Week 12 College Football Review

I have come to the opinion that teams should not be allowed to schedule non-Division 1 opponents after Week 5. This was an awful week for football. The football was so bad that Baker Mayfield giving his opinion of Kansas' efforts to frustrate him had not worked.

This coming week is the last regular season week for most teams. Most teams are also playing rival games. With Thanksgiving and these games it should be a good week of football.

Playoff Teams

1. Alabama Crimson Tide (11-0)

Alabama beat a non-Division 1 school in their preparation for the Iron Bowl. Not much else to say about that.

Last week: Defeated Mercer 56-0

Up next: at #2 Auburn

2. Oklahoma Sooners (10-1)

Oklahoma easily defeated Kansas this week but naturally that is not the story people are talking about. What people are talking about is the rude gesture and language that Baker Mayfield directed at Kansas players after a TD. Baker has apologized for his actions, which he should have. What I find distressing is the entire context that has been left out of the situation. This is something that commonly happens on the political side, but the efforts being undertaken by the media in trying to slime Mayfield is quite astounding.

Naturally I am not giving Mayfield a pass, however before the game even started Kansas players refused to shake Mayfield's hand. During the game the Kansas defense played unusually dirty and aggressive, throwing Mayfield down during plays or after tackling him holding him to the ground. This kind of thing happens all the time in football but the lengths that the Kansas players went to, I understand why Mayfield did what he did.

Having said this, the story will be an non-story by Monday. It was not that huge of an issue. On a weekend where so many teams are playing cupcakes the media has to talk about something.

​Last week: Defeated Kansas 41-3

Up next: at home against West Virginia

3. Miami Hurricanes (10-0)

For a large part of the game against Virginia, Miami looked like a team that was going to lose. They quickly went down 14-0 before coming back to tie the game. From there it was a dogfight until Miami went on a 20-0 run to end the game.

​Last week: Defeated Virginia 44-28

Up next: at Pitt (Friday 11/24)

4. Wisconsin Badgers (11-0)

Wisconsin continued on it's winning ways taking out Michigan on a very cold wet day. If Wisconsin wins out (which includes the Big Ten Championship game) they will be in the playoffs

​Last week: Defeated Michigan 24-10

Up next: at Minnesota

Next Two Up

1. Clemson (10-1)

Another team with a non-Division 1 opponent. They won, moving on.

​Last week: Defeated the Citadel 61-3

Up next: at South Carolina

2. Auburn (8-2)

The won, at least it was against a Division 1 opponent, moving on.

​Last week: defeated Monroe 42-14

Up next: at home against #1 Playoff Alabama

Top 20

I continue working on the rest of this list to make it a bit more realistic as far as bowl match-ups are concerned. Ohio State won, but also dropped in the rankings. This is a bit personal (and I have no issues admitting that). The Buckeyes were destroyed at home by Oklahoma and embarrassed at Iowa, yet somehow if they win out they have a better chance of making the playoffs of undefeated Miami and what would be one loss Wisconsin. The pollsters have some kind of infatuation with the Buckeyes I do not understand for a second.

3. Georgia(10-1)(up 4): ​Last week: Defeated Kentucky 42-13; up next: at Georgia Tech

4. Penn State(9-2)(up 1): ​Last week: Defeated Nebraska 56-44; up next: at Maryland

5. TCU(9-2)(up 1): ​Last week: Defeated Texas Tech 27-3; up next: at Baylor (Friday 11/24)

6. Central Florida(10-0)(down 4): ​Last week: Defeated Temple 45-19; up next: at home against #16 South Florida (Friday 11/24)

7. Notre Dame(9-2)(up 1): ​Last week: Defeated Navy 24-17; up next: at #18 Stanford

8. USC(10-2)(up 2): ​Last week: Defeated UCLA 28-23​; up next: Off

9. Washington(9-2)(up 2): ​​Last week: Defeated Utah 33-30 up next: at home against #13 Washington State

10. Ohio State(9-2)(down 1): ​Last week: Defeated Illinois 52-14​; up next: at #17 Michigan

11. Oklahoma State(8-3)(down 7): ​Last week: Lost to Kansas State 45-40​; up next: at home against Kansas

12. Memphis(9-1)(-): ​Last week: ​Defeated SMU 66-45; up next: at home against East Carolina

13. Washington State(9-2)(up 1): Last week: Off; up next: at #11 Washington

14. Northwestern(8-3)(up 3): ​Last week: Defeated Minnesota 39-0; up next: at Illinois

15. Boise State(9-2)(up 1): ​Last week: Defeated Air Force 44-19​; up next: at Fresno

16. South Florida(9-1)(up 2): ​Last week; Defeated Tulsa 27-20​; up next: at #6 Central Florida

17. Michigan(8-3)(down 4): Last week: ​Lost to Wisconsin 24-10; up next: at home against #10 Ohio State

18. Stanford(8-3)(unranked): ​Last week: Defeated Cal 17-14; up next: at home against #7 Notre Dame

19. Mississippi State(8-3)(up 1): ​Last week: Defeated Arkansas 28-21; up next: at home against Ole Miss (Thursday 11/23)

20. Virginia Tech(8-3)(unranked): Last week: ​Defeated Pitt 20-14​; up next: at Virginia (Friday 11/24)

Falling Out: Arizona and West Virginia

Coming In: Stanford and Virginia Tech

Bowl and Playoff Projection

The playoff obviously stay the same this week as does all but one team in the New Year's Six as TCU replaces Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl. The only major change is that with Arkansas, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt all become bowl ineligible (in addition to Ole Miss which is banned from post season play this season) the SEC does not have enough teams to fill it's slots, so C-USA member Western Kentucky (who is bowl eligible) replaces the SEC slot in the Independence Bowl. Now, it is possible that if Vanderbilt wins it's last game to finish 5-7 they may still get a bowl invite, but we will wait and see on that (and in the mean time I will place bowl eligible teams in those empty slots.

