2016 Week 13 CFB Bullets
[Upchurch – MGoBlog]
A decade after Ohio State and Michigan met as the top two teams in the country, they faced off again with similarly high stakes – and again, Ohio State emerged victorious in a hard-fought classic. The playoff picture isn’t necessarily any clearer, though Michigan is probably now eliminated.
Onto the week that was:
Big Ten
--- The Game, which featured the two best teams in the conference, lived up to the hype, even though it was a game marred by critical mistakes on both sides. MICHIGAN gave up two regulation touchdowns on interceptions from deep in its own end of the field: one was returned by Malik Hooker for a touchdown, another was taken deep into the red zone and punched in on one play. OHIO STATE missed two field goals in regulation, including one from inside Michigan’s five-yard line (the Wolverines fumbled away a sure scoring possession earlier in the game from near the same spot), and JT Barrett was an ineffective passer all game. Still, the game went to overtime after the Buckeyes marched down the field for a game-tying field goal in the waning moments of regulation. In overtime, Michigan responded to an easy OSU touchdown with a tough completion into the end zone on fourth down; in the second overtime, Michigan settled for a field goal and managed to force Ohio State into fourth-and-one – of course, a controversial spot gave the Buckeyes a first down and they scored the game-winning touchdown on the next play. Wilton Speight was available to play for Michigan and, aside from the critical interceptions (one came on a bad read, another on a play where he was hit when he threw), he was capable and helped compensate for an ineffective UM rushing attack. Ohio State struggled with Michigan’s excellent defensive front and they were unable to get much-needed explosive plays, but the Buckeye defense provided just enough scoring to get the game to overtime.
[More on the week that was after the JUMP]
--- Neither of those teams will be playing in the Big Ten Championship Game, however. WISCONSIN will face PENN STATE next week for the conference title, as both teams won in tougher-than-expected fashion at home against MINNESOTA and MICHIGAN STATE, respectively – in fact, both trailed at halftime. Minnesota opened the Axe Game with a field goal and answered the first Badger touchdown with a long kickoff return and a touchdown pass on the next play; an improbable two-minute drill got them another touchdown and a 17-7 lead right before halftime. Mitch Leidner wound up throwing four second-half interceptions for the Gophers and two of them resulted in short fields and quick Badger touchdowns – in the end, the score was 31-17. PSU trailed MSU 12-0 at halftime before scoring touchdowns on its first three drives of the second half; Trace McSorely finished with four touchdowns and just six incompletions en route to a comfortable 45-12 win over the Spartans. It will be interesting to see who wins between Wisconsin and PSU next week and if the winner makes it into the playoff over (or with) Ohio State. Since there’s very little precedent, it’s anyone’s guess.
--- Rivalry week produced a few blowouts in the conference this week: MARYLAND and NORTHWESTERN each got their sixth win of the season with wins over RUTGERS and ILLINOIS, respectively. Perhaps the most surprising result of the week was IOWA routing NEBRASKA: LeShun Daniels and Akrum Wadley each ran for over 100 yards and combined for three rushing touchdowns and CJ Beathard added three passing touchdowns in what was the Hawkeyes’ most impressive offensive performance of the season; the defense was similarly good, holding Nebraska to just 3.4 yards per pass attempt and 2.9 yards per rush on the day.
--- A third Big Ten team got its sixth win and bowl eligibility on the last weekend of the regular season as INDIANA beat PURDUE on a fourth quarter comeback despite throwing four interceptions against the Boilermakers. After Devine Redding scored the game-winning touchdown with five minutes left, Purdue was able to drive the ball into Indiana territory before throwing an interception into the end zone on fourth down to effectively end the game.
