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Yesterday was an extra weird day of college football. Let’s get into it … starting with two top-five upsets.
Top-10 Upsets
Georgia, Miami go down
- CFP No. 16 Ole Miss 28, No. 2 Georgia 10: For the first time in 52 games, Georgia lost to a team not named Alabama. Lane Kiffin needed this win to keep his team’s College Football Playoff hopes alive and quiet the doubters of his big-game potential (he had not coached a win over an AP top-five team since 2011 at USC). Georgia’s three fourth-quarter drives encapsulated how frustrating this game was for the Dawgs, resulting in an interception, a strip sack and a turnover on downs.
- Georgia Tech 28, No. 4 Miami 23: The Hurricanes narrowly avoided upsets against Virginia Tech and Cal, but living on the edge caught up with them at Georgia Tech (a familiar kryptonite for the Canes). Yellow Jackets QB Haynes King made his first start in nearly a month and attempted only six passes due to a banged-up shoulder. But King and his team made up for it on the ground, outrushing Miami 271-88. As for last year’s kneel gate, oh yeah, Georgia Tech won’t be letting that go either.
Only in College Football
Ranking the weirdness
Here are the other bizarre things that happened on Saturday ranked from 🤯(definitely unique) to 🤯 🤯🤯🤯 (you HAVE to see this).
🤯 Indiana is 10-0 for the first time EVER after beating Michigan 20-15. Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti isn’t done either, shrugging off his team’s historic start in a postgame interview: “What are we 10-0? … Not bad.” But here’s the real kicker. Cignetti’s daughter, Natalie, got engaged on the field after the game as the jumbotron read: “Natalie, every day with you is 10-0, will you marry me?” IU, clearly in the Big Ten title and CFP picture, really is experiencing a season like no other.
🤯 🤯🤯 Texas Tech fans are known to throw tortillas on the field at kickoff, but with Colorado in town, the decades-long tradition had some added flare to it. Buffs two-way star Travis Hunter picked up a tortilla and tucked it into his pants before the game began. Later, Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders signed a tortilla, telling reporters, “They just kept throwing them at me, so I had to sign one.” No. 21 Colorado beat Texas Tech 41-27 to gain sole possession of second place in the Big 12.
🤯 🤯 Ole Miss has a squirrel problem … or maybe a squirrel good luck charm. The No. 16 Rebels are now 2-0 in games with squirrel appearances (yesterday’s win vs. Georgia and a win against Oklahoma on Oct. 26). With just one regular-season home game left in Oxford, the squirrel is on track to retain his redshirt.
🤯🤯🤯 LSU announced during the week it would bring out a live tiger before its game against Alabama, but instead of resident mascot Mike VII, a tiger named Omar Bradley would be sent in from Florida for the pregame showing (he was still introduced as Mike, which was met with a mix of cheers and boos). Adding a wrinkle, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a complaint and requested action against the animal’s Florida owner. That was probably the most dramatic part of this SEC showdown. No. 11 Alabama comfortably beat No. 14 LSU 42-13, essentially eliminating the Tigers’ CFP chances as Garrett Nussmeier and the LSU offense went cold and Jalen Milroe wreaked havoc on Brian Kelly’s squad for the second straight season.
🤯🤯🤯🤯 The Jacksonville State–Louisiana Tech ending was one of the wildest of the weekend. After trailing all of the second half, JSU came back to tie the score with a 49-yard Hail Mary as time expired. The Gamecocks were an extra point away from winning the game … but the kick sailed wide, and the game went to overtime with the score tied at 37. JSU prevailed in OT to win 44-37 and remains tied atop the Conference USA standings with Western Kentucky.
🤯🤯🤯🤯 But the ultimate weird ending goes to No. 9 BYU holding off Utah 22-21. The Utes looked like they had the game in the bag, pressuring Cougars QB Jake Retzlaff deep in BYU territory and sacking him on fourth-and-10. But BYU got a first down off a Utes holding call and took advantage to take the lead on a 44-yard field goal. Utah AD Mark Harlan blasted Big 12 officials afterward, saying the “game was absolutely stolen from us.” Just look at the Cougars’ win probability late in the second half, and you’ll understand why we’re glad to have this Holy War rivalry back as a conference affair.
Playoff Predictions
SMU surges, Georgia drops
Here’s my projection for Tuesday’s CFP rankings:
- ACC: SMU (8-1) should become the highest-ranked ACC team and be projected to earn a first-round bye. The No. 12 Mustangs, who gave up nine years of ACC TV revenue to join the conference, are alone atop the ACC standings after their bye week. Miami (9-1) will take a big dip from No. 4 and fall out of the Playoff projection.
- SEC: Texas (8-1) should jump to pole position in the SEC. The Longhorns blew out Florida 49-17 as Quinn Ewers threw for a season-high 333 yards and five TDs. There are only two other one-loss teams in the conference (Texas A&M and Tennessee). I could see the Vols jumping into the top five, and the committee will like Alabama’s win against LSU. The committee will make Ole Miss (8-2) fans mad by keeping Georgia (7-2) in the field on the strength of its win against Texas.
- Big Ten: The three teams with the best chance of making the CFP, per Austin Mock, all reign from the Big Ten (Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana). The committee should keep Oregon and Ohio State as Nos. 1 and 2. I can see it moving Penn State into the top five and Indiana up two spots to No. 6 (the Hoosiers won’t jump the Nittany Lions because the committee already showed its hand there). There’s a BIG drop-off after the Big Ten’s top four, but the conference should be pleased with the fact that it’s well-positioned for four teams to make the field.
- Big 12: It looked like BYU (9-0) was going to stumble, but the Cougars survived and so did their CFP hopes. Outside the Playoff bracket, the biggest movement in the Big 12 will come from 7-1 Colorado, which should jump a few spots and has a legitimate chance to control its destiny with a shot at the conference title and CFP bid.
- Group of 5: If BYU had lost, I would have predicted Boise State (8-1) to be ranked ahead of the top Big 12 team and earn a first-round bye, but the Cougars held on, which will keep Boise State as the G5 representative and a participant in the first round. The Broncos beat Nevada 28-21 yesterday in a game that was put away by Ashton Jeanty (of course).
Quick Snaps
Alabama got its act together against LSU. Stewart Mandel takes a look at the Tide and more in his Final Thoughts.
What did we learn about the CFP from Week 11? Ralph Russo breaks it all down.
In Michigan’s loss to Indiana, Austin Meek believes Sherrone Moore’s game management should be called into question.
Want a brain teaser? Check out Seth Emerson’s SEC championship tiebreaker explainer.
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(Top photo of Kirby Smart: Justin Ford / Getty Images)
