Week 13 was a down week for college football. Much of the SEC left the conference schedule to play FCS teams. Some ACC teams, particularly those with end-of-the-schedule SEC rivals, followed suit or did the honorable thing, like Georgia Tech, in taking a bye. The biggest games of the weekend were either in the Pac-12 or in Harvard.
This feature will discuss the week that was, though there was not much of a week for football to discuss. We will start on the West Coast.
UCLA, Arizona Cruise
The Pac-12 had two of the three games on Saturday featuring ranked teams. The Minnesota-Nebraska game, if you can believe it, was the other one. In those two games featuring ranked teams, no. 9 UCLA and no. 15 Arizona were easy winners over no. 19 USC and no. 17 Utah.
The UCLA-USC game was the game of the week on Saturday. The result may have been the most jarring. Ten year ago, who would've thought UCLA, with its infamous 80-yard practice field, would be blowing the doors off the mighty Trojans? UCLA is just a two-loss team, but it struggled much more with Memphis, Texas, Virginia, and Colorado than it did with USC.
It is also the third consecutive UCLA win in the series, its longest stretch of wins since getting nine-straight wins against USC in the 1990s. UCLA head coach Jim Mora hasn't lost to USC.
While USC getting outclassed as bad as it did is eye-opening, it is partially understandable. USC had only 53 scholarship players on the field for the game in the Rose Bowl. It is still getting to full strength after the NCAA sanctions against it ended. UCLA is thriving, but USC may not be that far behind.
Someone may have to get USC fan Snoop Dogg off the ledge and remind him of this.
Arizona's game at Utah was stuck on an ESPN 3:30 slot while Florida State and Wisconsin were playing and may not have received much attention. The game was never in in doubt. Arizona jumped to a 21-0 lead before conceding a touchdown seven seconds before halftime. It conceded a field goal midway through the third quarter an finished with the games' final 21 points.
Arizona also hung 520 yards of offense on Utah. It was never that close.
With one game remaining for all Pac-12 teams, there are three teams that could win the Pac-12 South's berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game. One is UCLA, which also eliminated USC. The other two are Arizona and Arizona State, which play each other. The Pac-12 scheduled the Territorial Cup and UCLA's season finale in the Rose Bowl against Stanford for the same 3:30 p.m. kickoff on Friday.
The scenarios for winning the Pac-12 South are quite similar. UCLA advances with a win over Stanford. It has tie-breaker wins over both Arizona State and Arizona. The winner of the Territorial Cup advances to the Pac-12 Championship Game with a Stanford upset.
Buy Stock in Arkansas
Last Saturday, Arkansas ended a 17-game SEC losing streak with a 17-0 shutout win over traditional power, LSU. Two days ago, Arkansas pitched its second-straight shutout with a 30-0 win over a hurting Ole Miss team.
Arkansas now has a win streak.
The game mattered not for the SEC West in the broad scheme of things, though it does eliminate Ole Miss. Arkansas is still last in the SEC West, albeit now no. 26 in the AP Poll because SEC West infatuation is at ridiculous levels at the moment.
Arkansas is playing Missouri next week for a trip to the Duck Commander Independence Bowl, or the Birmingham Bowl at best. If nothing else, use the past two games to buy stock in what Bert is doing in Fayetteville. Arkansas will probably be a top-15 preseason team in 2015, maybe top-10.
Talkin' 'Bout the Noles
In a week light on meaningful games, Florida State, the last undefeated team from a Power Five conference, farting out another win becomes something worth mentioning in passing.
Despite being preseason double-digit favorites in all its games this season, at least half of Florida State's games have looked like the win on Saturday against Boston College. However, I thought this game might be different.
Boston College, which hung 452 rushing yards on USC in an upset win, was mauling the right side of Florida State's offensive line. Without that defensive playing at a high level, Florida State falls like a house of cards. The strength of last year's unit, the secondary, all left and is now the weak-link on the defense.
Further, Jameis Winston was still susceptible to the usual comedy of errors and his favorite target at wide receiver was hurt. Florida State can't run the ball against even crappy run defenses. I thought this would be it. Heck, even FSU's star kicker missed his first field goal try in Tallahassee.
It also looked that way with Boston College driving in the fourth quarter in a tie game. Boston College embarked on a 17-play, 67-yard drive that lasted almost nine minutes but ended in a missed field goal try. A trick play on 2nd and 9 on FSU's 26-yard line ended a drive that could've resulted in a touchdown.
Florida State subsequently moved the ball 66 yards down the field, using all but three seconds left on the clock en route to a game-winning field goal.
Florida State hosts Florida to end the season and will play in the ACC Championship Game before the playoff selections are announced. If you're praying for Will Muschamp or Paul Johnson to do you a solid, you may want to find another deity to hear your prayers.
Elsewhere in College Football
Harvard beat Yale, 31-24, to end its season undefeated (the Ivies don't participate in the FCS playoffs). It is now the rightful national champion.
Harvard > Yale > Army > Wake > VT > OSU > IU > Mizzou > A&M > Auburn > Ole Miss > Alabama
— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) November 22, 2014
North Carolina's win over Duke on Thursday night handed the ACC Coastal Division championship to Georgia Tech.
Wake Forest beat Virginia Tech 6-3 in double overtime in a game that ended 0-0 in regulation.
Melvin Gordon's NCAA single-game rushing record lasted a week. Oklahoma freshman Samaje Perine broke it against Kansas.
Pittsburgh beat Syracuse on Saturday. It also has wins over Boston College and Virginia Tech. If it beats Miami on Saturday, it's the 2014 "Big East" champs.
True story: Virginia has won four of its last five games against Miami. Yes, that Miami (of Florida).
Missouri winning at Tennessee gives Missouri at least a share of the SEC East crown. It also makes Indiana the rightful SEC East champions.
Kent State's game at Buffalo was postponed and later canceled due to last week's snowstorm.