[Lindsey Wasson – The Seattle Times]
Pac-12
--- The marquee game on Friday was a winner-take-all matchup between WASHINGTON and WASHINGTON STATE in the Apple Cup to determine the Pac-12 North Title; of course, with Washington sitting at just one loss on the season, there were also playoff stakes as well. The Huskies turned in their best performance of the season, scoring touchdowns on each of their first four drives to leap out to an early 28-3 lead – after most of the game was played in what was effectively garbage time, U-Dub finished with a 45-17 win over their in-state rivals and a berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Three of those first quarter touchdowns came on Jake Browning passes, two of which were caught by Dante Pettis. Backup running back Lavon Coleman also added two touchdowns for Washington. Wazzu found it difficult to move the ball with their Air Raid attack as they had just 334 yards and four turnovers on the day.
--- COLORADO had a more difficult time with UTAH in a must-win game to secure a berth in the conference title game, but the Buffaloes held on to win and finish with a ten-win regular season after struggling in the Pac-12 since arriving in the league about a half-decade ago. Sefo Liufau led the way offensively in the 27-22 win over the Utes, but the defense was the biggest factor in the win: they forced a fumble right in front of their own goal line to prevent a score, held Utah to a field goal on a possession that started inside their own five after a long kick return, and scored a touchdown of their own on a scoop-and-score to extend the lead to 27-16 in the fourth quarter. Utah finished with four turnovers on the day and quarterback Troy Williams completed just 13 of his 40 pass attempts against the impressive Colorado defense. A long scoring drive made it a one-score game with a minute and a half left, but Utah was unable to recover an onside kick and couldn’t stop Colorado on 3rd-and-one that could have gotten them the ball back with a little time left. The Pac-12 will be settled next weekend when Washington faces Colorado – the Huskies will doubtlessly make it into the playoff if they win but the Buffs might have a chance as well. At the very least, it’s already been a wonderful season for a proud program that’s fallen on hard times lately.
--- Two Pac-12 teams faced out-of-conference opponents and won easily. USC and STANFORD each got to nine wins on the season by defeating 4-8 Notre Dame and 3-9 Rice, respectively, and both games were essentially over at halftime. Both teams had strong finishes after poor stretches early in the season.
--- Oddly, there were three games between teams with losing records. ARIZONA STATE gave ARIZONA its first conference win of the season; the Wildcats passed the ball just eight times but still got to 56 points and almost 600 yards on the day. OREGON STATE defeated OREGON 34-24 to give the teams identical 4-8 records. UCLA finished its extremely disappointing season with an uncompetitive loss to CAL on the road.
[Timothy D. Easley – AP]
Each season, Rivalry Week features four games between the SEC East and the ACC. I’ll go through those games before moving on to each conference.
--- Surprisingly, the only winner from the SEC in those games was KENTCUKY, who beat LOUISVILLE on the road in a shootout capped by a game-winning field goal in the game’s waning moments. It only took Louisville five plays and two minutes to score the game’s first touchdown – one of four total for Lamar Jackson on the day – but Kentucky responded with a 75-yard touchdown from Stephen Johnson to Garrett Johnson on their first play from scrimmage to answer. From there, it was back and forth throughout: there were turnovers aplenty (Jackson accounted for four himself, though one was a pick on the last play of the game, one that didn’t have a chance regardless), both teams went well over 500 total yards of offense, and neither defense was capable of forcing many punts. Kentucky was up seven when Jackson threw a red zone INT, but had to punt; on the next drive, Louisville scored, followed by a UK fumble; but, in a tie game, Jackson fumbled inside the Kentucky ten with less than two minutes left, setting up the drive for the decisive 47-yard Austin MacGinnis field goal.
--- One rivalry that’s been fairly lopsided as of late is FLORIDA STATE vs. FLORIDA, and the Seminoles won their fourth straight with a 31-13 win over the SEC East champs. The FSU defense forced two turnovers and held the Gators to just 205 yards of total offense, while Dalvin Cook led the Noles with 153 yards on the ground in a game where their passing attack was largely ineffective. A long touchdown pass from Deondre Francois to Travis Rudolph put FSU up 17-6 midway through the fourth quarter and effectively put the game out of reach. GEORGIA TECH came back to beat GEORGIA in the fourth quarter: the Jackets had a long pass to set up the touchdown that put them down three with about six and a half minutes left, UGA QB Jacob Eason threw a pick, and Tech scored the go-ahead touchdown with thirty seconds left to give them the 28-24 win. CLEMSON destroyed SOUTH CAROLINA.
