FBS Roundup Week 12

This delivered once again with multiple upsets that will shake the landscape and huge performances from teams that needed them.

ACC

Clemson at Pitt was the biggest ACC game, but it lost some luster with Eli Holstein out for Pitt. The Panthers really struggled in the first half but rallied in the second half to take the lead. It felt like once they had the lead they would find some way to lose it, in this case it was a defensive breakdown that allowed Cade Klubnik to run untouched for 50 yards for a TD. It really doesn’t get any easier for Pitt, that was their last home game, they finish on the road against Louisville and Boston College. There’s no easy way to right the ship here. Meanwhile for Clemson, they are done with ACC play and all they can do it wait. Clemson’s ACC title path requires SMU to lose out or Miami FL to lose another game.

Syracuse might unlock powers when they play on the West Coast. The Orange played Cal in a difficult road trip and dismantled them before Cal tried to rally late. Syracuse’s best performances this year were at UNLV and now at Cal both in the West Coast. Syracuse is now 7-3 which clinches a winning record, it seems like Fran Brown will have them targeting more but compared to the program’s recent history this is a fantastic season already.

One of the most random upsets of the day was Louisville losing at Stanford. The Cardinal played well offensively which allowed them to stay in this game throughout. They scored to supposedly bring the game to OT, but Louisville got close to FG range and wanted to try to win it. Louisville ended up going for it on 4th down and not getting it. On the next play Stanford gained one yard, until a litany of mistakes by Louisville including a personal foul penalty suddenly set up Stanford with a FG to win it. It was an epic meltdown by Louisville at the end of the game, they certainly won’t be ranked anymore. Stanford meanwhile gets a nice building block win, they generally have played a pretty rough ACC schedule this year. Both of Stanford’s ACC wins are very random, over Syracuse and Louisville but they’ve come after bye weeks.

American

Tulane at Navy was supposed to be the big showdown in the conference this week but Tulane had none of it. The Green Wave throttled Navy in a 35-0 win. This clinched Tulane’s appearance in the AAC championship, they will face Army in what should be a great battle. Tulane is peaking at the right time which Jon Sumrall teams always seem to do.

UTSA vs North Texas on Friday night was a key battle for bowl eligibility. UTSA has been a lot better at home compared to on the road, while North Texas was hoping to get a win here after dealing with a losing streak thanks to a very difficult stretch in the conference schedule. UTSA ended up rolling to a 48-27 win, with a school record of yards on offense. It was a great performance from the Roadrunners who have a home game against Temple to try to reach bowl eligibility. North Texas meanwhile is trying to figure something out, their defense let them down and as a result their DC was let go. The Mean Green schedule does get easier down the stretch at least.

There are so many Owl teams in this conference so it was surprising none of them had played each other yet. In fact this week’s Temple vs FAU game is the only Owl vs Owl game all season. It’s been a rough year for both teams so winning was critical. They were locked in a defensive battle for most of it but Temple grabbed a 15-7 lead late before Florida Atlantic answered with a TD and 2pt conversion to force OT. FAU’s OT possession wasn’t pretty, they grabbed a first down then immediately went backwards, setting up a longer FG they missed. Temple was conservative on their possession since they have the best kicker in college football and they won the game.

Big Ten

The Big Ten was probably the least eventful conference in the sport on Saturday. Not a lot happened here. Oregon did face an “upset bid” from Wisconsin. The Ducks had a sloppy game throughout but it was obvious when it came time to win it that Oregon would find their way to get the win and get out of there. Wisconsin had a solid effort from their defense but the Badgers offense still isn’t good enough to win a game like this.

Nebraska traveled to face USC in a battle of two teams that are incredibly bad in one score games. Nebraska has been historically bad in them in recent years while USC has blown 5 4th quarter leads this year alone. It seemed we were setting up for a very stupid finish when USC entered the 4th quarter with a 21-20 lead and immediately ended their drive with a field goal that got blocked. It turns out for there to be a wild ending, Nebraska needed to be willing to make the plays to threaten and they never did. Nebraska almost certainly seems to be on a track to somehow find their way to avoid bowl eligibility once again.

