College football winners and losers: How the conference races stack up heading into the final week of the regular season

On By Littum

Week 13 was certainly wild.

Four top-15 teams lost on Saturday as the College Football Playoff picture was shaken up significantly. Indiana no. 5 was blown out at Ohio State no. 2 to start the day before a four-way tie atop the Big 12, and the SEC race was reduced to three teams.

Alabama, Ole Miss and Tennessee were all eliminated from the SEC title race. No. 7 Crimson Tide lost 24-3 at Oklahoma just hours after the No. 9 Ole Miss lost 24-17 at Florida. Tennessee took care of business against UTEP and can still go 6-2 in the conference, but the tiebreakers aren’t kind to the Vols.

The chaos in the SEC means Georgia clinched a spot in the conference title game despite entering the weekend ranked fourth among the conference’s teams in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Bulldogs gave up a lot of rushing yards to UMass in their win on Saturday, but wrapped up their SEC schedule a week ago with their 31-17 win over Tennessee.

Here’s a look at how the conference races stack up in the final week of the regular season.

This game has been set for two weeks now. Let’s move on.

The Hurricanes are coming off a win in Syracuse after beating Wake Forest 42-14 at home on Saturday. SMU clinched its spot in the ACC title game with a 33-7 win at Virginia as QB Kevin Jennings was 25-of-33 for 323 yards.

The Ducks were off in Week 13 after clinching a spot in the Big Ten title game with their win over Wisconsin in Week 12. Ohio State’s win over Indiana puts the Buckeyes in the title game with a win over Michigan. If Ohio State loses, Penn State is with a win over Maryland. The Nittany Lions escaped Minnesota with a 26-25 win on Saturday. If both Ohio State and Penn State lose, then Indiana is in the title game with a win over Purdue.

  • Two of Arizona State, BYU, Iowa State, Colorado, Baylor, Kansas State and Texas Tech

This is where it starts to get messy. We start with the simple scenario. ASU, BYU, ISU and Colorado are all tied atop the conference at 6-2. If there is a four-way tie at 7-2, the two participants in the conference title game are Arizona State and Iowa State.

Colorado needs two of the other three teams it is tied with to lose to get to the title game thanks to losses to both Kansas State and Kansas. ASU and BYU both beat K-State already, and Iowa State plays the Wildcats in Week 14. Baylor and Texas Tech need to win in Week 14 to snap four straight losses. Kansas State needs to beat Iowa State, have the other three tied teams lose, and have Baylor lose to Kansas.

This is also pretty straightforward. Jacksonville State beat Sam Houston to clinch a spot in the title game, while the Bearkats are now tied with Liberty after the Flames beat Western Kentucky. Liberty plays Sam Houston in Week 14. If Liberty wins, it’s in. If Sam Houston wins and Western Kentucky wins, the Hilltoppers are in. Sam Houston is in with a win and a WKU loss.

All three teams are tied at 6-1, and Miami and Bowling Green play each other on Saturday. The winner gets to play Ohio if the Bobcats beat Ball State. If Ohio loses to Ball State and Bowling Green beats Miami, we get a rematch between the Falcons and Redhawks a week later thanks to Miami’s win over Ohio earlier in the season.

The Broncos clinched a spot in the title game with a 17-13 rout at Wyoming, and UNLV is one win away from Colorado State’s loss to Fresno State. UNLV will be in if it beats Nevada in Week 14. Colorado State needs to win and have UNLV lose.

The race for the SEC title got a lot simpler thanks to the three top-15 losses on Saturday. Alabama and Ole Miss are officially out of SEC title contention now that they have three conference losses, as is Tennessee despite the Vols’ chance to finish the season 6-2.

Thanks to Texas A&M’s loss to Auburn, the Aggies’ home game against Texas is the de facto SEC semifinal. The winner will play the Bulldogs.

