The holiday season is approaching quickly, and with Thanksgiving weekend here, that means one thing for college football fans: rivalry weekend is upon us. This weekend’s lineup of games boasts some of the most iconic rivalries in all of sports. From The Iron Bowl to The Game and from Bedlam to Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate, there will be bragging rights on the line across the nation all weekend long.
While normal people view this weekend as an opportunity to meet up with family and old friends, us weirdos known as college football fans will be focused on the action during the final week of the regular season. Now I love Thanksgiving as much as the next guy and will partake in a large amount of turkey, ham, and mac and cheese along with making small talk with distant relatives. I’m sure I will have to do my best to explain what a catch is in the NFL during the games on Thursday as all my relatives turn to me to explain the rules of football, which can be hard when the NFL itself can’t decide on what a catch is.
As I mentioned earlier, many teams around the country are playing their most hated rival this weekend, so the stakes are certainly high. With that being said, the stakes are the highest for the teams still alive for the College Football Playoff. There are still eight teams with a path into the playoff including Oklahoma who I prematurely wrote off last week. While Oklahoma is currently tenth in the playoff rankings, they have the opportunity to beat Oklahoma State in back to back weeks which will give their resume a huge boost and perhaps have them in the top four in the final rankings. Another team that is clinging on to hope is Notre Dame, whose path to the playoff looks like a grocery list the week before Thanksgiving. Not only do the Irish need to win their finale against Stanford, they also would need Michigan to lose to Ohio State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to cancel each other out, and have either Alabama implode or Ohio State or Michigan to lose in the Big Ten Championship.
While there is no shortage of great games to watch this Saturday, none are better than Ohio State traveling to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan in arguably the best rivalry in the sport of college football. The Game will serve as a de facto Big Ten East Championship and will eliminate the loser from playoff contention. The Buckeyes made a massive statement last Saturday with their 56-7 rout of the Michigan State Spartans and established themselves as the second best team in the nation. For the first time in six weeks, I can comfortably say that we have a clear best and second best team in the nation. Ohio State has been dropping 50 burgers on a regular basis and appears to be the best offense to challenge Georgia’s historic defense. Since Oregon lost we can stop pretending that they are better than Ohio State because of a game from Week 2 when the Buckeyes’ defense and C.J. Stroud were not close to as good as they are right now. Ohio State is getting hot at the right time and I wouldn’t want to face them come playoff time.
The end of the regular season means the coaching carousel kicks into full swing and this year’s cycle has several notable openings. LSU and USC got a head start and Florida joined the party this weekend after firing Dan Mullen. It’s crazy to think that this time last year Mullen was viewed as an elite coach in the SEC and the savior of Florida football. However a disappointing 2021 season that involved a botched quarterback situation, the midseason firing of Todd Grantham, and lackluster recruiting was enough to end Mullen’s tenure in Gainesville. While there are several big name candidates out there, they don’t appear to be as interested in the blue chip jobs as previously thought. Mel Tucker and James Franklin have already signed massive extensions to stay where they are and it appears that Dave Aranda and
Luke Fickell are also staying put. The truth is coaches don’t want to go to a program with unrealistic expectations and get run out of town after a bad season. USC, LSU, and Florida have all gone through coaches in recent years which has scared off top candidates who would rather take a massive contract and good job security over rolling the dice on a big brand with unrealistic expectations. Time will tell if these programs can find the right guy but the pool of candidates is getting thinner by the day.
College Football Top 25 Rankings
1.Georgia Bulldogs (11-0) W vs Charleston Southern 56-7, last week-1
2.Ohio State Buckeyes (10-1) W vs Michigan State 56-7, last week-3
3.Cincinnati Bearcats (11-0) W vs SMU 48-14, last week-2
4.Alabama Crimson Tide (10-1) W vs Arkansas 42-35, last week-4
5.Michigan Wolverines (10-1) W vs Maryland 59-18, last week-5
6.Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-1) W vs Georgia Tech 55-0, last week-8
7.Oklahoma State Cowboys (10-1) W vs Texas Tech 23-0, last week-9
8.Oklahoma Sooners (10-1) W vs Iowa State 28-21, last week-10
9.Ole Miss Rebels (9-2) W vs Vanderbilt 31-17, last week-11
10.Baylor Bears (9-2) W vs Kansas State 20-10, last week-13
11.Michigan State Spartans (9-2) L vs Ohio State 56-7, last week-6
12.Oregon Ducks (9-2) L vs Utah 38-7, last week-7
13.UTSA Roadrunners (11-0) W vs UAB 34-31, last week-14
14.Texas A&M Aggies (8-3) W vs Prairie View 52-3, last week-15
15.Iowa Hawkeyes (9-2) W vs Illinois 33-23, last week-16
16.Houston Cougars (10-1) W vs Memphis 31-13, last week-17
17.Wisconsin Badgers (8-3) W vs Nebraska 35-28, last week-19
18.Utah Utes (8-3) W vs Oregon 38-7, last week-unranked
19.Wake Forest Demon Deacons (9-2) L vs Clemson 48-27, last week-12
20.Arkansas Razorbacks (7-4) L vs Alabama 42-35, last week-18
21.BYU Cougars (9-2) W vs Georgia Southern 34-17, last week-20
22.Penn State Nittany Lions (7-4) W vs Rutgers 28-0, last week-21
23.Pittsburgh Panthers (9-2) W vs Virginia 48-38, last week-22
24.Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (10-1) W vs Liberty 42-14, last week-24
25.Clemson Tigers (8-3) W vs Wake Forest 48-27, last week-unranked
Dropped out of rankings- San Diego State, Mississippi State