Best of Rivalry Week: A Milroe miracle, a Washington walk-off and Michigan’s knockout blow
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David Hale, ESPN Staff Writer
Think back on a rainy Saturday in Tampa, Florida, way back in September, when Nick Saban had benched his starting QB and Alabama‘s season appeared lost. We’ve all learned — many times over — not to doubt Saban, never to write off his Crimson Tide teams, but this felt different. This was Alabama at its nadir. And yet, it was also an inflection point.
Think back to a chaotic Saturday in Seattle in mid-October, when Rome Odunze delivered one final, stunning blow in a heavyweight bout between Washington and Oregon. Through the blowouts that preceded it, the Huskies had flexed their muscle, but it was in this back-and-forth slugfest they forged their identity.
This is the beauty of college football’s regular season — the way the seeds are laid in moments big and small, and sometimes hardly noticed at all, and then in this final, dizzying chapter, it all becomes clear.
On Saturday, the QB who emerged from Alabama’s listless September delivered a throw that will be remembered in the same breath with the Kick-Six, an Iron Bowl miracle.
On Saturday, Kalen DeBoer, survivor of so many narrow victories in the past two months, made the most brazen decision in Apple Cup history, and the brilliant Odunze delivered magic once more.
At Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn was poised to pull off a miraculous upset and, just a week removed from a blowout loss to New Mexico State, deliver a playoff dagger to Saban’s Tide.
A muffed punt gave Alabama the ball back with less than five minutes to play, and Jalen Milroe erased a sack with a 19-yard scramble; but an illegal forward pass and an errant snap threatened to undo it all, setting up a fourth-and-goal from the 31. And then history. During a timeout, Auburn devised a defense in which two players rushed the QB, eight guys crowded the end zone and one guy wandered aimlessly. Milroe took the snap and, after maneuvering through a vacant pocket for long enough that every fan in the stadium had a chance to say their share of Hail Marys, heaved a bomb into the back corner of the end zone where, astonishingly, Isaiah Bond waited to make the game-winning catch.
Afterward, Milroe celebrated by shouting that he wanted the Heisman Trophy. He actually won something better — a place in Iron Bowl lore forever.
At Eternity’s Gate, by Vincent van Gogh, 1890, ? via @nocontextcfb pic.twitter.com/rzs7O4UiBj
— ArtButMakeItSports (@ArtButSports) November 26, 2023
At Husky Stadium, with the clock ticking toward a seemingly inevitable overtime, Washington faced a fourth-and-1 at its own 29. Any reasonable coach would’ve played it safe and punted. But DeBoer has seen enough of this team to know it is at its best with its back against the wall, that it thrives in those places lesser men fear to tread. And so he sent QB Michael Penix Jr. to the line of scrimmage with “some options,” DeBoer said afterward.
Penix surveyed the defense, considered his options and chose to inflict unimaginable pain on Washington State. He took the snap, flipped the ball to Odunze and watched the best player on the field dash 23 yards for a first down. And still, it could’ve gone haywire. Needing just a field goal to win, Penix tossed two deep balls into heavy coverage, but the Cougars failed to corral either. It was either luck or destiny or both. Washington is like the bus in “Speed” — incapable of slowing down long enough to realize how dangerous its journey has been.
If there has been a reasonable criticism of the 2023 season, it is that the script has included too few twists, no genuine surprises that upend everything we thought we understood as fact. On Saturday, Alabama and Washington proved the status quo can be entirely shocking too.
Alabama is alive for a championship, just as it has been nearly every other year of Saban’s tenure. But this is not the norm. This is, perhaps, the least dynamic Alabama team in more than a decade. But it also has given Tide fans something they’ve rarely had — a chance to be the underdog, a chance to be surprised, a chance to feel elated rather than relieved by something unexpected. For so long, there was no mystery in Alabama’s game plan. The Tide were simply better than everyone else. This time, Saban has provided genuine magic. It would be foolish to see his latest trick and assume he cannot make Georgia‘s playoff hopes vanish in the SEC championship game too.
Washington’s win might not have convinced any of its doubters, but it did serve notice, once more, that the Huskies will not depart the playoff chase quietly. They are like the last car running in a demolition derby — battered and dented and smoldering, but still alive. Their past three wins have all come by a touchdown or less, as did games against Arizona, Oregon and Arizona State before that. And yet Washington understands what all great showmen must: The trick is only fun if it doesn’t look too easy.
This latest magic from Alabama and Washington was a necessary end to this regular season, one that tied up so many of the narrative threads from September and October while teasing the best of what’s still to come. The playoff, by design, elevates the stakes. But what makes this ridiculous sport so wonderful is the way the best storylines and the most heart-pounding drama blossoms organically over the course of 13 weeks, guaranteed to deliver something entirely ridiculous and unexpected.
And on some distant Saturday in March or April or June, when all that awaits is a lawn to be mowed or engine oil to be changed, when our day is measured by beach traffic or dinner reservations, we’ll think back on all that transpired on this Saturday, this final, beautiful, delirious Saturday of college football’s 2023 regular season, and our hearts will be full.
Well, maybe not Hugh Freeze’s.
Michigan delivers a knockout with far-reaching implications
There will be so many moments from Saturday’s latest installment of The Game that warrant reflection and debate, but in a battle between teams whose seasons would be defined by the outcome, the most evocative and most significant stretch of heroics was a long slog of a drive, 12 plays and 56 yards, that ticked seven grueling minutes off the clock and ended with a field goal.