Big 12

Last week I identified Kansas as a trouble maker for the Big 12 title contenders. The Jayhawks had already taken down Iowa State and now they immediately follow it up by upsetting BYU on the road. Kansas isn’t just a 4-6 team, this is the Big 12 title contender that was expected in the preseason. They’ve always had the talent but their schedule was tougher than expected and the offense was a click off until recently. Kansas is already slated to face 9 bowl teams and if West Virginia reaches bowling eligibility it will be 10. What a crazy schedule. BYU meanwhile has a lot to sort out fast, they squandered so many good drives in this game it felt like they lost their minds each time they got into scoring range which ultimately led to their demise. There’s no room for error now. BYU plays at Arizona State next and their spot in the Big 12 title game is gone with a loss there. Any dream of a multi bid Big 12 is dead unfortunately.

Arizona State played at Kansas State in what was essentially a Big 12 title elimination game. The Sun Devils needed a fast start to get the crowd out of it and that’s what they did. Arizona State intercepted Avery Johnson on the 2nd play of the game which really set the tone for it. Arizona State took a 21-0 lead into halftime and sat on it from there in a 24-14 win. The Sun Devils are the Big 12 title contender nobody expected entering the season. It’s hard to properly state how impressive the job Kenny Dillingham has done this year and now with proof of concept he’s only going to keep getting better recruits in the program. “Activate the Valley” is a real thing now. This program always had the potential if he gets this going the way it feels like Arizona State could become the alpha program of this conference.

Some other dominant results came from Colorado blowing out Utah, Colorado was actually sloppy for a decent amount of the game but put up the most points scored on Utah since 2014. They did so behind a ridiculous performance from Travis Hunter, the Buffs remain in Big 12 title contention. Meanwhile Baylor continues to get hot this time they beat West Virginia on the road 49-35. The Bears are now bowl eligible after a tough start. It’s clear they found some dudes in QB Sawyer Robinson and freshman RB Bryson Washington. They are playing like one of the best teams in the conference down the stretch.

CUSA

This conference went nuts on Saturday. The biggest upset of the day was Louisiana Tech rolling into Bowling Green and taking down Western Kentucky 12-7. The Bulldogs defense just completely controlled this game. Western Kentucky couldn’t run the ball at all and they really couldn’t find much through the air either. Veltcamp was rather accurate but didn’t hit any big plays. Louisiana Tech has been a very competitive team as of late. The Bulldogs may end up falling short of bowl eligibility but they are making some progress now if they can figure out the offense.

Jacksonville State found themselves on the ropes once again. This time against FIU. Both teams went back and forth with lots of big plays. Tre Stewart eventually broke a 56 yard TD to win the game for the Gamecocks who remain undefeated in conference play. It’s been a pretty remarkable run for Rich Rod’s squad after a tough start to the season.

Liberty and Sam Houston both got pushed as well. Liberty fell behind 20-7 against UMass before coming back to take the lead but UMass had a shot to win it in regulation before their FG missed. Liberty wound up winning by 1 in OT. Sam Houston was against a Kennesaw State team that was going to play hard after the controversial firing of their coach. The Owls made this game a fight for all 4 quarters and OT. Sam Houston had to do it all on the ground because their passing game couldn’t go much of anywhere. This is a remarkable second season of FBS for the Bearkats, they are now 8-2.

MAC

Buffalo and Ball State faced off in a game that was pure MACtion from start to finish. This game featured multiple lead changes and Ball State grabbing double digit leads multiple times with Buffalo answering each time to come back. Buffalo scored with 1:49 left and got the 2 pt conversion to force OT. The Bulls then held Ball State to a FG and scored a TD to win it. Buffalo is now bowl eligible in Pete Lembo’s first year which is an incredible achievement. It’s been a challenging year for Ball State, they found a lot of pieces on offense but they struggled defensively and lost a lot of one score games.

There were some dominant efforts elsewhere. 3 teams have separated themselves in the MAC Championship race, Bowling Green, Miami and Ohio. All 3 rolled to victory this week to remain in contention. Bowling Green and Miami will face off on Black Friday in a game that will hold massive stakes. Ohio plays at Toledo this week, if the Bobcats lose that one it’s possible that Bowling Green and Miami play back to back weeks.

