These are the type of weekends that are really difficult to shake off, forget, and let go. It featured LSU flopping in College Station and that felt like a briefly funny but ultimately pointless loss for Brian Kelly. What can we say? Good things happening to Michigan are among the worst things to happen to human life on earth.
Yet, we have to soldier on and hope for better days. Here’s the last 18 Stripes poll of the regular season.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | 12-0 | 37-14 W vs. Georgia Tech |
| 2 | Michigan (+2) | 12-0 | 45-23 W at Ohio State |
| 3 | TCU | 12-0 | 62-14 W vs. Iowa State |
| 4 | USC (+1) | 11-1 | 38-27 W vs. Notre Dame |
| 5 | Ohio State (-3) | 11-1 | 45-23 L vs. Michigan |
| 6 | Alabama (+2) | 9-2 | 49-27 W vs. Auburn |
| 7 | Tennessee (+3) | 9-2 | 56-0 W vs. Vanderbilt |
| 8 | LSU (-2) | 9-3 | 38-23 L at Texas A&M |
| 9 | Clemson (-2) | 10-2 | 31-30 L vs. South Carolina |
| 10 | Penn State (+1) | 10-2 | 35-16 W vs. Michigan State |
| 11 | Washington (+1) | 10-2 | 51-33 W at Washington State |
| 12 | Kansas State (+2) | 9-3 | 47-27 W vs. Kansas |
| 13 | UCLA (+2) | 9-3 | 35-28 W at California |
| 14 | Utah (+2) | 9-3 | 63-21 W at Colorado |
| 15 | Oregon (-6) | 9-3 | 38-34 L at Oregon State |
| 16 | Florida State (+3) | 9-3 | 45-38 W vs. Florida |
| 17 | Oregon State (NR) | 9-3 | 38-34 W vs. Oregon |
| 18 | South Carolina (NR) | 9-3 | 31-30 W at Clemson |
| 19 | Notre Dame (-6) | 8-4 | 38-27 L at USC |
| 20 | Tulane (NR) | 10-2 | 27-24 W at Cincinnati |
National Storylines
Texas was -3 in turnovers but had a big game from running back Bijan Robinson to beat Baylor 38-27 and finish 8-4 in year 2 of Steve Sarkisian. Progress?
In a wild one, Florida State held off Florida 45-38 in Tallahassee for their best regular season in 6 years.
Georgia has completed back-to-back undefeated regular seasons. The Dawgs started slowly with a 3-point halftime lead then pulled away from in-state Georgia Tech to win 37-14.
Kentucky stopped their 2-game skid and beat Louisville 26-13.
Nick Saban won his 11th (and 3rd straight) Iron Bowl beating Auburn 49-27 at home. Interestingly, the Tigers ran for 318 yards and 7.4 per rush, their best rushing output against the Tide in nearly 40 years.
Oregon State threw for just 60 yards with no touchdowns and 2 interceptions. They trailed 31-10 in the Civil War and came back to win 38-34 on the strength of 5 rushing touchdowns. The Ducks were +3 in turnovers and out-gained the Beavers by 142 yards in the loss. Ouch.
The Paul Bunyan Axe is staying with Minnesota for the 2nd straight year (first time that’s happened since 1994) as the Golden Gophers beat Wisconsin 23-16 in Madison.
The undefeated regular season is complete for TCU in the first year of head coach Sonny Dykes as they blast Iowa State by 48 points. Once again, what was Matt Campbell doing staying with the Cyclones?
UCF needed a late touchdown to beat USF 46-39 and punch their ticket to the AAC title game.
We probably should’ve had a LSU let down on our games to watch last week. Alas, Brian Kelly drops his 3rd game of the year in a 38-23 loss in College Station.
Brent Venables did not have a good time in his debut head coaching season. The Sooners led 17-0 and then 24-6 before losing in overtime to Texas Tech, 51-48. That drops Oklahoma down to 6-6 on the season.
OUT:
No. 17 North Carolina
Things were going just a little too well for this North Carolina team, weren’t they? Following their second straight loss they have come back down to earth a bit and finish the season 9-3 with the ACC title game on deck.
No. 18 Ole Miss
The Rebels lost a weird Egg Bowl again. At least Lane Kiffin got a contract extension out of it.
No. 20 CincinnatiÂ
It may be an end of an era for Cincinnati. Playing without their starting quarterback they lost at home to Tulane and miss out on the AAC Championship Game. Now, Luke Fickell has bolted for the Wisconsin job.
Opponent Watch
Ohio State (11-1): The reports of Ohio State’s demise may be exaggerated but what an embarrassing performance and terrible end to their season in allowing Michigan to beat them like they did.
Marshall (8-4): The Herd finished the season with 4 straight wins after beating Georgia State 28-23.
California (4-8): The Bears led 21-10 at one point but couldn’t hold off UCLA to fall to 2-7 in Pac-12 play in 2022.
North Carolina (9-3): The Heels will still be in the ACC Championship but lost their last 2 games, including a 30-27 loss at home to NC State this past weekend.
