Rivalry week gets most of the attention, but the penultimate Saturday of the regular season always seems to surprise everyone. No. 11 Ole Miss lost a shocker against Florida to kick off the proceedings. No. 4 Penn State, No. 25 Illinois and No. 3 Texas needed second efforts to escape matchups against lesser opponents.
However, the Big 12 remains the most chaotic conference in the sport. Both Big 12 favorites Colorado and BYU dropped stunners to shake up the conference race. The Buffs lost against a Kansas team fighting for bowl eligibility, while Arizona State wrested away the Big 12-favorite mantle from the Cougars. As of publication, the tiebreaker scenarios in the conference remain unclear.
In the night slate, No. 19 Army will make its CFP case against No. 6 Notre Dame. No. 15 Texas A&M will also try and take care of its part of the challenge to make next week’s Lone Star Showdown for a trip to the SEC Championship Game a reality. Here are the biggest winners and losers in college football’s Week 13.
Nebraska is a blue-blood program. It has five claimed national championships and 46 conference titles. The ‘Huskers also had the longest bowl drought in power conference football… until Saturday.
After beating Wisconsin 44-25, Nebraska finally reached its elusive sixth win. The Cornhuskers had gone 0-8 with a chance to reach bowl eligibility under coach Matt Rhule. Amazingly, it was the midseason addition of offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen that proved the difference. Nebraska exploded for 473 yards of offense to return to the postseason.
Loser: Ole Miss
The Rebels invested a tremendous amount of money into their roster in hopes of competing with the best. After beating Georgia by three scores, Ole Miss had a red carpet to the College Football Playoff if it could simply avoid tripping over its own feet. Unfortunately, that proved to be too tall an order.
Florida shocked Ole Miss 24-17 to hand the Rebels their third loss and essentially eliminate them from College Football Playoff contention. Ole Miss turned the ball over three times, including a game-sealing interception from quarterback Jaxson Dart.
With the logjam of two-loss teams across college football, it’s highly unlikely Ole Miss’s resume will warrant an at-large CFP bid. Ole Miss had a manageable schedule and one of the most compelling playoff cases in America coming into the year. After dropping against both Florida and Kentucky, it’s hard to view this season as anything but a failure.
Despite boasting some of the best talent in the country, the Buckeyes’ pass rush has been maligned this season for inconsistent play. In a 38-15 win over No. 5 Indiana, the Buckeyes’ defense proved its championship mettle. And specifically, the OSU pass rush took over.
Ohio State sacked Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke five times and were credited with another QB hurry. Linebacker Cody Simon generated 2.5 sacks from the second level and both Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau each created opportunities with stunts. Even without the stats, Ohio State made Rourke’s life miserable, holding him to only 68 yards on 18 attempts.
The Buckeyes have the No. 2 defense in the nation, but adding another layer of disruption is the difference between a serious national championship team.
Loser: Big 12 contenders
BYU and Colorado were on a collision course into the Big 12 Championship Game after entering the day as the only one-loss teams in conference play. Instead, they both lost key games that suddenly throw their Big 12 case into question.
The Cougars were underdogs on the road against Arizona State and the Sun Devils played like it. ASU took a 21-0 lead before BYU could even get on the board in a 28-23 decision where the Cougs landed only three yards short. Similarly, Kansas jumped out to a 17-0 start in a 37-21 win over the Buffs. The Jayhawks rushed for 331 yards and got 287 yards and four touchdowns from running back Devin Neal.
As of publication, four teams are tied with two in the loss column in the Big 12 race: Colorado, BYU, Iowa State and Arizona State. Because of the number of potential outcomes, there’s no clarity on the tiebreaker at this point. Regardless, both teams cost themselves control of their own destiny.
Winner: SMU
SMU made one of the biggest gambles in college football when it opted to join the ACC with no promise of media rights payouts for seven years. The Dallas private school has plenty of money, but that’s a $200 million hole compared to its rivals. And yet, the Mustangs shocked college football by becoming the first team to ever reach a conference championship game in its first season of Power Four competition.
The Mustangs decimated Virginia 33-7 to reach 10 wins and become the first ACC team to clinch a spot in the title game. Quarterback Kevin Jennings had another sensational performance with 323 yards and three touchdowns, which should only bolster his All-ACC case.
SMU won its first conference championship since receiving the death penalty last season on its way out of the AAC. Now, the Mustangs are two wins away from the College Football Playoff.
Winner: Florida coach Billy Napier
There were moments this season that Florida looked like one of the worst teams in the entire country. With quarterback DJ Lagway out, the Gators lost 49-17 against Texas only one game after announcing Napier would return. But after shocking No. 9 Ole Miss, the Gators are riding high.
With the win, Florida has won consecutive games against ranked opponents for the first time since 2018. UF beat then-No. 22 LSU one week ago. Additionally, Lagway is emerging as one of the young, exciting quarterbacks in college football. Napier’s tenure has juice for the first time in years and could conceivably finish with eight wins.