College Football Awards, Week 14 (2024) December 3, 2024

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: ACC, Aggies, Alabama, Arch Manning, Arizona State, Army, B1G, Big XII, Boise State, Buckeyes, Buffalo, CHip Kelly, Clemson, college football, Colorado, Dan Lanning, Florida State, football, Fran Brown, Gamecocks, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Jacksonville State, James Franklin, Kent State, Kirk Ferentz, Longhorns, Louisville, Mario Cristobal, Matt Rhule, Memphis, Miami (FL), Miami (OH), Michigan, Mike Elko, Mustangs, NCAA, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Quinn Ewers, Ryan Day, Ryan Walters, Sherrone Moore, SMU, South Carolina, Steve Sarkesian, Syracuse, Texas, Texas A&M, Tigers, Tulane, UNLV, USC, Western Kentucky
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COACHES
Wish I were him:  Steve Sarkesian, Texas

Honorable mention: Sherrone Moore, Michigan

Glad I’m not him:  Mike Elko, Texas A&M

Lucky guy: Kirk Ferentz, Iowa

Poor guy: Matt Rhule, Nebraska

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Mario Cristobal, Miami (FL)

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Fran Brown, Syracuse

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Ryan Day, Ohio State

Desperately seeking … anything:  Ryan Walters, Purdue

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Indiana (defeated Purdue 66-0)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Georgia (defeated Georgia Tech 44-42)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kent State (lost to Buffalo 43-7)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  USC (lost to No. 5 Notre Dame 49-35)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Colorado (defeated Oklahoma State 59-0)

Dang, they’re good: Oregon
Dang, they’re bad:  Purdue

Can’t Stand Prosperity:  Ohio State

Did the season start?  Miami (FL)
Can the season end?  Florida State

Can the season never end? Indiana

GAMES
Play this again:  Michigan 13, No. 2 Ohio State 10

Play this again, too (told you so):  Iowa 13, Nebraska 10

Never play this again: Indiana 66, Purdue 0

What?  Memphis 34, No. 17 Tulane 24

Huh?  No. 15 South Carolina 17, No. 12 Clemson 14

Are you kidding me??  Syracuse 42, No. 6 Miami 35

Oh – my – God:  Michigan 13, No. 2 Ohio State 10

NEXT WEEK

(rankings are current AP (week 15)
Ticket to die for:  No. 2 Texas @ No. 5 Georgia in the SEC championship game

Honorable mention:  No. 1 Oregon vs No. 4 Penn State in the B1G championship game

Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four  matchup: (none)

Best non-Power Four matchup: No. 17 Tulane @ Army

Upset alert: No. 12 Clemson vs No. 9 SMU in the ACC Championship game

Must win: All championship games, but especially the No. 16 Arizona State vs No. 18 Iowa State in the Big XII championship game

Offensive explosion: No. 22 UNLV vs. No. 11 Boise State

Defensive struggle: Ohio vs Miami (OH)

Great game no one is talking about: Western Kentucky @ Jacksonville State

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Dan Lanning of Oregon vs James Franklin of Penn State

Who’s bringing the body bags? N/A

Why are they playing?  N/A

Plenty of good seats remaining: N/A

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?  N/A

Week 14 Thoughts:

Let us confront the 800-lb. gorilla in the room.  It was all set for Ohio State.  All they had to do was win the game.  But the game turned out to be “The Game”, and in “The Game”, the Buckeyes choked massively.  QB Will Howard failed to seek out his marquee weapons.  The receivers dropped key passes. 

While we can lay this massive failure at the feet of the offense, perhaps we should be more specific and lay the failure at the feet of Ryan Day and the offensive tactics he chose by wanting to prove how tough his team was by winning “tough”, that is, winning by battling out in the trenches running the ball between the tackles.  That’s all well and good, but when your strengths are at the perimeters, not on the line (remember, Ohio State was working with a patchwork line-up on the o-line due to injuries), then the smart play is to play to those strengths.

This tactical failure on the part of Day is all the more stark when one considers that while Ohio State has an unbeatable receiving corps, Michigan was “patchwork” in the secondary.  Such is the magnitude of the missed opportunity.  My lingering question is, to what extent did Chip Kelly influence the offensive tactics for this game?

No more B1G championship berth for Ohio State:  that now goes to Penn State instead.  At least they have retained a No. 7 ranking in the polls, which should, in all likelihood, help them clinch a spot in the playoffs anyhow.  But this loss will smart, especially since Ryan Day is now 1-4 against their hated rival, “that school up north”.  One takeaway is that Day’s tenure in Columbus just became much more tenuous.  He can consult John Cooper on the “why”.

Elsewhere, Miami (FL) had a golden opportunity to make it to the ACC championship and clinch a spot in the playoffs.  All they had to do was beat Syracuse, but then they blew a three-TD lead to Syracuse in the second half.  Now, not only are the Hurricanes out of the ACC championship, their potential bid for the playoffs is very much in doubt.  Funny how one game can do that, but this reminds us that November is for everything.

One team that did rise to the occasion, barely, was Texas.  The Longhorns and the Aggies renewed their rivalry on Saturday, playing for the first time since 2011.  The Horns were ranked No. 3, but the Aggies were also ranked and No. 20.  Sounds like advantage, Longhorns…except that the game was at nighttime in Kyle Field, a bona fide hostile place to play.  Nevertheless, despite some hiccups on offense (Ewers threw a pick-six, for example), Texas still prevailed, 17-7.  Were it not for the pick-six, the game could have ended 24-0 or better in Texas’ favor.  Give the game ball to the Longhorns’ D for shutting down A&M’s offense.  Meanwhile, Sark has work to do on offense when they take on Georgia in Atlanta for all the marbles in the conference.  To that end, is Ewers dealing with a more serious injury than we are led on to believe?  If so, Sark would be well-served to deploy Manning at the drop of a hat in Atlanta next week.

One interesting development is that South Carolina defeated in-state rival Clemson in Death Valley (no small feat), but since the Tigers’ loss was not in-conference, they still get to play SMU for the ACC championship.  Looks like that loss to Louisville earlier in the season did not mortally wound their chances for the playoffs after all.  But how might they fare against the Mustangs?  The potentially lone ACC representative hangs in the balance of that game’s outcome.

Same goes for Iowa State playing Arizona State for the Big XII title, unless the playoff committee chooses Colorado to be within the bubble for a playoff bid.  Speaking of the Buffaloes, they certainly make a strong case to be considered by crushing Oklahoma State 52-0.

Two teams that quietly get things done:  Notre Dame and Boise State.  We can debate about strength of schedule for these two teams, especially that of the latter, but in the beauty contest that is college football, the pollsters and the playoff committee alike seem to like what the Broncos are selling.  Perhaps we will all need a dose of truth serum should Boise State make the playoffs and get embarrassed in the first round.  Tuesday’s latest round of revised rankings will give us a better idea of where these teams stand regardless.

Both Alabama and South Carolina are on the bubble for a playoff berth.  Should the Gamecocks be favored over the Tide?  It’s a fair question when one considers that Alabama laid an egg to a sub-par Oklahoma team, while South Carolina beat their ranked, hated rival on said rival’s home turf, no less.  Clearly the better momentum is with the ‘Cocks.  Will the playoff committee consider these as they release their updated rankings come Dec. 3?