B/R's 2025 College Football Winners and Losers from Week 12

Week 12 was highlighted by a ridiculous week in the SEC that included several separator games.

Everything started with No. 3-ranked Texas A&M's historic 27-point comeback win over South Carolina and continued with Oklahoma's road upset at Alabama. The nightcap saw Ole Miss exact revenge on Florida in Oxford and Georgia whip Texas.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame thumped Pittsburgh in its biggest remaining test to remain on a collision course with the College Football Playoff, and Ohio State rolled through UCLA with ease. USC, Michigan and Washington all remained on the cusp of the playoff picture in the Big Ten with wins.

The ACC and Group of Five are ugly messes that nobody can figure out right now, and that continued with Saturday's shenanigans.

Fernando Mendoza continued to build his Heisman resume in Indiana's lopsided win, while Alabama's Ty Simpson faded a bit by throwing a crucial pick-six in the Tide's loss to Oklahoma.

It was a weekend of crazy clarity as we enter the homestretch of the season, and we tried to make sense of it all. Here are the winners and losers from the week.

Winner: Texas A&M's Historic Comeback

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Any magical run is going to face adversity, but what was happening to Texas A&M throughout the first half Saturday against three-win South Carolina looked like the biggest collapse of the season.

Whatever Aggies coach Mike Elko said at halftime probably peeled paint off the walls and woke his No. 3-ranked team from its slumber.

Somehow, A&M erased a 27-point deficit at halftime with a shocking, championship-caliber second-half surge to beat South Carolina, 31-30. It's the type of comeback you paint pictures and write books about.

Quite simply, it's the type of galvanizing win that can carve the path to a national title.

"Unbelievable grit, unbelievable togetherness," Texas A&M coach Mike Elko told ESPN. "They've obviously got to play really bad to start the game; that starts it. But they don't blink; they don't. We've been in a lot of these situations, but we've found ways to find wins."

Just how unprecedented was it? ESPN flashed a graphic once Texas A&M took the lead that since 2004, teams were 0-286 in the SEC when trailing by 27 points. Marcel Reed and Co. made sure they ended that trend.

After Reed's three turnovers helped the Gamecocks to a lopsided lead at the break, he was dynamic after the break, finishing the game by going 16-of-20 for 298 yards and three touchdowns in the second half to lead the charge.

Even when A&M's disastrous trick-play turnover gave South Carolina the ball back late in the fourth quarter, the defense forced a turnover on downs to complete the largest comeback in program history.

Loser: Shane Beamer

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Back in January on the heels of a torrid close to the 2024 football season, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer signed an extension through 2030. His name was mentioned in the early stages of the Virginia Tech coaching search as one to possibly return to Blacksburg where his father was a legendary coach.

Now, he very well should be on the hot seat.

Following Saturday's historic collapse at Texas A&M, the Gamecocks are 3-7 and just 1-7 in the SEC. 

Beamer was blessed with one of the most exciting athletes in college football in quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who has regressed as a passer and made very little impact as a runner this year. Beamer just fired offensive coordinator Mike Shula last week.

On Saturday, his Gamecocks led the Aggies 30-3 at halftime, and in a first-half interview with ESPN, Beamer was his smug self, boasting that "We beat this team by 24 points last year," and that they didn't expect to come into College Station and just compete.

But Mike Elko thoroughly out-coached Beamer throughout the second half, and no matter what he did, he couldn't slow the gaping, bleeding wound once A&M began its comeback.

At this point, you have to wonder how long South Carolina is going to deal with this. He's now 32-29 in his career with a 16-24 record in the SEC. That's not the kind of numbers that earn you goodwill and coaching comfortability. 

Winner: Notre Dame's Resume

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The largest remaining hurdle for Notre Dame to make the playoffs was a road game against Pittsburgh on Saturday, and even with the pregame buildup, the result was never really in question.

The Irish scored 14 points in a 10-second swing to get on the scoreboard, and the defense flexed the rest of the way in a cakewalk 37-15 win over Pittsburgh.

