Winners and Losers from Week 14 of College Football
It's unusual that regular-season college football games are still being played in December, but Week 14 of the 2020 campaign was highly entertaining all the same.
An undefeated team got shut out, a short-handed squad won by 40, a long snapper repeatedly was a way-too-long snapper, an infrequently used freshman had more than 300 receiving yards, and the last-minute "Mormons vs. Mullets" matchup became the new great rivalry we didn't know we needed.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
It hasn't been a foundation-rattling week as far as College Football Playoff rankings are concerned. There were a few upsets in the back half of the Top 25, but no one in the Top 12 suffered a loss.
Nevertheless, it was a fun week loaded with winners and losers.
Winner: The Game of the Year (Scheduled 2 Days Ago)
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In case you missed the madness from the middle of the week, the scheduled game between Liberty and Coastal Carolina was canceled because of a COVID-19 outbreak on the Flames roster. But College GameDay was already planning on heading to Conway, South Carolina, and BYU had nothing better to do this week. Thus, the Cougars agreed on Thursday morning to face Coastal Carolina in a phenomenal showdown between 9-0 teams.
And it delivered in every way imaginable.
It wasn't quite as high-scoring as most of us were expecting, but I suppose that'll happen when you have barely 48 hours to prepare to face an opponent.
Against an outstanding BYU defense that had allowed just three rushing touchdowns all season, CJ Marable, Grayson McCall and the Chanticleers rushed for 281 yards and three touchdowns in a 22-17 victory.
The 17-play, 94-yard, nine-minute touchdown drive in the first quarter was the initial indication that Coastal Carolina might knock off this independent juggernaut. But these teams exchanged both figurative and literal haymakers all night. (There was a slight "brawl" that broke out on the field right before halftime.)
In the end, it came down to a single yard. Heisman Trophy candidate Zach Wilson drove the Cougars 81 yards in less than a minute with no timeouts. Unfortunately, he needed 82. Dax Milne was tackled just shy of the end zone as time expired on a monumental victory for about-to-get-a-gigantic-pay-raise Jamey Chadwell and the Chanticleers.
The loss pretty much guarantees BYU won't play in a New Year's Six Bowl, but does the win put Coastal Carolina in that territory?
We'll have to wait until Tuesday night to see what the selection committee thinks. But if Coastal Carolina beats Louisiana for a second time in the Sun Belt Championship Game and gets left out of the New Year's Six picture in favor of a two-loss, fourth-best team from the SEC, it'll be a damn shame.
Loser: Auburn's 4th Quarter vs. Texas A&M
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For the first three quarters of its home game against No. 5 Texas A&M, Auburn was cooking up a major upset.
Excluding the one-play "drive" to end the first half, the Tigers assembled four consecutive scoring drives of at least 70 yards. Bo Nix had a couple of heartbreaking misses on passes, but he also did his best Harry Houdini impression for a go-ahead rushing touchdown on one of those drives. Meanwhile, Auburn's defense was having a solid bend-don't-break afternoon en route to a 20-14 lead at the end of the third quarter.
But then it all came unraveled for the Tigers.
On back-to-back plays early in the fourth quarter, the defense allowed the Aggies to convert on 3rd-and-11 followed by a touchdown that went right through the hands of a defender and into Jalen Wydermyer's arms for a touchdown. That defender was Zakoby McClain, who had the game-changing, 100-yard pick-six in last year's Iron Bowl against then-No. 5 Alabama. And if he had made this interception, there's a good chance he would've taken it 95 yards to the house to give Auburn a 27-14 lead.
Instead, Texas A&M went ahead 21-20, followed by an Auburn three-and-out.
Then, lather, rinse, repeat. A&M went 77 yards for another touchdown, and Auburn punted it back three plays later. The Aggies drove down the field for a game-sealing field goal a few minutes later.
