College football winners and losers: How the conference race stacks up to the final week of the regular season

College football winners and losers: How the conference race stacks up to the final week of the regular season

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Week 13 was certainly wild.

Four top-15 teams lost on Saturday as the College Football Playoff picture was shaken up considerably. 5. Indiana was blown out by No. 2 Ohio State to start the day before a four-way tie atop the Big 12 appeared and the SEC race was narrowed to three teams.

Alabama, Ole Miss and Tennessee found themselves eliminated from SEC title contention. No. 7 Crimson Tide lost 24-3 at Oklahoma hours after No. 9 Ole Miss lost 24-17 at Florida. Tennessee took care of business against UTEP and can still go 6-2 in the conference, but tiebreakers are not kind to the Vols.

Chaos in the SEC means Georgia has clinched a spot in the conference title game despite entering the weekend fourth in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Bulldogs gave up a lot of rushing yards to UMass in their win Saturday, but ended their SEC streak with a 31-17 victory over Tennessee a week ago.

Here’s a look at how the conference race stacks up heading into the final week of the regular season.

This game has been set up for two weeks. Let’s move on.

The Hurricanes won at Syracuse after beating Wake Forest 42-14 at home on Saturday. SMU clinched its spot in the ACC title game with a 33-7 win at Virginia as QB Kevin Jennings was 25 of 33 for 323 yards.

The Ducks were off in Week 13 after clinching a spot in the Big Ten title game with a Week 12 win over Wisconsin. Ohio State’s win over Indiana puts the Buckeyes in the title game with a win over Michigan. If Ohio State loses, Penn State wins over Maryland. The Nittany Lions escaped Minnesota with a 26-25 win on Saturday. If both Ohio State and Penn State lose, Indiana is in the title game with a win over Purdue.

  • Two from Arizona State, BYU, Iowa State, Colorado, Baylor, Kansas State and Texas Tech

This is where it gets messy. Let’s start with a simple scenario. ASU, BYU, ISU and Colorado are tied atop the conference at 6-2. If there is a 7-2 tie, the two participants in the conference title game are Arizona State and Iowa State.

Colorado needs to lose two of the other three teams it’s tied with to reach the title game thanks to losses to Kansas State and Kansas. ASU and BYU have already beaten K-State, and Iowa State plays the Wildcats in Week 14. Baylor and Texas Tech need to win out in Week 14 and lose four teams with a tie. Kansas State needs to beat Iowa State, have the other three tied teams lose, and Baylor to lose to Kansas.

This is also quite simple. Jacksonville State beat Sam Houston to earn a spot in the title game, while the Bearkats are now tied with the Liberty after the Flames defeated Western Kentucky. The Liberty play Sam Houston in Week 14. If Liberty wins, it’s in the game. If Sam Houston wins and Western Kentucky wins, the Hilltoppers are in the game. Sam Houston has a win and a loss for WKU.

All three teams are tied at 6-1, and Miami and Bowling Green will play each other on Saturday. The winner is Ohio if the Bobcats beat Ball State. If Ohio loses to Ball State and Bowling Green beats Miami, we get a rematch between the Falcons and Redhawks a week later thanks to Miami’s win over Ohio earlier in the season.

The Broncos clinched a spot in the title game with a 17-13 rout of Wyoming. Colorado State needs to beat Fresno State late Saturday and Utah State in Week 14 to face the Broncos. If they finish 6-1 along with UNLV — assuming the Rebels beat Nevada in Week 14 — then UNLV will make the CFP rankings. UNLV was ranked No. 24 in the last set of rankings.

The race for the SEC title just got a lot easier thanks to three top 15 losses on Saturday. Alabama and Ole Miss are officially out of SEC title contention now that they have three conference losses, and so is Tennessee despite the Vols’ chance to finish the season 6-2.

Texas A&M’s loss to Auburn makes the Aggies’ home game against Texas a de facto SEC semifinal. The winner will play the Bulldogs.

