Week 12 Upsets Readjust College Football Landscape and Potential Playoff Final Four
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
A couple of Cinderella seasons came crashing down while other storybook campaigns continued after another wild weekend of college football. Of all the ups and downs offered by the sport we all love, none was bigger than the fall of Ohio State at the hands of bitter rival Michigan State.
Big Ten
One Cinderella continuing to enjoy the party is the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa (11-0, 7-0) jumped out to an early lead against Purdue coasting to a 40-20 win and in the process punched their ticket to the Big Ten Championship game. The flip side of the conference in the East Division is a mess after then- No. 9 Michigan State upended No. 3 Ohio State 17-14 on a last second 41-yard field goal.
Michigan went on the road putting another nice in-conference win together beating Penn State 28-16. With the Wolverines win and the outcome of the Michigan State vs. Ohio State game, there is now a three-way tie atop the East pending the outcome of Ohio State vs. Michigan and Penn State vs. Michigan State game in Week 13. The Spartans are in the driver’s seat with their lone loss of the season coming against Nebraska (39-38 on Nov. 7).
The other game of interest in the Big Ten was Northwestern beating Wisconsin 13-7.
American Athletic Conference
The AAC continued to cannibalize upon one another with Connecticut undercutting the best hope the conference had of getting one of their own into a top bowl when the Huskies beat previously unbeaten Houston (10-1, 6-1) 20-17 at home. Temple (9-2, 6-1) regained their mojo at home against Memphis (8-3, 4-3) winning 31-12.
The newly emerging team out of the AAC is Navy. The Midshipmen are 9-1, 7-0, and are heading into a championship game against Temple.
Atlantic Coast Conference
The freight train that is No. 1 Clemson is looking too tough for anyone to beat heading into the postseason. The Tigers walloped Wake Forest 33-13 at home and get a beat up South Carolina team next week to close out the regular season.
North Carolina sewed up the Coastal Division getting a 30-27 overtime win over an emotional Virginia Tech team trying to send head coach Frank Beamer out on a winning note. Other games of note, Duke continued their free fall losing to Virginia 42-34 and Pitt got a nice home win over Louisville coming out ahead 45-34. North Carolina finishes the season next week against in-state rival N.C. State.
Not technically a conference game, but Boston College’s defense frustrated Notre Dame enough to put a scare in the Fighting Irish before falling 19-16 at Fenway Stadium. The close win jumped Iowa over Notre Dame in the AP.
Pac-12
The turbulent Pac-12 remained just that in Week 12 with USC falling to Oregon 48-28 and Utah dropping a home game to UCLA 17-9. Stanford got a tough win over Cal taking the visiting Golden Bears 35-22 setting up what will be a college football final four play in-game for Notre Dame in Week 13 against the Cardinal.
Washington State (8-3, 6-2) continued their big season getting an impressive 27-3 win over Colorado at home. The wheels have complete come off for Rich Rodriguez at Arizona with the Wildcats dropping an important rivalry game against Arizona State 52-37. Washington moved one game away from becoming bowl eligible beating Oregon State 52-7.
The South Division has a three-way tie with UCLA, USC, and Utah all knotted up at 5-3. Utah gets a reprieve with Colorado coming to town in Week 13 but UCLA and USC will duke it out at the Coliseum on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET). Utah has losses to both squads, the Utes lost to USC 42-24 on Oct. 24 and UCLA 17-9 on Nov. 21.
Big 12
Another Cinderella season that came crashing down on Saturday was when Oklahoma State (10-1, 7-1) lost to Baylor 45-35. TCU dropped out of the national picture with a heartbreaking 30-29 loss to Oklahoma in Norman. The win for OU propelled the blueblood back into a possible final four berth if the Sooners can take care of business against the Cowboys on Saturday.
Baylor (9-1, 6-1) is still in play for a potential final four berth if they can end the season on a high note when they travel to TCU this weekend and then square off against Texas on Dec. 5. Despite the Cowboys loss, a win over Oklahoma could help OSU make up some ground in the playoff selection committee’s eyes depending on how all the other teams fair. Without a Big 12 championship to crown an outright winner, especially in the eyes of the fans and playoff selection committee, the teams in play need some help in the form of upsets if a big leap into the playoffs is to be had.
SEC
Nothing of note on the grand stage happened in the SEC during “cupcake weekend” but a few teams got a couple of scares and South Carolina walked away with egg on their face losing to the Citadel 23-22 at home. Georgia held on to beat Georgia Southern as did Florida in a 20-14 win at home over Florida Atlantic.
The in-conference games saw LSU hit a three-game losing streak with Ole Miss getting the 38-17 win over the visiting Tigers. Tennessee won on the road 19-8 as did Mississippi State topping Arkansas 51-50. Texas A&M got a rare shutout victory beating Vanderbilt 25-0 in Nashville.
The SEC Championship Game is set with Florida taking on Alabama. The Gators can up their national status with a home win in Week 13 over Florida State. Alabama can only lose ground against Auburn in the Iron Bowl. A win for Auburn would make their season. Kentucky and Missouri need to close out with wins this week for both teams to become bowl eligible. Vanderbilt (4-7, 2-5) and South Carolina (3-8, 1-7) are the only teams mathematically eliminated from getting a bowl invite.
Breaking Down the Rankings
Clemson and Iowa are the only undefeated teams left in Division-I football. Ohio State fell from No. 2 to No. 8 while Oklahoma State fell from No. 4 to No. 9. Michigan State jumped from No. 9 to No. 6 and Oklahoma slid up two spots to No. 5. Iowa had a three spot gain landing at No. 3 and Notre Dame benefited one spot to No. 4. Florida stayed in the Top 10 but lost two spots despite winning. Houston lost the biggest ground going from No. 13 to No. 21.
In and Out
UCLA, Mississippi State, Toledo, and Temple all got back into the rankings while three teams at one-time ranked in the Top 10 fell out of the rankings, LSU, Utah, and USC, as did Wisconsin.
Week 13 AP Rankings
- Clemson (55)
- Alabama (6)
- Iowa
- Notre Dame
- Oklahoma
- Michigan State
- Baylor
- Ohio State
- Oklahoma State
- Florida
- North Carolina
- Michigan
- Stanford
- Florida State
- TCU
- Navy
- Northwestern
- Oregon
- Ole Miss
- Washington State
- Houston
- UCLA
- Mississippi State
- Toledo
- Temple
Photo credit: Jay LaPrete; Tyler O’Connor throws a pass against Ohio State