So there are a lot of things to unpack from the last week of college football. In this article, I will talk about last week’s Conference Championship games, the playoff selection, bowl matchups, share my thoughts on the Heisman Trophy, and more.

Conference Championships

So to start things off, how about we talk about some of the actual games that happened and their effect on the grand scheme of college football.

Oregon 37 Utah 15

In a Friday night matchup in Santa Clara, (Levi’s stadium is terrible and this game moving to Las Vegas next season is an awesome move) Utah entered their Pac 12 Championship matchup with Oregon with a playoff berth in their sights, while Oregon was hoping to play spoiler and earn a spot in the Rose Bowl. Oregon played that role very well early, jumping out to a 20-0 lead at halftime. Utah made it a bit interesting in the second half, trimming Oregon’s lead to eight points before Oregon took control again to win 37-15.

I think the main reason for Utah’s collapse in this game is the fact that their defensive front was clearly overmatched by Oregon’s offensive line. CJ Verdell had an impressive 208 rushing yards for the Ducks including two fourth quarter touchdowns that really iced the game for Oregon. Verdell averaged 11.6 yards per carry and while he did have a 70 yard touchdown, it is still an impressive 8.1 yards per carry if you take out that run. Obviously Verdell deserves some credit but Oregon’s offensive line definitely made things easier for him. On defense, Oregon also won the battle in the trenches, sacking Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley six times. The breakout star on defense was true freshman defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux. Thibodeaux racked up 2.5 sacks on the day and was an absolute force up front. Thibodeaux was the second highest rated recruit in the country in the last class, so his future definitely looks bright.

For Utah, I think something to point out is that while their defense was getting gashed, their offense was not doing much either. In the first half, the Utes struggled to stay ahead of the chained as they were 0/6 on third down. Quarterback Tyler Huntley did fine, except for the fact that he threw two interceptions, one of which was when Utah had the ball on their own 20 yard line.

I think it has to be brought up that the moment might have just been too big for them. The Utes has the playoff in their grasp and to lose this game will sting for awhile. For Oregon, this win should signify completing their rebuild. After going 4-8 in 2016, the Ducks have improved every year and have truly established a new identity under Mario Cristobal.

Oklahoma 30 Baylor 23

In a game that basically functioned as a play in game for the playoff, Oklahoma took down Baylor 30-23 in overtime. The Sooners made sure to not repeat their disastrous first half in their regular season matchup with Baylor, jumping to a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Bears bounced back in the second quarter to bring a 13-10 lead into halftime. Unfortunately, quarterback Charlie Brewer suffered an injury that took him out for the rest of the game. Backup Gerry Bohanon threw a touchdown pass, but his inexperience showed as he completed just 4/15 passes. Third string quarterback Jacob Zeno entered the game with 10 minutes to play and made an instant impact as his first two passes were an 81 yard touchdown and a 78 yard gain. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Baylor’s passing attack. Baylor had to settle for a game tying field goal to finish off that drive and could not stop Oklahoma in overtime. After that, the Bears went four and out on their drive to lose 30-23.

While Baylor’s season has been a massive success, this loss will be a tough one to swallow. After Brewer went down, the Bears could not get anywhere on offense consistently. Baylor’s run game has never really taken shape like I expected it would have. The Bears needed the run game to be effective and they just fell short of that. Actually, to say they fell short is a bit of an understatement as they had just 35 rushing yards and an average of 1.2 yards per rushing attempt. They also put themselves in a hole often as they had 15 plays of negative yardage, meaning they had either no gain or a loss of yards on 58% of their plays (adding in 18 incomplete passes). I do not all want to discredit Oklahoma’s win because they deserved to win this game, but Baylor has to wonder what effect a healthy Charlie Brewer would have had on the result. I personally think Oklahoma still probably wins, but it is a question worth asking.

