NUGGETS
Who throws a shoe? Honestly! On day where five of the CFP's top seven teams were off, No. 6 went down -- and invented a new way to lose in the process.
With the game tied 31-31, Florida was set to get the ball back with 1:50 to play until Gator defensive back Marco Wilson threw LSU tight end Kole Taylor's shoe 20 yards downfield. He threw the man's shoe 20 yards downfield. An LSU punt turned into a 1st-and-10 near midfield, and a minute or so later LSU had a 34-31 lead.
Florida positioned itself for a 51-yard equalizer with two seconds to play, but Karma had already rendered its verdict. Evan McPherson's field goal sailed wide left, and Florida's national championship hopes were done.
Playing as 23-point favorites against an opponent that lost by nearly 40 points last week and was running on fumes depth-wise, Florida behaved as if it could sleepwalk its way to victory and paid the price for it. And it's not hard to see why.
USC is only comfortable when it's uncomfortable. They trailed Arizona State 27-14 in the fourth quarter and won. They trailed Arizona 30-27 with 1:25 left and won. All of that was prelude to Saturday night, when the Trojans fell behind 14-0, spent two quarters fighting to take the lead, lost it with a minute left, and then regained it again. After Nicholas Barr-Mira booted a 43-yard field goal to put UCLA ahead 38-36 with 52 seconds left, USC fired it into hyperdrive. A 56-yard kickoff return gave Kedon Slovis the ball at the Bruins' 43, and he'd need only two plays to take the lead. A sensational 35-yard catch by Tyler Vaughns moved the ball to the eight, and an Amon-Ra St. Brown catch won it with 16 seconds left. These Trojans are now 2-3 through 59 minutes and 5-0 through all 60.
Let's set the table heading into Championship Weekend. Here's how I see the Playoff race with one game to play.
As good as in: Alabama, Notre Dame
I don't see the committee dropping the Tide from No. 1 to No. 5 even with a 55-0 loss. Notre Dame might not be that safe, but a competitive showing in Charlotte will be enough to keep them in the top four.
Win and they're in: Clemson, Ohio State
Both of these teams' fates are clear. Win and they're clearly in, lose and they're clearly out.
Gonna need a lot of help: Texas A&M, Iowa State, Oklahoma, USC, Northwestern, Cincinnati, Florida
USC would be the first undefeated Power 5 champion left out of the field in the Playoff's 7-year history.
Northwestern would be a 7-1 Big Ten champion with a neutral site win over Ohio State
Texas A&M would be 8-1 in the SEC, its only loss to Alabama
Oklahoma would own a 7-game winning streak, avenge one of its two losses, and claim three victories over Top 25 opponents
Iowa State would own a Big 12 title and three wins over Top 25 opponents, two of them over Oklahoma
Cincinnati would be a 9-0 conference champion with seven or eight double-digit victories
Florida would be the first SEC champion left out of the field, fresh off a victory over No. 1 Alabama.
Army defends its turf. For the first time in nearly eight decades, our nation's military academy was invaded. The enemy sailed up the Atlantic and down the Hudson River, attempting a landing under a dense fog. General Monken and Captain Woody had the troops ready, sending the enemy away with nary a strike on Fort Michie.
Now that we've got that tortured military lingo out of the way, we can just come out and say Army beat Navy, 15-0, in the first Army-Navy game played in West Point since 1943.
The Black Knights were under tremendous pressure to defend West Point, and that they very much did.
This game was won at the goal line. On the first possession of the second half, Navy's Xavier Arline broke free at the Navy 46 and appeared headed for the end zone before Army's Cedric Cunningham tracked him down at the 2. Army held on first down, and second down, and third down, and finally stuffed running back Nelson Smith for no gain on fourth and goal, preserving a 3-0 lead.
Then, with Army leading 10-0, the Black Knights put the game out of reach when Daryan McDonald tackled Mark Walker in his own end zone, putting the game out of reach with 5:21 to play. And not only did Army shoutout Navy, the safety meant the Black Knights' defense outscored the Midshipmen's offense.
The win was Army's first shutout of Navy since 1969, and the Academy's third defeat of Navy in four years.