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi made headlines earlier in the week when he told the media he didn't care if his Panthers lost by 100 to the Irish as long as they won their ACC games. Though Notre Dame didn't win by quite that much, the game was barely competitive.

Jeremiyah Love opened the scoring with a 56-yard scamper, then Tae Johnson stepped in front of a Mason Heintschel pass and galloped 48 yards for a score on the very next offensive play to give the Irish a two-touchdown cushion.

Pitt's offensive line simply couldn't protect Heintschel, making it impossible for the Panthers to sustain drives. Now, barring what would be a monumental upset against Syracuse or on the road against Stanford, the Irish are going to head back to the playoffs.

This team looks like one of the nation's top 12, especially considering the defense that failed them during an 0-2 start has been a strength. The offense has the best 1-2 punch at running back in the nation, and quarterback CJ Carr is clicking, too.

Everything is going the Irish's way.

Loser: Group of Five

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Who wants to be in the College Football Playoff from the Group of Five? We're looking for a team that looks capable of getting there.

Right now, guaranteeing an automatic bid to a non-Power Four looks pretty silly.

A week after Memphis squandered its stranglehold on that spot with a loss to Tulane, the team that was the early-season favorite who the Tigers beat to leap into that spot—South Florida—tenuously held the ranking again. But they went to Navy and were whipped up and down the field, losing 41-38.

Now, who knows who's in the best position? The Midshipmen re-entered the picture, but they're a two-loss team that were hammered by North Texas and Notre Dame and play Memphis next week. North Texas and James Madison are back in the mix, too.

With the tough loss to Navy on Saturday, despite early-season wins over Boise State and Florida, the Bulls shouldn't be the Group of Five playoff participant. 

Navy, on the other hand, would be a tremendous story to crash the playoff party. When Blake Horvath went out in the fourth quarter, backup Braxton Woodson led consecutive scoring drives to push the lead back to a two-score advantage.

That ended USF's playoff hopes. Now, who wants to be in the final 12? Somebody show you belong. Please.

Winner: Oklahoma's Road Upset

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At the beginning of November, Oklahoma looked like the longest shot of the SEC College Football Playoff bubble teams to make the final 12. 

That remaining schedule the Sooners faced was just absolutely brutal.

But after Saturday's gritty 23-21 road win at Alabama to hand the Crimson Tide their second loss of the season and Kalen DeBoer his first loss in Tuscaloosa as UA's head coach, they now look like a playoff team even if they were to lose another game.

For OU, it was its second consecutive win over a ranked conference opponent on the road after winning at Neyland Stadium two weeks ago. It's also the Sooners' fourth win over a ranked opponent this season.

How can you keep them out with that resume? Coach Brent Venables' team doesn't do the sexy things on the field, but it has a rugged defense, makes plays when you need it to and has an absolute game-changer at quarterback in John Mateer.

Remember: Mateer was still injured and playing in his team's loss to Texas, and the only other setback was to Ole Miss. So, the Sooners have won all the ones they were supposed to and navigated one of the top schedules in football.

On Saturday, they used three turnovers and a defensive touchdown to beat an Alabama team that out-gained them 406-212. None of that mattered. The Sooners won the way they have all year.

Loser: Louisville's Playoff Chances

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Friday night ACC is where things you think will happen go to die, and it's also where the Louisville Cardinals' slim playoff possibilities can now be put to rest.

Clemson basically gifted coach Jeff Brohm's Cardinals the win on multiple occasions, but Louisville kept kicking itself in the face time and time again in an ultimate 20-19 loss that will hurt for some time.

The Cardinals' Cooper Ranvier missed a massive second-quarter extra point that would affect how Louisville played the rest of the game. He also sent a 50-yard attempt wide-left on the next drive. 

Late in the fourth quarter, Ranvier's replacement—Nick Keller—missed a 46-yard would-be game-winner, too, but he didn't get any help from his teammates, either.