Oklahoma deserves some credit as their defensive line stunts were very difficult for Baylor to pick up on. Baylor also could not cover Oklahoma receiver CeeDee Lamb. Lamb had eight catches for 173 yards in the game and was Oklahoma’s best playmaker. Baylor did pretty well in keeping Jalen Hurts from scrambling easily, but he still threw for 287 yards while completing 71% of his attempts. On defense, Oklahoma’s star was definitely linebacker Kenneth Murray who had a team leading 10 tackles as well as a sack and three tackles for loss.

This win secured a third straight playoff berth for Oklahoma and a fifth straight Big 12 Championship. Oklahoma is dominating their conference and is clearly in a good spot under Lincoln Riley. I think that the Sooners found themselves offensively throughout the season and have transitioned seamlessly from Kyler Murray to Jalen Hurts. While their defense still has steps to make, they have been playing well in big games. I think that while LSU is an elite team, Oklahoma can hold their own.

LSU 37 Georgia 10

In the only game of the day featuring two teams ranked in the top four at the time, LSU was just too much for a beat up Georgia team to handle as they won 37-10. LSU led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. The Tigers really took control of the game during the third quarter where they turned a 17-3 halftime lead to a 34-3 lead after three quarters.

Joe Burrow again proved to be tough to stop, throwing for 349 yards and four touchdowns while completing 74% of his passes. Justin Jefferson led all receivers with 115 receiving yards. What is crazy is that these numbers honestly feel pedestrian for LSU this season. Burrow still did well against an elite defense and I think this game likely put a bow on his Heisman candidacy. On defense, true freshman cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. really made a name for himself on a big stage. Stingley picked off two passes and was stellar in coverage. After this performance and a very good freshman season, Stingley is being named an All-American by many (even though he was stupidly snubbed and did not win SEC Freshman of the Year). On defense, the Tigers just ensure that Georgia would not get much going. The Bulldogs only had one gain of more than 20 yards (it was a 21 yard pass) all day and their run game completely failed to take off. This win proved to all that LSU can beat anybody and can make a very good team look bad.

For Georgia, I think that while LSU was a clearly better team, they can deflect a bit of blame on injuries. D’Andre Swift was clearly still nursing a shoulder injury as he had just five touches and only two carries. While head coach Kirby Smart did not say it, I think Swift was likely still recovering. Not having Lawrence Cager in addition to losing George Pickens for the first half made things a lot harder for Georgia’s receivers. The receivers that did play struggled with dropped passes and getting open. I think that this loss is disappointing, but it should not signify that Georgia will never get over the hump. The Bulldogs has some bad breaks and still had to play against an elite team. I think with the rise of LSU, Georgia does need to make sure they do not get washed out of the SEC’s top tier.

Clemson 62 Virginia 17

In their first appearance in the ACC Championship, Virginia looked overmatched against the defending National Champions. The Cavaliers tied it up at 7-7 in the first quarter, but that was as good as it got as Clemson won the game 62-17.

Trevor Lawrence kept up his strong play, throwing for 302 yards and four touchdowns on 13.7 yards per attempt. Tee Higgins proved again to be nearly impossible to cover as he racked up 182 receiving yards and three touchdowns while Justyn Ross had 94 of his own. Travis Etienne ran for 114 yards and would have put up more if he was given more carries. On defense, the Tigers shut down Virginia’s run game and picked off three passes. Linebacker Isaiah Simmons was the top defensive performer as he had nine tackles and an interception.

I think this dominant win for Clemson should show everybody that we have been wrong to forget about them. I think I have definitely been guilty of writing them off as a clear third best team behind LSU and Ohio State and after seeing their recent form, that is not at all a guarantee. Since their close call with North Carolina, Clemson has won eight straight games by 31 or more points. After a shakier start, Lawrence has completed 68% of his passes for 2,041 yards and a touchdown to interception ratio of 26/3. To anyone thinking Clemson is a guarantee to lose to Ohio State, I think Clemson’s recent performance shows that could not be less true.