The Ragin’ Cajuns won the Sun Belt West with a 51-30 victory over Troy. Marshall will win the East with a win at James Madison. If Marshall loses and Georgia Southern beats Appalachian State, the Eagles are in the title game thanks to their 24-23 win over Marshall earlier this season.

Here are the rest of this week’s winners and losers.

Florida: The Gators haven’t stopped fighting. Florida has a strong chance to finish the regular season 7-5 after its upset of No. 9 Ole Miss on Saturday. The Florida pass rush did a great job against Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart and had two late interceptions to seal the 24-17 victory. Freshman QB DJ Lagway was 10-of-17 passing for 180 yards and two TDs, while RB Montrell Johnson saw significant action for the first time since Oct. 12, rushing 18 times for 107 yards and a TD.

Kansas: The Jayhawks became the first team with a losing record to score three straight wins over ranked opponents with their 37-21 win against No. 16 Colorado. RB Devin Neal rushed for over 200 yards and four touchdowns as Kansas didn’t punt once.

Kansas is now 5-6 and will be bowl eligible with a win over Baylor in the final week of the regular season.

Nebraska: The losing streak is over. Nebraska is going to a bowl game for the first time since 2016. The Huskers took down Wisconsin 44-25 to finally become bowl eligible. Before Saturday, Nebraska had lost nine straight games after picking up its fifth win of the season. Freshman QB Dylan Raiola was 28-of-38 passing for 293 yards and a TD as Nebraska scored 20 straight points in the second and third quarters to break the game open.

Oregon State: The Beavers are the Pac-12 champions. Oregon State won the battle for bragging rights in the two-team conference with a 41-38 home win over Washington State. The loss is the second in a row for the Cougars after falling to New Mexico a week ago. Oregon State tied the game at 38-38 with a 16-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 4-yard TD pass from Ben Gulbranson to Darrius Clemons with 2:45 left. Washington State fumbled on the second play of its next possession, and Everett Hayes hit a clear 55-yard field goal with 20 seconds left.

Rutgers: Greg Schiano is going to relive the end of Saturday’s game for a long, long time. With Rutgers leading 31-30, Illinois set up a 58-yard field goal with 14 seconds left. The kick missed wide and short, but Schiano had called timeout before the play. With the kick not close to going in, Illinois coach Bret Bielema decided to go for it on fourth-and-10. It worked very well when Luke Altmyer found Pat Bryant over the middle and Bryant ran to the end zone for the go-ahead TD with four seconds left in the 38-31 Illini victory.

Pitt: The Panthers lost their fourth straight game on Saturday and potentially lost QB Eli Holstein for the season in a 37-9 loss at Louisville. Holstein was carted off the field with his left lower leg in a boot after a sack in the first quarter. The Cardinals led 27-0 at halftime before scrambling in the second half. Pitt mustered just 265 yards of total offense after Holstein threw for 51 yards on just five attempts. The Panthers must win at Boston College in Week 14 to avoid a five-game skid to end the season.

NC State: The Wolfpack were on the verge of becoming bowl eligible when Daylan “Hollywood” Smothers rushed 53 yards for a TD with 1:30 to go against Georgia Tech on Thursday. Smothers’ TD gave NC State a 29-23 lead, but Georgia Tech needed just seven plays to go 75 yards for the game-winning score.

QB Aaron Philo rushed 18 yards for a touchdown with 22 seconds left as Aidan Birr’s extra point provided the margin of victory in a 30-29 victory. The loss dropped NC State to 5-6 overall and 2-5 in the ACC ahead of their rivalry game against North Carolina to end the season.

Kent State: The Golden Flashes look set for an 0-12 season. Kent State hosted a 2-8 Akron team Tuesday night in what appeared to be KSU’s best chance at a win in over a year. Instead, Akron won easily 38-17 to extend Kent State’s losing streak. The Golden Flashes haven’t won since beating FCS opponent Central Connecticut State on September 16, 2023. That’s a 20 game streak and you have to go back to the last week of the 2022 season to find Kent State’s last victory over an FBS opponent.