BYU (7-5): The final game of the David Shaw era saw BYU invade Palo Alto and win easily 35-26.
Stanford (3-9): It was all just too much for David Shaw, he ends his Stanford career losing 16 out of his final 19 games at Stanford. Oh, for that to be 17 out of 19 games.
UNLV (5-7): The Rebels take the battle of the cannon defeating Nevada 27-22. But fired their coach anyway.
Syracuse (6-6): Syracuse scored 26 straight points in a 32-23 win over Boston College to snap their losing skid and finish 3rd in the ACC Atlantic division.
Clemson (10-2): Quarterback play let the Tigers down as they fall 31-30 to in-state rival South Carolina.
Navy (4-7): The Army-Navy game is coming up soon.
Boston College (3-9): For the first time since 2015, BC ends up with 9 losses.
USC (11-1): The Trojans get to avenge their only loss of the season when they face Utah in the Pac-12 Championship.
Week 14 Games to Watch
Now featuring dates, channels, and times eastern!
Conference USA Championship
North Texas (+8.5) vs. UTSA
Alamodome [San Antonio]
Friday, CBS Sports Network, 7:30 PM
Meep, meep! Jeff Traylor and UTSA are looking for back-to-back Conference USA titles this weekend. That would be 30 wins since 2020 for Traylor, pretty good! North Texas are playing in their second C-USA title game and looking for their first conference championship since winning the Sun Belt back in 2004.
Pac-12 Championship
Utah (+3) vs. USC
Allegiant Stadium [Las Vegas]
Friday, Fox, 8:00 PM
This is Utah’s 4th appearance in the Pac-12 Championship in the last 5 years, quite the run for Kyle Whittingham. In contrast, this will be USC’s 4th appearance since the league title game was introduced in 2011. This is definitely a tricky situation for USC who are riding high with a playoff appearance and Heisman for Caleb Williams in their sights. Gee, I hope they don’t lose.
Big 12 Championship
Kansas State (+2.5) vs. TCU
AT&T Stadium [Dallas]
Saturday, ABC, Noon
TCU won this regular season matchup by 10 points at home in late October. This is the Horned Frogs 2nd appearance in the Big 12 Championship and their first since 2017. They’ve never won the conference outright but were co-champions in 2014 when there was that window for a few years without a championship game. Kansas State is looking for their 3rd Big 12 title. Head coach Chris Klieman has been doing a good job and is 17-8 since 2021.
MAC Championship
Toledo (-2.5) vs. Ohio
Ford Field [Detroit]
Saturday, ESPN, Noon
Quarterback Kurtis Rourke (who made our grad transfer article a while back) tore his ACL in Ohio’s penultimate regular season game. I’m a little surprised this line isn’t favoring Toledo more heavily but their quarterback Dequan Finn (also made our list) has been banged up and playing pretty poorly late in the season as the Rockets have been turning to freshman Tucker Gleason more often.
Sun Belt Championship
Coastal Carolina (+8.5) at Troy
Saturday, ESPN, 3:30 PM
Yet another league title game with a starting quarterback missing as Coastal’s Grayson McCall has been out since early November with a foot injury. Troy lost their head coach last year and went 10-2 in Jon Sumrall’s first season. That’s despite averaging only 24.6 points per game! The Trojans do come in on a 9-game winning streak and play tough as the 8th best scoring defense in the country. If they win, it’ll be their 7th Sun Belt title, the most in conference history.
SEC Championship
LSU (+17.5) vs. Georgia
Mercedes-Benz Stadium [Atlanta]
Saturday, CBS, 4:00 PM
This is a very weird situation for the SEC. Presumably, Georgia is in the playoffs no matter what, so the experts are saying. LSU is coming off an embarrassing loss that didn’t really affect their season too much nor drop them out of winning the SEC West. Does anyone care who wins this game?? I’d take LSU and the points then.
American Athletic Championship
UCF (+3.5) at Tulane
Saturday, ABC, 4:00 PM
After looking like he was the front runner to take the Georgia Tech job, Willie Fritz is staying at Tulane and has the chance to win the school’s first conference title since 1998. A reminder, Tulane was 2-10 last year! With losses to East Carolina and Navy this doesn’t feel like your typical powerful AAC UCF team. However, they did beat Tulane by a touchdown just a few weeks ago.
Mountain West Championship
Fresno State (+3) at Boise State
Saturday, Fox, 4:00 PM
Boise State feels completely off the radar these days and yet they have the chance to win their 10th game of the season on Saturday. I don’t think that speaks too well of the Mountain West these days. Jeff Tedford is back at Fresno for his 2nd stint and has the Bulldogs riding a 7-game win streak following a pretty tough early-season schedule.
ACC ChampionshipÂ
Clemson (-7.5) vs. North Carolina
Bank of America Stadium [Charlotte]
Saturday, ABC, 8:00 PM
With Clemson coming in with losses in 2 out of their last 4 and UNC having lost 2 straight this isn’t a very hyped matchup anymore, if it ever was viewed as such. This kind of feels like a down year for Clemson and yet a win would be their first 11-win season since 2019. A reminder that Clemson hasn’t won fewer than 10 games since 2010.
