With just two weeks left of the 2023 college football season, there is still potential for absolute chaos in the College Football Playoff (CFP).
With just two
weeks left of the 2023 college football season, there is still potential for
absolute chaos in the College Football Playoff (CFP).
With each of the
Power Five conferences having one team – and some two – that can make a case
for the CFP this late in the year, the potential for hard feelings is a real
possibility.
In the Pac-12,
Oregon and Washington both have paths to the CFP, while the SEC still has
undefeated Georgia and a one-loss Alabama looking better with each week. The
Big 12 has one-loss Texas, which has the advantage of beating the Crimson Tide
in Week 2, and Florida State remains the ACC’s only hope of a playoff team as
they look to finish the year undefeated.
Chaos could be coming
to college football, but the Week 12 slate may not be the one to create it.
The Wildcats have
won four games in a row – including three straight wins over top-25 teams –
after defeating Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes in Week 11.
Head coach Jedd
Fisch has quickly turned around a program that won just one game in his first
season and now has his Wildcats ranked for the first time since 2017.
Arizona is getting
it done with quarterback Noah Fifita, who has now thrown for 16 touchdowns and
four interceptions on the year.
Utah enters
Saturday’s contest losers of two of their last three games after battling
Washington down to the wire in Week 11.
Despite allowing
457 total yards to the Huskies, the Utes defense is still second in the Pac-12
in yards allowed (299.8) and third in points allowed per game (17.8).
The 2023 matchup
does not carry the same weight, but Tennessee does have a chance to play
spoiler.
The Vols are
coming off a bad loss to Missouri, losing 36-7, as the Vols turned the ball
over three times. Josh Heupel’s team, one of the best rushing attacks in the
country, rushed for just 83 yards against Missouri.
Against No. 9 Ole
Miss on Saturday, Georgia racked up 611 yards – 300 on the ground and 311
through the air. Their win vaulted them over Ohio State in the College Football
Playoff rankings and is the 27th straight victory for Kirby Smart’s team.
The Bulldogs have
won six straight against Tennessee and the last three games at Neyland Stadium
in Knoxville.
"The setup of
the stadium is unique. It’s really vertical," Smart said Wednesday on the
SEC coaches teleconference, according to Knoxville News Sentinel. "It
feels like they’re right on top of you. It’s right there on you. A lot of fans,
very passionate fans. And that makes it tough."
Penix has the
second-best odds of winning the Heisman, while Uiagalelei has thrown for 20
touchdowns and just four interceptions in his first season with Oregon State.
Washington’s
explosive offense will be on display against an Oregon State defense that
allowed 40 points to Cal and 38 points to Washington State earlier in the year.
The Huskies average 503.9 yards and 378 yards per game through the air, which
is the best in the country. The Beavers defense allows 331.1 yards per game,
fourth-best in the Pac-12.
For the Beavers,
running back Damien Martinez has rushed for 1,024 yards and seven touchdowns on
the year, and scored a school-record four touchdowns against Stanford in Week
11.
"Oregon State
still has an opportunity, if they win out, to get in the way I see it, knowing
that they are going to bring everything they got," Washington head coach
Kalen DeBoer said, according to CBS Sports. "They are playing at home and
they are playing well and they have good momentum and we are realizing we are
going to get their best shot."
The move has
obviously caused the remaining Big 12 teams to circle their calendars for when
they play the Longhorns, and the 6-4 Cyclones are no different.
On Tuesday, Iowa
State offensive lineman Jarrod Hufford kicked off Texas week by pouring some
gas on the fire.
"It’s going
to be one heck of a farewell present," Hofford noted, according to
Outkick. "They are going to come in here on senior night in the dark. I
don’t think they really know what is going to be coming for them. We’ve beaten
them four out of the last five times at home. They don’t have a good record
here. We have a very diss-taste in our mouth for them, definitely want to send
them off to the SEC with a loss on our end.
"Ever since I
got here, it’s Iowa and Texas. That program, much like Oklahoma, they get all
the 5-star recruits and have all the nicest stuff in the world and they just
think they don’t stink. Just humans and that’s how I see them. They’re just
people that have such a high ego that needs to be checked."
However, this is
the best Texas team under head coach Steve Sarkisian, who has his Longhorns in
the CFP mix.
Texas is second in
the Big 12 in yards allowed per game (337.1) behind only Iowa State, who will
be looking to slow down Quinn Ewers and the Texas offense. Ewers returned last
week from a shoulder injury as Texas held off TCU on the road.
"It’s getting
better every day," said Ewers. "I’m just going to keep getting
treatment and keep rolling."
While Texas
escaped Fort Worth with a win, it did not get the victory without taking a
major hit.
Star running back
Jonathon Brooks tore his ACL and is out for the season. Brooks led Texas with
1,139 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns and was seventh in the country in yards
per game
COMMENTS