For Virginia, I think that they should call this season a success regardless of their loss to Clemson. The Cavaliers were a cellar dweller in the ACC before Bronco Mendenhall was hired on in 2016. The fact that they snapped their losing streak to a Virginia Tech is enough to make this season a success.

Ohio State 34 Wisconsin 21

The last game of the night started off in a bit of a surprising fashion. Wisconsin jumped out to a 14-0 lead on Ohio State, who beat them 38-7 earlier in the season. The Badgers took a 21-7 lead into halftime, but Ohio State came out of the gate hot in the second half. The Buckeyes scored 27 points in the second half and notched at least a field goal on their first five drives. Justin Fields threw for 299 yards and three touchdowns. JK Dobbins played very well in the second half and had 172 rushing yards for the game. KJ Hill had one of his best performances at receiver with two touchdown catches. On defense, the Buckeyes successfully stifled Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor in the second half and Wisconsin suffered offensively because of it. Chase Young battled off double and even occasional triple teams to have 1.5 tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries as well as knocking down two passes. While I think Ohio State has been an elite team this season, I was a bit concerned about how they would play in a tight game. This game proved they are more than capable of punching back.

For Wisconsin, their inability to reliably move the ball through the air really came back to bite them this game. It also did not help that they could not find a reliable pass catcher besides Quintez Cephus. The Badgers had a good pass rush, but they allowed JK Dobbins to grind out yards on the ground a bit too easily. Regardless, this season will be considered a success for Wisconsin if they can beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

Playoff Rankings

Now that we have all the games out of the way, I think we should talk about the playoff selection. I think this season might have had the most clear cut top four of any of the six seasons they have had the playoff. This season really did not have anybody missing out that had fans thinking they should be in (or at least any rational fans). While I still think the playoff committee has yet to mistakenly leave a team out, almost every other season had teams that at least had somewhat of an argument. While I obviously with the four teams included, I think that the committee made a mistake when it made LSU the top seed instead of Ohio State. While I acknowledge that it is tough to designate a best team in the country right now, I think Ohio State has the best resume of anyone.

Ohio State, like LSU, is undefeated but they have yet to play a game decided by ten or fewer points. LSU has played in three games decided by seven or fewer points. While I can not really fault them for winning by just five points at Alabama, they did struggle at home against Auburn and at Texas. Ohio State also now holds the title of being the first team in college football history to go 9-0 in conference play and win their conference championship game. In their five games against teams currently ranked in the top 25 of the playoff rankings, Ohio State’s average score 40-14 while LSU’s is 37-30 in four games against ranked teams. While I think eye test should only be used as a last resort when ranking teams, Ohio State just looks better to me. The Buckeyes lack a definitive weakness while I think LSU’s pass defense can be exploited. With all that said, it will be decided on the field and these two teams along with Clemson and Oklahoma will make for a very interesting playoff.

Heisman Trophy

Surprising absolutely nobody, LSU’s Joe Burrow brought home the Heisman Trophy along with many other awards. I, like 90% of the voters, think it was definitely an award that Burrow deserved. LSU’s offensive success was completely unprecedented for a program that has really lacked an elite quarterback talent for a long time. Burrow completed an astounding 78% of his passes this season for 4,715 yards and 48 touchdowns to just six interceptions. While a lot of the offensive success LSU has had should be attributed to newly hired passing game coordinator Joe Brady, Burrow was the one to put Brady’s plans into action. Regardless of what happens in the playoff, Burrow will be an LSU legend.