There was nothing sexy about Michigan‘s final drive. The Wolverines had danced with the devil enough by this point — gone for it on fourth down three times, had its tailback sling the deep ball, rallied behind an O-line down its best player — but this was pure, bare-knuckle toughness.
For three-and-a-half quarters, Michigan had toyed with Ohio State. The Wolverines never trailed, but neither could they pull away. They landed haymakers and jabs, but Ohio State kept getting back up off the mat. It might’ve seemed a valid question to ask whether this meant the teams were evenly matched or whether the Wolverines had simply refused to fully flex their true strength until it mattered. That drive provided an answer.
Ohio State’s frustrated fan base will cling to its share of explanations for how its once-dominant program has been so clearly superseded by its rival — Ryan Day’s incompetence, Michigan’s alleged cheating, some sort of monkey’s paw curse — but the truth comes down to this: When everything was on the line, the Wolverines were relentless, and the Buckeyes folded.
The field goal at the end of that 12-play drive gave Michigan a six-point lead, which proved enough when Rod Moore picked off Kyle McCord to seal the 30-24 win. J.J. McCarthy was fine — 148 yards and a touchdown, the third straight game Michigan has won while its QB threw for less than 150 yards — and Blake Corum once again owned short-yardage situations. The defense was stout, picking off McCord twice, but Ohio State still out-gained the Wolverines in the game. Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State’s Heisman contender, caught five balls for 118 yards and a touchdown, and yet Michigan never let him take over the game.
This was, in so many ways, death by a thousand paper cuts for Ohio State — slow, painful, torturous. All the better for Michigan fans.
This was, if not an emphatic win for the Wolverines, proof that there’s no magic formula to beat this team because, even when nothing seemed to work particularly well, everything worked well enough.
This was a game — the sixth this year — that Michigan didn’t have its head coach on the sideline, and yet Jim Harbaugh’s dominance over Ohio State has never felt more certain. Somewhere, deep within the confines of his secret headquarters at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, he must’ve been fiendishly petting a cat and laughing maniacally as he watched the final seconds tick away.
What comes next is perhaps even more interesting.
Michigan will be eager to move forward. Harbaugh’s suspension ended with Moore’s INT, and the Wolverines’ quest for a national title begins anew with the Big Ten title game.
Ohio State will wallow in this for days or months or generations. Did the officials — and the replay booth — get Roman Wilson‘s touchdown catch right or did they steal an INT from the Buckeyes that might’ve swung the game? Would things have been different if Day had played as aggressively as Sherrone Moore? The Michigan interim coach was three-for-three on fourth down tries and called a brilliant trick play for Donovan Edwards, who launched a 34-yard completion to Colston Loveland. Day, perhaps with his legacy as a head coach on the line, took few risks, punting on fourth-and-1 near midfield early in the game, then watching the clock wind down for a long (and ultimately fruitless) field goal try to end the half.
The win was certainly something short of redemption for Harbaugh, who has been suspended twice this season and still faces an ongoing NCAA investigation, but none of that matters in the eyes of Michigan fans, who’ve now won three straight vs. the Buckeyes after having dropped 15 of the prior 16. If Harbaugh had been caught using the transfer portal to run a Ponzi scheme, it wouldn’t have mattered. He’s built a monster that has eaten the hopes and dreams of those fools down south, and that is all that counts.
The loss further solidifies Day’s place in the rivalry’s land of broken toys. Day’s career is astonishing in its successes — a 56-7 record, with every loss coming against a ranked foe — but defined by three straight failures in the only game that really matters. He is college football’s Salieri, brilliant in his own right, but destined to forever be remembered as the foil to his more remarkable rival.
In each of the past two years, the elation of Michigan’s win over its bitter rival was enough to sustain the program after losses in the College Football Playoff semifinal. This year, amid so much off-field chaos surrounding Harbaugh, there must be a demand to follow The Game with something more. Michigan will be the story of the playoff this year — either as Harbaugh’s self-described redemption story, America’s team waving off all the metaphorical slings and arrows or as the villains who couldn’t finish the job, even with the deck stacked in their favor.
The past two years, Ohio State could fall back on the idea that it had lost but was, perhaps, not truly all that far behind. But if two’s a coincidence, three’s a trend, and it’s impossible not to wonder what lengths a place like Ohio State will go to in hopes of shifting that trend before next November.
But before all those scripts are written, there is this: The Game, once more, lived up to the hype. It was a perfect cap to a season in which the status quo has rarely shifted more than a few centimeters and a reminder that, for all the often ugly narrative threads sewn away from the field, the magic always comes from the work done on it.
Noles stay undefeated
It would be fair to say Florida State proved Saturday that there is far more to this Seminoles team than Jordan Travis. Trey Benson ran for three touchdowns. Jared Verse played havoc with Florida‘s O-line. Tate Rodemaker was far from dazzling, but he avoided any catastrophic mistakes. In all, the 24-15 win over the Gators suggested FSU warrants its place in the playoff pecking order.
It would also be fair to say Florida did everything possible to hand Florida State the win.