Obviously I had Ole Miss in bowls until this week until I realized that they were not going bowling no matter their record. Attention to details sometimes is not my forte.

Playoffs

Rose Bowl

January 1st, 5 PM

#2 Oklahoma vs #3 Miami

Sugar Bowl

January 1st, 8:45 PM

#1 Alabama vs #4 Wisconsin

New Year's Six

Cotton Bowl

December 29th, 8:30 PM

#5 TCU vs #7 Notre Dame

Fiesta Bowl

December 30th, 4 PM

#8 USC vs #4 Penn State

Orange Bowl

December 30th, 8 PM

#1 Clemson vs #10 Ohio State

Peach Bowl

January 1st, 12:30 PM

#3 Georgia vs #6 Central Florida

Rest of the Bowls

December 13th

New Orleans Bowl

1 PM

Troy vs Florida International

Cure Bowl

2:30 PM

Tulane vs Appalachian State

Las Vegas Bowl

3:30 PM

Boise St vs Arizona St

New Mexico Bowl

4:30 PM

Alabama-Birmingham vs San Diego State

Camellia Bowl

8 PM

Akron vs Georgia State

December 19th

Boca Raton Bowl

7 PM

Temple vs Florida Atlantic

December 20th

Frisco Bowl

8 PM

Houston vs Louisiana-Monroe

​December 21st

Gasparilla Bowl

8 PM

South Florida vs North Texas

​December 22nd

Bahamas Bowl

12:30 PM

Southern Miss vs Ohio

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

4 PM

Northern Illinois vs Wyoming

​December 23rd

Birmingham Bowl

Noon

Missouri vs Memphis

Armed Forces Bowl

3:30 PM

Army ​vs Marshall

Dollar General Bowl

7 PM

Toledo vs Arkansas State

​December 24th

Hawai'i Bowl

8:30 PM

SMU vs Fresno St

December 26th

​ Heart of Dallas Bowl

1:30 PM

Texas Tech vs Indiana

Quick Lane Bowl

5:15 PM

Minnesota vs Duke

Cactus Bowl

10 PM

Kansas St vs Oregon

​December 27th

​ Independence Bowl

1:30 PM

Western Kentucky vs Florida State

Pinstripe Bowl

5:15 PM

Michigan vs Virginia

Foster Farms Bowl

8:30 PM

Purdue vs Washington State

Texas Bowl

9 PM

West Virginia vs Texas A&M

​December 28th

Military Bowl

1:30 PM

Navy vs Boston College

Camping World Bowl

5:15 PM

Texas vs Virginia Tech

Alamo Bowl

9 PM

Oklahoma State vs Stanford

Holiday Bowl

9 PM

Washington vs Northwestern

​December 29th

Belk Bowl

1 PM

Kentucky vs Louisville

Sun Bowl

3 PM

Arizona vs Georgia Tech

Music City Bowl

4:30 PM

Mississippi State vs Iowa

Arizona Bowl

5:30 PM

Louisiana vs Colorado St

December 30th

Taxslayer Bowl

Noon

South Carolina vs Wake Forest

Liberty Bowl

12:30 PM

Iowa State vs Florida

​January 1st

Outback Bowl

Noon

Michigan State vs LSU

Citrus Bowl

1 PM

Auburn vs North Carolina St

Game of the Week

​#1 Playoff Alabama at #2 Auburn

​There are actually quite a few choices this week but I can not overlook the Iron Bowl. If Auburn loses this week they are eliminated from the playoff. If they win they may still not make the playoffs but their chances improve dramatically. Auburn actually has a lot more to play for than Alabama in this game.

Fired Coaches

This week there were no coach firings but Arkansas inexplicably fired their Athletic Director Jeff Long. The firing absolutely makes no sense (some believe this will lead directly to the firing of Brett Bielema). The timing is awful if Arkansas even wants to sniff at bringing a big name into the program. Most coaches will not go to a school where they do not know who their boss is. If the rumors are true that the primary reason Long was fired is because he stepped on the toes and angered big money donors to the school then Hogs fans better console themselves to an extended period of bad seasons to come as ADs AND coaches will not exactly want to go to a school where the donors will fire people for no actual reasons.

School	Old Coach	Interim Coach	New Coach
Oklahoma	Bob Stoops	--	Lincoln Riley+
Ole Miss	Hugh Freeze++	Matt Luke
UTEP	Sean Kugler	Mike Price
Oregon State	Gary Andersen	Cory Hall
Georgia Southern	Tyson Summers	Chad Lunsford
Florida	Jim McElwain	Randy Shannon
Tennessee	Butch Jones	Brady Hoke
UCLA	Jim Mora	Jedd Fisch	Chip Kelly
South Alabama	Joey Jones	+++
Kent State	Paul Haynes
Arkansas	Brett Bielema	Paul Rhodes
Nebraska	Mike Riley

+ Oklahoma - Bob Stoops suddenly retired during the summer and the same day Lincoln Riley was named as the new head coach (no interim tag)

++ Ole Miss - Hugh Freeze resigned before the season started and Matt Luke was named the interim head coach for this season. It is believed that he will not be named head coach following the season

+++ South Alabama - Though Joey Jones resigned today he is going to finish the season with the team. They are not going to a bowl this season (record) so there should not be any interim coached appointed.