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A lot of the talk in the lead-up to the USC-Oregon clash was that this was a turning point moment for the Trojans’ program, a moment to write a new chapter and vault into the College Football Playoff discussion. Unfortunately for USC, it was more of the same story in Autzen Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

USC’s defense struggled to get off the field, limit Oregon in the air or on the ground, and simply didn’t play well enough to knock off a Top 10 team. The CFP-bound Ducks started fast, finished strong, and comfortably eliminated USC from playoff contention with a 42-27 win. 

USC scored on the game’s opening possession, but Oregon quickly answered and truly never looked back. The Ducks' offense got just about anything it wanted on the afternoon, finishing with nearly 180 yards and three scores on the ground, along with a pair of scores from quarterback Dante Moore in the air. And the defense stifled USC at the lines of scrimmage, allowing just 52 yards on 28 carries. 

Critical swings of momentum came in the second quarter. The first swing came when Oregon punt returner house-called a ridiculous 85-yard punt to put the Ducks up seven. Later in the half, USC committed one of many dumb penalties when a defender leapt over the long snapper on an Oregon failed field goal attempt. The penalty gave Oregon another bite at the apple, and the Ducks immediately scored a touchdown to stretch their lead to two scores.

Oregon is damn-near a slam dunk to make the College Football Playoff now, whereas USC has once again been relegated to the second tier of the Big Ten Conference.

As it turns out, spotting your opponent 28 points isn’t exactly a foolproof strategy for winning a college football game. Who knew? 

Mere days after I waxed poetic about the heroic nature of Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King, it turns out that Superweapon Pitt was the Yellow Jackets’ Kryptonite after all. Pitt turned a rocketship first quarter into an insurmountable lead and knocked off No. 16 Georgia Tech 42-28, giving itself an outside shot at the upcoming ACC title game. With the loss, the Yellow Jackets are effectively eliminated from the conference title game.

This contest felt like multiple scenes in a play. Act 1 saw Pitt jump out to a crazy 28-point lead, with three of those scores coming courtesy of freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel. 

Act 2 was the Georgia Tech comeback, which saw King and the offense snap out of a funk and put a pair of touchdowns on the board. The crowd came alive. It felt like the game was on the verge of slipping through Pitt’s fingers. 

Then Act 3 happened. With Georgia Tech in the red zone and knocking on the door for a score, King threw a back-breaking 100-yard interception return for a touchdown that completely took the air out of the game.

Pitt now needs to beat Miami next weekend and needs either Virginia or SMU to lose for a berth in the ACC title game. Crazier things have happened.

First half Oklahoma looked a lot like Iowa with cooler uniforms. 

The Sooners mustered just six plays for -7 yards in the first quarter. Quarterback John Mateer looked out of sorts. Brent Venables was getting especially creative with the use of swear words directed at both officials and his own players.  And at least through 15 or so minutes, the offense looked inept at best and flat-out terrible at worst.

But in typical Brent Venables style, the defense kept the Sooners in the game until the offense finally woke up. The Sooners’ defense deleted Missouri’s run game, picked off quarterback Beau Pribula twice, and was the deciding factor in Oklahoma’s 17-6 win. 

In a way, Oklahoma can’t keep getting away with this (playing putrid offense), but on the other hand, maybe the Sooners can? Mateer was tame by his standards, Oklahoma only ran for 3.2 yards per carry, and if it weren’t for a busted coverage touchdown in the first half, this thing would’ve been a lot nervier down the stretch.

No matter what you or I think about this offense, Oklahoma is finding ways to win, and that’s what matters. Barring some unforeseen slip-up, the Sooners will ride their fearsome defense to a College Football Playoff appearance. What they do from there…that’s a different story.

This time of year, style points are like mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving. Not a nice-to-have, but a necessity. Miami and SMU piled their plates high with style points on Saturday in comfortable wins over Virginia Tech and Louisville.

Miami jumped out to a 17-point first-half lead and rode that to a 34-17 victory over a plucky but extremely flawed Virginia Tech team. Quarterback Carson Beck threw four touchdowns and had just five incompletions on 32 attempts. Wideout Malachi Toney did Malachi Toney things time and time again. And as far as I can tell, most everybody got out of there healthy. 

The Hurricanes need all the help (and love from the CFP committee) they can get right now. (Side note: Many people are asking… does Notre Dame’s 60-plus-point win over Syracuse strengthen Miami’s CFP case? Food for thought, I suppose.)

SMU, on the other hand, demolished a noticeably weakened Louisville team 38-6 to keep its ACC title game hopes alive. The Mustangs offense eclipsed the 500-yard mark. The defense limited Louisville to just 100 passing yards. All in all, it was a clobbering in every sense of the word.

Since Georgia Tech lost to Pitt, SMU now has a win-and-you’re-in scenario against Cal to make the ACC title game. What a wild time! 

ICYMI, Utah somehow won a game in which it gave up 348 first-half rushing yards to Kansas State. Very normal, huh?

In all seriousness, this was probably the Original Four Loko game of the day. Kansas State rushed for 472 yards and five touchdowns. Utah also chipped in five touchdowns on the ground and two more in the air via quarterback Devon Dampier. And both teams combined for over 1,100 yards… just like Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark drew it up. 

With the win, Utah technically keeps itself alive for a very outside shot at the Big 12 title game. The Utes will likely need a BYU loss next week to make that come to fruition. 

College Football Week 13 is officially in the books, and though it wasn't an insane week of upsets, it sets the stage for one of the most exciting Rivalry Weeks we've had in quite some time. In this episode, we rehash Oregon's statement win over USC, Oklahoma's follow-up after beating Alabama in Week 12, Pitt's upset of Georgia Tech, Utah's shootout and more. Plus, Notre Dame's utter destruction of Syracuse, Penn State's impressive showing against Nebraska, and the potential for an all-time apathy bowl between Florida and Florida State in Week 14.

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