The nation’s premiere conference in college football is set up for an insanely wild finish. As we get set to recap this past weekend, four SEC teams being on a bye and two playing meaningless non-conference games didn’t stop the league from being the story of Saturday. Here are our 10 biggest takeaways from the weekend.
1. Penn St. chokes again…to Ohio St.
Surprise, surprise. The Penn State Nittany Lions lost another big game, as James Franklin’s team fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes 20-13, largely due to a turnover inside the five-yard line at the half. It was your typical PSU choke job. However, both teams will be favored to finish the year 11-1, so they are likely both in the College Football Playoff as of now.
Indiana win, Illinois loss: B1G CFP hopes
In addition to Penn State and Ohio State, the Indiana Hoosiers kept their College Football Playoff hopes alive by blowing out the Michigan State Spartans. Indiana will only be an underdog at Ohio State the rest of the way, so they’re projected to finish 11-1. With the Oregon Ducks undefeated, that means four Big Ten CFP teams. The Illinois Fighting Illini losing to the Minnesota Golden Gophers eliminates them.
Texas A&M craters back down to Earth
Heading to the SEC, the Aggies were the No. 1 team in the conference last week, as their win over the LSU Tigers had them sitting with one loss and undefeated in the league. However, as has been happening this college football season, they were too comfortable with their success, and they lost to the South Carolina Gamecocks as a result. Mike Elko’s team is back down to Earth.
Chaos coming to SEC title, CFP race
A&M’s loss sets the SEC up to have seven teams finish 10-2 with the Tennessee Vols, Ole Miss Rebels and Georgia Bulldogs all winning. What if Ole Miss beats Georgia this week, Georgia beats Tennessee the next week, and the Texas Longhorns beat A&M to close out the season? The Missouri Tigers and winner between the Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers could also win out. Who goes where then?
Clemson is done barring ACC title
Dabo Swinney’s program shockingly lost in blowout fashion ton the Louisville Cardinals. Now, their only chance at making the College Football Playoff is if they somehow reach the ACC Championship and win that. Otherwise, Clemson will continue to look like a program regressing from a random high it enjoyed during the 2010s.
ACC may still put three in CFP
With the SMU Mustangs beating the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Miami Hurricanes beating the Duke Blue Devils, all three teams winning out would mean one-loss SMU and Pitt along with undefeated Miami. What happens if that’s how the season finishes? Heck, Clemson still only has one ACC loss and faces Pitt, so if they win that, they could play for the ACC title over SMU. Either way, three teams could go.
Kansas St., Iowa St. losses: Big 12 CFP hit
Out of the blue, the Texas Tech Red Raiders shocked the Iowa State Cyclones while the Houston Cougars upset the Kansas State Wildcats. KSU has two losses, now, and ISU has one loss, and they play each other. The BYU Cougars are still undefeated while the Colorado Buffaloes have two losses, but these losses really hurt the Big 12’s path to multiple teams.
Boise St. leads Go5 CFP race; Army alive
Yes, the Group of Five College Football Playoff race comes down to the one-loss Boise State Broncos and undefeated Army Black Knights. Both teams won impressively over the weekend while the Navy Midshipmen eliminated themselves with a loss to the Rice Owls. Army still has to play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, though, which will determine who goes if both teams win out everywhere else.
College Football Heisman race
1. Cam Ward
2. Travis Hunter
3. Dillon Gabriel
4. Jaxson Dart
5. Ashton Jeanty
College Football Top 10
1. Oregon
2. Georgia
3. Ohio State
4. Miami
5. BYU
6. Penn State
7. Tennessee
8. Notre Dame
9. Indiana
10. Texas
