It was a wild week 12 in college football.
College Football Playoff hopefuls like Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, and Oregon took care of business. However, we saw several Playoff contenders seemingly have their backs against the wall in tough road matchups on Saturday with Washington going to the wire with Oregon State, Louisville doing the same with Miami, Texas having early trouble at Iowa State, and perhaps most shockingly with Michigan holding on against Maryland. Let’s check out the Top 10…..
1. Georgia
Georgia has now demolished three top-20 ranked teams in a row, including two-score victories over top-10 teams. Georgia has now won 28 straight games under Kirby Smart. Much like they've done throughout the season, the Bulldogs punished a quality opponent for the third straight week, this time doing so on the road. Georgia knocked Tennessee out fairly easily after a poor defensive play to begin the game. After the Bulldogs gave up a touchdown on the opening drive, Georgia outscored Tennessee 38-3 over the rest of the game. Carson Beck has elevated his game, Brock Bowers is back and this Bulldogs’ defense is rounding into form. Georgia quarterback Carson Beck threw for 298 yards and three scores -- with only six incompletions in the Tennessee hostile environment.
Beck and Georgia will go on the road once again this week, as the Bulldogs travel to Atlanta to play the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Georgia should be favored to three-peat now. Georgia is the best team in the nation.
2. Michigan
In Week 12, the Wolverines played a lot more like a program led by an inexperienced coach with a locker room that was looking ahead to Ohio State. It nearly cost Michigan its entire season. Michigan overcame a couple turnovers and not its best effort offensively to improve to 11-0 ahead of next week's showdown. The Wolverines will take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in a huge Big Ten regular season matchup before the Big Ten Championship. Michigan held off upset-minded Maryland without Jim Harbaugh. Michigan led by 13 points at halftime before the Terrapins pulled back in it within five points following Billy Edwards' third touchdown run with 16 seconds left in the third quarter. The winner of this game will take on Iowa with a chance to make the College Football Playoff. The loser won't win any championship this year. The Wolverines’ panic meter is high right now.
3. Ohio St
The stage is now set for the best college football game this season. Ohio State might come into this one even more confident after seeing how McCarthy and the Wolverines’ offense has fared in the last two weeks. As for Ohio State, they rolled as a 30-point favorite with a dismantling of the Golden Gophers at Ohio Stadium. TreVeyon Henderson gashed the opposition for 146 yards and two touchdowns on just 15 carries, while Marvin Harrison Jr. added another score to his Big Ten-leading receiving totals. Kyle McCord threw two touchdown passes. Ohio State defeated Notre Dame but that won't be enough to help them get into the College Football Playoff with a loss to Michigan. The Buckeyes need this one just as much as Michigan does. One thing that seems evident, the 2023 Ohio State vs Michigan game likely won’t be nearly as high-scoring as previous matchups. The wins sets up this week's matchup of unbeatens with the winner of Ohio State-Michigan moving on to the conference championship game against Iowa.
4. Washington
Another week, another close win for Washington. It wasn’t pretty, especially for the defense and the second-half offense, but the Washington Huskies kept their undefeated season intact on Saturday night. The Huskies stayed unbeaten with fourth-quarter magic defensively on the road. Washington shows up in the big games and squeaks by in the less-hyped matchups. Washington won't be playing any more less-hyped games this season. That's good news for the Huskies. Michael Penix Jr. wasn't at his best, but it was good enough for the Pac-12 leaders after he tossed a pair of touchdown passes. Washington picked off DJ Uiagalelei twice and managed to win despite Damien Martinez's 126-yard rushing performance on the opposite sideline. Washington is playing for its Playoff spot the next two weekends after locking in a Pac-12 title game berth. The Huskies have a playoff resume and with two more wins, they’ll be the No. 3 seed in the CFP Semifinal.