[Butch Dill – AP]
SEC
--- The biggest game of the weekend in the SEC was the Iron Bowl, of course: ALABAMA only led 13-9 at halftime, partially due to two Jalen Hurts interceptions, but coasted in the second half after scoring an easy touchdown on their opening drive of the third quarter and wound up beating AUBURN, 30-12. The Tigers were without starting quarterback Sean White for the game and backups John Franklin III and Jeremy Johnson were quite ineffective in his stead. The fearsome Alabama defense held Auburn to just 182 total yards and, even if they were put into bad field position by those interceptions or a long punt return, managed to hold the Tigers to field goals and didn’t allow a single touchdown. Aside from the interceptions, Hurts played well, throwing for two touchdowns and 286 yards; surprisingly Bo Scarborough got the lion’s share of carries for the Tide, though he didn’t manage to crack 100 yards rushing on the day. Needless to say, Alabama’s still the favorite to win the national championship.
--- A couple of surprisingly high-scoring affairs sprung up around the league in the final weekend of the regular season. On Thanksgiving night, LSU ran roughshod over TEXAS A&M, even without star running back Leonard Fournette. Some late A&M scores made the 54-39 final look closer than the game really was. Danny Etling threw for 324 yards and two touchdowns; Derrius Guice ran for 285 yards and four touchdowns; Ed Orgeron was named the permanent head coach in the days after the game. VANDERBILT, a team mostly known for its defense, came back to beat TENNESSEE 45-34 to get its sixth win and bowl eligibility; QB Kyle Shurmur threw for over 400 yards on the day. MISSISSIPPI STATE outscored OLE MISS 28-0 in the second half of the Egg Bowl to beat the Rebels, 55-20. Both teams finished 5-7 on the season.
--- MISSOURI came back from down 24-7 at halftime against ARKANSAS to win 28-24. The Razorbacks threw two interceptions in the second half and a critical holding penalty on the would-be game-winning drive put them in second-and-goal at the 20 – they were unable to get any closer.
ACC
--- A couple of victories got teams that elusive sixth win and bowl eligibility: NC STATE held on against NORTH CAROLINA to win 28-21 – after scoring two fourth quarter touchdowns to make it a one-score game, UNC got the ball back with a chance to tie but a holding penalty doomed the drive; BOSTON COLLEGE won a predictably hideous game over WAKE FOREST with a touchdown in the fourth quarter, though Wake missed a field goal that would have tied the game a few possessions later. An interception sealed the win with a minute left.
--- There were some blowouts as VIRGINIA TECH destroyed VIRGINIA to secure a spot in next week’s ACC Championship Game. MIAMI took care of DUKE to get to eight wins on the season. Some late touchdowns made this game a look a little closer than the outcome really was, but somehow PITT and SYRACUSE managed to combine for 137 points in a 76-61 (football) win for the Panthers.
Big 12
--- As the Big 12 doesn’t have a conference championship game, there are still a few regular season games next week, most notably the clash between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State – both teams had a bye this week. Consequently, the games that were played were of little national importance: TCU routed TEXAS in Charlie Strong’s last game, TEXAS TECH handed BAYLOR its fifth loss in a row after starting out undefeated, WEST VIRGINIA wound up running away with a win over IOWA STATE (and has a chance to make it a ten-win season next week), and KANSAS STATE won over KANSAS. None of the games were particularly close.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:25 AM ^
The wording of the announcement of the CFP rankings make me more sanguine for Michigan's playoff chances than Mr. Cook. References to Michigan's performance in Columbus as "impressive," referring to the razor thin margin between Washington and Michigan, declaring that conference championships are only one of 4 criteria used to judge teams and not publicly declaring how heavily they are weighted.
