Not every College Football Playoff fan was giving thanks, as No. 1 and No. 2 both suffered Week 13 upsets. What will the newest Top 25 look like on Tuesday?
Thanksgiving weekend offers plenty of action for college football fans to enjoy, as games are spread throughout the week. Black Friday and Thanksgiving Saturday are especially great, as games span two whole days.
It provides an opportunity to see more of the action, and it also provides greater emphasis on every upset that might occur. And in the week leading up to championship weekend, we saw multiple upsets take place across the country.
No. 14 Mississippi State fell on Thanksgiving night in the Egg Bowl against Ole Miss. Fans who tuned in after Thanksgiving dinner were witness to one of the most horrific injuries in the recent past, as Nick Fitzgerald suffered a nasty ankle break that left his foot turned in the wrong direction. Despite trying to mount a furious comeback with backup Keytaon Thompson, the Bulldogs dropped a fourth game on the year.
Then, a decade after one of the greatest upsets in college football history transpired in the 2007 Backyard Brawl, another 4-7 Pitt team pulled off another major shocker. On Black Friday, they took down No. 2 Miami 24-14, dealing the Hurricanes their first loss of 2017. Miami will still head to the ACC championship game next weekend against defending national champion Clemson, but there is no guarantee that Mark Richt‘s team will reach the College Football Playoff with a win.
On Saturday, another major team fell as No. 1 Alabama tumbled on the road in the Iron Bowl to No. 6 Auburn. The 26-14 victory by Gus Malzahn’s team means that the Tigers rather than the Crimson Tide will face Georgia in the SEC championship game.
How will all the chaos impact the College Football Playoff standings this week? Keep reading for our projections for the entire top 25 ahead of the Tuesday release of the selection committee’s newest rankings.
Toledo culminated a 10-win regular season by knocking off defending MAC champion Western Michigan at the Glass Bowl on Black Friday. With all the chaos swirling throughout the country on a wild Week 13, the Rockets will probably vault up into the Top 25 of the College Football Playoff when the selection committee puts out its new rankings on Tuesday.
Logan Woodside had another big game at quarterback for Toledo, going 19-of-29 for 300 yards. He tossed a pair of touchdown passes, though he also threw an interception. Terry Swanson fell just shy of the 100-yard mark, rushing for 94 yards on 21 carries. The Rockets defense held Western Michigan under 300 total yards of offense as they took over the MAC West crown.
The Rockets will now get ready to face surprise MAC East winner Akron in the conference championship game in Detroit next weekend. They are probably out of the running for the Group of Five invitation to a New Year’s Six bowl, but Toledo can take solace in a token spot rounding out the Top 25 this week.
Fresno State took down No. 23 Boise State on Saturday. The game is the first of two straight contests between the Bulldogs and the Broncos. Their contest in Fresno determined which team will host next weekend’s Mountain West championship game. With the 28-17 victory over Boise State, the Bulldogs earned the right to play at home next weekend when they meet again.
Marcus McMaryion had a huge game to give Fresno State its ninth win of the season. The former Oregon State quarterback threw for 332 yards and two touchdowns, completing 23 of his 36 passing attempts on the day. KeeSean Johnson caught six of the passes for 119 yards and both McMaryion touchdowns for his fourth triple-digit game of the season.
The defeat of the Broncos knocked Bryan Harsin‘s team out of the College Football Playoff rankings and opened the door for Fresno State to vault up into the Top 25. Both teams are probably out of the running for a New Year’s Six bowl game, but they will still meet again for the Mountain West title.
Mississippi State is going to plummet down the College Football Playoff rankings after falling in the Egg Bowl against Ole Miss on Thanksgiving night. But the Bulldogs won’t fall completely out of the Top 25, as the selection committee takes into consideration the injury suffered by Nick Fitzgerald and the fact that Dan Mullen‘s team nearly mounted a comeback.
The loss of Fitzgerald proved costly, but Mississippi State got solid play from backup Keytaon Thompson. After entering the game, Thompson went 13-of-27 for 195 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also led all players with 121 rushing yards and a score on the ground, showing a similar dual-threat skill set to what Fitzgerald brought to the table.