The Gators blew a 12-0 lead by allowing TD drives to Florida State on the Noles’ last drive of the first half and first drive of the second half. They missed two field goals. They extended FSU’s game-clinching touchdown drive twice with penalties. They had a player ejected for spitting. In the fourth quarter, Florida had no plays that gained more than 1 yard, they gave up 50 yards in penalties, and QB Max Brown was sacked four times and threw an interception. If Billy Napier showed up to the postgame press conference wearing a Darth Vader mask, it wouldn’t have been much worse.
On the other hand, there was Mike Norvell’s Noles, who never flinched in their first effort without Travis at the helm. Even when Rodemaker went down after a targeting penalty on Florida, the Noles kept their cool behind third-stringer Brock Glenn. Florida State outscored Florida 17-3 in the second half and outgained the Gators 139-48.
Every day before practice, Norvell sprints down the field of FSU’s indoor practice facility. He runs 100 yards, usually racing a few of his players. He’s in his 40s now, and he said the hamstrings aren’t what they used to be. But the point of the race for him isn’t to make it 100 yards as fast as he can, but rather to make it 100 yards no matter how he feels.
Whether Florida State can win a national championship without its star QB is a valid question, even after a 12-0 start. But what Norvell and the Noles proved against Florida is the same thing Norvell proves every day before practice — that the race ultimately goes to the guy who keeps running.
Iowa: An appreciation
Before the season, OC Brian Ferentz was tasked with a simple enough goal: Score 25 points per game. Not even just on offense. If his defense chipped in a few touchdowns, that was fine, too. How low was this bar? Entering Saturday, 79 teams averaged 25 points or better (or 86 if we’re rounding up decimals).
But Iowa didn’t sniff that mark. After Friday’s 13-10 win over Nebraska, the Hawkeyes are averaging exactly 18 points per game — a full touchdown shy of the number that would’ve saved Ferentz’s job.
It’s been easy to joke about Iowa this season, starting with the famed Drive for 325 through this latest ridiculous stretch of games in which the Hawkeyes have won five of six despite scoring more than two touchdowns in a game just once.
The forecasters in Las Vegas have turned Iowa’s point totals into college football’s best limbo contest, including a record-low 24.5-point total against Nebraska, and Iowa has delivered the under again and again and again. In all, six of the lowest totals on record have come from Iowa games in the past two years.
Iowa’s offense is so mind-bogglingly inept, it’s impossible to write it off as mere incompetence. It must be part of a bigger plan.
And so it is that Iowa is 10-2. Iowa is but a dubious fair catch call away from being 11-1. Iowa will play for a Big Ten title and, at this point, is anyone really doubting the Hawkeyes can achieve the impossible?
There is a valuable lesson for all of us in what Iowa has achieved in the past 12 games.
While the rest of the nation scoffed, Iowa fans rejoiced, finding true joy in the most mundane moments of the game.
— wow that was crazy (@CowardlyDoggo) November 24, 2023
While bettors giggled over yet another seemingly impossible under wager, Iowa lined the pockets of everyone who believed.
While the rest of the Big Ten West — a collection of drifters, cast-offs and Nebraska — wasted weeks plotting a game plan that would result in points, Iowa set its entire focus a formula to actually win games by executing the college football equivalent of the iTunes user agreement, just waiting for an opponent to get bored with the minutia and click “Accept.” Not since Muhammad Ali has anyone executed the rope-a-dope so perfectly.
Just consider Friday’s game, where Iowa stole another victory by picking off a Chubba Purdy pass late before drilling a field goal for the win. The outcome seemingly hung in the balance for the entirety of the second half, the advantage swinging from drive to drive, and yet we all knew where this would end.
Iowa thrives on the brink of disaster.
Nebraska, on the other hand, slinks from every opportunity, a perpetual loser in a game of chicken, swerving off the road and into a ditch at the first sense of danger.
Iowa has 13 wins over the past two years in games in which its offense failed to score more than two touchdowns.
Nebraska has 30 losses since 2018 in one-possession games.
At some point, repetition can no longer be explained away by luck or coincidence. At some point, we must admit Iowa has figured out the secret to the universe, identified the glitch in the matrix, gone to a crossroad in the middle of endless corn fields and sold its soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to punt its way into a 10-win season.
Soon enough, Brian Ferentz will be gone, and the Hawkeyes will risk going from sublime to dull. Indeed, it took Iowa for us all to learn just how thin the margin between those two points can be. Perhaps the next playcaller will discover mystical offenses never before seen in Iowa City, like the RPO or tempo or the forward pass. But will he serve so perfectly as the yin to DC Phil Parker’s yang? Who is Superman without Lex Luthor?
So let us all bask in the glory of this Iowa team just a little longer. We may never see its kind again.
After all, what Iowa has given college football fans — or, perhaps, the world — in 2023 is something special: A lesson that there is more than one way to win, that joy is best found in its simplest forms and that every punt is simply another chance to believe, against all evidence and common sense, that the next drive will be better.
Rivalry Week rewind
Checking in on some other big rivalry matchups in Week 13 …
The Governor’s Cup
Louisville took a 17-7 lead early in the second half, and then the wheels came off. Kentucky returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown then scored 10 points off back-to-back Louisville fumbles to take a 31-24 lead.
0:22
Syracuse D comes up with huge 4th-and-goal stop
Wake Forest’s Jason Simmons Jr. breaks up Michael Kern’s pass attempt to get a big fourth and goal stop at the two minute mark.