These all seem like good signs in the tea leaves to me. We are all Buffs Friday.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:54 AM ^
Friday - I plan to Buffalo so hard. #GoBuffaLUE
November 30th, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
If I were that camera man, I'd be crapping myself. My brother has spent alot of time out west camping and working the big Boy Scout camp out there. He wasn't really worried about bears, mountain lions, snakes,scorpions, or coyotes. He was TERRIFIED of Bison. They are basically cars with horns and hooves that can charge when they are frightend. A whole heard of these dude could do some serious damage.
November 30th, 2016 at 4:42 PM ^
I saw the Ralphie run at the Colorado/ASU game back in mid-October. Quite a site to see. Ralphie is ENORMOUS!
November 30th, 2016 at 10:50 AM ^
Ole Miss is still the best 5-7 team in the country!
November 30th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^
good news is that there are now so many bowls that they might make a bowl game and become the best 5-8 team in the country.
November 30th, 2016 at 10:56 AM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 11:00 AM ^
Teams like Colorado are also why I don't like it when Brian opens his game preview with "[This team] is not good." You don't know shit at the beginning of the season.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^
Except Rutgers. In which case we know with certainty that they'll be bad.
November 30th, 2016 at 2:18 PM ^
scored two TD's against Washington. That's pretty good.
November 30th, 2016 at 6:20 PM ^
Sounds like what the committee would call a "quality loss"
November 30th, 2016 at 11:21 AM ^
Wisco over PSU (24-13) - book it.
'SKOOOOO BUFFS
November 30th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
We did get screwed in Columbus on Saturday but lets not forget the unpredictable things that have gone in our favor this season:
- Penn State ran the table after playing us to reach the Top 10
- Colorado won the rest of their games with the exception of a loss to USC (which hasn't lost since September) to reach the Top 10
- Wisconsin won out with the exception of Ohio State to move back into the Top 10
- Louisville imploded to move out of our way
- Washington, OSU and Clemson all lost games along the way
Without ALL of those things happening we wouldn't be in this conversation with two losses. Personally, I feel like the college football gods are on our side and Washington and/or Clemson will lose this weekend and we'll be playing Bama on 12/31.
Go Buffs! Go Hokies!
November 30th, 2016 at 11:57 AM ^
I agree with you in general but I'm not sure how much Penn State's season helps us. Without that, OSU is in the BTCG where they'd almost certainly destroy Wisconsin, which would render moot the "Do both OSU and the B1G champ deserve to get in over Michigan?" question and give us just that slightly better chance of getting in the CFP.
November 30th, 2016 at 12:16 PM ^
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November 30th, 2016 at 12:27 PM ^
Wisconsin was at home (at night) the first time. Camp Randall is a dangerous place.
I think OSU 24-7 in a neutral field.
Do you agree we would smack Iowa on a neutral field?
November 30th, 2016 at 2:53 PM ^
Yes we smack Iowa.
I think any team with a good DL will hurt OSU in the playoff. I'm assuming that includes everyone (assuming no Washington). Of course, the said can be said about UM.
November 30th, 2016 at 3:55 PM ^
We have the best and deepest D-line in the nation
And yet we still gave up 200 rushing yards (4.4 yds/carry).
Who in the playoff is going to do better than that for 4+ quarters?
November 30th, 2016 at 4:32 PM ^
I probably wasn't very clear. Our OL would cause us problems against good DL's in the playoff - if we are selected. The same could be said about OSU's OL - they have been getting exposed by almost every DL with a pulse this season.
November 30th, 2016 at 5:11 PM ^
My only point is that our offense needs a good OL to win.
OSU doesn't. Thier line will eventually break through any DL, given enough chances.
We NEED the ability to run the ball! We cant close games without a running game.
Its to the point were our leads in games just set us up for a dong punch.
November 30th, 2016 at 8:50 PM ^
Word. Up.