5. Florida State
Devastating. That’s the only way to describe the Jordan Travis injury for the Florida State Seminoles. FSU avoided a catastrophic upset, but did suffer an unfortunate situation in the first half of its win over North Alabama after quarterback Jordan Travis was carted off with an injury. Losing Travis will hurt. But if Florida State wants to make the College Football Playoff, they'll need to beat Florida and Louisville in their next two games. Do that, and they'll be in, even without Travis. Given how much he means to this Seminoles team, it's certainly deflating for the ACC frontrunners this late in the season with a College Football Playoff berth on the horizon with two more victories. FSU will move forward with Tate Rodemaker under center it appears. FSU trailed at one point, 13-0, before scoring the game's final 58 points in last week’s game.
6. Oregon
The Oregon Ducks still find themselves needing a few dominoes to fall their way to earn a spot in the CFP Semifinal. However, the Ducks can likely push for a top-five spot next weekend with a victory in the Civil War over Oregon State and the loser of Michigan vs Ohio State dropping in the college football rankings. Bo Nix is continuing to do everything in his power to lead this season's Heisman voting entering rivalry week after a near-perfect performance on the road. Nix tossed three of his six touchdown passes in the first quarter as the Ducks built a 42-point lead at halftime en route to a blowout. Bo Nix is looking for that Heisman Award. After six passing touchdowns, the Ducks rolled past Arizona State. Oregon will play Oregon State next week with a chance to keep its playoff hopes alive with a win. Oregon might not necessarily have the best resume of the top teams, but an 11-1 record with a Heisman Trophy finalist should at least get them in the debate for a top-four spot. If Oregon finishes 12-1 with a conference title under its belt, the resume will be sparkling.
7. Alabama
The Alabama Crimson Tide have just been a different football team since coming out of the locker room at halftime against Tennessee. In the last 14 quarters, the Crimson Tide have outscored opponents by a +125 point margin, demonstrating they are one of the best teams in college football. Alabama's win against Chattanooga will keep them at No. 7. Why, why, why do the get to not only play cupcake teams but they only play 8 conference games while others play nine? Meanwhile, Jalen Milroe tossed three touchdown passes, all coming in the first half, as the Crimson Tide handled Chattanooga prior to next week’s Iron Bowl against Auburn. Speaking of those rival Tigers, Hugh Freeze’s team dropped a home game against New Mexico State and will come into their biggest game of the campaign limping quite a bit. If Nick Saban's team wins out and beats an unbeaten Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, chances are high they're going to the playoff. The Oddsmakers set the line todays and opened up Georgia Bulldogs at - 4.5.
8. Texas
There weren’t a ton of style points racked up by the Teas Longhorns on Saturday night, but they battled on the road to take out an Iowa State Cyclones team that has always given them problems. The Longhorns earned a 26-16 win over Iowa State. That'll do. After one of Iowa State's veteran offensive linemen took a shot the Longhorns this week, Texas took things personal on the road. Quinn Ewers has started looking more comfortable in his second game back and CJ Baxter stepped up, too. Ewers had two touchdown throws in the second half, including a 31-yarder to Gunnar Helm early in the fourth quarter that pushed the Longhorns' lead to 23-9. After Iowa State responded, the Longhorns went on a clock-eating six-minute drive to push ahead by 10 and put it away.
9. Louisville
Behind three touchdown passes from Jack Plummer and a late stand defensively, Louisville clinched its first trip to the ACC Championship Game since joining the conference in 2014 with a win over the Hurricanes. The Louisville Cardinals are headed to the ACC Championship with just one loss this season. They'll have to prepare for a tough matchup against Kentucky first. Given their automatic placement in the ACC, even if the Cardinals lose to FSU in two weeksin the league finale, Louisville is likely heading to the Orange Bowl after a spectacular first season under coach Jeff Brohm.
10. Missouri
Missouri kicker Harrison Mevis nailed a chip-shot field goal with five seconds left to help the Tigers stave off the Gators. Florida thought it was in position to become bowl-eligible, but the Tigers converted a long fourth down on their final possession after Brady Cook found Luther Burden down the middle of the field. The Tigers escaped the Florida Gators with a game-winning field goal. It wasn't pretty, but wins are hard to come by in the SEC. Missouri found a way. Hats off to Missouri, a deep team that has proven it’s one of the 10 best college football teams in 2023. The victory keeps Missouri in line for a possible Cotton Bowl berth if the Tigers beat Arkansas next week.