Week eight of the college football season has come and gone, and we learned a lot about who is a legitimate contender for the College Football Playoff and who is a pretender. And we learned a lot about those who I like to call “in-between,” referring to teams who will contend for a New Year’s Six bowl, but they will likely come up short of the big dance.
Well, for those teams, let me just tell you, that won’t be the case forever.
Anyway, enough talking, let’s get into some takeaways for this week!
Neither Penn State nor Ohio State are making the College Football Playoff
Yeah. I said it.
Now, for Penn State, with this loss, that was largely to be expected. And with the Nittany Lions still set to play Michigan later in the season, the odds that they were getting to the College Football Playoff were pretty low, regardless of how this game turned out. Quarterback Drew Allar didn’t play particularly well against a really good defense, and he showed why he’s still the guy who’s in his first full season as a starter.
But Ohio State? I mean, seriously?
I’ve been preaching patience with quarterback Kyle McCord, and I thought that he would begin to take that next step in terms of his consistency and confidence starting with this game. I thought he would come out and deliver a statement game that would solidify his status as the Buckeyes’ starter.
Well, I was wrong.
Now, for starters, McCord did not play a bad game, not by a long shot. In fact, he played relatively well, throwing for 286 yards and a touchdown. And he displayed his chemistry with Marvin Harrison Jr., who caught 11 passes for 162 yards and a score. But we are still waiting on a truly dominant performance from McCord, as that consistency has eluded him and, at times, his confidence has as well. And at this point, I am really unsure that the Buckeyes and their fans will ever get that out of McCord.
Texas’ margin for error is now razor-thin
If the Longhorns want to make it to the College Football Playoff, their margin for error was already small heading into their game against Houston.
But now? Considering the circumstances and considering how this game went? Their margin for error is absolutely razor-thin.
At first, it looked like Texas was going to run away with this one, as the Longhorns raced out to a 21-0 lead. Quinn Ewers was playing well, making all the throws — two of them going for touchdowns — and just playing like we’d seen him play practically all season.
But then, the script completely flipped, as the Cougars stormed back and put up 21 unanswered points to tie the game coming out of halftime. From there, the two teams exchanged field goals to keep the score tied at 24, but about halfway through the fourth quarter, the Longhorns’ offense drove down the field and running back CJ Baxter ran in for a 16-yard touchdown that would prove to be the game-winner.
I know, it’s college football, and crazy stuff can happen every week. However, Texas should have won this one relatively easily, especially considering the start it got off to. Houston was 3-3 going into that game, and the Longhorns were simply better in essentially every aspect of the game. If Texas wants to seriously contend for the College Football Playoff, its margin for error is as small as it can be, particularly with the loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry hanging over its head.
CFP is still an option for Alabama
Alabama is quietly keeping its College Football Playoff hopes alive.
In a critical win over Tennessee this past Saturday, the Crimson Tide’s loss total remains at one, and considering everything that has happened this past weekend, a berth in the big dance is still very much alive.
Quarterback Jalen Milroe played well, throwing for 220 yards and two touchdowns, and he made the plays that he needed to make to keep the Tide one step ahead of the Volunteers for practically the entire game. However, the big story was the day running back Jase McClellan had, as he carved up Tennessee’s defense for 115 yards and a score. Jermaine Burton was somewhat quieter than normal, but he still racked up 62 receiving yards and a score.
For the Volunteers, Joe Milton III played pretty well, as he threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, but he didn’t get a whole lot of help outside of the contributions of Squirrel White, who caught 10 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown. Milton and White also didn’t get a lot of help from their defense, which was torched by McClellan and Milroe and gave up 37 points.
And Alabama just needs to continue to have games like this. The SEC is easily the best conference in the country, and if the Tide can continue to rack up wins over quality opponents, just as they did in this game, then their hopes for the College Football Playoff will continue to survive.