During that 18-minute stretch, Texas A&M outgained Auburn 222-3 and rolled to a 31-20 victory to remain in the hunt for the College Football Playoff.
Winner: Kyle Trask's Heisman Lead
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Saturday was just another day at the office for Heisman Trophy front-runner Kyle Trask.
Florida's star quarterback completed 35 of 49 passes for 433 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in a 31-19 road win over Tennessee.
The game was already effectively over when he had his most surgical drive early in the fourth quarter: 12-yard completion, 13-yard completion, 14-yard completion, 14-yard completion, 21-yard completion, 12-yard touchdown pass. Six plays, 86 yards, four different receivers, zero mercy.
In just nine games played, Trask is up to 3,243 passing yards, 38 touchdowns and three interceptions.
In 14 games last year, Ohio State's Justin Fields ended up at 3,273, 41 and three, respectively, and finished third in the Heisman vote.
Granted, Fields does a lot more damage with his legs than Trask does, but Trask's consistent dominance against this SEC-only gauntlet has been staggering. And don't underestimate the strength of Trask's legs. He also had a pooch punt inside the 5-yard line in this game.
Trask has one regular-season game remaining against an LSU secondary which, to put it lightly, hasn't been great. It's likely he will exceed his season averages of 360 passing yards and 4.2 touchdowns to enter the SEC championship as the heavy favorite for the stiff-armed trophy. Even if Florida loses that game to Alabama, Trask will probably still win the Heisman so long as he doesn't have a disastrous performance.
Loser: Marshall Thundering Herd
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At No. 21 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, Marshall didn't have much of a shot at playing in a New Year's Six bowl. But if the Thundering Herd—who entered the week 7-0—could put the finishing touches on an undefeated season with wins over 1-2 Rice, 0-5 Florida International and probably UTSA in the Conference USA championship, then, maybe, with a lot of help, they could have vaulted into the Top 12 and played in a marquee bowl.
But this is all past-tense conjecture following their stunning 20-0 loss to Rice.
Marshall was leading the nation in scoring defense at 10.1 points allowed per game, and that defense did its job. Rice only managed 213 total yards and did not have a single gain of more than 14 yards.
But Marshall's offense had an uncharacteristically horrific afternoon.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Grant Wells had thrown for 16 touchdowns and four interceptions in his first seven games, but the only touchdown he threw in this contest was to the wrong team. Wells was picked off five times, including a pick-six midway through the third quarter. His next three pass attempts after that mistake: interception, incompletion, interception.
Marshall can usually count on running back Brenden Knox to shoulder a heavy load, but he never got going, posting only one run of more than 10 yards.
This was Marshall's first shutout loss since a 42-0 shellacking at the hands of Toledo in 2000.
Winner: Short-Handed Ohio State Buckeyes
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There has been a whole lot of talk in the past 10 days or so about what will happen with the College Football Playoff if Ohio State can't play in the Big Ten Championship Game because of too many canceled games.
Would four or five contests be enough for the Buckeyes to earn a spot in the national semifinals, even without a conference title?
It will still be a compelling storyline for the next week in advance of their scheduled regular-season finale against Michigan, but they at least proved against Michigan State that they're pretty darn good even at less than full strength.
Between injuries, illness and contact-tracing protocol, 23 players (and head coach Ryan Day) were unavailable for Ohio State, including three starting offensive linemen and starting linebacker Tuf Borland.
It didn't much matter.
Justin Fields—playing in his first game since that three-interception dud against Indiana on Nov. 21—had two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in the 52-12 rout of the Spartans. And, really, it wasn't even that close. Ohio State was up 35-0 before Michigan State showed anything resembling signs of life.
If the CFP selection committee needed style points from the Buckeyes to feel comfortable with keeping them in the Top Four for at least one more week, it got them. Plus, while No. 4 Ohio State was busy wiping the field with Michigan State, No. 5 Texas A&M was struggling with Auburn.