While I fully agree with the Heisman being awarded to Burrow, I have some grievances with who they chose or actually did not choose to be a finalist. Many people have criticized the Heisman Trophy for turning into an award only given to quarterbacks as all but three Heisman winners since 2000 have been quarterbacks. While I understand the criticism, I really can not think of a time since I started watching college football (2008 being the first season I followed it closely) where it was given to a quarterback and I believed a different player who was not a quarterback should have won it. The only one I think that was debatable was Marcus Mariota winning over Melvin Gordon in 2014. While I have agreed with the winners, I am starting to think that running backs are being under represented as finalists. Since Alabama’s Derrick Henry, the last running back to win the trophy, won in 2015, there has only been one running back that was a finalist. There has also been one receiver, one defensive back, and one defensive end. I think part of the issue is that there should always be five Heisman finalists and it looks like that practice is being ventured away from. While the fifth place finisher probably knows they are not going to win, it is still cool to be listed as a Heisman finalist and get the invite to New York. Another thing is that running backs just seem to be undervalued for some reason.

This season, Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor has put up just one rushing yard less per game than Derrick Henry did in 2015 with 146 to Henry’s 147. What Taylor is doing better is that he has averaged 6.4 yards per carry to Henry’s 5.6 and the same rushing touchdowns with 21. Taylor is not an elite receiver by any means, but he has more receiving yards and touchdowns than Henry did as well. It should also be noted that Taylor has another game to play. Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard has put up 161 rushing yards per game on 6.3 yards per carry with 21 touchdowns of his own.

So it can be seen that both Hubbard and Taylor have equal or slightly better stats than the last Heisman Trophy winning running back so it should naturally be assumed they were talked about as potential winners. Unfortunately, that is far from the case. Neither of them were finalists and were hardly even in the discussion. That is just ridiculous to me. Taylor and Hubbard have had to carry their offenses for a lot of the season and have less tools at their disposal with less talent around them. I am not saying either should have won the Trophy, but to not have either be a finalist is insane. I am not even suggesting that Jalen Hurts, Chase Young, or Justin Fields should not have been finalists, but to not have either of these two elite running backs at the ceremony shows that the position is being valued less and less. I hope that the Heisman voters will respect great running backs more in the future. Also if you are curious, I think the finalists should have been the selected four along with Hubbard and Taylor and I think the top three should have been Burrow, Young, and Hubbard respectively.

Some Random Thoughts

1. Ole Miss made a splash by hiring FAU coach Lane Kiffin. I think this was a solid hire and will definitely be an interesting thing to watch in the future. Kiffin might have worn out his welcome at USC, but I think he can be a successful Power Five coach.

2. Appalachian State won the Sun Belt in a bit of a surprising game as they won 45-38 against a Louisiana team they beat just 17-7 earlier this season. While I know the Sun Belt is not some amazing conference, I do feel a bit bad for Appalachian State in that the best they can muster up after a 12-1 season is a bid to the New Orleans Bowl because of their confidence tie-ins.

3. Appalachian State head coach Eli Drinkwitz was hired at Missouri in a bit of a shocking decision. Drinkwitz had a very good season, but it was just his first as a head coach. He has had success as an offensive coordinator at Boise State and North Carolina State so there is some evidence of success though.

4. Miami Ohio brought home the MAC Championship with a 26-21 win over Central Michigan. The RedHawks have had a solid season in a bit of a down year for the conference. Central Michigan has now lost to both Miami Ohio and Miami, Florida this season. I wonder if Miami, Oklahoma has a team they can play next.

5. For the second time in eight days, Memphis took down Cincinnati except this time it was for the AAC Championship. Memphis running back Antonio Gibson had a great all-purpose game and Damonte Coxie hauled in 165 receiving yards. Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder had a strong showing after missing their last matchup with an injury as he threw for 233 yards and ran for another 113. Memphis also earned the G5 bid in the NY6 bowls as they will play against Penn State in the Cotton Bowl.

6. Some bad news for Memphis is that head coach Mike Norvell has taken the head coaching job at Florida State. I think this was a big get for Florida State at Norvell was one of the top up and comers in a coaching world. Also if any Florida State fans are not familiar yet, this is a photo of your current head coach from when he was a receiver at Central Arkansas.