A shot at a New Year’s Six bowl fell by the wayside. As the number of three-loss teams dwindles around the country, though, Mississippi State should manage to hold onto a spot in the College Football Playoff Top 25 as they await their postseason destination.
In a defensive showdown, Virginia Tech kept itself in the College Football Playoff Top 25 with a shutout victory over Virginia. The Hokies pushed itself to 9-3 and kept its hopes alive of a trip to one of the New Year’s Six bowl games as they retained the Commonwealth Cup in the 99th edition of the rivalry game.
The game was largely a story of divergent fortunes for the two teams’ running games. Virginia Tech held the Cavaliers to a net total of just five rushing yards on 20 carries. In the opposite direction, the Hokies finished with 202 rushing yards on 53 carries. Virginia quarterback Kurt Benkert outdueled VT passer Josh Jackson, but he got no relief from his backfield.
Justin Fuente has the Hokies in position for a second straight 10-win season since his arrival in Blacksburg. While they will not play for the ACC title game this season, it was another solid regular season for Virginia Tech in Fuente’s sophomore season as a Power Five head coach.
Northwestern solidified its position as the second-best team in the Big Ten West with a convincing 42-7 victory over state rival Illinois on the final weekend of the regular season. The Wildcats ensured that they will remain in the College Football Playoff rankings for another week, and gave themselves a shot at a 10-win season entering their bowl game.
Justin Jackson put up another bold performance on the ground, running for 144 yards and a touchdown. Jeremy Larkin added 71 yards and a score on nine carries, while both Jesse Brown and Jelani Roberts also punched in rushing touchdowns. Clayton Thorsen had a solid day passing, going 13-of-21 for 140 yards with a score and an interception.
While their loss to Duke back in September seems inexplicable, their other two defeats against Wisconsin and Penn State are hardly show-stoppers for the Wildcats. Now Pat Fitzgerald‘s team has a shot at double digits in the win column for the third time in the past six seasons.
Memphis emphatically capped a nearly perfect regular season on Saturday. The Tigers demolished East Carolina 70-13 to finish 10-1 leading up to the American Athletic Conference championship game in Orlando next weekend. Though they gave up nearly 500 yards, the Tigers defense snatched three interceptions.
Riley Ferguson had a relatively quiet day, throwing the ball just 13 times all day. But on his nine completions, the Memphis quarterback racked up 299 yards and three touchdowns. The ground game took charge for the Tigers. Patrick Taylor Jr. led the way with 127 yards and two touchdowns on just six carries. Darrell Henderson added 122 yards and two scores on 10 carries. Doroland Dorceus also had a touchdown and 51 yards on his eight touches.
They now prepare for a rematch against undefeated UCF, source of their only loss this season, for the AAC title. If Memphis can dish out the first loss of the year for the Knights, they would instantly become the frontrunner to be chosen by the College Football Playoff selection committee as the Group of Five representative in a New Year’s Six bowl.
Just like last year, Washington State met rival Washington in the Apple Cup with a shot to win the Pac-12 North. And just like last year, the Cougars crumbled with the opportunity on the table. The Huskies dominated Mike Leach’s team for most of the contest, shutting out the Cougars for three quarters before they scored two late touchdowns in a 41-14 defeat.
Senior quarterback Luke Falk had another big statistical day in his final regular-season game for Wazzu, throwing for 369 yards on 37-of-55 passing. But he threw just one touchdown passes against three interceptions, as Washington ran away with the Apple Cup for a fifth straight season.
With the defeat, Stanford will face USC in the Pac-12 championship game instead of the Cougars. Now Washington State can only sit back and wait to see whether the College Football Playoff selection committee is willing to invite them to a major bowl game. They will fall down the rankings this week, but the Cougars should still remain in the Top 25 despite their third loss of the year.
