Darnell Sallins
November 18, 2024, 10:15AM
Another chaotic week in college football. Week 12 continued the theme of November Chaos as more ranked teams fell, the conference championship race continues to get scrambled, and the college football playoffs remains up in the air.
Takeaways from Week 12 of the college football season:
The American Championship Game is set
The American Athletic Championship game is officially set. The 24th ranked Army Black Knights will face the 25th ranked Tulane Green Wave in a massive championship game with possibly playoff implications on the line as well. Army is having a historic season as the Knights are undefeated at 9-0 (7-0 American) this season. The Knights have a big game coming up Saturday when they travel to South Bend to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in which could boost the playoff chances for the American Conference.
The Tulane Green Wave made the American Championship game official with their win over Navy on Saturday. The Green Wave dominated the Navy Midshipmen to a tune of 35-0 in Annapolis, Maryland. Tulane had 358 total yards to Navy's 113 total yards. Tulane forced two turnovers on Navy and controlled time of possession 35:47 to 24:13. Tulane now sits 9-2 overall and 7-0 in the American along with Army.
The ACC is a three-team race with SMU in the driver seat
The Atlantic Coast Conference is in a three-team race with two weeks to go. The 14th ranked SMU Mustangs are currently in the driver to go to Charlotte for ACC Championship while the Clemson Tigers and Miami Hurricanes fighting for Charlotte as well. SMU is the lone unbeaten team in ACC play, 9-1 overall; 6-0 in ACC. The Mustangs defeated Boston College on Saturday 38-28 to move to 6-0 in ACC play and they have a simple job, win out. If the Mustangs can beat Virginia coming up this weekend on the road and California to close the season, the Mustangs will be Charlotte in their first year as an ACC school. However, one loss between the next two games by SMU and the door opens wider for Clemson and Miami.
The Clemson Tigers are sitting pretty good as they finished their conference play with a win at Pittsburgh on Saturday. The 24-20 win over the Panthers, allow the 20th ranked Tigers to finish ACC play at 7-1 and 8-2 overall. The Tigers have no conference games as they have The Citadel this weekend coming and their season-ending rivalry game with 21st ranked South Carolina in Clemson November 30.
The Miami Hurricanes ranked 9th currently to college football playoffs and highest ranked ACC team which currently holds a bye in the playoffs. The Canes, however, are currently third in ACC standings behind SMU and Clemson. The Canes (9-1; 5-1 ACC) have to win out to at least tie with Clemson with seven ACC wins and hope SMU drops at least one game for a better chance to reach Charlotte in December. Miami will host Wake Forest (4-6; 2-4 ACC) this weekend before closing the season at The Dome against Syracuse (7-3; 4-3 ACC). One of the most productive seasons in recent history in Miami could be up in smoke with one more loss or SMU running the table, and a tiebreaker to be determine between Miami and Clemson.
BYU's Loss flips Big 12 Wide Open
The sixth BYU Cougars (9-1; 6-1 Big 12) took a shocking upset lost to the Kansas Jayhawks (4-6; 3-4 Big 12) in Provo on Saturday night. It's the Cougars' first Big 12 lost this season. This lost has opened the Big 12 as four teams fighting for the trip to Arlington, Texas for the Big 12 Title game in AT&T Stadium. The Cougars now need to win out to secure their spot in Arlington, but this coming weekend's matchup could be their elimination if they lose.
The team that BYU will face next, will be the Arizona State Sun Devils (8-2; 5-2), who are coming a big win Saturday night in Manhattan over 16th ranked Kansas State Wildcats. The Sun Devils dominated the Wildcats in their 24-14 win, forcing three Wildcat turnovers and jumped out to a 24-0 lead in third quarter before the Cats were able to score. If the Sun Devils can provide another big win over BYU this coming weekend at home and handle business in Tuson against rival Arizona, the following week, the Sun Devils will set themselves up to be in Arlington in their first year as a Big 12 team.
Don't look now, but the 17th ranked Colorado Buffaloes (8-2; 6-1 Big 12) are currently second the Big 12 standings and are hitting their stride at the right time. Travis Hunter continues to be a Heisman favorite, Shedeur Sanders putting up top QB stats, and coach Deion "Primetime" Sanders has the Buffaloes on the doorstep of a Big 12 title berth. The task is simple for Coach Prime and Colorado, avoid the upset and Arlington will be your destination. The Buffaloes will be favorite in their final two games so avoiding the upset is main priority number one. Beginning with a trip to Lawerence, Kansas and upset-minded Kansas Jayhawks. The same Jayhawks who just upset BYU this past weekend on the road in Provo.
Other Takeaways from Week 12
No. 2 Ohio State handles Northwestern setting massive showdown with No. 5 Indiana in the Horeshoe. With No. 1 Oregon on a bye this week, all eyes will fall upon Columbus, Ohio and a test for Indiana to prove that they belong.
No. 19 Louisville and No. 22. LSU eliminated from respective conference championship pictures after upset losses. Louisville suffered an inexcusable loss at Stanford over the weekend thus killing the Cardinals dreams of Charlotte and the playoffs. As for the LSU Tigers, an immobile DJ Lagway of Florida and drowned the Tigers' SEC and playoff hopes in the Swamp.
No. 8 Notre Dame riding high despite Northern Illinois lost in Week 2. The Fighting Irish have been rolling since the stunning lost to Nothern Illinois in Week 2, averaging 42.6 PPG with an average margin of victory of 32.3 PPG. A win over an unbeaten Army team, would all but solidify their playoff spot.
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