Following a horrific mistake where the Tigers botched a punt snap to give the Cardinals the ball on the Clemson 23-yard line with 2:29 left down just one, Louisville got flagged for a false start and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to back them up.

On a night where special teams were anything but, Keller followed suit by shanking what would have been a heroic kick.

Instead, the Cardinals followed last week's overtime loss to California with a setback that doused any ACC championship game hopes and what little playoff spark remained.

Winner: Heis-Mendoza!

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Alabama's Ty Simpson could crash the party, but the Heisman Trophy focus right now appears to be on a pair of Big Ten quarterbacks—Indiana's Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State's Julian Sayin.

Mendoza should be the frontrunner, and he's dazzling each week in a different way.

There weren't many style points after a sleepwalking first half for the Hoosiers in Saturday's 31-7 win over Wisconsin, but Mendoza was sterling once again, looking nearly perfect in meticulously leading IU down the field throughout the second half.

All Mendoza did was complete 22-of-24 passes for 299 yards and four touchdowns. If you want to put that into perspective, just take into consideration Saturday's performance against the Badgers was the third time this season the California transfer had more scoring tosses than incompletions.

You read that right—Mendoza simply doesn't miss.

Part of it, of course, is head coach Curt Cignetti's brilliant play designs and a lot of short-yardage stuff, but Mendoza runs it all to perfection. He's an exceptional athlete who can move the ball with his feet, and he's one of the most intelligent signal-callers in the nation. He runs the timing routes as well as anybody.

It's hard to be impressive in games where your team is favored by nearly 30, but Mendoza managed to do it once again.

Loser: Bill O'Brien's Signature Win Opportunity

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Much like the rest of the ACC, it's just impossible to predict how No. 16 Georgia Tech is going to look each week.

The Yellow Jackets have just one loss but couldn't stop anybody in that setback at North Carolina State, and so when they went on the road to one-win Boston College on Saturday, it all came down to whether the defense could stop the Eagles.

They couldn't, and coach Brent Key's team was fortunate to win 36-34 with a last-second field goal. But it was coach Bill O'Brien's team that missed its opportunity for any positive takeaway on a bleak 1-10 season.

Boston College piled up 537 yards—including 362 through the air—and held a 28-17 lead over the Yellow Jackets going into the fourth quarter. But Haynes King led four scoring drives in the fourth quarter and Georgia Tech scored 19 points to win.

As good as BC's offense was, its defense was just as bad. Tech amassed 628 total yards of its on and converted 7-of-12 third-down conversions to ultimately win a game it needed to in order to stay alive in the race for the ACC title game.

It's a wild time in that league this year.

Winner: Ole Miss' Revenge

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There's nothing easy this late in the season, but Ole Miss exacted a ton of revenge on a Florida Gators team that looked ripe to pick off the Rebels' playoff chances two seasons in a row.

Last year, the Gators shocked Ole Miss in Gainesville, kicking them right out of the playoff picture. Hosting a reeling Florida team in Oxford this season, coach Lane Kiffin's team needed to win in order to stay on playoff track.

According to ESPN, the Rebels' playoff chances dropped to 33 percent with a loss. But they don't have to worry about it after a 34-24 win that was in doubt the entire way.

Florida didn't look like a three-win team. The Gators are talented, aggressive and made plays. But the Rebels simply made more in a clash of Kiffin's current team versus the one rumored to be trying to hire him for the future.

None of that mattered Saturday. This was about the Rebels keeping on the playoff track, which would have been in doubt with a loss. 

Kewan Lacy was simply spectacular, leading the way with 224 rushing yards and a trio of touchdowns to go along with Trinidad Chambliss' 301 passing yards. 

Though the defense struggled, Ole Miss got a crucial sack deep in its own territory to force a punt just after the 2-minute warning, then got a turnover on downs to secure the win—and inch closer to the playoffs.

Loser: Texas' Championship Aspirations

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Way back at the start of the season, Texas entered ranked No. 1. 