I mentioned that Toledo has the opportunity to play spoiler in the MAC title race but the other spoiler is definitely Northern Illinois. The Huskies play at Miami on Tuesday. While it’s a road game it may not bother NIU, this is still a team that has out gained all 10 opponents they played this year. They took a lot of unlikely close losses to be out of the hunt at this point but newly bowl eligible NIU is definitely a major concern for Miami.

Mountain West

Boise State had their struggles with San Jose State. The Spartans grabbed an early 14-0 lead to put the Broncos in danger but behind the legs of Ashton Jeanty they once again marched back and won it. The game definitely wasn’t as comfortable as the 42-21 score will indicate their defense had a lot of trouble with Nick Nash (as have most defenses.) Jeanty scored 3 TDs but you have to credit CBSSN for this stat they released. It’s absolutely eye opening, you have to commit almost your entire defense to stopping the run to have a shot at stopping Jeanty. The year he’s having is absurd.

The program that may have had the best Saturday is New Mexico. The Lobos don’t frequently get to play ranked teams at home so this was already a rare opportunity but they haven’t beaten one since 2003. It was one of the most fun games of the weekend with Devon Dampier and John Mateer battling it out. It was a shootout with both QBs making a lot of fun plays throughout. New Mexico gained momentum in the second half thanks to their run game and their defense came up with key stops. They get a bye week before heading to Hawaii with bowl eligibility on the line, that’s not going to be easy to do but Bronco Mendenhall clearly already seems to be building something good here. Dampier and Sanders are especially fun pieces to build around.

Colorado State’s spoiler threat remains. The Rams jumped on Wyoming early and never were threatened by their rivals to win 24-10. Colorado State remains undefeated in Mountain West play and gets even closer to spoiling the Boise State/UNLV rematch.

Pac-12/Independent

This was a rough weekend for this group. The Pac-12 saw Oregon State hit rock bottom in a 28-0 loss to Air Force. Air Force is playing better but Oregon State is just collapsing rapidly.

Washington State meanwhile saw their playoff hopes ended in Albuquerque when the Cougs lost to New Mexico. Washington State came undone by a great effort from the Lobos but also their defense was torn apart by the run and their offense stalled from time to time. Washington State will be lucky to remain ranked.

Pain might be all UMass fans know sometimes. Once again the Minutemen had a shot to upset a team that’s a usual contender on their conference, but they fell short in overtime again. This time it was missed kicks that undid them. They missed the game winning kick at the end of regulation and they missed the XP in overtime that allowed Liberty to come out with the win.

SEC

South Carolina is one of the hottest teams down the stretch but really their progress was forgotten about because of early season close calls. This is a team that was robbed of a win against LSU, lost to Ole Miss because they didn’t have LaNorris Sellers, and were in position to beat Alabama. Yes, South Carolina could have made the playoff, but this is still a team that’s making the plays when they need to late in the season.

Billy Napier was the butt of so many jokes this offseason, people said he was done in the preseason and they found a way to put themselves on the brink of bowl eligibility. LSU meanwhile is what we thought they were, ESPN and other networks wanted to forget about their loss to USC but no that wasn’t a fluke, that’s what this LSU team was all along.

Sun Belt

The Sun Belt race took a complete turn this weekend as all chaos broke loose. Louisiana looked like the dominant team but a bad first half against South Alabama sunk the Ragin’ Cajuns despite a 2nd half comeback. Louisiana and the Sun Belt are eliminated from the playoff race as a result.

Meanwhile the Sun Belt East also took a turn with Georgia Southern’s upset loss to Troy. This conference is already capable of chaos but Troy getting hot down the stretch will continue to add to that. This was a costly loss for the Eagles but their goals remain in front of them if they avoid any more set backs, they hold the tie breakers over their biggest foes for the East.

Marshall meanwhile finds themselves in the best spot thanks to all of this. The Thundering Herd have suddenly emerged atop the Sun Belt East. I don’t think their season has gotten enough recognition, if it wasn’t for the wild game against Georgia Southern they would be unbeaten in Sun Belt play right now. The Thundering Herd took care of Coastal Carolina 31-19. They’re 7-3 with 2 of the losses being to Virginia Tech and Ohio State. Could this be the breakout year for Charles Huff and co? It’ll be up to them to finish strong.

James Madison is actually considered by most to be the best team in the Sun Belt, the Dukes won at Old Dominion for a nice road win. They will need a loss from Georgia Southern.