OSU's skill positions are capable of making plays in spite of their OL (when the group is taken as a whole). As far as I care, I'm fine if OSU wants to feature Weber as their RB. He didn't scare me before or after Saturday.
re: our offense - notwithstanding the OL, it's been frustrating to watch Speight/OKorn/WR's miss the slant/drag routes that have been there for the taking late in games. No doubt we should be running more effectively, but it's ok to pound Smith into the line a couple times as long as we hit on 3rd&8. We're getting single coverage on the WR's because of blitzes and Butt drawing three guys. I'm confident this gets fixed by the bowl game if Speight is a little healthier.
November 30th, 2016 at 4:54 PM ^
Offense could not convert a first down and stupid mistakes like that PI penalty kept the D on the field. They wore down.
November 30th, 2016 at 12:12 PM ^
I think the college football gods this year are more like the fisherman in the Geico commercial. "oooohhhh, got to be quicker than that!"
November 30th, 2016 at 4:38 PM ^
except the unpredictable things that have gone against us have caused two losses and all those things you mention mean nothing if we didnt have one or both of those losses...
November 30th, 2016 at 11:34 AM ^
I guess Michigan is "probably" eliminated from CFP contention because it is more likely than not that both Clemson and Washington win, but if either of those teams lose, we're in.
November 30th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^
For the past few days I have scoffed at people that asked why no measurement. But I have a question for anyone that is knowledgable:
In such a situation, where the ball is initially placed at a specific yard line (the 25), does the rule book define a first down as crossing the plane of the midfield-side edge of the yard line 10 yards out? Or, is a first down still defined as advancing 10 yards as determined by the chains, as it is in most situations?
If the latter, given that it was a matter of 2-3 inches, shouldn't a measurement have been taken anyways? I can think of multiple reasons why an actual measurement might yield something 2-3 inches different from what logic would assume.
November 30th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^
As soon as a thread of the ball crosses a dust spec of chalk on the 15, it's a first down. The sticks should reflect that as well.
November 30th, 2016 at 2:41 PM ^
I don't deny that the sticks SHOULD reflect that. However I've worked a sideline chain gang. I PROMISE you that the placement of the starting point and physical measurements aren't 100% perfect. Don't forget that 3" is less than 1% of 10 yards.
If the rule book says the referees are allowed to assume that the lines are perfectly placed, I concede no measurement is necessary. However, if the rule book says that a first down is defined by the chains, then I think a measurement should have been taken, anyways.
November 30th, 2016 at 12:28 PM ^
Check out the official's look of unbridled joy when Barrett scored the TD in this pic. I'm sure he was completely unbiased in his officiating for this game.
November 30th, 2016 at 4:53 PM ^
Is that the same guy who patted their RB on the ass?
December 1st, 2016 at 12:10 AM ^
November 30th, 2016 at 4:28 PM ^
Still can't friggin believe we lost on Saturday. I still CAN. NOT. FRIGGIN. BELIEVE. IT.
First time in years where we legitimately looked like the better team. And even in their own damn house. OSU was on the ropes countless times, and we just kept dancing around, refusing to deliver the final haymaker that would put them on the mat for good. All we had to do was convert a first down or two and run out the clock, throw one less pick, or catch one more pass.
We beat ourselves, and we deserved to lose. Gave them way too many chances, and they delivered when they knew their entire season was on the line. Gave them the damn game.
November 30th, 2016 at 4:52 PM ^
That was on Harbaugh. I mean...he deserves the credit for getting us in to postion...however he tightens up in close games on the road like Bo did. That killed us in the 4th Q like it did vs. MSU and Iowa.
November 30th, 2016 at 5:07 PM ^
The Game this year seem like a microcasm of the 2016 season.
Start strong, dominate out the gate and then falter late.
It sucks that we had them 17-7 and let them off the fucking mat.
We need to stomp a big-name opponent (not named Florida) this year. Hopefully Alabama.
November 30th, 2016 at 4:50 PM ^
Herbstreit said today that if Wash or Clemson stumbles, then he thinks Michigan is in the best position to get in.
November 30th, 2016 at 6:31 PM ^
I would give my left nut to see M ALabama and then M OSU for all the marbles. Maybe both nuts.
December 1st, 2016 at 12:15 AM ^
December 1st, 2016 at 12:22 AM ^
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