I appreciate that Auburn is better than Michigan State, but the juxtaposition of those games happening simultaneously makes it highly unlikely that the No. 4 and 5 order will change.
Loser: West Virginia's Sad Field Goals at Iowa State
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It's embarrassing to get shut out, but two short field goals in the fourth quarter of a blowout?
Really, West Virginia?
Iowa State led 35-0 when the Mountaineers finally put some points on the board. And the Cyclones just sucked the life out of West Virginia early on by opening the game with three consecutive touchdown drives of 10 plays or more. It was an Army-like beating, but with more passing plays.
And this 42-6 victory was exactly what the Big 12 needed to get back onto the fringe of the College Football Playoff conversation.
Iowa State has two losses, so it's a long shot to say the least. But the Cyclones were No. 9 in the most recent CFP rankings.
Perhaps they leapfrog idle, two-loss No. 8 Georgia as a result of this blowout.
If they go on to defeat Oklahoma (for a second time) in the Big 12 Championship Game, that might be enough for them to move ahead of No. 7 Cincinnati—even if the Bearcats finish undefeated.
If Alabama beats No. 6 Florida in the SEC Championship Game, that should push the Gators behind the Cyclones too.
Would a Big 12 championship be enough for Iowa State to bypass one-loss No. 5 Texas A&M, provided the Aggies win their remaining games against Ole Miss and Tennessee?
If so, and if Clemson loses to Notre Dame for a second time, perhaps there's still a path for the Big 12 to reach the playoff.
But, hey, nice field goals West Virginia.
Winner: Friday Night Fun Belt
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On a frigid, rainy Friday night in Boone, North Carolina, an intriguing showdown between 8-1 Louisiana and 7-2 Appalachian State devolved into a comedy of errors.
Because of the conditions, neither team mustered much of anything in the passing game. At the start of the fourth quarter, App State's veteran quarterback, the usually reliable Zac Thomas, had completed just two passes for 14 yards with two interceptions. ULL's Levi Lewis finished the night 8-of-23 and did not complete a single pass in the final 19 minutes.
But even harder to watch than the quarterbacks trying to throw to their wide receivers was Louisiana's long-snapper trying to get the ball to his punter.
Paul Boudreaux had a rough night. In the first quarter, he launched a snap at least 10 feet over the head of his punter for a loss of nearly 40 yards. When ULL got on the board with a touchdown in the second quarter, Boudreaux's snap on the extra-point attempt sailed high and resulted in a failed two-point try. And then midway through the fourth quarter, he threw another one way over the punter's head for a safety.
Because his long snapper had the yips on this particular night, head coach Billy Napier had his team take an intentional safety. From the 35-yard line. In a five-point game. With less than two minutes remaining.
It was pure madness. But it sort of worked out. App State got back down into the red zone for a game-tying field-goal attempt. However, Chandler Staton missed the 30-yarder and CFP No. 25 Louisiana walked out with a 24-21 victory—its first ever over App State in nine tries.
To be clear, this game isn't a winner because it was good, high-quality football. But it was entertaining and weird, which is all we really want from a contest when it's the only one being played that day.
Loser: Akron's 21-Game Losing Streak
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If a sloppy game can be a winner, then the end of a two-yearlong losing streak can be a loser.
Just go with it.
Akron entered Saturday having suffered 21 consecutive losses since its last win on Oct. 27, 2018. And, for the most part, those losses were hideous. The Zips were outscored by 25.7 points per game last season, and that average margin of defeat had increased to 31.0 through the first four games of this year.
Single digits decided only two of those 21 games.
But they snapped out of that funk in emphatic fashion Saturday, drilling Bowling Green 31-3. Teon Dollard led the way with 185 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Akron also had a blocked punt recovered for a touchdown. And this was, by far, the team's best defensive effort in a long time.
Now the question becomes: When will Bowling Green snap its skid?
