College football winners and losers: How the conference races stack up heading into the final week of the regular season

Week 13 was certainly wild.

Four teams in the top 15 lost on Saturday as the College Football Playoff picture was shaken up considerably. No. 5 Indiana was upset at No. 2 Ohio State to start the day before a four-way tie emerged atop the Big 12 and the SEC race narrowed to three teams.

Alabama, Ole Miss and Tennessee were eliminated from contention for the SEC title. The No. 7 Crimson Tide lost 24-3 at Oklahoma hours after No. 9 Ole Miss lost 24-17 at Florida. Tennessee took care of business against UTEP and may still be 6-2 in conference play, but the playoffs are not kind to the Vols.

The chaos in the SEC means Georgia clinched a spot in the conference title game despite entering the weekend in fourth place among conference teams in the College Football Playoff standings. The Bulldogs gave up a lot of rushing yards to UMass in their win Saturday, but ended their SEC slate a week ago with their 31-17 win over Tennessee.

Here’s a look at how the conference races stack up heading into the final week of the regular season.

American

This game has been scheduled for two weeks. Let’s move on.

CAC

The Hurricanes have a win at Syracuse after beating Wake Forest 42-14 at home on Saturday. SMU clinched its spot in the ACC title game with a 33-7 win at Virginia as QB Kevin Jennings went 25 of 33 for 323 yards.

Big Ten

The Ducks were out in Week 13 after clinching a spot in the Big Ten title game with their win over Wisconsin in Week 12. Ohio State’s win over Indiana means the Buckeyes are in the game for the title with a victory over Michigan. If Ohio State loses, Penn State will win over Maryland. The Nittany Lions escaped Minnesota with a 26-25 victory on Saturday. If both Ohio State and Penn State lose, then Indiana will be in the title game with a win over Purdue.

12 big

• Two from Arizona State, BYU, Iowa State, Colorado, Baylor, Kansas State and Texas Tech

This is where it starts to get complicated. We’ll start with the simple scenario. ASU, BYU, ISU and Colorado are tied for the conference lead at 6-2. If there is a four-way tie at 7-2, the two participants in the conference title game are Arizona State and Iowa State.

Colorado needs two of the other three teams it is tied with to lose to reach the title game thanks to losses to Kansas State and Kansas. ASU and BYU already beat K-State and Iowa State plays the Wildcats in Week 14. Baylor and Texas Tech need to win in Week 14 and have all four tied teams lose. Kansas State needs to beat Iowa State, have the other three tied teams lose, and have Baylor lose to Kansas.

US Conference

This is also quite simple. Jacksonville State beat Sam Houston to clinch a spot in the title game, while the Bearkats are now tied with Liberty after the Flames beat Western Kentucky. Liberty plays Sam Houston in Week 14. If Liberty wins, it’s in. If Sam Houston wins and Western Kentucky wins, the Hilltoppers are in. Sam Houston is in with a win and a WKU loss.

WATERPROOF

The three teams are tied 6-1 and Miami and Bowling Green meet on Saturday. The winner will be in Ohio and will play if the Bobcats beat Ball State. If Ohio loses to Ball State and Bowling Green beats Miami, we’ll get a rematch between the Falcons and Redhawks a week later thanks to Miami’s win over Ohio earlier in the season.

West Mountain

The Broncos clinched a spot in the title game with a 17-13 run at Wyoming. Colorado State needs to beat Fresno State on Saturday night and beat Utah State in Week 14 to face the Broncos. If they finish 6-1 along with UNLV, assuming the Rebels beat Nevada in Week 14, then UNLV enters via their CFP rankings. UNLV was ranked 24th in the most recent rankings.

SECOND

The SEC title race just got a lot easier thanks to three top-15 losses on Saturday. Alabama and Ole Miss are officially out of SEC title contention now with three conference losses and so is Tennessee despite the Vols’ chance to finish the season at 6-2.

