 2016.
Rutgers is also bowl eligible with a win over Maryland, his eight bowl eligible season for the Scarlett Knights.
In the SEC, #21 South Carolina continues to push toward the CFP with a wild win against #23 Missouri. 31 combined fourth points including a touchdown by each team within the last 70 second of the game created a classic but the Gamecocks have set themselves up for a win and in scenario against in-state rival Clemson for their season finale.
Florida finds themselves a win away from a bowl game with a massive upset of #22 LSU in the swamp. People are calling for Brian Kelly’s head as Billy Napier appears to have done the impossible and looks to keep his job for one more season. Florida’s DJ Lagway looks like he could be the Gators’ best QB since Tim Tebow as considering they end their season against FSU, the Gators look to be on the rise.
Across the rest of college football, Tulane blanks Navy 35-0 to make the AAC conference championship game as they’re set to play undefeated Army. Colorado State and UNLV pick up wins as they battle to see who will play Boise State in the Mountain West title game and Bronco Mendenhall continues to write one of the best stories in college football as his New Mexico Lobos upset #18 Washington State in Albuquerque. A big day for the Lobos, the students rushed the field as New Mexico ends Washington State’s hopes to make the playoff.
The win sets New Mexico up for a win and in scenario at struggling Hawaii in terms of bowl eligibility. New Mexico hasn’t gone bowling since 2016.
That wraps up this recap, watch the Team NBS Media recap show The Last Word. New episodes every Sunday night.