Oklahoma State made easy work of Kansas on Saturday, taking down the Jayhawks 58-17 to cap a 9-3 regular season. The Cowboys put up over 650 total yards of offense in front of its home crowd in Stillwater. After another offensive explosion, the Pokes could move up a few spots in the College Football Playoff rankings this week.
Mason Rudolph had another huge game, going 31-of-43 for 438 yards and two passing touchdowns. He added another pair of scores on the ground to pace Oklahoma State to victory. Running back Justice Hill was shut down, though, finishing with just 65 yards from scrimmage for his lowest output of the season.
Depending on whether Oklahoma or TCU wins the Big 12 title next week, Mike Gundy‘s team could still have a shot at reaching the Cotton Bowl or Fiesta Bowl. Wherever they end up this postseason, Oklahoma State is on pace for its third straight 10-3 campaign and sixth double-digit winning season since 2010.
After an up-and-down season, LSU got to nine wins after an emphatic 45-21 victory in their SEC regular-season finale against Texas A&M. The Tigers finished the day with over 600 yards of offense, dominating the Aggies on both sides of the ball. They put more than twice as many points on the scoreboard in what might be Kevin Sumlin‘s final game coaching Texas A&M.
Danny Etling had a huge game, throwing for 347 yards and three scores on 19-of-30 passing. Derrius Guice and Darrel Williams each ran for over 100 yards. Guice led the way with 127 yards and a score, while Williams chipped in 106 yards and a touchdown of his own. The Bayou Bengals defense held A&M under 300 total yards of offense, as the Aggies managed just 55 rushing yards of their own.
Thanks to the big performance in the finale, LSU will climb a few spots in the College Football Playoff rankings when they come out again on Tuesday. Depending on what transpires in the SEC championship game between Auburn and Georgia, the Tigers could potentially even be in line for a New Year’s Six bowl bid.
It was a bittersweet victory for Washington in the Apple Cup. They took down rival Washington State on Saturday evening in Seattle to win their 10th game of the season. But while the Huskies denied the Cougars a shot at the Pac-12 championship, Chris Petersen’s team will also miss out on a chance to repeat. An earlier loss to Stanford means that the victory by UW puts the Cardinal in the Pac-12 title game instead of Washington State.
Myles Gaskin was the catalyst for victory in the Apple Cup, running for 192 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries. He accounted for nearly half of the total offense put up by Washington, as the team finished with 328 rushing yards and five scores on the ground. Jake Browning had a less impressive day, throwing for 93 yards on 11-of-17 passing.
The defense did its part in the win, holding Washington State to minus-24 rushing yards and containing Luke Falk to 6.7 yards per attempt and three interceptions. Though they won’t come close to landing a second straight spot in the College Football Playoff, the Huskies could potentially earn themselves a spot in a New Year’s Six berth after getting to 10 wins.
Squaring off in its final game of the regular season, No. 21 Stanford knocked off No. 8 Notre Dame on Saturday evening.Notre Dame was ahead 20-17 after three quarters, but the Cardinal put together a three-touchdown performance in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 38-20 victory. The Cardinal earned their ninth win of the season in a statement game out of conference, sealing up a shot at a third straight 10-win season and the seventh in eight years.
Bryce Love had a solid game, rushing 20 times for 125 yards to book his trip to the Heisman ceremony in two weeks. The Cardinal defense allowed Brandon Wimbush to complete only 11 of his 28 passes. The Notre Dame quarterback threw for 249 yards and ran for 62 more, but Stanford also picked off two of his passes.
Thanks to Washington’s win over Washington State in the Apple Cup, Stanford will play a rematch against USC for the Pac-12 title next weekend. If they can avenge their September defeat to the Trojans, the Cardinal could book their spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game and move rapidly up the College Football Playoff rankings.
In the regular-season finale in New Jersey, No. 16 Michigan State outgunned Rutgers in a 40-7 blowout. Mark Dantonio‘s team, 3-9 last season, reversed those numbers with its ninth win of the 2017 campaign. It was a confidence-boosting performance for a still-young team that could contend for the Big Ten in 2018.
