Oklahoma Back On Track With Huge Comeback Win

Week Twelve was somewhat overshadowed by the unfortunate injury to Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa, who having just returned from ankle surgery sadly went down with a dislocated hip. Sadly his season is now done, and it will probably cost him his Heisman chances and possibly affect his draft position next year.  On this, we are a little surprised that some commentators are writing Alabama off stating the CFP committee will downgrade the Tide due to not having him at QB. In Football as with any other sport its results that count and if Alabama beat Auburn in the Iron Bowl and finish 11-1 with their only loss being to an unbeaten LSU then the No Four slot should be within reach. Excluding a winning team because they did it without their star would make the whole process unfit for purpose.

On the Field, the night’s big result was Oklahoma’s comeback win at Baylor, which not only ended the Bears hopes of an unbeaten season but was also Oklahoma’s largest comeback win ever. Their previous best being overcoming a 21-point deficit and they have only managed that twice, against Iowa State in 1970 and Kansas State in 1981. They might need the brownie points from this given the Big 12 is not looking too strong this year. Baylor will get their chance at revenge in three weeks as they will most likely meet in the Conference Final.

Otherwise, there was not too much change with Minnesota being the only loser in the top 10. The top three all boosted their credentials with high scoring wins, with Clemson being particularly impressive in putting Wake Forest to the sword 52-3. They seem to be hitting their stride at just the right time and only South Carolina stands between them and a second consecutive unbeaten regular season. Mind you the Gamecocks did upset Georgia earlier in the season so we will watch that one with interest.

Playoff Position

As we said last week there is no scenario in which we see a two-loss team making the final four and the weeks results just reinforced that view. There are still eight 9-1 teams who could crash the top four – (yes we know there are still some one-loss group of five teams but does anyone seriously think the CFP would let one in!). The good news is that the final week’s games leave a lot of permutations and the final place or two should come down to the results of the conference finals.

The Cotton Bowl At Large Place Still Up For Grabs

This race which is effectively the Group of Fives National Championship is still quite open, with only Navy & Lousiana Tech dropping out. It is now down to Six teams and although the AAC holds most of the Aces there is a risk they could end up ruining each other’s chances as there are some head to heads coming up. Both Cincinnati & Memphis won to join SMU on 9-1, however, they will meet in their season finale, while SMU has a tricky game at Navy coming up. Then, of course, two of them will meet in the Conference Final. There is a fairly plausible scenario which sees them all with two losses which could open the door to…

Boise State who were a bit more impressive this week beating New Mexico 42-9, and putting up over 500 yards of offense. They have a couple of tough road games to finish out the regular season, but if they survive them and take the Mountain West Conference Title then at 12-1 They are in the mix. With that loss being by 3 points on the road to Bowl eligible BYU they should leapfrog a two-loss AAC champ.

However, most neutrals will be rooting for Appalachian State who had a huge road win at Georgia State, their nearest divisional rivals. They are pretty much assured a place in the Sun Belt Conference final now and with two road wins over Power Five Teams you can’t knock their schedule. It would be the first time in history that the Sun Belt has sent a team to a New Year Bowl if they make it., which puts their achievements into perspective; they only joined the FBS in 2014!

Our Predictions

No major shocks last week so we ended up 19-2 straight up, and 12-9 against the spread

CFP Top 25 Results For 2019 Week Twelve

Notre Dame kept their New Year Bowl hopes alive with a demolition job on a ranked Navy side. They raced off to a 38-0 lead before easing off a bit. At 8-2 they are still on the outside having lost the head to head with Michigan, but they should leapfrog Auburn this week.  Penn States narrow win over Indiana is still a quality one (well in our opinion) as the Hoosiers are having one of their best seasons in as long as we can remember. Things are nicely set up for the decisive clash with Ohio State this weekend.

No 11 Florida 23 @ Missouri 6

No 5 Alabama 38 @ Miss. State 7

Kansas 13 @ No 22 Oklahoma State 31

Indiana 27 @ No 9 Penn State 34

Michigan State 10 @ No 15 Michigan 44

No 14 Wisconsin 37 @ Nebraska 21

No 23 Navy 20 @ No 16 Notre Dame 52

Wake Forest 3 @ No 3 Clemson 52

West Virginia 20 @ No 24 Kansas State 20

No 4 Georgia 21 @ No 12 Auburn 14

No 19 Texas 21 @ Iowa State 23

No 18 Memphis 45 @ Houston 27

No 2 Ohio State 56 @ Rutgers 21

No 8 Minnesota 19 @ No 20 Iowa 23

No 17 Cincinnati 20 @ South Florida 17

No 1 LSU 58 @ Ole Miss 37

No 10 Oklahoma 34 @ No 13 Baylor 31

No 25 Appalachian State 56 @ Georgia State 27

UCLA 3 @ No 7 Utah 49

New Mexico 9 @ No 21 Boise State 42

Arizona 6 @ No 6 Oregon 34

Overall six ranked teams lost, although with four all ranked clashes this was not too surprising. The Big 12 was the biggest loser with Baylor Texas & Kansas State all going down. How this will affect Oklahoma when the day of reckoning comes it remains to be seen. However, right now a one-loss Sooners might need some help.

