College Football Awards, Week 12 (2025) November 17, 2025

COACHES
Wish I were him:  Kirby Smart, Georgia

Glad I’m not him: Steve Sarkesian, Texas

Lucky guy: Mike Elko, Texas A&M

Also:  Sherrone Moore, Michigan

Poor guy: Shane Beamer, South Carolina

Also:  David Braun, Northwestern

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: N/A

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jake Dickert, Wake Forest

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Jeff Brohm, Louisville

Desperately seeking … anything:  Bobby Petrino, Arkansas

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Tennessee (defeated New Mexico State 42-9)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Georgia Tech (defeated Boston College 36-34)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Minnesota (lost to No. 8 Oregon 42-13)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: South Carolina (lost to No. 3 Texas A&M 31-30)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Nevada (defeated San Jose State 55-10)  

Dang, they’re good: Georgia
Dang, they’re bad:  San Jose State

Can’t Stand Prosperity: Alabama

Did the season start?  Louisville
Can the season end?  Arkansas

Can the season never end? Oklahoma

GAMES
Play this again:  No. 11 Oklahoma 23, No. 4 Alabama 21

Play this again, too: No. 3 Texas A&M 31, South Carolina 30

Never play this again: Nevada 55, SJSU 10

What?  Texas State 41, Southern Miss 14

Huh?  Arizona 30, No. 25 Cincinnati 24

Are you kidding me??:  Clemson 20, No. 20 Louisville 19

Oh – my – God:  No. 11 Oklahoma 23, No. 4 Alabama 21

NEXT WEEK

rankings are current AP (week 13)
Ticket to die for:  USC @ Oregon

Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four  matchup: Western Kentucky @ LSU

Hon. mention:  Coastal Carolina @ South Carolina

Best non-Power Four matchup: Missouri State @ Kennesaw State

Upset alert: Arkansas @ Texas

Must win: BYU @ Cincinnati

Offensive explosion: Hawaii @ UNLV

Defensive struggle: Minnesota @ Northwestern

Great game no one is talking about: Tennessee @ Florida

Also:  Arizona @ Cincinnati

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Rhett Lashlee of SMU vs Jeff Brohm of Louisville

Who’s bringing the body bags?  Charlotte @ Georgia

Why are they playing? Samford @ Texas A&M

Plenty of good seats remaining: New Mexico State @ UTEP

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?  Mercer @ Auburn

Week 12 [Random] Thoughts:

After seeing the way Ohio State easily dispatched with UCLA and how Georgia dominated an improved Texas, it has become quite clear that, barring a massive development along the lines of a huge asteroid hitting the Earth causing another mass extinction, the Buckeyes and the Bulldogs are destined to duke it out for the national championship.  Glad we got that cleared up and out of the way.

That being said, barring a similar development as described above, it seems increasingly likely that Ole Miss shall punch through a major barrier hitherto holding them back and make finally make the playoffs.  They passed yet another test by beating the Gators.  Granted, the casual observer might sniff “big deal, Florida’s not that good this year.”  To which I may respond, granted in turn, but they’re also not that bad, and they took down Texas right before the Longhorns took down a then-hitherto juggernaut Sooner squad.  But even then, let that not obfuscate a more salient point which is:  since 2003, the two have played each other seven times.  Despite the relatively massive successes of the Eli Manning years, the Hugh Freeze and now the Lane Kiffin eras, the Rebels were only 3-for-7 against the Gators.  In that light, beating Florida is no small thing, and is further proof that Ole Miss not only controls their own destiny, but is in the unique position to do so ably, what with a bye next week before closing out the regular season with the Egg Bowl.

Back to the Texas-Georgia game.  Even if the Longhorns win out (tall order, what with Texas A&M being the last game on their schedule), their playoff hopes are likely dashed after the beating they took Between the Hedges.  Kirby Smart demonstrated he was a level above Steve Sarkesian in terms of coaching when, after scoring on the Longhorns, they then sucker-punched Texas with an on-side kick that they recovered.  The message was clear:  “forget about momentum and forget about your comeback.  We won’t even let you have the ball again”. 

Thus we are led to a rather painful conclusion:  Sark is not the coach to lead the Horns to the promised land.  He is a great offensive architect, but that has been both a blessing and a curse.  The curse is that he has yet to decide if he is an offensive coordinator or a head coach first.  This self-imposed quandary has led to him tying himself up at knots at times, seemingly straightjacketing Arch Manning in the process, while ignoring other details of overall team organization.  Hence, Sark has earned the reputation of his team not being entirely “buttoned up”, and an obvious manifestation of that are the unnecessary penalties that plagued his team last night and in many games before then.

So, if Sark is not the coach to take Texas all the way, who is?  That is the question we shall have to explore further in subsequent articles.

In the meantime, next week shall sadly be a let-down, in that the rest of the SEC has its body-bag fest before Rivalry Week.  Alabama assumes the role of pitiless executioner to Eastern Illinois; Auburn to Mercer; Texas A&M to Samford; Charlotte to Georgia.  Rather convenient, it is, that the SEC teams can have such a breather while the rest of the teams in FBS put in the work.  At least LSU makes it somewhat interesting playing Western Kentucky (8-2 compared to the Tigers’ 6-4 record).  That game could be all the more intriguing given LSU’s recent struggles and coaching avulsions.

Fortunately, this farcical aspect of SEC schedules ends soon.  Starting next year, SEC teams shall play a 9-game conference schedule like everyone else, and thank heavens for that.

Meanwhile, some SEC teams got their requisite November body-bag games out of the way earlier, and shall thus have decent, if not great, matchups for us to enjoy after all, what with battered Texas playing reeling Arkansas, or, better yet, Florida playing Tennessee.  Can the Volunteers avenge last years upset loss against the Gators?  We’ll find out next week.