Brian Lewerke has been a huge part of the turnaround. The young quarterback went 21-of-31 against the Scarlet Knights, throwing for 222 yards and a touchdown. Lewerke added 56 yards and a rushing score on 13 carries. Running backs Gerald Holmes and LJ Scott also went over 50 yards as the Spartans easily dispatched an overmatched Rutgers squad.
Now Michigan State will await the announcement of its bowl destination after a surprisingly successful 2017 campaign. While they missed out on contending for the Big Ten title this season, the Spartans should push up into the top 15 of the College Football Playoff rankings this week when the committee releases its new list on Tuesday.
The War on I-4 was an instant classic, with the highest stakes ever seen in the series history. Undefeated UCF played one-loss South Florida with the AAC East title on the line on Black Friday. It was a winner-take-all situation, as USF remained alive for the division title and a spot in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
Quinton Flowers did everything he could to steal away victory for the Bulls. The UCF defense gave up 605 total yards of offense and five touchdowns to the South Florida quarterback, but it wasn’t enough for the visitors to prevail in Orlando. McKenzie Milton kept his Heisman hopes alive as he also had five total touchdowns, throwing for 373 yards and four scores and adding a rushing touchdown.
UCF continues to sit outside the top 10 of the College Football Playoff rankings, and that probably won’t change despite remaining just one of three undefeated teams. As long as they beat Memphis for the AAC title, however, a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game is all but assured for the Knights.
Notre Dame still had an outside shot at the College Football Playoff entering the weekend, especially if Georgia goes on to win the SEC and USC were to win the Pac-12 crown. Instead, the Fighting Irish fell 38-20 on the road after holding a lead entering the fourth quarter. With their third loss of the year, Brian Kelly’s team will fall down the Top 25 this weekend.
Brandon Wimbush had a solid game, throwing for 249 yards and rushing for another 62 against the Cardinal defense. But he also threw two interceptions, allowing the home team to keep things close through the first three quarters. The Notre Dame defense gave up 328 yards and five touchdowns to Stanford in the come-from-ahead defeat on the road.
Now the Fighting Irish will have to wait and see what the College Football Playoff selection committee decides in terms of New Year’s Six bowl participants after next week’s championship games. Notre Dame will always get the benefit of the doubt, but they will also fall four to eight spots down the Top 25 this week.
TCU put themselves in position for a rematch against Oklahoma with a beatdown of Baylor on Friday. The Horned Frogs doubled up the score on the Bears in a 45-22 mismatch, earning a 10th win on the season and a trip to the Big 12 title game in the process.
Kenny Hill returned after sitting out injured in Week 12, and he finished with four total touchdowns. Hill threw for 325 yards and three scores on 16-of-26 passing, carving up the Baylor secondary. He added 21 rushing yards and a score on the ground. The TCU defense gave up 314 yards through the air, but turned the Bears one-dimensional in the process.
A win over the hapless Bears won’t do much for TCU’s position in the College Football Playoff rankings. But they could climb up into the top 10 and a spot in a New Year’s Six game if they take down the Sooners in the rematch next week.
Penn State blew out Maryland on the road to finish out a 10-2 regular season. The Nittany Lions won’t get a chance to repeat as Big Ten champions, but they should continue to sit in the top 10 of the College Football Playoff rankings after their 66-3 rout of the Terrapins.
Trace McSorley went 22-of-33 for 237 yards and two passing touchdowns. Then backup quarterback Tommy Stevens came in, throwing for just 11 yards and a touchdown but racking up 113 rushing yards and three scores on the ground. Heisman hopeful Saquon Barkley finished with 77 yards and two rushing scores, but was shut down with just a single four-yard reception and one kick return for three yards.
Now the Nittany Lions await the announcement of their bowl destination. A New Year’s Six invitation could still be in play for James Franklin‘s team, depending on what happens next weekend during conference championship games.
USC finished its season a week earlier than most teams, concluding with a takedown of UCLA the weekend before Thanksgiving. The Trojans finished the regular season with 10 wins, and now they will prepare for a rematch against Stanford in the Pac-12 championship game next weekend.
