College Football Awards, Week 14 (2025) December 1, 2025

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: ACC, Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Army, Auburn, B1G, Barry Odom, Big XII, BYU, Cal, California, Cardinals, Curt Cignetti, D.J. Durkin, Duke, football, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Jason Eck, Kalen DeBoer, Kennesaw State, Kenny Dillingham, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, MAC, Miami (OH), Michigan, Mike Elko, Navy, NCAA, New Mexico, North Texas, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oklahoma, playoffs, Purdue, Ryan Day, San Diego State, SEC, SMU, Steve Sarkesian, Syracuse, Temple, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Troy, Tulane, Virginia, Western Michigan, Wildcats
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COACHES
Wish I were him:  Steve Sarkesian, Texas

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

Lucky guy: Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

Poor guy: D.J. Durkin, Auburn

Desperately seeking a wake-up call: N/A

Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jason Eck, New Mexico

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State

Desperately seeking … anything:  Barry Odom, Purdue

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Indiana (defeated Purdue 56-3)

Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: SMU (lost to Cal 38-35)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Temple (lost to North Texas 52-25)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Georgia Tech (lost to No. 4 Georgia 16-9)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Louisville (defeated Kentucky 41-0)  

Dang, they’re good: Ohio State
Dang, they’re bad:  Purdue

Can’t Stand Prosperity: SMU

Did the season start?  Arizona State
Can the season end?  Syracuse

Can the season never end? Texas

GAMES
Play this again:  No. 10 Alabama 27, Auburn 20

Play this again, too: No. 8 Oklahoma 17, LSU 13

Never play this again: No. 2 Indiana 56, Purdue 3

What?  New Mexico 23, San Diego State, 2OT

Huh?  No. 25 Arizona 23, No. 20 Arizona State 7

Are you kidding me??  Cal 38, No. 21 SMU 35 

Oh – my – God:  No. 16 Texas 27, No. 3 Texas A&M 17

NEXT WEEK

 
Ticket to die for:  Ohio State vs Indiana in the B1G Championship game

Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four  matchup: N/A

Best non-Power Four matchup: North Texas vs No. 24 Tulane in the AAC Championship game

Upset alert: Georgia vs Alabama in the SEC Championship game

Must win: BYU vs Texas Tech in the Big XII Championship game

Offensive explosion: (inclusive)

Defensive struggle: Georgia vs Alabama

Great game no one is talking about: Kennesaw State vs Jacksonville State

Intriguing coaching matchup:  Ryan Day of Ohio State vs Curt Cignetti of Indiana

Who’s bringing the body bags?  Troy vs James Madison

Why are they playing?  Duke vs Virginia in the ACC Championship game

Plenty of good seats remaining: Miami (OH) vs Western Michigan in the MAC Championship game

Week 14 [Random] Thoughts:

Ohio State finally ended a four-game losing streak to Michigan, in the Big House, in a near-blizzard, no less.  In so doing, Ryan Day was able to get a massive monkey off his back, in gritty conditions, no less.  Even more disheartening for Michigan was that the weather definitely favored the home team, yet Ohio State still won by double-digits.  This does not bode well for teams about to face the Buckeyes in the playoffs.

But before those games are to commence, a quasi-national championship matchup awaits us fans in the Big Ten championship game between Ohio State and Indiana.  Lest we forget, this Hoosier team is vastly improved over last year’s playoff-participant squad.

Northwestern has to be the best 6-6 team in the nation.  Most of those six losses came against formidable Big Ten teams.  Should they go to a bowl game, they’ll be a deceptively dangerous team to face.

Louisville finally played up to its potential, taking out its freak loss frustrations on in-state rival Kentucky, giving the Wildcats one of their worst butt-whippings ever in a Governor’s Cup matchup, 41-0.  If the Cardinals played with that consistency in half the games they lost, they would be vying for the ACC championship and a playoff spot.  Then, fans would be treated to a far-better matchup than the current one of five-loss Duke vs Virginia.  What could have been…

While we are on the subject of championship games, critical thinking compels us to ask:  with this new era of playoffs, what is the point of them?  What is the point of having extra games?  With playoff rankings, flawed as they may be, what is the point of having extra opportunities for injuries for your team that could cripple it come playoff time?  It is thus time that we rethink this system of championship games, and evolve away from them.  Push the Army-Navy game back to the first game of the regular season, if necessary.  That way, you can have the playoffs the first weekend after Rivalry Week, and be done with the season by New Year’s Day, or around that time.  Oh, but what about the bowl games?  Those are a vestige of the pre-playoff era.  Time to evolve away from those, too.  Want a few consolation games for those teams who did not make the playoffs?  Fine, let’s have those, but not at the expense of the playoff schedule itself.  This all drills down to the biggest systemic problem facing college football today:  too many interests vying to protect their own turf at the expense of real progress and reform.  We need to appoint a commissioner of college football in order to push these necessary reforms.  The playoffs have brought their need to light more than anything else, after all.