Another week of college football is in the books and, as usual in this wildly unpredictable sport, and while there were plenty of teams and individuals who got it done on the college gridiron, there were just as many who didn’t.

Here, then, are a few of those who could’ve and probably should’ve done better, my Week 12 villains.

Texas: the Longhorns were 23-point favourites against Kansas. A Kansas team who hadn’t beaten Texas since 1938. A Kansas team who hadn’t beaten an FBS squad since 2014 (a streak of twenty-three, if you’re playing along at home). Yet, the Longhorns managed to lose 24-21 in overtime and surely now Charlie Strong is done in Austin. The question is, who on earth would want to come in and take over this dumpster fire?

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Notre Dame: speaking of dumpster fires, the Irish squandered a 17-point lead and lost 34-31 to Virginia Tech in South Bend. Notre Dame will now definitely finish 2016 with a losing record, and it makes me wonder if, given the stringent academic requirements for admission to the school, whether the Irish can ever be truly competitive again. Aside from their one trip to the National Championship game, the Irish have been mostly underwhelming under Brian Kelly. And Charlie Weis before him. And Ty Willingham before him.

Utah: the (12) Utes had no business losing to an Oregon team with one of the worst defences in college football, but somehow they did, allowing a touchdown pass to Darren Carrington with two seconds on the clock. Utah gave up 573 yards to a decent Ducks offense, but couldn’t capitalise when they had the football, managing only 454 total yards. Not a banner day in Salt Lake City, by any means.

Boise State: a win against UNLV wasn’t enough for the (20) Broncos. They needed San Diego State to go into Laramie and beat Wyoming to keep their MWC Championship Game and New Year’s Six Bowl hopes afloat. Unfortunately for the Broncos, it didn’t happen and they’re now on the outside looking in, needing other results to go their way next week.

Louisiana State: with Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice lined up in the backfield and ready to punch it into the end zone, it seems impossible to think that the Tigers could be stopped on the one-yard line, but they were, failing to score late against Florida, whose defence stood incredibly tall in a game that probably put an end to hopes that interim head coach Ed Orgeron would get the full-time gig.

Texas Tech: when I read the final score of the Red Raiders versus Iowa State, I honestly thought there’d been a typo. Unfortunately for Tech fans, it was no mistake. The Red Raiders were indeed blown out 66-10 by the Cyclones in one of the more shocking and unexpected losses not just this weekend but this season.

Once again, the Tech defence showed itself to be about as useful as a chocolate teapot. You know things are real bad when you give up 66 points and 610 yards of offense to Iowa State. My goodness! If Kliff Kingsbury wasn’t a favourite son in Lubbock, he’d be out the door after the recent string of inept defensive showings.



West Virginia: the Mountaineers had home field advantage, a jacked up crowd and all the confidence in the world. Then, they let Oklahoma come in and dominate them in a first quarter that showed everyone why they should be wary of the Sooners. Whatever momentum the Mountaineers had from their home crowd was quickly banished and they trailed 21-0 at quarter time and were down 34-0 late in the second. And never recovered, losing 56-28.

Connecticut: the Huskies failed to trouble the scorers in a 30-0 loss to Boston College. Surely change is coming to that program?

UCLA: their offense barely got out of the gates in the rivalry game against crosstown foes, Southern California. They didn’t achieve one first down in more than a quarter, stretching from midway through the first half into the third quarter, and their defence, while decent for much of the night, were on the field far too long for them to be effective. After a bright start, and early points, things fizzled out pretty quickly for the Bruins, who’ve now lost the last two against the Trojans.

Ohio State: the (2) Buckeyes didn’t play like the second-best team in the country in a tight 17-16 win over a not-great Michigan State squad. The Spartans managed to move the ball fairly well against the Buckeyes, and it’s fair to say that if Urban Meyer’s men play like that next week versus Michigan, it won’t end quite so pleasantly. On style points alone, the Buckeyes deserve to slide down a few spots in the new rankings.

Lamar Jackson: would have basically sewn up the Heisman Trophy with a good performance against Houston, but was comprehensively dominated by a ferocious Cougar defence. The good news for Jackson? Well, there isn’t exactly a tight race for the Heisman like we’ve seen in previous years. Louisville’s college football playoff hopes are sunk, though. It was an ugly performance from a team capable of much better.