Though they won’t get a chance to avenge the loss to Washington State, the Trojans will be clear favorites to claim their first conference title since it was still the Pac-10 back in 2008. With a couple more big games, Sam Darnold could cap his college career with a 4000-yard passing season before heading to the NFL.
Clay Helton‘s squad has pretty much zero chance of squeaking into the College Football Playoff, after losing to the Cougars in conference play and Notre Dame out of conference. But a spot in the Fiesta Bowl is their likeliest destination if the Trojans can win next weekend against a Cardinal squad they’ve already taken down once this season.
Approaching the 10th anniversary of its Backyard Brawl upset of No. 2 West Virginia that kept the Mountaineers out of the BCS championship game, another 4-7 Pitt team took down another No. 2 team in the country. As a result, Miami fell from the ranks of the unbeaten and will fall out of the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings when they come out again on Tuesday.
Pitt did everything right, shutting down Miami’s running game (45 yards on 23 carries) and making life difficult for Malik Rosier. The Hurricanes quarterback finished with 187 yards and two touchdowns, and didn’t throw an interception. But he completed just 15 of his 34 attempts, took three sacks, and gave up a fumble in the 24-14 defeat.
The College Football Playoff selection committee was skeptical of the Hurricanes until the past few weeks. They will probably drop Miami seven to nine spots down the Top 25 as a result of this loss. But Miami is still in the hunt for a spot in the semifinals, as the ACC championship will still likely serve as a play-in game between the Canes and Clemson.
Ohio State had already locked up its spot in the Big Ten championship game. They still had plenty of motivation to take down rival Michigan in The Game on Saturday. The Wolverines gave the Buckeyes a scare, leading 20-14 in the third quarter. But Urban Meyer’s team pulled away with the final 17 points of the game, running away with a 31-20 victory for its 10th win of the year.
The biggest question emerging from the game is the health of quarterback J.T. Barrett, who left the game in the third quarter with a knee injury. After the game, Meyer asserted that Barrett had been injured in pregame warmups by a cameraman. If he is unable to go against Wisconsin in the conference championship, the Buckeyes will turn to Dwayne Haskins. The backup came in and went 6-of-7 for 94 yards and added 24 yards on three carries.
Ohio State will present an intriguing question for the College Football Playoff selection committee if they beat Wisconsin in Indianapolis. They lost to Big 12 frontrunner Oklahoma in September, but they also dropped a blowout to Iowa on the road. With a conference title, though, it might be hard to keep the powerhouse out of the semifinals.
Georgia already punched its ticket to the SEC championship game several weeks ago. Now the Bulldogs know they will get a chance to avenge their only loss of the season against Auburn, after the Tigers took down Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Georgia took care of their own business in its non-conference rivalry game against Georgia Tech, beating the Yellow Jackets 38-7 to cap an 11-1 regular season.
The Bulldogs got an efficient performance from freshman quarterback Jake Fromm. Georgia’s young passer went 12-of-16 for 224 yards and two touchdowns, just the third time in his college career that Fromm has thrown for over 200 yards. A balanced and multifaceted backfield combined to amass 247 yards and three scores, led by Sony Michel‘s 85 yards and a touchdown. Georgia Tech, known for its run-heavy option offense, was held to 226 total yards of offense.
Now they get a shot to redeem that loss on the Plains earlier this season. If Georgia takes down Auburn in the rematch for the SEC title, they will almost certainly land one of the four coveted spots in the College Football Playoff.
A new team will vault into the top spot of the College Football Playoff Top 25, as Alabama lost for the first time this season against No. 6 Auburn in another classic Iron Bowl. The Crimson Tide had the lead in the third quarter, but 16 unanswered points by the Tigers knocked Bama off its perch as the top team in the country.
Jalen Hurts was outplayed by Jarrett Stidham, as he finished just 13-of-23 for 177 yards and a touchdown. He added 80 rushing yards, but it wasn’t enough to turn things in the Tide’s favor. Also falling down on the job was the Alabama defense, which gave up 104 rushing yards and a touchdown to Kerryon Johnson along with a trick jump-pass score by the tailback.