Louisville then turned the ball over on downs, only to have Kentucky return the favor with a Devin Leary interception that set up a game-tying touchdown.
As it turned out, Ray Davis ensured the worst of outcomes for the No. 10 Cards. He opened the ensuing drive with a 15-yard run and capped it with a 37-yarder for a touchdown. Jack Plummer‘s final pass was picked off, and Kentucky topped Louisville for the fifth straight year — nixing the Cardinals’ slim playoff hopes.
The Territorial Cup
If we had a 12-team playoff this year, the most interesting team in the country might be Arizona. The Wildcats have won six straight after Saturday’s 59-23 thrashing of Arizona State.
Arizona’s success coincided with the emergence of QB Noah Fifita, who put on a show against the Sun Devils, throwing for 527 yards and five touchdowns in the win.
Fifita’s stat line since taking over the offense: 73% completions, 306 pass yards per game, 23 touchdowns and five picks.
The Commonwealth Cup
Virginia Tech became bowl eligible by demolishing Virginia 55-17. Kyron Drones threw for 244 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Da’Quan Felton.
On one hand, it was some comeuppance for Virginia freshman QB, Anthony Colandrea, who promised a win over the Hokies earlier in the week.
On the other hand, Virginia did get the last laugh.
Rivalries are amazing!
Coach Pry brought his team back on the field to take a picture following the 55-17 win over UVA.
Virginia turned the sprinklers on the Scott Stadium field.
Beautiful! pic.twitter.com/KzfgrBIsYB
— Bill Roth (@BillRoth2020) November 26, 2023
Chancellor’s Spurs game
Texas Tech lamented losing this rivalry when Texas moves to the SEC. Texas was surprised to find out this was a rivalry game.
In any case, the Red Raiders may be glad Texas is leaving after the Longhorns delivered a dominant 57-7 win Friday. Arch Manning made his debut in mop-up time, completing 2-of-5 throws. Quinn Ewers threw for 196 yards and a touchdown.
Jimbo Fisher’s Nephew’s Knuckle Sandwich Trophy
We’re not sure if there’s an actual nickname for the LSU–Texas A&M rivalry, but we like to think it honors Fisher’s nephew, who picked a fight after a seven-overtime loss to the Tigers in 2018.
This time, it was just Jayden Daniels throwing haymakers. The Heisman hopeful threw for four touchdowns and totaled 355 total yards.
On the upside, Fisher’s nephew is still in line for a $12 million buyout from the A&M administration.
North Carolina–NC State rivalry
NC State opened the season 4-3, and fans were ready to move on to basketball. Instead, Dave Doeren’s Wolfpack rallied to win their final five games, finishing the regular season 9-3 after beating North Carolina 39-20 Saturday.
Brennan Armstrong, who was benched midway through the season, threw for 334 yards and three touchdowns in the win, while freshman receiver Kevin Concepcion had seven catches for 131 yards and 11 rushes for 55 more.
Afterward, Doeren cracked a small smile, then immediately chastised himself for the brash display of happiness.
Farmageddon
Abu Sama III finished with 287 yards and three touchdowns in Iowa State‘s 42-35 win in the snow.
0:35
Tyler Batty’s hurdle attempt goes wrong on fake punt
Tyler Batty catches the pass from BYU’s punter and gives the Cougars a first down.
Rocco Becht threw for three touchdowns, Jaylin Noel had 160 yards receiving and two TDs, and Beau Freyler finished with 15 tackles for the Cyclones, too.
The good news for Kansas State fans, however, is there’s plenty of time for snow angels on Sunday.
Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate
Before the season, Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key lamented his school’s lack of competitiveness in its rivalry with Georgia.
“What pisses me off is to look at lists of the 10 or 20 best rivalries in the country,” Key said, “and, not to have [Georgia-Georgia Tech] on there, that’s bulls—. But at the present time, they’re probably right.”
Well, the Yellow Jackets didn’t win Saturday, but they did make it a competitive game, and perhaps that’s a good step back toward relevance.
Instead, it was Kendall Milton who stole the headlines, racking up 156 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries.
Under-the-radar play of the week
Oklahoma had no problem demolishing TCU 69-45 behind 436 yards and four touchdowns from Dillon Gabriel, 12 catches from Drake Stoops and 130 yards and three scores on the ground from Gavin Sawchuk. Indeed, all went splendidly after the game started.
Before kickoff though? That was a bigger issue for the Sooners, who somehow managed to flub the entrance, trampling their head coach in the process.
Illegal block below the waist! pic.twitter.com/LtDlrKXQ1z
— Devin Staton (@DevinStaton) November 24, 2023
Given that Venables spent 10 years running down the hill at Clemson (learning from the Usain Bolt of college football in Dabo Swinney), it’s hard to fathom how he could allow this to happen.
Of course, Venables was just as frustrated, as he explained after Friday’s win.
“I was thinking, ‘You’ve got to be f’ing kidding me. This is really happening now,'” Venables said. “I was pissed. Not at anybody. Just pissed.”
In fairness though, this is also the exact response Venables gives when he orders a Coke and the server asks if Pepsi is OK.