For you see, this was a battle of 0-4 teams, and Bowling Green had lost its first four contests by 35 points per game. The Falcons also ended last season on a three-game losing streak in which they lost each game by more than 40 points.
Since their last win—35-6 over Akron, interestingly enough—the Falcons have been outscored 384-91.
It's hard to imagine any team is happier that there's only one game left in the MAC's six-game season.
Winner: Max Duggan, TCU
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No. 15 Oklahoma State was operating at considerably less than full strength at TCU. Star running back Chuba Hubbard was out with an ankle injury, and while his backup, LD Brown, was listed before the game as "available if necessary," he didn't see the field because of an undisclosed injury.
But that didn't stop the Cowboys from seizing an early 13-0 lead—thanks in large part to a Zach Evans fumble that they returned for a touchdown. TCU also missed a field goal and threw an interception in the red zone late in the second quarter to make it look like this game was over before halftime.
Out of nowhere, TCU's dual-threat QB Max Duggan brought the Horned Frogs back, leading them on three consecutive touchdown drives to take a 21-16 lead in the third quarter.
He had a 31-yard pass on the first drive, a 42-yard rushing touchdown on the second one and a 46-yard pass on the third one. But it was his 71-yard touchdown pass to Derius Davis that put the Horned Frogs ahead for good in the fourth quarter. A subsequent goal-line stand and late turnover on downs gave TCU the 29-22 victory.
Impressive stuff for an inconsistent quarterback facing a defense that was only allowing 23.0 points per game.
And it was a huge result for the Big 12 championship picture.
Oklahoma State could have supplanted Iowa State in that game if the Cyclones lost to West Virginia while the Cowboys won their final two games (this one and at Baylor next week). Similarly, Oklahoma State could have finished ahead of Oklahoma if the Sooners suffered a loss. Instead, Iowa State was locked into the conference championship before even playing its final game, and Oklahoma is almost a guarantee to be ISU's opponent in that one.
Loser: Defenses in Texas-Kansas State and Arkansas-Missouri
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It's not easy to get to 98 or more points in a college football game devoid of touchdowns on defense or special teams, but two contests in the early window pulled it off.
The less competitive of the two was Texas' 69-31 blowout of Kansas State.
The Longhorns did almost have both a defensive touchdown and a special teams touchdown. They returned one interception to the KSU 3-yard line and took a kickoff all the way back to the KSU 1. Both of those plays resulted in a touchdown one play later. But with the way they were moving the ball against the Wildcats, they didn't much need either of those plays to cruise to victory.
Star freshman Bijan Robinson had more than 450 yards from scrimmage in his first seven games without scoring any touchdowns, but he made up for lost time with nine carries for 172 yards and three scores against Kansas State. Roschon Johnson also rushed for three touchdowns and 139 yards. And while those two got whatever they wanted, Sam Ehlinger added 274 passing yards.
Kansas State also had four long touchdown drives in the process of getting this game to 100 total points and more than 1,000 combined yards.
Arkansas and Missouri didn't quite reach the century mark, but they did eclipse 1,200 yards in a nail-biter devoid of turnovers.
Arkansas running back Trelon Smith (26 carries, 172 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Missouri running back Larry Rountree III (27 carries, 185 yards, 3 touchdowns) had nearly identical totals in the ground game. Razorbacks wide receiver Treylon Burks added 206 yards and a score, but Missouri's Connor Bazelak led the QB battle with 380 passing yards.
In the fourth quarter alone, the Razorbacks and Tigers combined for 42 points and 388 total yards. But Missouri had the last laugh, storming back from a 40-26 deficit to win 50-48 on a 32-yard field goal as time expired.
Arkansas entered the day averaging 25.8 points per game. Missouri was even more anemic at 24.4. They nearly doubled their combined average in an incredible shootout. And in the process, Missouri improved to 5-3, which I would dare say nobody saw coming in Eli Drinkwitz's first year as the head coach.