Racking them up

Outside of the Top 25 results, the honour goes to:

Texas State 27 – 63 Troy. QB Kaleb Barker had a great night throwing for 363 yards and a program-record six touchdown passes. This win keeps their Bowl hopes alive, moving them to 5-5. Let’s hope they get there as it should be fun to watch given their scoring prowess (they have scored at least 33 points in all but one of their games this year).

 

Entertaining Game of the Week (outside of the Top 25)

A few candidates here but we settled on:

North Carolina 27 @ Pittsburgh 34 (OT). This pretty much had it all 956 yards of offense, a nice fightback by UNC, winding up with a Field Goal to tie the game in the last few seconds. Pittsburgh just about deserved the OT win and still have a chance at the Conference Final now.

Honourable mention goes to…

Central Michigan 45 @ Ball State 44.  Just short of 1000 yards combined offense, and a late TD to win it. Well worth a watch if you can find it on catch up.

Arizona State 34 @ Oregon 35. The Sun Devils came close with a late rally but ultimately failed on a missed 2pt conversion attempt. Both are now 5-5 and ASU after a promising start has now lost their last four conference games.

 

Performance of the Week

Buffalo 27 @ Kent State 30. The Bulls probably still can’t believe they lost this one leading 27-6 with less than eight minutes left and dominating the game. However, it was not to be as Kent State put up 24 unanswered points, clinching the game with a Field Goal as time expired. Buffalo really need to work on their clock management and special teams play!

 

One you might have missed

Air Force 38 @ Colorado State 21. The Falcons have been flying below the radar (sorry we couldn’t resist including one bad pun) and suddenly a ten-win season looks on the cards. They could still make the Mountain West Conference Final if Boise slips up.

 

Still Unbeaten – Down To Three

Two more unbeaten records fell this week, with Minnesota showing they are not as good on the road, while Baylor must be wondering how they blew a 25 point lead! The final Three are:

In The ACC – Clemson 11-0

In The Big Ten – Ohio State 10-0

In The SEC – LSU 10-0

Will any remain by season end?

Please, can we have a win!

Like busses, you wait for what seems like ages then two arrive together! Firstly New Mexico State take a bow! The Aggies have finally got a one in the win column, admittedly against Incarnate Word, a middling FCS team, but hey they will take it and it was done with a dash of panache, putting up 611 yards of offense. They even managed to lose the turn over battle 3-2 and come out on the right side of a 41-28 scoreline.

Next up was Rice, who took advantage of a first play fumble by the Blue Raiders to get what would turn out to be the decisive 3 points. Despite racing into a 31-14 lead they had to endure a nervy last 3 minutes after Mid Tennessee pulled it back to 31-28.

So this currently leaves Akon holding the wooden spoon at 0-10. Sadly for them, things don’t get any easier next week as they have to travel to division leaders Miami (Ohio) for a midweek game where they will start 30.5 point underdogs. Still, miracles do occasionally happen.

 

Stat Attack Week Twelve

• Most Yards: LSU vs. Ole Miss, 716 yards
• Most Combined Yards: LSU – 716  Ole Miss – 614 1330 combined yards
• Most Points: Troy vs. Texas State, 63 points
• Biggest winning margin: 49 points Clemson v Wake Forest 
• Most Combined Points: LSU (58) vs. Ole Miss (37), 95 points

Offensive Leaders Week 12

Passing

Anthony Gordon Washington State 44-60, 520 yds, 5TDs
Davis Mills (STAN) 32-49, 494 yds, 3TDs
Joe Burrow LSU 32-42, 489 yds, 5TDs

Rushing 

Evan Hull (Northwestern) 24 attempts 220 yds, 4TD
John Rhys Plumlee (QB) Ole Miss 21 attempts 212 yds, 4TD
Kelvin Hopkins Jr  (QB) Army 16 att 208 yds, 1TD

Not often you see two Quarterbacks leading the rushing stats!

Receiving 

Ja’Marr Chase LSU 8 rec 227 yds, 3TD
Michael Pittman Jr. USC 11 rec 180 yds, 1TD
Corey Sutton Appalachian State 8 rec 173 yds, 3TD

AP Rankings Week 12

The CFP rankings will be out later this week so watch out for our observations but until then here is the AP Top 25 – as at 17th November 2019:

1 LSU 10-0
2 Ohio State 10-0
3 Clemson 11-0
4 Georgia 9-1
5 Alabama 9-1
6 Oregon 9-1
7 Utah 9-1
8 Oklahoma 9-1
9 Penn State 9-1
10 Florida 9-2
11 Minnesota 9-1
12 Michigan 8-2
13 Baylor 9-1
14 Wisconsin 8-2
15 Notre Dame 8-2
16 Auburn 7-3
17 Cincinnati 9-1
18 Memphis 9-1
19 Iowa 7-3
20 Boise State 9-1
21 SMU 9-1
22 Oklahoma State 7-3
23 Appalachian State 9-1
24 Texas A&M 7-3
25 Virginia Tech 7-3