Under-the-radar game of the week
Ollie Gordon II ran for 166 yards and five touchdowns in Oklahoma State‘s 40-34 double-OT win over BYU, which still didn’t guarantee him the best highlight of the game. That belongs to Tyler Batty, who we hope was wearing proper protection when he made this hurdle attempt.
Still, it was a huge win for the Pokes, who’ve been something of a rollercoaster all year. A quick recap of Oklahoma State’s season: Struggled to beat Central Arkansas and Arizona State. All of this ensures the Cowboys will either end Texas’ playoff hopes next week or lose by so much they’re banished to what remains of the Pac-12. The end came, as was foretold by the prophets (or at least Larry Scott), with Cal becoming bowl eligible, UCLA tripping over its own shoe-strings, and three-quarters of the country long since asleep. Cal beat UCLA 33-7 to cap Week 13 and put a final bow on the Pac-12’s existence. UCLA moves on to the Big Ten, where its offensive ineptitude will be welcomed with open arms. Cal moves on to the ACC, where its academics and mediocrity will burnish that league’s well-established reputation. We’d say the Golden Bears should turn off the lights on their way out, but honestly, Oregon State has to pick up the electric bill anyway, and there’s virtually no chance Cal was getting its security deposit back regardless. Ultimately, the league’s demise recalls the words of the great poet, Brian Flanagan, in the movie “Cocktail.” Everything ends badly. Otherwise, it wouldn’t end. Cue Sarah McLachlan’s “I Will Remember You” or Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It.” Your choice. Fin. After Eastern Michigan and Utah State locked up their sixth wins earlier in the week, Saturday’s slate kicked off with 13 bowl spots still needing to be filled, lest the nation be subject to the horrors of a transitioning FBS school like James Madison or Jacksonville State playing in a postseason game. Syracuse locked up one of those spots with an interception on fourth-and-goal from the 3 with two minutes to play. 0:50 Old Dominion becomes bowl-eligible after incredible comeback Down seven and without the ball with under two minutes remaining, Old Dominion uses a safety and a TD on the final play to beat Georgia State and become bowl-eligible. The win gets Syracuse a bowl game despite the firing of coach Dino Babers after last week’s loss to Georgia Tech. It was joined by Virginia Tech, which walloped rival Virginia, in getting to 6-6, giving the ACC 11 bowl-eligible teams. Meanwhile, Rice finished the regular season with two more wins than JT Daniels had schools played for, getting victory No. 6 with a 24-21 decision over FAU. It marks the first time in a decade that Rice has gotten to six wins, and we believe its postseason game will be called a poké bowl. — Rice Football (@RiceFootball) November 25, 2023 No one had a wilder path to bowl eligibility on Saturday than Old Dominion, which trailed Georgia State by 10 with less than two minutes to play. But ODU finished a long drive with a field goal to pull to within seven, and as Georgia State worked to run out the clock, a high snap resulted in a safety with 1:17 to go. Down by five points, ODU connected on a 43-yard completion then found the end zone as time expired four plays later. Final score: ODU 25, Georgia State 24. 1:00 Penix can’t watch as Washington prevails on 42-yard winning FG After Washington converts on fourth down, Michael Penix Jr. cannot bear to watch the game-winning kick, which Grady Gross nails from 42 yards. Kudos to USF coach Alex Golesh, who has the Bulls bowl eligible after beating the sleeves off of Charlotte, 48-14. The six wins through 12 games under Golesh are more than USF had in its past 39 games under three coaches prior to his arrival. Northern Illinois, Marshall, Louisiana and UCF also locked up bowl eligibility with easy wins on Saturday. Cal’s victory and Colorado State’s late-night defeat mean there are exactly 79 six-win teams eligible for a bowl, and 82 spots to fill. That means 5-7 Minnesota goes bowling, too, as will JMU and Jacksonville State, which feels like a real failure of oversight. How will those schools learn not to be really good right away in the FBS if they don’t face consequences for their actions? And, somewhere in Indianapolis, an NCAA bureaucrat looked out his window and found JMU and Jacksonville State fans singing — and his heart grew three sizes that day. With Bryson Barnes (injured), Nate Johnson (in the portal) and Cam Rising (shooting “John Wick 5”) all unavailable for the regular-season finale Saturday, Utah was forced to dig a little deeper into its QB repertoire, finding walk-on Luke Bottari in between the couch cushions in Kyle Whittingham’s office. On the other side, Colorado was without its star QB, Shedeur Sanders, turning instead to Ryan Staub to serve as tackling dummy behind the traffic cones working on the Buffs’ O-line. The outcomes: Utah 23, Colorado 17. It was a shocking finish to a once-promising season for Colorado with the Buffaloes losing eight of their last nine. Prime now turns his attention to the offseason, where he’ll be cutting three-quarters of his roster, including possibly several of his own children. They’re not in the playoff hunt, but the Flames wrapped up a 12-0 regular season with a 42-28 win over UTEP on Saturday. Liberty QB Kaidon Salter completed just four passes for 22 yards, but the Flames ran for 441 yards on 62 carries in the win. Afterward, Liberty coach Jamey Chadwell had a Mariachi band celebrate the perfect record. And Jamey Chadwell hired a damn mariachi band to play in the locker room after beating UTEP in El Paso. College Football. pic.twitter.com/Auuwk6pi4V — Scott Eisberg (@SEisbergWCIV) November 26, 2023 The Heisman may be a two-man race now between Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix, and only one of them has a game left to play before the trophy is awarded. But this week, we’re not interested in the best players on the field. We’re handing out our award for the best contributor to college football’s 2023 season away from the action. 