(Yes I considered all of those teams)

Week 14 Recap

As mentioned above, the game of the weekend took place in Conway, SC changed on the fly over the course of 48 hours. College Gameday made the trip, despite the game being on ESPNU when the game was originally Coastal vs Liberty. The game itself was intense, as noted at the halftime scuffle after BYU Zach Wilson was roughed up by two Coastal defenders as Wilson’s Hail Mary attempt was intercepted by the Chanticleers. Wilson had a pedestrian day by his standards, as he finished with 240 yards and a sole TD, and the aforementioned INT at the end of the first half. The Coastal D-Line came to play and made things uncomfortable with five hurries and a sack on Wilson. Coastal Carolina came out with a gameplan to control the clock. Their two first down touchdown drives almost spanned 15 total minutes. A big part of that control was the rushing attack shared by RBs CJ Marable (132 Yds 2 TDs) and Reese White (53 yards 1 TD) and QB Grayson McCall (68 Yds). Despite this potent rushing attack, Coastal declined to go for it on 4^th and 1 to put the game away. Instead, we got a one minute drill for Wilson and the Cougars that finished with an ending reminiscent of Super Bowl XXXIV, and put Coastal to 10-0 and striking down the brief hopes for BYU’s CFP and NY6 bowl hopes.

In the other major matchup of the weekend, App State and Louisiana had one of the weirdest couple of hours to behold. Louisiana trailed at halftime 10-9, after both teams combined for two turnovers, two drives ending in downs (due to high snaps on punts but we’ll get back to that), a missed FG, and a missed extra point. The third quarter belonged to the Raging Cajuns, as they turned an opening drive interception into a TD and 2 point conversion, and then forced a quick three and out before marching down the field for another score to go up 24-10. The Mountaineers then responded, as the rain started to pour in Boone, making it 24-17. This is where things go a little sideways. UL goes three and out, and the long snapper, having already shown his struggles snapping, put the snap over the punter’s head which led to a safety. App State got the ball back now with a chance to go ahead and got stonewalled once they got relatively deep into Ragin Cajun territory. UL responds to this drive by trying to force App State to use its timeouts, which they do. On 4^th down Billy Napier decides that instead of having his punting team potentially give up a safety or TD he sends his offense out to run backwards 35 yards to take the safety themselves to make it a 3 point lead for the away team. App State returns that favor by driving down the field with a chance to tie, that they go and shank to give UL a weird Friday night result.

App State and BYU were only two of five that were in last week’s Top 15 (Top 10+Others Considered). Plus if you take out the six teams that were on bye or had their games cancelled that percentage goes way up and put this list in flux, as I mentioned Saturday night. The first upset is the one that is most shocking. Marshall got shut out for the first time since 2000 in a home defeat to Rice. Rice was playing in just their fourth game of the season after starting late. Grant Wells struggled for Marshall, throwing a career high 5 interceptions, the final one being taken back for a TD to put the game out of reach for the Herd. Marshall still sits in the driver seat for C-USA, but time will tell if they maintain that grip. Memphis, who had seemingly turned a corner after their defeat to Cincinnati, was throttled by Tulane, led by their QB Michael Pratt, who threw 2 TDs and added two more on the ground. Memphis fell behind early in the second half after turning the ball over on downs and allowing the Wave to go up two scores on the ensuing drive. The Tigers defense struggled mightily getting off the field, allowing Tulane to go 3-3 on fourth downs. In the MAC, Western Michigan got punched in the mouth by Eastern Michigan, who clearly recovered from their near win from a week prior. Two fumbles in the third quarter turned a two point game into a fifteen point game and Western could not recover and get their first loss of the short season.

Waiting for the Broncos next week will be the blazing Ball State Cardinals. The boys from Muncie (shout out Garry Gergich and his timeshare) took care of business against Central Michigan 45-20. The Cardinals were led by their Senior QB Drew Plitt who accounts for five TDs on the day (four through the air and one on the ground). The Cardinals now control their own destiny in the MAC after falling in their first game to Miami (OH). The reason they do hold their fate in their hands is because Miami (OH) was one of two key cancellations this week as their game against Kent State was cancelled due to an outbreak. Also notable, Buffalo’s contest with Ohio and due to their historic win a week ago against Kent State, essentially clinches the MAC East with their game against Akron still to go.

The Mountain West finally got the clarity I had been looking for the past couple of weeks. First, on the island (due to Santa Clara County’s restrictions) San Jose State continued their unbeaten start by using a hot start vs Hawaii and hold on 35-24, putting themselves in the driver’s seat for a Mountain West Championship Game appearance. The teams standing in their way are Boise State, who had yet another game canceled this week, and Nevada. The Wolfpack bounced back from their poor trip to Hawaii by taking on Fresno State late Saturday night, winning 37-26. Nevada overcame some miscues on the offensive side of the ball to keep Fresno State at bay. An 85 yard TD pitch and catch to Tory Horton (one of his three TD grabs on the night) put the Bulldogs away for good.

In wrap-around to finish up the week, Tulsa used their defense to keep Navy’s triple option at bay winning 16-6, heading into their double header with Cincinnati. On Thursday night, Louisiana Tech kept their slim C-USA Title hopes alive with a win over North Texas 42-31, their first game since Halloween. Georgia Southern smothered Florida Atlantic (who is still alive in the C-USA Championship themselves), winning 20-3.

Week 15 Games to Watch

(Opening Lines Used Below)

Cincinnati (-14) at Tulsa

The first of two guaranteed matchups, the pressure appears to be entirely on Cincinnati, and their faint CFP hopes. (Reminder I write these before the CFP Rankings come out). I imagine Tulsa will want to win since it’s in their own building and can guarantee another game in their building with a win, but I can’t imagine them emptying the playbook in this game knowing that no matter what they will see Cincinnati next weekend.