Winner: Indiana's Defense
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Indiana didn't look like it had any chance to win this road game against Wisconsin.
Because of Michael Penix Jr.'s torn ACL, the Hoosiers had to start a quarterback (Jack Tuttle) with 16 career passing attempts. They had to start that inexperienced quarterback alongside a rushing attack barely averaging 100 yards per game. And they had to do it all against an elite Badgers defense allowing 11.7 points and 233.3 total yards per contest.
I couldn't see any realistic scenario in which Indiana scored more than twice.
What I failed to consider was the possibility that the Hoosiers defense would be so good that the offense wouldn't need to score more than twice.
Indiana managed just 217 total yards and 14 points, but that was enough for a 14-6 victory in which the defense clamped down every time Wisconsin got within striking distance.
Wisconsin had seven possessions that made it at least as far as the Indiana 46-yard line, three of which included at least one snap in the red zone. The results from those seven possessions: two field goals, two punts, one interception, one fumble and one turnover on downs.
It was all quite reminiscent of Wisconsin's 17-7 loss to Northwestern two weeks ago, except with fewer Badgers turnovers. It feels like a lifetime ago that Wisconsin opened the season by beating Illinois 45-7 and Michigan 49-11.
The Hoosiers will wrap up the regular season with a home game against Purdue in which they should improve to 7-1. After that, they will either draw Northwestern, Iowa or Wisconsin in the Big Ten's cross-divisional weekend. If they win both, they'll almost certainly play in a New Year's Six bowl.
Loser: Louisiana-Monroe's Attempts to Contain Corey Rucker
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If Arkansas State can play its game against Incarnate Word next week, there's a great chance it will finish this season with two different quarterbacks throwing for at least 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns.
After Saturday's 48-15 win over Louisiana-Monroe, Layne Hatcher is up to 2,058 yards and 19 touchdowns. Teammate Logan Bonner isn't far behind him at 1,863 and 18, respectively. Though the team has struggled because of its porous defense, it's been fun to track what this two-QB system has accomplished.
In this game, though, a Red Wolves receiver stole the spotlight from those two quarterbacks—and it wasn't the usual one.
Jonathan Adams Jr. had been Arkansas State's go-to guy all season, racking up 1,111 yards and 12 touchdowns in his first 10 contests. But it was revealed before this game that he will miss the rest of the season with a hairline fracture in his hip. In his stead, a little-known freshman rose to the occasion.
Corey Rucker entered the day ranked eighth on the team in receiving yards with 143. He last made a reception on Halloween.
Suffice it to say, he wasn't an obvious candidate for one of the best individual performances in recent history.
But Rucker made nine receptions for 310 yards and four touchdowns, joining Louisiana Tech's Carlos Henderson and Houston's Patrick Edwards as the only players in the past two decades with at least 305 receiving yards and three touchdowns in a game. Six of his catches went for at least 30 yards. Three of them went for at least 55 yards.
Yes, Louisiana-Monroe is winless and quite bad. But this was the first time all season that a team had thrown for more than 305 yards against the Warhawks—let alone to a single player.
Winner: Jarek Broussard, Colorado
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It was a rough weekend for a lot of the Pac-12's top teams.
Washington couldn't dig itself out from a 24-3 halftime deficit against Stanford and suffered its first loss of the season. Oregon lost to previously winless California to fall to 3-2. And USC's game got pushed to Sunday night as the Trojans try to recover from a COVID-19 outbreak that caused them to cancel last week's game against Colorado.
Thus, the league's three ranked teams went 0-2 with a Sunday TBD remaining.
But there's another team in the Pac-12 that is still undefeated and that will almost certainly be ranked this Tuesday, thanks to yet another excellent performance from Jarek Broussard.
Colorado's running back had rushed for at least 120 yards in each of the team's first three games, but he found a whole new gear in rushing for 301 yards in a 24-13 road win over Arizona.