1. Former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions Every sport has its controversies, from Spygate in the NFL to the Houston Astros scandal in Major League Baseball to the fact that the Winnipeg Jets are actually just a figment of Gary Bettman’s imagination and everyone in the NHL just lets him keep pretending. But college football doesn’t have scandals. It has performance art. And this year, no one delivered the sheer ridiculousness that fuels this sport better than Stalions. The entire ordeal was two parts Watergate, one part murder mystery dinner theater and three parts ideas you come up with at 3 a.m., all set to the “Benny Hill” theme song. It’s impossible to unpack all the ridiculousness of this story, from his name — Connor Stalions would’ve only been funnier if he spelled it $talions, like Ke$ha — to the fact that he was ex-military to his allegedly dressing up like a Central Michigan staffer for a game. So, Mr. Stalions, take your place among the legends of the game. This sport remains absolutely ludicrous and utterly perfect. 2. The Mississippi State ATV Why are you bringing this team out on this 4 Wheeler?? “This is about handling adversity, this is a life lesson” – Words to live by. pic.twitter.com/8HczzfuHxu — Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) November 24, 2023 Bulldogs interim coach Greg Knox led his team onto the field for the Egg Bowl riding a four-wheeler because he wanted to teach his team a life lesson. What is that life lesson? Something about adversity or opposition. Either way, it was enough to motivate former Ole Miss Rebels QB Bo Wallace to get into some Twitter beef with a local coffee shop during the game. The important thing is, Knox provided yet another bit of circus-like flair to a rivalry that has historically been scripted like a fourth grader filling out a Mad Libs. It just dawned on me the Egg Bowl is just what would happen if Stefon from SNL described a football game: “The hottest game in CFB is Egg Bowl. It’s got cowbells, Spencer Sanders and that thing where a coach rides an ATV onto the field to make a statement about adversity?” pic.twitter.com/rz5siY7UV8 — ??️♈️? (@ADavidHaleJoint) November 24, 2023 3. Tyler from Spartanburg A man named Tyler called into Dabo Swinney’s radio show after Clemson started 4-4 and berated the Tigers’ coach for making a lot of money and winning too few games. Swinney responded with an eloquent monologue, echoing the Buddha, that in fact suffering is cleansing, and it is only through our defeats that we learn to accept success, and that a man is only so rich as the friends he keeps. Either that or he ripped Tyler a new one, said he was “part of the problem,” and reminded the world that he doesn’t need anyone’s bullcrap. Either way, it worked splendidly for the Tigers, who went on to upset Notre Dame the next week then reel off three more victories, including Saturday’s 16-7 rivalry win over South Carolina. 4. Davidson Bulldogs backup center Barclay Briggs Not all Heisman candidates rack up dozens of highlights or dominate the opposition or, you know, play. Indeed, one of college football’s true heroes of the 2023 season is a little known backup O-lineman from a non-scholarship FCS school who gave the world an absolutely epic NFL draft announcement. In a perfect world, this joke will escalate in a game of college football one-upsmanship just like turnover props or walk-on scholarship announcements until it reaches its obvious zenith when Arch Manning turns pro while relaxing in a hot tub with a unicorn in the back of a limo as it jumps the Grand Canyon. 5. The Texas Tech-TCU opossum No great show is complete without an animal, and so it was with the 2023 season. Possum being escorted off the field during the Texas Tech/TCU game ? pic.twitter.com/z2v7RBSTYu — Dallas Texas TV (@DallasTexasTV) November 3, 2023 The little guy looks just like us, clinging to what’s left of college football season with all the strength we can muster.
Blown out by South Alabama.
Lost to Iowa State.
Reeled off five straight wins including a shocker against Oklahoma.
Blown out by UCF.
Erase a 23-9 deficit to beat Houston by 13.
Erase a 24-6 deficit to BYU to win 40-34 in double overtime to secure a berth in the Big 12 title game.
So long, Pac-12
Bowl bound
Utah sinks Coach Prime
The Not-Heisman Five
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — In the predawn darkness, Drew Allar pulls his SUV into the Penn State football facility every Monday around 5:45 a.m. He beats many of the coaches into the building and often starts his day by slugging down a blueberry lemonade flavored G.O.A.T. Fuel.
The drink is consumed for the caffeine jolt, not the inspiration. But as Allar enters his fourth and final season as Penn State’s quarterback, he remains locked in on finding the elusive edges that will allow the collision of his talent and development to lead to a breakthrough for the program, his coach and his own promising career.
Allar, 21, is a throwback quarterback who has come of age in perhaps the flashiest era in college football history. Allar bloomed so late that he didn’t start at Medina High School until four games remained in his sophomore year. He is appreciative of waiting his turn to start at Penn State behind Sean Clifford, and multiple coaches pointed out that he still dates his high school sweetheart.
After 26 wins as a starter the past three seasons, and possessing the raw potential at 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds to be the top quarterback picked in the 2026 NFL draft, Allar knows what’s next will determine both his Penn State legacy and professional trajectory. And he knows exactly how he’ll do it.
“I think it’s kind of my story,” Allar told ESPN recently. “It’s about the process, and not really the end result. So just immersing yourself in the hard work, the unseen work.”