Now Alabama is left to wait on the sideline to see if they can sneak into the College Football Playoff without a conference championship to its name, much like Ohio State did last season. They won’t fall far outside the top four, but they will be on the outside looking in when the next Top 25 is released on Tuesday.
By the time the dust settles on Week 13, Wisconsin remained one of just two undefeated teams left in the FBS. The Badgers won the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe for the 14th straight year in a dominant 31-0 shutout of Minnesota in Minneapolis on Saturday afternoon. They will almost certainly climb up into a College Football Playoff spot ahead of their Big Ten championship game showdown against Ohio State.
Jonathan Taylor rushed for 149 yards in the victory, possibly booking his trip to the Heisman ceremony as a true freshman. Alex Hornibrook finished with 151 yards and three touchdowns on 15-of-19 passing. And the nation’s top defense held Minnesota to just 133 total yards of offense as they pitched the first shutout in the rivalry since 1982.
The College Football Playoff selection committee hasn’t been impressed with the Badgers so far this season. But as the only remaining Power Five team with a perfect record they will move up to No. 3 or No. 4 in the committee’s rankings when they come out again on Tuesday. If they beat the Buckeyes in Indianapolis, Wisconsin will be in the Playoff.
In an Iron Bowl that once again served as the de facto SEC West divisional championship game, No. 6 Auburn took down top-ranked Alabama on Saturday. It was a decisive win by the Tigers, who now prepare to play a rematch against Georgia in the SEC championship game next week.
Baylor transfer Jarrett Stidham had a solid performance to lead the Tigers to the upset. He threw for 237 yards on 21-of-28 passing and adding 51 yards and a touchdown on a dozen carries. Kerryon Johnson also had a big game, running for 104 yards and a touchdown and adding a three-yard jump pass for a touchdown.
Now Gus Malzahn’s team has a legitimate chance to become the first two-loss team to earn a bid into the College Football Playoff. If they can take down Georgia next weekend in their rematch for the SEC title in Atlanta, the selection committee will almost certainly put the Tigers into the semifinals.
Oklahoma kept itself in the thick of the College Football Playoff race with a decisive four-touchdown win over West Virginia to cap its regular season. With its 11th win of the season, the Sooners will head into the Big 12 championship game firmly anchored in a top-four position in the CFP Top 25 and needing only to beat TCU again for a trip to the Rose Bowl or Sugar Bowl.
Baker Mayfield was sidelined for the first series against the Mountaineers after his antics against Kansas. Once he entered the game, though, it mattered little that he was not given the start. Mayfield finished 14-of-17 for 281 yards and three touchdowns. Rodney Anderson went off for 118 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries.
The one question mark was Oklahoma’s defense, which gave up nearly 400 yards to a West Virginia team playing without starting quarterback Will Grier. But defense has been the question mark all year for the Sooners, as it is for most of the Big 12. If they can lock down on the Horned Frogs again, a Playoff spot is essentially guaranteed at this point.
Defending national champion Clemson staked its claim on the top spot in the College Football Playoff rankings with a takedown of No. 24 South Carolina in the Battle for the Palmetto State on Saturday. Unlike No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Miami, the Tigers never came close to being upset by the Gamecocks.
Kelly Bryant, the heir to Deshaun Watson as Clemson’s quarterback, went 23-of-34 for 272 yards. He threw an interception, but made up for it with two touchdown passes. Bryant also ran 10 times for 26 yards, leading the Tigers to another big win. Clemson went off for 181 yards on the ground as a team, and their defense held the Gamecocks to just 207 total yards of offense.
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Now all Clemson needs to do to book its third straight trip to the College Football Playoff is defeat Miami when they meet next weekend in Charlotte in the ACC championship game. Whichever team wins the conference title will likely book one of the four spots in the Playoff semifinals, while the other will be relegated to the Orange Bowl.