This hasn't been the season the Longhorns envisioned, to say the least. Even so, in the final quarter of the season, coach Steve Sarkisian's team had the chance to pull off a pair of upsets and slide into the College Football Playoff where anything can happen.

After Saturday night's 35-10 loss to Georgia in a heavyweight battle, those goals appear doubtful at best.

When the Longhorns simply had to have a late stop after closing the deficit to four points, UGA quarterback Gunner Stockton capped an answering scoring drive with a 30-yard touchdown pass to London Humphries—his third touchdown pass of the night.

Then ahead by 11 points, the Bulldogs went for the kill shot, stunning the Longhorns by recovering an onside kick, and Stockton paid it off with another scoring strike to tight end Lawson Luckie with 8:53 left to put the game out of reach.

For Georgia, the victory has a Bulldogs team that was inconsistent throughout the season put together back-to-back complete efforts for the first time all year at just the right time.

Unfortunately for Texas, the Longhorns couldn't quite match that championship standard, and the 'Horns likely will be playing in a bowl game and watching the race for the national title rather than participating.

Winner: Michigan's Survival Skills

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Nobody is talking about the Michigan Wolverines as a dark-horse playoff contender this time of year, and it's likely because of games like Saturday's.

Here's the thing, though: The Wolverines won, and this time of year, that's all that matters.

Playing in front of a big crowd at Wrigley Field in a beautiful spectacle for a college football atmosphere, the Wolverines overcame a sloppy five-turnover performance to scratch back and beat Northwestern 24-22.

Dominic Zvada's 31-yard game field goal as time expired gave the Wolverines a sweaty win that was low-lighted by two Bryce Underwood interceptions. Backup running back Jordan Marshall's 142 yards kept the Wolverines in front for much of the game, but they nearly squandered it away.

A Braden Turner interception of Underwood set up a Caleb Komolafe touchdown to put the Wildcats ahead 22-21 with 12:05 remaining, and Underwood threw another interception on the next drive.

Still, Michigan persevered, winning their fourth consecutive game and keeping their slim playoff hopes alive. Obviously for that to happen, another upset of Ohio State to end the year needs to happen, but anything goes in that game.

Saturday was about survival.

Loser: Cincinnati's Big 12 Title Hopes

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It's been a nice, bounce-back season for Cincinnati, which is beginning to look like it belongs in the Big 12. But the Bearcats aren't the class of the conference just yet.

Saturday's disappointing 30-24 home loss to Arizona was a stark reminder that this season may be a steppingstone, but it likely won't end in the Big 12 championship game.

The Bearcats made far too many mistakes in a game where everything was set up for them. Beat the Wildcats, and a berth in the conference championship game—and perhaps an outside shot at the playoffs—was within grasp.

Arizona made a cross-country trip for an early game, and that scenario normally bodes well for the easternmost team in the equation, but that wasn't the case. The Wildcats struck early with a touchdown, then when Cincinnati answered, coach Brent Brennan's team responded.

This was simply another off game for Cincy quarterback Brendan Sorsby, which is why the Bearcats now have dropped two in a row. He threw for just 154 yards and a couple of interceptions, and the defense allowed 475 Arizona yards to just 344.

Now, they need to upset BYU next week and get some help along the way just to pave a path for a chance to make the Big 12 title game.

Coach Scott Satterfield opened this season on the hot seat, so this has been a strong response for the Bearcats, but the past couple of games has this team on the brink of a late-season tumble.

Winner: Oregon's Offensive

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The Minnesota Golden Gophers' defense entered Friday night's road game against eighth-ranked Oregon with the nation's No. 21-ranked defense.

But the only time coach PJ Fleck's team had seen anything like Oregon's offense, they allowed 42 points in an early-season loss to Ohio State.

The trip to Eugene looked similar.

Behind star quarterback Dante Moore's near-perfect performance, the Ducks were explosive and made plays all night long in a 42-13 win over the six-win Gophers. Minnesota simply didn't have any answers.