The last time we saw Allar on a national stage, he trudged off the field in the wake of perhaps the most punitive interception thrown during the 2024 season. Allar’s interception in the final minute led directly to Notre Dame’s game-winning field goal with 7 seconds left in a College Football Playoff semifinal.
Allar responded by immediately returning to campus and resuming his predawn routines, flanked by a roster, program, coaching staff and administration that Franklin says is the best he has had in his dozen years in State College.
“You look at a lot of teams that have gone on and had special years, they had some type of experience the year before that helped them, that equipped them for that next season and that next moment,” Franklin told ESPN this summer. “Some of those challenges are going to harden us.”
Penn State began the season No. 2 in the AP Poll — the school’s highest ranking since 1997. One NFL team put 11 draftable grades on Penn State players in the preseason. (The school record for a draft is 10 back in 1996.)
With No. 6 Oregon in town on Saturday for No. 3 Penn State’s first challenge this season (7:30 p.m., NBC) and Franklin’s 4-20 record against Top 10 teams looming, Allar’s final mission hits an inflection point: How will he lead Penn State on the final steps from great to elite, perhaps the trickiest terrain in sports?
The answer can be found in an emoji, which offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki projects to the unit at the start of each meeting — a thumb and forefinger about an inch apart from pinching together.
Fittingly, he calls it “The Difference.”
“It’s The Difference” he has said on repeat this offseason, “between winning or losing.”
Kotelnicki challenged his staff members to flip on the tape to find The Difference in three close losses last season, and they found 17 plays against Ohio State, Oregon and Notre Dame that weren’t executed well enough. A majority of those 17 plays came down to something that needed to be coached more and repped more.
“We always talk about how planes don’t crash because of one big thing,” Allar said. “They crash up because of a bunch of small things that add up, and over time becoming big things.”
Allar’s own physical appearance embodies The Difference, as he’s developed a newfound affinity for tank tops after completing a physical overhaul this offseason that includes Popeye-like biceps.
“No shirt is safe around him now,” Penn State strength coach Chuck Losey jokes. “As soon as he gets a new shirt, there’s no sleeves and half the traps are coming off of it.”
Can Penn State muscle through the final steps and rewrite its tortured high-end history? The cosmic collision of talent, callus and opportunity have Allar and his teammates ready to, well, flex.
THE DEFINING PLAY of Penn State’s 13-3 season in 2024 came in the final 47 seconds of the fourth quarter of the College Football Playoff semifinals against Notre Dame.
With the game tied at 24 and two timeouts remaining, Penn State went all-in on winning in regulation and exhuming its recent big-game demons. On the second play, Allar couldn’t find star tight end Tyler Warren on a buzz flat. So he went through his progressions and forced a ball across the field to Omari Evans.
Notre Dame corner Christian Gray dove ahead of Evans and secured an interception — a play as clutch as it was impressive — with 33 seconds remaining.
“In that moment, I obviously can’t put that ball [there], especially on that side of the field,” Allar told ESPN this summer. “I’m trying to put it where it’s either going to be [Evans] or an incompletion. And I definitely put it where I wanted to somewhat, and I put it low, but I put it too far out.”
Nothing epitomizes the fragility of The Difference more than Allar’s final moment of a promising season, one that came crashing down short of a chance to play for the national title.
Suddenly, even after two CFP wins, all those Penn State ghosts snarled again. After surging into NFL first-round pick conversations late in the year, Allar instead delivered a painful moment that now prompts a powerful hypothetical: If Drew Allar hadn’t thrown the most punitive interception in modern Penn State football history, would the Nittany Lions still be so well positioned to win a title in 2025?
The question is likely to remain rhetorical. Both Allar and Franklin call it a “good question.” Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki calls it a “hell of a question.”
Allar chews on the topic for a while sitting in a Penn State meeting room back in June. Prior to the CFP, he’d put out a somewhat tepid statement signaling a return to Penn State, saying on Dec. 16 he looks “forward to making more memories with my teammates this year and beyond.”
He starts his answer in June by saying it would have depended on “how the next game went.”
He added: “But honestly, the more I thought about that decision, I was thinking I haven’t really had time to plan out where I trained, where I’d be at or what I’d be doing.
“And the more I thought about it, the more I thought for my future, specifically, the better it would be for me to come back.”
Allar’s roommate and close friend Dominic Rulli made a fascinating prediction on what Allar would have done if Penn State had won the season’s final game: “I think he would’ve left, which would’ve put Penn State in a little bit of a pickle.”
INSTEAD OF A pickle, generational opportunity looms. And as Allar returns as the face of a loaded roster, there’s a roll call of demons for the Nittany Lions to slay on the other side of The Difference.
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There’s been no league title at Penn State since Franklin’s 2016, long enough ago that that team’s quarterback, Trace McSorley, is now a Penn State staffer.
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There’s been no national title at Penn State since 1986, which is nearly two decades before Allar was born in 2004.
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There’s been no Penn State quarterback drafted in the first round of the NFL draft since Kerry Collins in 1995, a streak of 15 different Nittany Lion starters from Wally Richardson to Sean Clifford.
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In James Franklin’s 12-year tenure, Penn State is 104-42 but just 4-18 against Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon.
So what can be The Difference from Penn State going 37-8 since 2022 to winning championships?
