College football has 13 weeks in the books, but there is still a long way to go. Each week more is learned about each team, even though not everything can be known. Putting the pieces together on college football each season is part of why fans love it. With that being said, here is College Football: 5 things learned from week 13.
Dwayne Haskins (Photo by cleveland.com)
Heading into “The Game”, Michigan was the favorite on the road in Colombus. They had the nation’s top defense and an offense that did enough to get the job done in their last 10 games. In the biggest game of the Jim Harbaugh era, the defense got exposed and their offense couldn’t keep up with Ohio State.
Dwayne Haskins was able to complete passes to his speedy receivers and Michigan was left helpless. He finished the day with 319 passing yards and five touchdowns. This was the best passing quarterback that Michigan had played all season and the only one who was able to find a weakness to exploit. Once he got the passing game going, the running game came along too, as the Buckeyes gashed the Wolverines for 62 points.
Now Michigan will have to settle for a New Year’s Six Bowl Game, while Ohio State is back in the College Football Playoff picture.
Washington State was the Pac-12’s last chance at making the College Football Playoff this season with only one loss heading into rivalry week. Unfortunately for the conference, Washington was able to go into Pullman to secure a win and a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
The Huskies were the preseason favorites in the conference along with Stanford, but both teams lost early in the seasons, which really hurt the conference’s CFP hopes. With a lot of the teams in the Pac-12 fading into mediocrity, Washington State progressed throughout the season with only one loss. They would’ve needed help to get in, but it was still possible.
After two straight seasons of not making the College Football Playoff, the Pac-12 has some work to do next season.
McKenzie Milton (Photo by 12up.com)
The Knights were coming off a great week with a win in a prime-time game and a move up in the College Football Playoff rankings. This week they finished off their regular season undefeated by beating their rivals USF. Unfortunately though, due to other events, UCF will not make the CFP officially.
First, UCF quarterback hurt his leg on a run against UCF and has had surgery. There haven’t been many details out about the injury, but it was severe. The committee is allowed to take injuries into account and therefore will not want to put a team in that has a hurt starting quarterback. Second, not enough chaos happened on rivalry week to help UCF move up enough. They will move up above Washington State, but may not move up any more than that in the second last rankings of the season.
UCF likely wasn’t going to make the CFP anyways, but now it is even less likely.
Florida State has been to a bowl game every season since 1981, but that won’t be the case this season. They headed into their rivalry game against Florida at 5-6, but were blown out to end their season.
The Seminoles started their season off 3-2, but struggled to beat many good teams. Their best wins of the season were over Northern Illinois and Boston College. One of the main problems they had was the offensive line, as the skill position players were not able to get any room to operate. Their defense also regressed this season and needs some major fixes heading into next season.
Willie Taggart has his work cut out for him heading into year two.
Notre Dame capped their undefeated season off with a win over USC in Los Angeles. With the win, the Fighting Irish have secured their spot in the College Football Playoff.
Next weekend Notre Dame will watch the conference championship games and wait to find out who they play. They will likely stay as the third-ranked team, as Clemson plays a five-loss Pitt and Alabama and Georgia play each other. The winner of that game will likely be above Notre Dame with Clemson.
It hasn’t been the prettiest season for the Fighting Irish, but they got the job done.
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