[Gerald Herbert – AP]

It feels like this season has flown by – last week, the initial playoff rankings were released and the committee trolled all of us: instead of putting in the four undefeated Power Five teams in the top four spots, they put Texas A&M ahead of Washington, despite the Aggies’ loss to Alabama a few weeks ago. Of course, college football has its funny ways of settling these things, as A&M was upset by a Mississippi State team that still has a losing record. That – or Ohio State’s demolition of Nebraska – was the most meaningful result on Saturday.

On to the week that was.

SEC

--- Somehow, ALABAMA and LSU seem to bring out the worst in each other; despite being able to play perfectly normal games with relatively sane scoring margins, when the two get together in the Saban Bowl, low-scoring, bone-rattling contests are the norm. This time, the Tide prevailed 10-0 in a game that was scoreless through three quarters. There were some missed opportunities: each team missed a field goal and Bama was stopped short on fourth-and-goal. Still, it was an ugly game. Both quarterbacks struggled mightily through the air, combining to go 21-43 through the air for 197 yards, and each threw an interception. The story of the game, however, was Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts’s excellent performance as a runner – he was the only player to hit 100 yards on the day, ran for the game’s only touchdown on a 21-yard scamper, and the Tide’s spread running attack was reasonably effective, though the scoreboard didn’t show it. Meanwhile, star LSU running back Leonard Fournette was held to 35 yards on 17 carries. Bama’s defense was as ferocious as ever, holding the Tiger offense to just 125 yards of total offense. The Iron Bowl should provide the Tide with a challenge, but that game’s at home and they easily have the best odds of reaching the playoff.

[Hit the JUMP for the rest of the recap]

--- The aforementioned MISSISSIPPI STATE upset over TEXAS A&M came as a shock, as the Bulldogs had been having a solidly mediocre season before defeating a top five opponent out of nowhere. A&M’s defense, which is normally good, had an awful afternoon, surrendering 574 yards of total offense, including 6.3 yards per rush on 58 runs for MSU. Bulldog QB Nick Fitzgerald overcame a few interceptions to have a stellar performance on the whole – he accounted for four touchdowns and almost 400 yards of total offense, split pretty evenly between the air and the ground. MSU raced out to a three touchdown lead in the second quarter, though a 93-yard Christian Kirk punt return touchdown gave A&M some hope heading into halftime. They managed to cut the deficit to a single score, but MSU was able to string together a 14-play, 7:34 touchdown drive with a punishing running game to put the game out of reach – and eventually won 35-28. Aggie QB Trevor Knight was injured during the game and did not return. This result means that the winner of the Iron Bowl will likely be the SEC West representative in the conference championship game.

--- AUBURN– who now controls their own destiny after having lost to A&M earlier this year – struggled in the noon window themselves, but ultimately came away with a 23-16 win against VANDERBILT. The Commodores actually led at halftime, but Auburn QB Shaun White – who didn’t play in the first half because he was injured in practice – came off the bench and led a touchdown drive to open the quarter and gave AU a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Star Vandy LB Zach Cunningham blocked a late field goal attempt that would have made it a two-score game, but they were intercepted in Auburn territory on a drive that could have tied the game. Elsewhere in interdivision action, ARKANSAS manhandled FLORIDA after a bye week spent ruminating on a blowout loss to Auburn. Rawleigh Williams paced the Razorbacks on the ground with 148 yards and two touchdowns, while UF only managed 12 rushing yards as a team. Florida’s offense may be a mess – and the Gators might not even be one of the five best teams in the SEC – but they’re likely to repeat as division champs and receive a trip to the SEC Championship game.

--- The SEC East had two division matchups this week. KENTUCKY, which could have put itself into position to get to Atlanta with a win, saw those hopes evaporate as GEORGIA’s Rodrigo Blankenship hit a game-winning chip shot field goal to win, 27-24, as time expired. Kentucky had tied the game on the previous possession – a long drive that resulted in a field goal after they couldn’t punch it in, despite getting the ball inside the ten-yard line. SOUTH CAROLINA, who now could very well make a bowl game in their first year under Will Muschamp, defeated MISSOURI, the last-place team in the division.

--- TENNESSEE beat FCS Tennessee Tech, 55-0. OLE MISS struggled early against Georgia Southern but eventually came away with a win – though Chad Kelly, probably the best quarterback in the SEC, tore his ACL in the win.

[Brendan Sullivan – Omaha World-Herald]

Big Ten

--- Heading into this weekend, OHIO STATE had definitely played short of its standard: they escaped from Madison with an OT win over Wisconsin, but lost to Penn State, and barely survived Northwestern at home. With a NEBRASKA team ranked in the top ten coming to town, there was a little doubt – and OSU put together its best performance of the year, by far, firing on all cylinders as they routed the Cornhuskers, 62-3. The Buckeyes scored on a tipped pick-six on the first Nebraska drive, allowed a field goal on the next, and then just utterly dominated the Huskers, scoring on every drive of their own until running out the clock late in the fourth quarter. JT Barrett threw for four touchdowns in his best passing day since the win over Oklahoma (and its tire-fire secondary) back in September; Curtis Samuel was properly involved offensively, and an egalitarian distribution of carries in the ground game paced the Buckeye offense. The game was effectively over early, but Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong suffered a terrifying injury – fortunately it sounds like he’ll be all right, but it was a scary moment as he lay on the field after he hit his head on the turf. Between he and Ryker Fife, the Huskers combined to complete just 9 of 33 passes.