The Ragin’ Cajuns clinched the Sun Belt West with a 51-30 victory over Troy. Marshall wins the East with a win over James Madison. If Marshall loses and Georgia Southern beats Appalachian State, the Eagles are in the title game thanks to a 24-23 win over Marshall earlier this season.

Here are the rest of this week’s winners and losers.

Florida: The Gators didn’t stop fighting. Florida has a strong chance to finish the regular season 7-5 after upsetting No. 9 Ole Miss on Saturday. The Florida pass rush did a fantastic job against Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart and had two late touchdowns to seal a 24-17 win. Freshman QB DJ Lagway was 10 of 17 passing for 180 yards and two TDs, while RB Montrell Johnson saw significant action for the first time since Oct. 12 and rushed 18 times for 107 yards and a TD.

Kansas: The Jayhawks became the first team with a losing record to win three straight over ranked opponents with a 37-21 win against No. 16 Colorado. RB Devin Neal rushed for over 200 yards and four touchdowns as Kansas did not punt once.

Kansas is now 5-6 and will be eligible with a win over Baylor in the final week of the regular season.

Nebraska: The losing streak is over. Nebraska will be in a bowl game for the first time since 2016. The Huskers beat Wisconsin 44-25 to finally earn bowl eligibility. On Saturday, Nebraska snapped a nine-game losing streak after picking up its fifth win of the season. Freshman QB Dylan Raiola was 28 of 38 passing for 293 yards and a TD as Nebraska scored 20 consecutive points in the second and third quarters to blow the game open.

State of Oregon: The Beavers are the Pac-12 champions. Oregon State won the battle for two-team conference bragging rights with a 41-38 home victory over Washington State. The loss is the second in a row for the Cougars after falling to New Mexico a week ago. Oregon State tied the game at 38-38 with a 16-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a four-yard TD pass from Ben Gulbranson to Darrius Clemons with 2:45 left. Washington State fumbled on the second play of its next possession and Everett Hayes hit a 55-yard field goal with 20 seconds left.

Rutgers: Greg Schiano will live with the end of Saturday’s game for a long time. With Rutgers up 31-30, Illinois set up a 58-yard field goal with 14 seconds left. He narrowly missed the kickoff, but Schiano called a timeout before the game. With the kick not coming, Illinois coach Bret Bielema decided to go for it on 4th and 10. That worked out very well as Luke Altmyer found Pat Bryant over the middle and Bryant raced into the end zone. -for a TD with four seconds left in a 38-31 Illini victory.

Pitt: The Panthers lost their fourth straight game on Saturday and potentially lost QB Eli Holstein for the season after a 37-9 loss at Louisville. Holstein was carted off the field with his lower left leg in a boot after a sack in the first quarter. The Cardinals led 27-0 at halftime before coming up empty in the second half. Pitt mustered just 265 yards of total offense after Holstein threw for 51 yards on just five attempts. The Panthers need a win at Boston College in Week 14 to avoid a five-game skid at the end of the season.

NC State: The Wolfpack were on the verge of clinching the title when Hollywood Smothers rushed 53 yards for a TD with 1:30 left against Georgia Tech on Thursday. Smothers’ TD gave NC State a 29-23 lead, but Georgia Tech needed just seven plays to go 75 yards for the winning score.

QB Aaron Philo rushed 18 yards for a touchdown with 22 seconds left when Aidan Birr’s extra point provided the game-winning margin in a 30-29 win. The loss dropped NC State to 5-6 overall and 2-5 in the ACC before its season-ending rivalry game against North Carolina.

Kent State: The Golden Flashes seem destined for an 0-12 season. Kent State hosted a 2-8 Akron team on Tuesday night in what looked like KSU’s best chance to win in more than a year. Instead, Akron won easily, 38-17, and extended Kent State’s losing streak. The Golden Flashes haven’t won since defeating FCS opponent Central Connecticut State on September 16, 2023. That’s a 20-game streak, and you have to go back to the final week of the 2022 season to find Kent State’s last win over an FBS opponent.

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