North Carolina’s CFP hopes have officially evaporated
I just talked about a team whose hopes for the Playoff still existed. How about I talk about a team that just had those very same hopes extinguished?North Carolina fits that bill with its performance against Virginia, where the Cavaliers took the Tar Heels down at home by a score of 31-27 for their first loss of the season.
Assuming North Carolina had found a way to win this game, it would have been considered a sneaky contender for the College Football Playoff. Now, that hope is gone. Drake Maye’s play was just somewhat “meh,” as he did throw for 347 yards and two touchdowns, but he only completed 50 percent of his passes and only posted a QBR of 44.3.
Virginia quarterback Tony Muskett was very up-and-down for much of the game, but I give him props for his performance overall. He went out there and made the plays he needed to in order to lead the Cavaliers to a gutsy win in a hostile environment. However, wide receiver Malik Washington largely stole the show. Washington hauled in 12 receptions for 115 yards and a touchdown, and had his way with the Tar Heels’ secondary for much of the game.
The Tar Heels are still very much in contention for an ACC title, and I don’t think there is much of an argument on that front. However, their College Football Playoff hopes are pretty much over. Unless one of the powerhouse teams (or maybe two) just absolutely collapses over the back half of the season, the Heels might very well make a New Year’s Six bowl, but their hopes for the big dance just got a lot slimmer.
The disappointment USC has brought us is immeasurable
I mean, what the heck?If it wasn’t official that USC’s Playoff hopes were shattered before this game, well this one confirmed it.
After being thrashed by Notre Dame on national television the week before, the Trojans were undoubtedly looking for a statement win at home over an excellent Utah squad that would re-establish their status as legitimate contenders.
Well, too bad the Utes had an Uno reverse card.
Utah converted on a game-winning 38-yard field goal to escape Southern California with a 34-32 win over USC, improving its record to 6-1 and dropping the Trojans’ record to 6-2. Caleb Williams played simply OK, going 24-for-34 with 256 passing yards and no touchdowns or interceptions. He wasn’t quite invisible, as he ran for a score, but he wasn’t the gravity-defying player he usually is.
Utah quarterback Bryson Barnes went out there and played pretty dang good, throwing for 235 yards and three touchdowns. He also added 57 yards on the ground and a score, accounting for four total touchdowns. Wide receiver Sione Vaki also went to town on a suspect Trojan secondary, torching them en route to five catches for 149 yards and two scores. USC’s defense seemed to never have an answer for him.
I saw a Tweet (or post, whatever you want to call it now) that said that Williams should sit out for the rest of the season now that CFP contention and the Heisman Trophy are both long shots at this point. I don’t agree with that, but USC’s season has gotten to its lowest point yet. Contention for the College Football Playoff is gone, and the way these past couple of weeks have gone, the Trojans will be relatively hard-pressed to compete for a New Year’s Six bowl.
J.J. McCarthy is creeping up the Heisman rankings
Watch out for the Michigan quarterback, everyone!
Given the way Michael Penix Jr. played this past weekend (275 yards, two interceptions) and the way Caleb Williams has played over the past couple of weeks or so, McCarthy had a prime opportunity to vault himself up the rankings.
And oh boy, did he do just that.
He went out into East Lansing in front of a raucous Spartan Stadium crowd and absolutely torched Michigan State to the tune of 287 yards, four touchdown passes, and a 49-0 win. I don’t know if there’s such a thing as a “perfect” performance from a quarterback, but if there is, McCarthy checked practically every box.
He was poised, confident and consistent, making every throw necessary and just picking apart a helpless Michigan State defense. He worked the short game, the intermediate game and the deep ball, and his receiving corps helped him out a ton. AJ Barner caught eight passes for 99 yards and a score, while Colston Loveland racked up four catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns.
McCarthy now has 18 touchdown passes as opposed to just three interceptions. While he doesn’t have quite as many touchdown passes as Penix Jr., he has fewer interceptions, while he has taken care of the ball the best out of the three of them over the past couple of weeks. I’m not sure he’s the favorite right now, but with this performance, he has skyrocketed up the rankings.
Elms' Essentials: Week 12
