There is no weekend I look forward to more as a college football fan than the final weekend of the regular season. While others spend their Thanksgiving breaks catching up with family and friends, I am glued to my television watching some of the best rivalries in all of sports go down.
Like last season, everyone’s focus was on the most iconic rivalry in the sport: “The Game.”
One year after Michigan exercised their demons and upset the Buckeyes, they pulled away in the fourth quarter to capture their first win in “The Horseshoe” since Tom Brady ‘s rookie season in the NFL.
In what was the de facto Big Ten Championship, J.J. McCarthy and the Wolverines overwhelmed Jim Knowles’ defensive unit with five touchdowns of 45+ yards.
Despite Heisman candidate Blake Corum being a nonfactor on Saturday, Michigan was still unstoppable offensively.
Jim Harbaugh deserves all the credit in the world for turning the tide of this rivalry. Despite losing both coordinators and having a first year starter under center, Michigan looks as good as any team in America.
I don’t think Harbaugh gets enough credit for his handling of the quarterback situation earlier this season. The former NFL QB decided to give both his guys an opportunity and rolled the dice on the unproven McCarthy.
Cade McNamara led this team to a Big Ten title and playoff appearance in 2021, however didn’t possess the physical tools that McCarthy does.
This Wolverines’ squad is better than last season’s and will match up much better with Georgia should they get another crack at the Dawgs.
As for the team on the losing end in Columbus, I don’t have to tell you how damaging this loss is for the Buckeyes.
Losing to the team up north is unacceptable if you are the head coach of Ohio State, Ryan Day has done just that for the second time in a row.
Ohio State will be sitting at home on conference championship Saturday yet again, needing either TCU or USC to lose if they want to sneak into the playoff.
This year was supposed to be different for the Buckeyes, as they had the best collection of offensive talent in the nation returning along with an improved defense under Jim Knowles.
While the calls for Ryan Day’s job are ridiculous, there is immense pressure on the Buckeyes to regain control of the conference in 2023.
If Buckeye fans are looking for any positives after Saturday’s disastrous result, they still have a very real chance to make the playoff.
LSU and Clemson each faltered in the final week of the regular season which meant Ohio State would only fall to the fifth spot in the latest CFP rankings.
The Buckeyes are a virtual lock to make it if USC loses to Utah Friday night. They could also squeak past TCU if they lose to Kansas State in Dallas.
Both the Trojans and Horned Frogs are narrow favorites in their respective conference title games. For what it’s worth, USC has already lost to Utah this year and TCU was down by 18 at one point to K-State at home.
While Georgia and Michigan appear to have already punched their tickets to the final four, two spots are still up for grabs.
TCU and USC can make the committee’s life easy if they take care of business this weekend. However if one or both of them slip up, things get complicated.
Should the Trojans drop their rematch against Utah, Ohio State would leapfrog them for the fourth spot with no real controversy.
What would make things messy is TCU losing the Big 12 Championship. The committee would have to make a tough call between TCU and Ohio State for the final spot.
Then there’s the chaos scenario where both lose and all of the sudden, two-loss Alabama enters the discussion.
While I wouldn’t have Bama make the top four regardless of what happens this weekend, the committee may have other ideas.
WIth the regular season drawing to an end, the coaching carousel is in full swing.
Many of the top openings have already been filled, most notably Auburn.
After Lane Kiffin agreed to an extension to remain in Oxford, Hugh Freeze was next on the Tigers’ board.
The news of Freeze drew mixed responses from the fanbase (as expected). While his track record is well documented to this point, he is capable of returning this program to relevance in the SEC.
Freeze has SEC connections and with Auburn’s new facilities and NIL resources. The Tigers should be a force to be reckoned with in the conference very soon.
There were also a pair of splash hires in the Big Ten West, one being Luke Fickell to Wisconsin.
After leading Cincinnati to an improbable playoff berth last season, the former Ohio State coach returns to the Big Ten with the Badgers.
This is an excellent hire as Fickell is one of the up and coming coaches in the sport and can recruit the region very well.
The other marquee hire was Nebraska landing Matt Rhule after a failed stint with the Panthers. I couldn’t care less about Rhule’s NFL tenure, it’s a completely different game and Rhule is proven at the college level.
Rhule rebuilt Temple and Baylor from scratch and that experience will be valuable as he looks to reestablish Nebraska as a respected program in the country.
Chris’s College Football Top 25 Rankings
1.Georgia Bulldogs(12-0) W vs Georgia Tech 37-14, last week-1
2.Michigan Wolverines(12-0) W vs Ohio State 45-23, last week-3
3.TCU Horned Frogs(12-0) W vs Iowa State 62-14, last week-4
4.USC Trojans(11-1) W vs Notre Dame 38-27, last week-6
5.Ohio State Buckeyes(11-1) L vs Michigan 45-23, last week-2
6.Tennessee Volunteers(10-2) W vs Vanderbilt 56-0, last week-9
7.Alabama Crimson Tide(10-2) W vs Auburn 49-27, last week-7
8.Penn State Nittany Lions(10-2) W vs Michigan State 35-16, last week-11
9.Washington Huskies(10-2) W vs Washington State 51-33, last week-12
10.Utah Utes(9-3) W vs Colorado 63-21, last week-13
11.Clemson Tigers(10-2) L vs South Carolina 31-20, last week-8
12.Oregon Ducks(9-3) L vs Oregon State 38-34, last week-10
13.LSU Tigers(9-3) L vs Texas A&M 38-23, last week-5
14.Kansas State Wildcats(9-3) W vs Kansas 47-27, last week-14
15.Florida State Seminoles(9-3) W vs Florida 45-38, last week-15
16.UCLA Bruins(9-3) W vs California 35-28, last week-17
17.Oregon State Beavers(9-3) W vs Oregon 38-34, last week-23
18.Tulane Green Wave (10-2) W vs Cincinnati 27-24, last week-21
19.South Carolina Gamecocks(8-4) W vs Clemson 31-30, last week-unranked
20.Texas Longhorns(8-4) W vs Baylor 38-27, last week-19
21.Notre Dame Fighting Irish(8-4) L vs USC 38-27, last week-16
22.North Carolina Tar Heels(9-3) L vs NC State 30-27, last week-18
23.Mississippi State Bulldogs(8-4) W vs Ole Miss 24-22, last week-unranked
24.UCF Knights(9-3) W vs USF 46-39, last week-unranked
25.UTSA Roadrunners(10-2) W vs UTEP 34-31, last week-unranked
Dropped out of rankings- Ole Miss, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Louisville