Big Ten Championship
Purdue (+16.5) vs. Michigan
Lucas Oil Stadium [Indianapolis]
Saturday, Fox, 8:00 PM
So, Michigan is in the playoffs no matter what? Well, that’s nice. After playing one of their weakest schedules in school history they get this benefit due to the wins over Ohio State and Penn State, the latter who really hasn’t been challenged nationally at all. I hope and pray there’s a way the Buckeyes sneak into the playoffs and beat Michigan.
Weird CFB season. I assume Bama isn’t going to jump tOSU after they’ve been set in that order now, but some chicanery in Big12 or PAC12 championships have to be very unwanted this year. Luckily those conferences never have problems getting their best team through without troubles…….
Also, if you’re Georgia, you really don’t want to see a scenario where USC loses (again) to Utah and tOSU bumps into the 4-hole, right? Or something really wacky where a couple teams lose this weekend and even somehow Bama rises back in the mix? That would be a tough change, looks like a cakewalk for UGA with how the top-4 is set right now, compared to the typical picture.
It seems like the only team that is for sure out if they lose is USC.
If TCU loses then it seems 60/40 they’d stay in over 1 loss non-conference champ OSU but I haven’t really looked at resumes. And if they are the 2nd loss (with USC being a loss) it seems they stay in over Alabama.
There’s no way Michigan or Georgia are out if they lose regular games.
So I think Bama doesn’t really have a way to get back to the playoffs at #6.
So you think if Michigan lost to 8-4 unranked Purdue it wouldn’t cost them a spot in the CFP? I could see that dropping them to #6 pretty easily.
No I don’t think so. I don’t see them dropping behind the team they just beat in a big way.
And if OSU is already determined to be #5, then I don’t think Bama (esp. with 2 losses) will leap Michigan either. So if the other 3 won and Michigan lost, I think they would be #4.
I agree with most of your line of thinking as far as Michigan almost certainly being safe…I believe a 12-1 TCU team might be more than 60/40 to slip out of the top 4 for an 11-1 tOSU. Certainly debatable and probably depends if they lose by 3 on a last second FG or if they lose by two scores, so we’ll see.
On resume, TCU’s best win would be current #10 KState (who they’d also have lost to in this scenario) and only one other top-25 win, #20 Texas. tOSU has beaten #8 PSU and #21 Notre Dame, they have better quality wins either way.
On human factor, is the committee going to say “yeah, let’s still give non-conference champ TCU a shot at Georgia?” Find that hard to believe, since they favor the name brands for perceived “strength”.
No, because the tiebreaker in rankings is tv marketability. The committee is a transparently awful ESPN arm determined to bullshit their way into whatever would have the best ratings. They’d trip over themselves to put Bama, LSU, or Ohio State in over TCU if they could find a fig leaf to justify it.
They already did it once, though to be fair it worked out pretty okay with an OSU win over Bama and TCU stomping Ole Miss into nothing
Poor Vandy. I was hoping they could stretch their SEC win streak to 3 games. So close.
*Whispers* Ohio State is actually more hateable than Michigan, particularly the fanbase. I despise Michigan, but I root for them one day a year.
Ok gotta go goodbye!
for whatever reason, the OSU grads in Chicago are fine though not that numerous while Michigan fans are legion and terrible
I’ve said this before, but my sense when I was on campus is the midwestern students hated Michigan and everyone else thought USC was the main rival and enemy and was a little confused by the Michigan antipathy given that we don’t play them every year.
Yeah USC is the true rival but I’ve, as far as I know, never met an actual USC fan in person so the hate is more remote
Also wasn’t there a post here that determined that OSU is our #1 main recruiting rival? Probably in our best interest for Ohio State to fall back to earth a bit.
I would imagine they are since we recruit a lot in Ohio and if somehow OSU fell a lot we’d pick up a lot of nearby recruits there.
Booo this man! (although I actually agree about the fan bases and recruiting comments)
no need to discriminate, they’re both worthy
James Madison pounded Coastal Carolina last week 47-7 racking up 502 total yards to CC’s 183 to finish atop the Sun Belt East standings in their first year. The Dukes’ HC is Curt Cignetti, son of the College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank Cignetti.
College Football: JMU reaching new heights under head coach Curt Cignetti
As the game ended in Harrisonburg, Queen’s “We are the Champions” was played. Curt’s brother, Frank Jr, has had a remarkable career in both college and in the NFL – 32 years with 21 in college, 11 in the NFL. Frank Jr became Pitt’s OC and QB coach this year, leaving BC where he was in the same position and had coached Phil Jurkevec. Frank, Jr was the recruiter for Kenny Minchey. Pittsburgh is home for the Cignettis, though getting one of them as an offensive coach in some role would be exciting.
Here’s what Frank Cignetti brings to Pitt after 32 years coaching in college, NFL
As it is, we’ll watch the SB Championship wondering what the outcome would have been with JMU as a participant.