Georgia survives Georgia Tech, Syracuse upsets Miami, Clemson drops one to South Carolina, and Ohio State losing their 4th in a row to Michigan were the highlights of week 14 in college football. With conference championship weekend coming up we are mere days away from the final college football playoff committee rankings of the 2024 season.
But first, here’s the latest 18 Stripes Top 20 Poll:
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | NEXT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon | 12-0 | vs. Penn State |
| 2 | Texas (+1) | 11-1 | vs. Georgia |
| 3 | Georgia (+1) | 10-2 | vs. Texas |
| 4 | Notre Dame (+1) | 11-1 | OFF |
| 5 | Ohio State (-3) | 10-2 | OFF |
| 6 | SMU | 11-1 | vs. Clemson |
| 7 | Penn State | 11-1 | vs. Oregon |
| 8 | Tennessee (+1) | 10-2 | OFF |
| 9 | Indiana (+1) | 11-1 | OFF |
| 10 | Boise State (+1) | 11-1 | vs. UNLV |
| 11 | Arizona State (+3) | 10-2 | vs. Iowa State |
| 12 | BYU | 10-2 | OFF |
| 13 | Alabama (+2) | 9-3 | OFF |
| 14 | Ole Miss (+4) | 9-3 | OFF |
| 15 | South Carolina (+4) | 9-3 | OFF |
| 16 | Miami (-8) | 10-2 | OFF |
| 17 | Iowa State | 10-2 | vs. Arizona State |
| 18 | Clemson (-5) | 9-3 | vs. SMU |
| 19 | Colorado (NR) | 9-3 | OFF |
| 20 | UNLV | 10-2 | vs. Boise State |
OUT:
#16 Tulane
Three out of the 4 teams who lost from our rankings last week stayed in the latest 18S poll this week. However, Tulane was not so lucky after the Green Wave lost by 10 points at home to Memphis. They had already clinched a conference title game appearance anyway and will face Army this weekend despite the loss.
First round bye watch (if they win their conferences):
#1 Oregon
#2 Texas
#6 SMU
#10 Boise State
We have the same teams as last week. All 4 of these teams will go into the weekend as favorites in their respective conference championship games. The biggest question is whether the winner of Arizona State/Iowa State (16th and 18th in last week’s committee rankings) will ultimately jump conference champion Boise State (11th in last week’s committee rankings) for the final auto-bid?
National Storylines
Buffalo’s 43-7 win sealed a 0-12 season for Kent State.
Boise State finishes the regular season at 11-1 after beating Oregon State 34-18.
Ole Miss won the Egg Bowl 26-14 over Mississippi State.
Colorado’s 52-0 demolition of Oklahoma State made the Cowboys 0-9 in the Big 12 this season.
Minnesota has won The Axe following a 24-7 win at Wisconsin.
Oregon remained the lone national undefeated team with a 49-21 win over Washington.
Ryan Day is surely fired soon, right? Ohio State can’t defend home turf and loses to Michigan again 13-10.
Penn State beat Maryland easily 44-7 in Happy Valley.
Vanderbilt jumped out to an early lead but couldn’t hang on as Tennessee won 36-23 in Nashville.
Syracuse finished off an upset of Miami after a thrilling 42-38 win inside the dome formerly known as Carrier.
SMU is 8-0 in the ACC regular season following an easy 38-6 win over California.
Ten points on the 4th quarter were the difference for South Carolina who beat rival Clemson 17-14 on the road.
Alabama won the Iron Bowl 28-14 with Auburn finishing 2-6 in the SEC this year.
Arizona State’s dream season continued after blowing out Arizona 49-7 in Tempe.
The 2024 edition of Farmageddon went to Iowa State 29-21 over Kansas State.
A crazy ending saw Iowa get past Nebraska 13-10 after being shutout in the first half.
A nice finish to the season for Baylor who beat Kansas 45-17 and have won 6 straight games.
Pitt finished the regular season with 5 straight losses following a 34-23 loss at Boston College.
Brian Kelly wraps up a 8-4 season following a 37-17 win against Oklahoma.
