It was a huge week of college football, as many games played on Saturday had major playoff implications. It was pretty close to spiraling out of control, as #1, #3, #4, and #6 all could have lost in the same day! Lets take a look at another exciting week in college football.
The marquee match-up on the schedule was #1 Mississippi State playing #5 Alabama. Alabama fans are used to seeing a #1 team play in Tuscaloosa, but not the other team. Although they came in as the top team in the nation, Mississippi State came in as 9.5 point underdogs. They wanted to show the country they truly are the top team. They struggled with that though. 100,000 screaming fans got to the Bulldogs, and Alabama came away with a win against the #1 team, 25-20. The big question now is where does the committee place each team now?
Up in Lawrence, Kansas, #4 TCU thought they were walking in for a cakewalk. The Jayhawks had other plans though. Kansas came ready to play, and it looked like TCU might freeze in the snow along with their playoff hopes. The only thing colder than the weather in Lawrence was the wind that came from the collective sigh of relief from Fort Worth after the Horned Frogs got their act together to narrowly escape Lawrence, 34-31. TCU is set up for a huge match-up with the suddenly hot, bowl eligible Texas Longhorns on Thanksgiving, in Austin.
In Miami, bitter rivals Miami and #3 Florida State met once again in a loud, sold out Sun Life Stadium. The Miami Hurricanes got off to a thundering start, and the fans were going crazy in South Florida. It looked as though Florida State’s 25 game winning streak would finally end. As usual though, Jameis Winston led his Seminoles for a thrilling last minute win, stunning the Hurricanes. With only home games against Boston Collage, Florida, and the ACC Championship game left, Florida State seems to have a pretty easy road to the playoff.
Late night in Corvallis, Oregon, #6 Arizona State was coming off their biggest win in history, and wasn’t really too worried about facing a 4-5 Oregon State team. Well the Beavers came to play, and they came back to stun the Sun Devils. The fans rushed the field, and the Sun Devils chances at playoffs rushed away. This is huge for Mississippi State, Baylor, and Ohio State who now are still alive for the playoff.
Other big games today saw #8 Ohio State win in snowy Minnesota, 31-24. The #22 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets wrecked #19 Clemson, 28-6 in Atlanta. The #14 Arizona Wildcats hit a walk off field goal to defeat Washington 27-26 in Tucson. In Madison, #20 Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon broke the single game record for rushing yards in a game with 408 yards, as the Badgers clobbered #16 Nebraska. In an awful day for the SEC West, #9 Auburn lost a second straight in Athens to the #15 Georgia Bulldogs, #24 Texas A&M lost at home to Missouri to continue their awfully inconsistent season, and #17 LSU lost to Arkansas, who snapped their 17 game SEC losing streak. It was a good win for the Razorbacks, who get to take home the Golden Boot.
All these game set up some very tough decisions for the committee. To me, the top four on Tuesday should be Oregon, Alabama, Florida State, and TCU, with Mississippi State on the outside for now at #5. Although they struggled, you can’t hurt TCU for winning, and Mississippi State didn’t play well even though the final score might have shown that. Alabama did beat the top team, and with Florida State struggling in Miami, they should move ahead of FSU. Oregon deservedly should be #1. It will be interesting to see what really happens.