Survival Saturday Sets Up Epic Sprint To 2022 College Football Playoff

Throughout the fall, there are many useful reminders that the college football season is a marathon, not a sprint. Early losses can be overcome, hot-starting teams may fade quickly and any number of rapid changes might happen.

As the scoreboards hit triple-zeroes in Week 12, however, the 2022 campaign has reached a turning point.

This is no longer a 26.2-mile endeavor.

There are only 100 meters left—and Usain Bolt is not on the track.

Four programs—Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and TCU—have the cleanest path to the College Football Playoff. Yet we have little confidence in how this race of unbeaten teams, LSU, USC and Clemson, will look at the finish.

All the evidence you need is Week 12's stressful Saturday.

Early in the afternoon, TCU escaped Baylor with a thrilling 29-28 victory. TCU trailed for most of the contest but scored nine points in the last 127 seconds, highlighted by Griffin Kell's walk-off 37-yard field goal on a clutch, well-rehearsed "fire drill" kick.

The story of the season continued for TCU, which has produced five second-half comebacks en route to 11-0. The team hosts Iowa State next weekend before the Big 12 Championship Game.

Minutes later, Michigan joined the Horned Frogs at 11-0 while avoiding an insult-to-injury upset opposite Illinois.

Star running back Blake Corum, a premier Heisman Trophy contender, exited the game with a knee injury. He played one snap in the second half but headed to the sideline immediately and didn't return. While head coach Jim Harbaugh said the knee is "structurally good," per Larry Lage of the Associated Press, Corum's status is highly concerning for U-M.

But a kicker also saved the Wolverines' day.

Jake Moody set a program record when he drilled his 65th career field goal in spectacular style. The senior buried four second-half attempts, punctuated by a 35-yarder with nine seconds left in regulation to seal Michigan's jittery 19-17 victory.

Michigan travels to Ohio State next Saturday, and the rival Buckeyes evaded an upset bid of their own at Maryland.

In short, Maryland just didn't quit.

Ohio State trailed 13-10 at halftime but tallied 17 straight points in the third quarter. Disaster avoided, right? Not so much. Maryland trimmed the gap to six. Ohio State answered with a touchdown, but the Terps picked up two points on a blocked extra point and followed with a touchdown. They forced a turnover on downs to create a potential go-ahead drive.

Even as that possession ended without a Maryland score, the Buckeyes felt the nerves until the bitter end—a last-second sack-fumble-touchdown that finalized the 43-30 score.

Georgia had a less dramatic afternoon, but the nation's top-ranked team didn't have an inspiring day at Kentucky, either.

With respect to UK's underrated home-field advantage, Mark Stoops' squad just lost to Vanderbilt last weekend. Georgia, on paper, should've had little issue dispatching the hosts. Instead, UGA wobbled through the 16-6 win, only finding its sigh of relief when Kentucky missed a 38-yard field goal in the closing five minutes of regulation.

Georgia will be a heavy favorite over Georgia Tech next weekend, but sixth-ranked LSU looms in the SEC Championship Game.

For these programs—as well as USC, holding off rival UCLA 48-45—the single-most important takeaway is the addition to the win column. They, unlike fifth-ranked Tennessee and No. 13 North Carolina, side-stepped a major challenge this weekend. They're one critical step closer to the 2022 College Football Playoff.

But there's no time to drift into the pack and catch a breath.

The last two weeks of the season aren't a marathon. No, this is a championship-deciding sprint.