Opponent Watch
Texas A&M (8-4): No SEC Championship Game for the Aggies after Texas beat them 17-7 in College Station.
Northern Illinois (7-5): The Huskies beat Central Michigan 24-16 which means the Irish lost to a team who finished .500 in the MAC.
Purdue (1-11): Ryan Walters has been fired as head coach after Purdue lost 66-0 at Indiana for a 0-9 Big Ten season.
Miami [OH] (8-4): Chuck Martin goes an impressive 7-1 in the MAC and will get a shot at the conference title after beating Bowling Green 28-12 this past Friday.
Louisville (8-4): Kentucky stood no chance as Louisville wins this rivalry game 41-14 in Lexington.
Stanford (3-9): For some reason, Stanford traveled to San Jose State to close out their season and then promptly lost 34-31.
Georgia Tech (7-5): The Bees are kicking themselves for blowing a late lead against Georgia and eventually losing embarrassingly in 8 overtimes to Georgia by the score of 44-42.
Navy (8-3): The Middies will face Army in a couple weeks and beat East Carolina 34-20 this past weekend.
Florida State (2-10): The Gators put the Noles out of their misery this season with a 31-11 win in Tallahassee.
Virginia (5-7): Three straight losses to close out 2024 for the Cavaliers after Virginia Tech beats them 37-17.
Army (10-1): A 4th quarter comeback saw Army get past UTSA 29-24 at Michie Stadium.
USC (6-6): I feel like Jeremiyah Love was going to run for 200 yards if he didn’t get hurt.
So I really don’t know if Day survives all this but losing to michigan may have been better for their path to a national title.
Looking at the three paths
1. Beat michigan, beat oregon, (as 1 seed), play tennessee or georgia in 1 v 8/9, then play oregon for a third time, then play texas for a title
2. Beat michigan, lose to oregon, (as 5 seed), beat byu (by your seeding but what if it’s bama or ole miss), beat boise state, play oregon for third time, play texas
3. Lose to michigan, end up as 6 seed, play smu or indiana, or asu, then play 3 seed, then play texas then play oregon or someone else for a title
As an aside, if penn state loses tomorrow, will they drop behind ohio state. ohio state would be 10-2 with 2 top 5 wins and a win at penn state, penn state would be 11-2 with, um, well a win over illinois and 2 quality losses!!!! (although i’m sure they’ll somehow keep them at 5 so as to not punish them for losing a conference title game)
Oh St loses to MI and gets a backdoor into the CFP. MI gets to be some entertainment leading up to the CFP. However it is Day’s job we are discussing with a 10-2 record in the regular season and not Moore’s at 7-5. College football, there isn’t anything like it.
Mandel had Penn State losing the B1G Champ game and still being ahead of ND, which would drive me absolutely insane.
At this point, does it seem possible that there is any scenario in which ND doesn’t host? The worst scenario I can come up with is:
#1 (bye) PSU (beats Oregon)
#2 (hosts) Oregon (loses to PSU)
#3 (bye) Georgia (beats Texas close)
#4 (hosts) Texas (loses to Georgia close)
#5 (bye) SMU (crushes Clemson)
#6 (bye) Boise State (crushes UNLV)
#7 (hosts) ASU (crushes Iowa State)
#8 (hosts) ND (off)
I guess there’s a world in which OSU doesn’t drop below us? But it also seems unlikely Boise State and ASU would both end up ranked above us. I suppose if A&M drops out of the rankings and Army gets smoked at home in their Conference Championship, maybe the committee drops us behind those 3 teams for our lack of quality wins?
I think at worst ND is the 7 seed. That is with your upsets of PSU over Oregon and Georgia over Texas. I don’t see the Big 12 champ jumping us with the way their conference has gone this year. I can’t imagine they would rank the Group of 5 champ over us either.
Oregon St and Wash St both lost to a Mtn West team this past weekend. One of which was invited to join the ‘new’ PAC-12 and one which wasn’t. Very clear that the PAC-12 is about money and not competition. I don’t believe they will make it into the ranks of the Power 4/5 again unless they win several NC in football over the next 10 years.
Actual lol