Both he and the Buffaloes got out to a slow start. On Colorado's first four possessions, Broussard had eight carries for just 26 yards. By midway through the second quarter, Colorado had fallen behind 13-0. But on the first play of the fifth possession, Broussard broke loose for a 75-yard gain. He added a 59-yard run on the next possession and a 72-yarder to just about put the game on ice late in the fourth quarter.
Broussard is averaging 183.3 rushing yards per game, which is ever so close to 2014 Melvin Gordon III (184.8) and 2016 D'Onta Foreman (184.4) atop the list of best per-game seasons of the past decade. It seems silly to compare a four-game stretch to something guys maintained for 14 and 11 games, respectively, but it's still impressive what Broussard has accomplished during this abridged Pac-12 season.
Loser: LSU's 1st-Half Defense Against Alabama
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A lot of defenses have looked helpless against the juggernaut that is Alabama's offense. And when DeVonta Smith is making catches like this, there's not a whole lot anyone can do. Derek Stingley Jr.—one of the best defensive backs in the nation—went stride for stride with Smith on that play and it didn't even matter.
Moreover, LSU's defense has been dreadful for much of this season. Auburn, Missouri and Mississippi State each amassed at least 44 points and more than 500 yards against the reigning national champions.
But we kind of hoped the Tigers could at least keep Alabama from scoring 45 points in the first half of this rivalry game.
No one was expecting LSU to pitch a shutout or anything, but one stop in the first 30 minutes would have been nice.
Alabama scored touchdowns on each of its first five possessions. It settled for a field goal at the end of a 77-yard drive the sixth time it got the ball. And then the Crimson Tide found paydirt again on drive No. 7.
Smith—who put up 213 yards and a pair of touchdowns in last year's meeting with LSU—had 219 receiving yards and three touchdowns by halftime. It's too bad Alabama didn't need to keep throwing the ball in the second half, because he was well on pace for an all-time great individual performance. As-is, it was mighty impressive.
Najee Harris also had three touchdowns and finished with 145 rushing yards. And while most of Mac Jones' yards went to Smith, he did spread the ball around enough to stockpile 385 yards and four touchdowns.
The funny thing is those aren't even noteworthy numbers for Jones anymore. Against Texas A&M, Georgia and Auburn, he averaged 384.7 yards and 4.3 touchdowns. The Heisman is still probably Trask's to lose, but Alabama's quarterback is doing all he can to keep pace.
Winner: Late-Night Drama
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Mountain West and Pac-12 football have been back for more than a month. For the most part, though, the late games have been snoozefests. Maybe we'd get one somewhat-entertaining affair, but nothing absurdly #Pac12AfterDark, and you never needed multiple screens to keep up with it.
Until Week 14, that is.
Three games kicked off at 10:30 p.m. ET, and all three went right down to the wire.
In the Wyoming-New Mexico game, Cowboys running back Trey Smith fumbled in the red zone in a one-point game with less than four minutes remaining. With that golden opportunity blown, the team that ended the game with its third-string quarterback lost to a Lobos team that was down to its fifth-string QB. The 17-16 victory snapped a 14-game losing streak for New Mexico.
In the UCLA-Arizona State game, the Bruins opened up a 17-0 lead in the second quarter, only to see Arizona State claw all the way back to take an 18-17 lead with less than five minutes to go. The Bruins responded with an 11-play touchdown drive and a two-point conversion to go back ahead by seven, but they left enough time on the clock for the Sun Devils to have one last chance. But LV Bunkley-Shelton couldn't haul in Jayden Daniels' fourth-down Hail Mary attempt from midfield.
And to wrap up the night, Utah led Oregon State 30-10 in the fourth quarter when the Beavers sprung to life. Chance Nolan led them on two long touchdown drives—including one that ended with a reception somehow made between three Utah defenders—and Oregon State had the ball down by six with a chance to win. Nolan ran out of magic down the stretch, though, resulting in a 30-24 Utes victory.
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