--- Two Big Ten games featuring teams with winning records wound up being blowouts. MICHIGAN won the inaugural Durkin Bowl against MARYLAND with an impressive 59-3 rout of the Terrapins. The Wolverines’ season finale against Ohio State continues to look like the single most meaningful game of the college football regular season. PENN STATE hosted IOWA and coasted to an easy 41-14 win over the Hawkeyes. Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, their loss to Pitt in Week Two would be the deciding factor against them if Michigan were to lose to Ohio State to produce a three-way tie atop the Big Ten East standings.

---  Elsewhere in B1G action, WISCONSIN won at NORTHWESTERN with a workmanlike 21-7 margin – Wildcat QB Clayton Thorson threw the ball 52 times in the loss; INDIANA notched a comeback win over RUTGERS on the road despite a ton of problems in the red zone and are now likely to make a bowl game at 5-4; MICHIGAN STATE had similar issues in scoring position but wound up losing to ILLINOIS after Jeff George Jr. led a game-winning drive with a few minutes left (MSU faces Rutgers next week in a battle between the only teams who are winless in the Big Ten); MINNESOTA eventually pulled away from PURDUE in the second half in a high-scoring 44-31 contest.

[Ron Jenkins – Getty]

Big 12

--- Entering the weekend, BAYLOR controlled their own destiny in the Big 12, and even though they lost to Texas by a single point the week before, a home game against rival TCU wasn’t supposed to be as challenging as next weekend’s matchup against Oklahoma. It was a complete blowout, as the Horned Frogs put it all together and boatraced Baylor, 62-22. The game was effectively over within the first twenty minutes, as TCU returned an interception for a touchdown to take a 31-7 lead early in the second quarter. The Horned Frogs gained almost 700 yards of total offense and ran for 7.3 yards per carry on 59 rushing attempts, as Baylor’s defense had no answer for Kyle Hicks, a guy who’s played his way up the depth chart at running back and scored five rushing touchdowns on Saturday. Baylor’s high-powered offense was off its usual standard, but they had no chance with the horrible defense they played against TCU. While the Bears could theoretically play their way into a share of the conference title, they’d need to get some help – but more than that, they need to figure things out quickly before they head to Norman to face the Sooners (this week, OKLAHOMA played IOWA STATE on Thursday and, though the game was closer than it perhaps should have been, they still got the win to stay undefeated in Big 12 play).

--- There were two competitive, high-scoring games in the Big 12 that went down to the wire: OKLAHOMA STATE survived an upset bid on the road from KANSAS STATE, 43-37, and TEXAS overcame an 100-yard strip-and-score from TEXAS TECH to get a crucial 45-37 win for Charlie Strong. Mason Rudolph threw for 467 yards in a winning effort for OSU, who spent most of the game chasing from behind; KSU threw an interception on the last play of the game after an offensive pass interference call pushed them out from inside the five yard line to force a tougher pass. Texas withstood that 14-point swing on a D’Onta Foreman fumble, but Foreman was the best player for the Horns: he ran for 341 yards(!) and three touchdowns against the tissue-paper Texas Tech defense. Somehow neither team scored in the last ten minutes of the game.

--- WEST VIRGINIA crushed KANSAS. The Mountaineers still just have one loss on the season.

[Dustin Bradford – Getty]

Pac-12

--- Thursday night gave us one of the ugliest games of the college football season: COLORADO emerged victorious over UCLA to stay atop the Pac-12 South standings, but it was tough – the Buffaloes had 12 penalties for 128 yards, turned the ball over four times, and needed a late punt return touchdown to seal the 20-10 win. UCLA actually had more penalties (but for fewer yards) and their tailspin post-Josh Rosen injury has continued as they fell to 3-6 on the season. Neither team was able to run the ball effectively, but Colorado kept on hammering away with the combination of Phillip Lindsay and Sefo Liufau. Both teams had a field goal blocked. Besides the penalties and sloppy play, the story of the game was probably the stout Colorado defense, which has been legitimately great now that DC Jim Leavitt has been around for a little bit. The Buffs’ conference title hopes will likely come down to their season finale against Utah.

--- There were a few blowouts in the conference this past weekend. WASHINGTON continued its undefeated season with a 66-27 win over CAL in the late window, pulling away from the Bears in the second half. WASHINGTON STATE turned in a nice performance with a 69-7 beatdown of a hapless ARIZONA team. USC had its way with OREGON’s defense, throwing for 309 yards and rushing for 270 more in a comfortable 45-20 win over the Ducks. In a game that was a little closer than the others – though the outcome wasn’t really ever in doubt in the second half – STANFORD beat OREGON STATE.

ACC

--- The ACC provided its share of blowouts as well. CLEMSON and LOUISVILLE, the two best teams in the conference, beat SYRACUSE and BOSTON COLLEGE, respectively, by the combined score of 106-7. That’s more notable for Louisville, who struggled with a bad Virginia team last week and needed a late score to take the lead and win. In ACC Coastal action, NORTH CAROLINA pulled away from GEORGIA TECH to win 48-20 and MIAMI shut down PITT in the second half en route to a 51-23 win. Somehow Pat Narduzzi’s defense has been atrocious this season.

--- Two games were unexpectedly close, but neither produced an upset. VIRGINIA TECH, who’s on track to win their division and meet Clemson in the ACC Championship, blocked a field goal and ran it back for a score, but barely held off DUKE in a 24-21 win. They ran out the clock after the Blue Devils punted on 4th-and-7 in plus territory with four minutes left. FLORIDA STATE needed a fourth quarter comeback to beat NC STATE, who did a great job of corralling star Seminole RB Dalvin Cook but had a tougher time stopping Deondre Francois from leading a touchdown drive of three long pass plays in the late stages of the game.

--- WAKE FOREST beat VIRGINIA on a pick-six and became bowl eligible.