We’re entering the home stretch, people!
The college football regular season is approaching its end, as it’s honestly pretty crazy to believe that we’ve only got three more weeks of football until championship week. Then we get straight into the postseason, as the new 12-team version of the College Football Playoff begins on Dec. 20.
Wait, we’re already, like, a month from Christmas? Where did the time go?
I am no master of time. I am simply a sportswriter. And what this sportswriter is going to do now is get into some takeaways from this past weekend of college football.
This is a little more than a speed bump for Miami
Miami’s perfect season now has a blemish, as the Hurricanes suffered their first defeat of the 2024 season when they lost to Georgia Tech on the road this past Saturday.
For the most part, this loss was not on the shoulders of Cam Ward. The Heisman candidate was outstanding once again (what else is new?), as he finished this game 25-for-39 for 348 passing yards and three touchdown passes. I can barely even do that in Madden. He had another phenomenal day through the air, but where most of the problems were for the ‘Canes were on the defensive side of the ball.
At first glance, the Georgia Tech offense wasn’t anything spectacular, and that was in fact the case, particularly with the passing attack. Quarterback Haynes King, who was already playing through an injury, completed six out of six passes for all of 32 passing yards. But where King did his damage was on the ground, as he ran for 93 yards and a score. Backup quarterback Aaron Philo also got in on the action for the Yellow Jackets, as he threw five completions for 67 yards and a key touchdown.
So you might be wondering, ‘How on Earth did Miami end up losing this game?’ Remember when I said that for the most part, this loss was not on Cam Ward’s shoulders? Well, in case you didn’t know, ‘for the most part’ does not equal ‘all’. Miami had the ball at their own 19-yard-line, down five points, and had to drive down the field to win the game with under two minutes to go.
And then this happened.
So yeah. Miami suffered its first loss of the year, and it is more than just a speed bump. The Hurricanes only have two games remaining (vs Wake Forest and at Syracuse), but there is now very little margin for error, if any, for Miami as it looks to lock up a place in the College Football Playoff.
Iowa State’s playoff chances are now slim to none
Cue the “womp, womp” horn.
With Iowa State’s loss on the road to Kansas, they fell to 7-2 on the season, and after two consecutive losses, their undefeated season now seems like a distant memory.
The Cyclones honestly didn’t play that bad, all things considered, and the offense actually played decently well. Rocco Becht threw for 383 yards and three touchdowns and posted a 70.6 QBR. And his connection with wide receiver Jaylin Noel was on point throughout the game, as Noel hauled in eight catches for 167 yards and two touchdowns.
However, the reason that Iowa State now has two straight defeats was the play of the defense. I will admit that Jaylon Daniels is a good quarterback, but he has had a turnover issue all season. Guess how many turnovers the Iowa State defense was able to force? That's right, a big fat zero. Daniels only completed half his passes, but threw for 220 yards and two scores. He also added 68 yards and a score on the ground. But running back Devin Neal went absolutely bonkers, running for 116 yards and two touchdowns.
The Cyclones simply could not stop the Jayhawks on the ground no matter what they tried. And now, with two losses on their resume, Iowa State’s chances for the CFP, which once seemed quite strong, now are practically nonexistent.
BYU has the feel of the 2022 TCU Horned Frogs
Yeah, this game was just...absurd.
But before I get into how this BYU Cougars team has some similarities to a certain other team from the Big 12 that played in the national championship game a few years back, we have to go over just how BYU maintained that undefeated record of theirs.
At first, this game looked as if Utah would finally not be completely disappointing and BYU’s flawless record would earn its first blemish. The Utes held a 21-10 lead at halftime, and the Cougars’ offense seemed to be stuck in the mud. Quarterback Jake Retzlaff wasn’t playing well, and only two of BYU’s five drives in the first half yielded points.
However, Utah then kicked off the second half with a punt and an interception, and the Cougars sensed an opportunity to strike. And they managed to take that opportunity and run with it, as they converted a field goal to cut the deficit to eight. Then, after another Utah punt, Retzlaff ran for a one-yard score, and despite a failed two-point conversion attempt, Utah got nothing out of their next three drives. In fact, the teams combined for…five straight punts over the next few drives? Yikes.
Anyway, BYU found themselves with the ball at their own nine-yard line. They were down two points and had under two minutes to get themselves into field goal range. And thanks to Retzlaff saving his two biggest throws for when it matters the most, the Cougars got into field goal range and kept their undefeated season alive with a walk-off 44-yard field goal with three seconds to go.
BYU is somehow 9-0. Their unbeaten season is still alive for the moment. And there was a certain other team, this one hailing from my home state of Texas, that came into the season as a major underdog but went through a magical unbeaten season. That team ended up playing in the national championship game.
Of course, that was the 2022 TCU Horned Frogs. And right now, the BYU Cougars have an awfully similar feel to that magical group.