Thanks to Texas A&M’s loss to Auburn, the Aggies’ home game against Texas is the de facto SEC semifinal. The winner will play the Bulldogs.

sun belt

The Ragin’ Cajuns clinched the Sun Belt West with a 51-30 victory over Troy. Marshall will win the east with a victory at James Madison. If Marshall loses and Georgia Southern beats Appalachian State, the Eagles will be in the title game thanks to their 24-23 win over Marshall earlier this season.

Here are the rest of this week’s winners and losers.

Winners

Florida: The Gators haven’t stopped fighting. Florida has a strong chance to finish the regular season 7-5 after defeating No. 9 Ole Miss on Saturday. Florida’s pass rush did a fantastic job against Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart and had two late interceptions to seal the 24-17 victory. Freshman QB DJ Lagway completed 10 of 17 passes for 180 yards and two TDs, while RB Montrell Johnson saw significant action for the first time since Oct. 12 and ran 18 times for 107 yards and a TD.

Kansas: The Jayhawks became the first team with a losing record to record three consecutive wins over ranked opponents with their 37-21 victory against No. 16 Colorado. Running back Devin Neal ran for more than 200 yards and four touchdowns as Kansas didn’t punt once.

Kansas is now 5-6 and will be bowl eligible with a win over Baylor in the final week of the regular season.

Nebraska: The losing streak is over. Nebraska will go to a bowl game for the first time since 2016. The Huskers defeated Wisconsin 44-25 to finally become bowl eligible. Entering Saturday, Nebraska had lost nine straight games after earning its fifth win of the season. Freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola completed 28 of 38 passes for 293 yards and a touchdown as Nebraska scored 20 straight points in the second and third quarters to open the game.

Oregon State: The Beavers are Pac-12 champions. Oregon State won the battle for bragging rights in the two-team conference with a 41-38 home victory over Washington State. The loss is the second in a row for the Cougars after falling to New Mexico a week ago. Oregon State tied the game 38-38 with a 16-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a four-yard touchdown pass from Ben Gulbranson to Darrius Clemons with 2:45 left. Washington State fumbled on the second play of its next possession and Everett Hayes kicked a 55-yard field goal with 20 seconds left.

Losers

Rutgers: Greg Schiano is going to relive the end of Saturday’s game for a long, long time. While Rutgers led 31-30, Illinois lined up for a 58-yard field goal with 14 seconds left. The shot missed wide and short, but Schiano had called a timeout before the play. Since the kick didn’t come close, Illinois coach Bret Bielema decided to try it on 4th and 10. That worked out very well when Luke Altmyer found Pat Bryant up the middle and Bryant ran into the end zone for the score. . -TD ahead with four seconds left in Illini’s 38-31 win.

Pitt: The Panthers lost their fourth straight game on Saturday and potentially lost QB Eli Holstein for the season in a 37-9 loss at Louisville. Holstein was carted off the field with the lower part of his left leg in a boot after a sack in the first quarter. The Cardinals led 27-0 at halftime before pulling ahead in the second half. Pitt mustered just 265 yards of offense overall after Holstein threw for 51 yards on just five attempts. The Panthers need to win at Boston College in Week 14 to avoid a five-game skid at the end of the season.

State of North Carolina: The Wolfpack was on the verge of bowl eligibility when Hollywood Smothers ran 53 yards for a touchdown with 1:30 left against Georgia Tech on Thursday. Smothers’ touchdown gave NC State a 29-23 lead, but Georgia Tech needed just seven plays to go 75 yards for the game-winning score.

Quarterback Aaron Philo ran 18 yards for a touchdown with 22 seconds left as Aidan Birr’s extra point provided the margin of victory in a 30-29 victory. The loss dropped NC State to 5-6 overall and 2-5 in the ACC heading into its rivalry game against North Carolina to end the season.

Kent State: The Golden Flashes seem destined for an 0-12 season. Kent State hosted a 2-8 Akron team on Tuesday night in what looked to be KSU’s best chance to win in more than a year. Instead, Akron won easily 38-17 to extend Kent State’s losing streak. The Golden Flashes haven’t won since defeating FCS opponent Central Connecticut State on Sept. 16, 2023. That’s a streak of 20 consecutive games and you have to go back to the final week of the 2022 season to find the latest victory from Kent State. over an FBS opponent.