Moore completed 27-of-30 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns, and he was pristine in the pocket, making all the throws. His 90 percent completion rate set a single-game school record.

But he was far from the only weapon. Oregon's three-headed running back monster also paved the way to 179 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

What it all equals is that the Ducks are perhaps being a bit disrespected in the College Football Playoff rankings at 8-1 with their only loss to Indiana. When this team clicks on offense, it's dangerous.

Moore looked like a Heisman candidate in a lopsided win, and Oregon keeps marching toward the playoffs with USC and Washington remaining. The way they played Friday, a collision course with the final 12 looks much more likely than a collapse. 

Loser: Duke Chaos Opportunity

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The ACC is a mess, and it's certainly possible that the conference championship game winner could get left out of the College Football Playoff—especially if Duke would have made it.

That doesn't seem possible now after the Blue Devils' defenseless defense let them down once again in Saturday's 34-17 loss to Virginia in a game where the winner slipped in the driver's seat for an ACC title game position.

Somebody needs to step up and play like they're capable of making some noise in the final 12, and perhaps that's going to be the Hoos.

After last week's heartbreaking loss to Wake Forest, the Cavaliers' playoff potential took a hit, but this is still a good-looking team that had won seven straight prior to last week, including several close ones. Saturday, the Hoos took care of business at Duke in one that wasn't so close.

Coach Tony Elliott's team has looked like one of the top teams in the conference for much of the year, unlike Duke. Yet, the Blue Devils actually were surprisingly favored in this game.

Instead, Elliott's Hoos bounced back from last week's horrible loss to Wake Forest and looked much more like the team that had won seven consecutive games.

Duke is done, but UVA's run is heating up.

Winner: USC's Rally

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Iowa went on the road and smacked USC early in a rain-soaked Rose Bowl with two early touchdowns.

But the Trojans regrouped and responded in a major way, beating the Hawkeyes at their own game in a 26-21 victory that sort of re-announced coach Lincoln Riley's team's status as a College Football Playoff contender.

More importantly after a rough first season in the Big Ten, the Trojans have refocused on defense and running the football, and they have transformed from a soft program to a team that is talented and capable of winning every time out.

Saturday's win over the Hawkeyes was a big-boy W.

From the 9-minute mark of the second quarter, USC outscored Iowa 26-7 and looked strong doing it. Jayden Maiava completed 23-of-32 passes for 254 yards and a touchdown, and Makai Lemon finished with 10 grabs for 153 yards.

But King Miller's 83 rushing yards was big, and Bryan Jackson added a pair of scores on the ground. The Trojans defense played one of its best games of the season to help Riley's team secure the win and keep its hopes alive.

Next week is a gargantuan tilt at Oregon, but USC played like it was prepared to battle.

Loser: Baylor's Defense of Utah QBs

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No matter who Utah put under center against Baylor on Saturday night, the Bears had no answers.

There's a reason why the Utes may just be Texas Tech's biggest threat in the Big 12, and they showed why in a thorough 55-28 road win in Waco in what looked like it could be a danger-zone game.

Kyle Whittingham's team didn't allow that to happen because of all its offensive weapons.

Devon Dampier has been the catalyst for a strong Utes offense all season, and he was again at times against Baylor, combining for 103 total yards and two touchdowns. But the biggest spark came from Dampier's backup, who was utilized at ideal times.

Freshman Byrd Ficklin looks like a future star dual-threat signal-caller, completing a couple of passes for 23, but his biggest impact came on the ground where he ran six times for 166 yards and a pair of scores.

The Utes still need some help to get to the conference title game, but they are full of weapons on both sides of the ball and are playing as well as anybody in that league. They are right on the cusp of the College Football Playoff rankings, and Whittingham is building some depth late in the season, too.

Ficklin needs some development throwing the ball yet, but the freshman from Muskogee, Oklahoma, will be a handful if he's called upon in key moments.