7. Before he took the job at Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin coached FAU dominant Conference-USA Championship win. The Owls beat UAB 49-6 for their second conference title in three seasons.

8. I think we all need to just make a rule that reporters should not ask coaches about their future jobs in postgame press conferences. It is annoying to see a coach celebrating a win with his team and reporters are immediately asking him about coaching rumors. It is just in poor taste to me.

9. Boise State brought home the Mountain West Championship with a 31-10 win over Hawaii. The Broncos are 12-1 and unfortunately missed out on the NY6 bid. While I think Memphis deserved the bid, it is disappointing because I think Boise State would probably be undefeated if Hank Bachmeier never got hurt.

10. With longtime defensive coordinator Bud Foster retiring, it looks like Virginia Tech will promote from within to replace him. Safeties coach Justin Hamilton will take the job starting next season and he will have big shoes to fill.

11. I also am going to add that Bud Foster should be in the College Football Hall of Fame. The fact that they require someone to be a head coach and even have certain winning percentage requirements is stupid. Foster did so much for Virginia Tech and should be able to be honored appropriately.

12. Arkansas announced that they will hire Georgia offensive line coach Sam Pittman as their new head coach. It is a bit of a surprise that the Razorbacks went with someone who was never even a coordinator but Pittman has had tremendous success at Georgia and as the offensive line coach at Arkansas under Bret Bielema.

13. I have to say that I am very intrigued by the NY6 Bowl matchups this season. Oregon and Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl will be a very nice matchup between two teams would love to put an exclamation point on their season. I also will be interested to see how Baylor and Georgia bounce back from tough Conference Championship losses when they play each other in the Sugar Bowl. I also think the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl will be interesting.

14. On top of that, the Citrus Bowl matchup between Alabama and Michigan will be a fun one, as will the Outback Bowl between Auburn and Minnesota. I do have to say that I think the teams should be switched since Auburn and Minnesota are both better than Alabama and Michigan.

15. Even though I think Virginia could put up a fight with Florida, I wish conference tie-ins did not exist so Notre Dame could just play in the Orange Bowl. The Fighting Irish having to settle for a Camping World Bowl matchup with Iowa State must be disappointing after a 10-2 season.

16. In what will be his last game coaching at Washington, Chris Petersen will coach against his former team, Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl.

17. While it might not be able to replicate how historic the game was last season, Washington State and Air Force will be an interesting matchup in the Cheez-It Bowl as an air raid team will play against a triple option team.

18. I feel a bit bad that Utah would have probably made the playoff if they won over Oregon and now will play against a 7-5 Texas in the Alamo Bowl. This also is the second straight season Texas will play a team that is disappointed that they missed the playoff in their bowl game. Maybe Texas can win again and receive way too much preseason hype for 2020 that I will inexplicably buy into because I am a stupid fan who likes getting hurt.

19. The Gator Bowl will be a very fun game as it pits two teams that really improved this season and will be looking a for a big win in Tennessee and Indiana.

20. Former South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley will transfer to Utah in what I think will be a solid move. Utah will be in need of a quarterback next season with Tyler Huntley graduating and Bentley is a solid talent. If he can just be more consistent, he could do some damage for the Utes.

21. Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott was hired as head coach for South Florida in what I think was a solid move for the Bulls. Scott has been around a lot of success and I think could build South Florida into a G5 power in due time.

22. Old Dominion hired Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne as their head coach in a move I have to question considering the fact that Penn State fans are excited about him leaving.

23. This week’s cool uniform award goes to the combination of Louisiana and Appalachian State as they both wore their home jerseys for the Sun Belt Championship matchup.

To be notified when I post, follow my Instagram @impassionedsportsnerd. Last week, I was 3-2 picking against the spread meaning I finished the regular season with a 46-40-3 record against the spread. I will now have to opportunity to either improve or tank my record as I am going to preview every bowl game.

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