What on earth did North Carolina just do to Miami? Statistically speaking, North Carolina's offense put one of the most complete beatdowns on Miami's defense in college football history. In winning 62-26, North Carolina... ... gained 778 yards on 75 plays .... the 778 yards were schools records in both directions, the most ever gained by UNC and the most ever surrendered by Miami ... in accordance with that 10.4 yards per play average, more than half (39) UNC plays went for first downs or touchdowns ... it was the second time in FBS history a team produced a 300-yard rusher (Michael Carter, 308) and a 200-yard rusher (Javonte Williams, 236) ... Sam Howell threw for 223 yards on 19 attempts, and Dyami Brown caught four passes for 167 yards. Howell became the second FBS player to catch throw, run and catch a touchdown in a single game this year. It was UNC's first win over an AP Top 10 opponent since 2004, and the most points the Heels ever scored on a ranked foe. The stakes are of this win are this: North Carolina, in all likelihood, knocked Miami out of its ancestral home -- the Orange Bowl. Even though Miami's 8-2 record beats UNC's 8-3, the Orange Bowl berth will go to the highest-ranked ACC team who doesn't make the Playoff -- and how could you rank Miami head of North Carolina after that? Unless Notre Dame beats Clemson next week, thereby knocking the Tigers out of the Playoff, North Carolina probably bullied past Miami for the first Orange Bowl berth in program history. We very nearly had a Stanford Band play 2.0. Trailing 30-27 with the ball near midfield and six seconds remaining, Western Michigan fired the only bullet left in its chamber: toss a short pass and then throw the ball around in wild ass fashion hoping something works out for you. And it almost worked. This play is even more insane than the Stanford Band play, considering the ball is at one point loose on the turf 80 yards from the end zone... and WMU turns it into a touchdown. Sure, the play was technically dead because the fateful forward pass had already been thrown by that point, but those final 80 yards are clean as the floors of Buckingham Palace. I mean, look at this. And this. And this! Keep in mind the MAC West title was decided on this play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLIBgfoZ-fQ
FRIESThe Super 16. Here's this week's FWAA-NFF Super 16 poll.
- Alabama
- Notre Dame
- Ohio State
- Clemson
- Texas A&M
- Cincinnati
- Indiana
- Iowa State
- Oklahoma
- Georgia
- Coastal Carolina
- Louisiana-Lafayette
- Iowa
- Florida
- North Carolina
- BYU
Seen and HeardSeen Frosty is shocked at the regression of Wisconsin's offense this season.
This man just flipped seven and a half yards in full pads.
You can't possibly make sense of this.
Heard
"If anyone would like to say anything derogatory toward our players, please do so this week. That was not taken very kindly in our locker room."
-- Pat Fitzgerald on Illinois trash-talking Northwestern before losing 28-10 to the Wildcats.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game where an opponent threw a shoe, to be honest with you.
-- Ed Orgeron on the shoe thrown around the world.
"I guess the best thing to do would have been to play less games because you seem to get rewarded for not playing this year."
-- Dan Mullen on Florida's Playoff chances following the LSU loss.
Odds and Ends
a. Stepping on the field for the first time since Halloween, UAB beat Rice 21-16 to clinch the Conference USA West title with a 3-1 conference record. It's the Blazers third straight trip to the C-USA Championship. They'll face Marshall, East champions for the first time since 2013.
b. Utah saved the Pac-12 an embarrassing logjam by handing Colorado a 38-21 loss, its first of the season.
c. Washington clinched its third Pac-12 North title in five years sitting while sitting on their couches. The Huskies canceled their game with Oregon and won the division at 3-1 -- unless they're not healthy enough to play, at which point 3-2 Oregon would hot-swap into the game.
d. This week's installment of "Horrifying if it happens to you, hilarious for the rest of us."
e. We need to talk about Nebraska. I'm still a believer in Scott Frost, but the Huskers will finish under .500 four years in a row and, worst of all, Illinois and Minnesota feel comfortable enough on the streets to fire off stuff like this and live to tell about it.
f. I argued last week DeVonta Smith should win the Heisman, but I'm voting North Texas wide receiver Jaelon Darden for the Biletnikoff Award. In nine games he's caught 74 passes for 1,190 yards with 19 touchdowns. Ja'Marr Chase led the nation with 20 last year... in 14 games. Darden has three games of three or more touchdown grabs, five multi-TD games, and seven touchdown catches in his last two outings. He also has two 200-yard games this year.
j. While we're on the subject, Buffalo's Jaret Patterson had an easy Saturday, just 16 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns, but Buffalo as a team ran for 428 yards on 8.6 a carry in a 56-7 blowout of Akron. Good luck, Ball State.
k. Many teams packed it in, but not Penn State. The Lions have won three straight after their 0-5 start, beating Michigan State 39-24.
l. The first undefeated season in Sun Belt history is still alive. Coastal Carolina drove 75 yards in 45 seconds to notch the winning score with 35 seconds to spare in a 42-38 survival at Troy.
m. Florida State scored 50 points against an ACC opponent for the first time since Sept. 27, 2014 with a 56-35 win over Duke.
n. San Jose State won its way into the Mountain West Championship with a 30-20 win over Nevada in Las Vegas.
o. Houston rallied from down 27-6 in the fourth quarter to tie Memphis with 28 seconds left, only to see the Tigers win the game with a 47-yard field goal as time expired.
p. Stanford is 2-0 since they got kicked out of Santa Clara County. The Cardinal won at Washington last week and won at Oregon State on Saturday night.
DESSERT
We saw history on Saturday. Plenty of people would've loved to see her shank it, and she drilled that thing right down main street.