Colorado is one of two teams that could play spoiler in the CFP race
Yes, I have another team in mind here. They’re going to get their own section here in a minute. But let’s talk about Colorado.
Coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes are coming off an extremely solid win on the road over a good Texas Tech team this past Saturday. Colorado dropped 41 points and were largely firing on all cylinders offensively throughout this one. Texas Tech tried to keep up all game long but simply found themselves one step behind. And Colorado consistently took advantage.
There wasn’t much that didn’t go right for Shedeur Sanders in this game, as he went 30-for-43 to the tune of 291 passing yards and three touchdowns. He also added a score on the ground. Travis Hunter also had a great game (again, tell me something I don’t know!), as he grabbed nine receptions for 99 yards and caught one of Sanders’ touchdown throws.
However, perhaps an underrated aspect of this game was how well the Buffaloes’ defense played overall. Yes, they did give up 137 rushing yards and a score to Texas Tech’s star running back Tahj Brooks, but a lot of teams find themselves doing that. Brooks is just that good. But they made life relatively difficult for Behren Morton, as Morton threw an interception, lost two fumbles, and posted a meager 21.3 QBR.
All of a sudden, Coach Prime and Colorado find themselves at 7-2. The amount of improvement they’ve shown between last year’s 4-8 disaster and this year is nothing short of remarkable. And if they keep winning and playing the way they have, they could very well play spoiler in the College Football Playoff bracket. Hey, you never know what might happen!
Also, Travis Hunter put a tortilla in his pants during this game. I just felt like you all should know that.
Georgia might just be out of College Football Playoff contention
(Relatively) spicy takes about Georgia two weeks in a row? Where has this been coming from?!
Things have officially hit DEFCON 1 in Athens. After the Bulldogs’ 28-10 loss to Ole Miss in Oxford, Georgia now has two losses and their chances of making the College Football Playoff are very, very slim, if even existent at all.
Let’s begin with the play of Carson Beck. Beck’s play overall this season has been a massive disappointment and drastic step back from his play in 2023, particularly with how careless he has been with the ball. Beck has not done an admirable job whatsoever protecting the football. He’s now got 12 interceptions on the year, and that’s already an alarming number. Never mind that they’ve still got three more games left on their schedule.
In this game, Beck went 20-for-31 to the tune of 186 passing yards and zero passing touchdowns. He did throw an interception though. Does that surprise you? Well, at this point, it shouldn’t. The running game for the Bulldogs was largely nonexistent, as Nate Frazier was okay, as he ran for a touchdown, but Trevor Etienne could do absolutely nothing. It was a tough night offensively for Georgia.
And this might be a tad shocking to believe, but the defense wasn’t exactly much better. Jaxson Dart was also just okay, as he barely completed over half his passes, came just short of 200 passing yards, and threw a touchdown and an interception. But he did add 50 yards on the ground, which were key to how the game ended up going. Wideout Cayden Lee also caught four passes for a critical 81 yards in the game.
Ole Miss did not play badly by any stretch of the imagination, but the bigger story was just how ugly and stuck in the mud Georgia’s offense was. I mean, it was really bad. And that offense, along with Carson Beck’s recklessness and carelessness with the football, just might be the main reason this team is now essentially out of CFP contention.
And last but not least…
Alabama could also play spoiler in the College Football Playoff race
See? I told you there was another team I had in mind!
When Alabama dropped that close road loss to Tennessee a few weeks back, a lot of people, myself included, left them for dead. They had two losses, and there looked to be a culture shift under new head coach Kalen DeBoer. And not in a good way.
But after destroying LSU in Death Valley this past Saturday, there may be some rethinking in order when it comes to the Crimson Tide.
This was the most complete game we’ve seen from Alabama this season in quite a long while. Jalen Milroe didn’t have a very big day throwing the ball, but he was absolutely dynamic on the ground. He ran for a ridiculous 185 yards and an even more ridiculous four rushing touchdowns. LSU’s defense simply had no answer whatsoever for Milroe’s legs, and he made them pay the price again and again.
However, the bigger story for the Tide might be just how impressive their defense was against the Tigers. They made LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier’s life a living hell throughout the game, as Nussmeier threw for a solid 239 yards, but also threw two interceptions, including an extremely costly one in the end zone.
LSU simply couldn’t get much of anything going offensively, as they ended the game with just 13 points. The Alabama defense was phenomenal in this one, and this was probably the best performance from the Tide defensively in a long time.
Alabama will absolutely get some consideration for a spot in the College Football Playoff if they can keep up the momentum they conjured up during this dominant win during a massive rivalry game. It’s Alabama, it’s the SEC, come on. If the Tide can keep this up and sneak into the playoff bracket, and if they can bring their A-game in the postseason, they will be a team no one wants to see as their first-round matchup.
Elms' Essentials: Week 12