It’s easy to start with the coordinator who has endlessly preached The Difference, as he’s also played a big role in making it.
The case for high-end Penn State optimism in 2025 is rooted in its coordinator pairing, as Kotelnicki enters his second season calling plays. The Nittany Lions lured new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles away from national champion Ohio State with a record three-year deal that averages a record $3.1 million per season.
That pairing will be tested for the first time this Saturday. Penn State is 3-0 and still shrouded in mystery after winning by a combined 132-17 over Nevada, FIU and Villanova.
With Kotelnicki calling plays in 2024, Penn State’s offense soared in his first season there. Per ESPN Research, Penn State improved in explosive play percentage to 15.3%, the second-highest rate in the Big Ten behind Ohio State. That’s up from 10.5% in 2023, a season that saw them finish seventh in the league in that category.
Penn State’s offense has reason for optimism beyond Allar, starting with the productive tailback tandem of Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton. There’s also an offensive line anchored by guard Vega Ioane and left tackle Drew Shelton, with Ioane perhaps the country’s top interior line prospect.
“Legitimately, we have the chance to be the best offensive line in college football,” Kotelnicki told ESPN.
Until the arrival of offensive line coach Phil Trautwein in 2020, Penn State’s Achilles’ heel had been the offensive line. That program stigma has shifted to the wide receivers, where Penn State brought in three high-profile transfers this offseason — Trebor Pena (Syracuse), Kyron Hudson (USC) and Devonte Ross (Troy). The referendum on the caliber of that upgrade will come against the Ducks’ defense.
The Difference comes down to execution and technique on small plays, but Franklin is also quick to point toward the hiring of Kotelnicki ($1.7 million this year) and paying Knowles as much as some power conference coaches. The willingness of athletic director Pat Kraft to spend at the sport’s highest level has rippled to the field.
“To be honest with you, everybody’s focused on Jim Knowles,” Franklin said. “I’m going to be honest with you. The year before, we wouldn’t have got Andy Kotelnicki under the old administration.”
So when asked if this is the best Penn State roster he’s seen, Franklin goes broad.
“When you ask that question, it’s not just the quarterback — it’s all of it,” Franklin said. “I look at it holistically.”
He rattles off everyone from Allar and varied position groups to athletic director Pat Kraft to president Neeli Bendapudi to board chair David Kleppinger to donor B.J. Werzyn spearheading the naming rights for the field at Beaver Stadium.
He then nods to the thin margins of The Difference for a program: “It’s all of that, right?”
WHEN PENN STATE trailed USC 20-6 at halftime in the Coliseum last year, Allar didn’t hesitate to vocalize to the coaching staff a clear path to victory.
Despite a first half when Penn State failed to score a touchdown and Allar threw a bad pick, he delivered a blunt message to Franklin: “They’re not stopping the pass, and we really have everything we want in the throw game. Just put the ball in my hands, and I promise I’ll make it work.”
On a sun-splashed afternoon, Allar came of age by calling his shot and authoring a comeback victory, 33-30 in overtime. And he developed a swagger that remains key for Penn State achieving its biggest goals.
Franklin loved Allar’s moxie at halftime, the type of bravado that he’ll need to channel for Penn State to reach its generational goals.
“There was just so much confidence and there was no sense of panic,” Franklin said. “I don’t think there was a doubt, a moment or an ounce of doubt that we weren’t going to go win the game.”
He threw for 258 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the second half alone, and converted a fourth-and-7 and fourth-and-10 on the game-tying drive. There’s no doubt from the staff that they saw The Difference from that day on.
“That was a turning point game for him, I think as a player in his career,” Penn State quarterback coach Danny O’Brien said. “From there, you could just see it was a little bit different with him. Confidence wise, that was that game for him.”
There’s an expectation for highly ranked prospects like Allar to sprint through their careers. He came to Penn State as ESPN’s No. 2 pocket passing recruit, and that label can often become a burden as inherent moments of adversity arise.
One thing Allar has worked hard to transform is his athleticism. While coaches joke he’ll never be mistaken for Lamar Jackson, he has turned himself into a capable athlete. There’s an oversized picture of him stiff-arming a West Virginia linebacker near Kotelnicki’s office in the football facility that serves as a daily reminder of his athleticism.
“He’s got to be a robust athlete on the field who can endure a 16-game season,” said Losey, Penn State’s assistant AD for performance since January of 2022. “When he first got here, he just wasn’t that.”
The up-before-dawn consistency that has defined his time has flashed in the weight room, as Rulli jokes that Allar’s dedication to routine puts him in the weight room easily an hour before anyone else in his lifting group.
Losey personally works out the quarterbacks, an interesting and sensible nuance because the strength coach in college football is an extension of the head coach. It makes sense that he would be hands-on with the most important position.
Allar came to Penn State in the same class as Beau Pribula, now the starting quarterback at Missouri after transferring last December. And Losey can’t help but link them. “When I think of Beau, I think of Drew,” he said. “When I think of Drew, I think of Beau.”
Allar came ready made to play from a preparation standpoint, but behind from a strength and speed standpoint. Pribula arrived physically more prepared, but behind on the field.
Allar arrived with body fat over 20%, and it’s currently under 15. He put on 18 pounds of lean muscle and dropped 10 to 12 pounds of body fat, an intense overhaul reflected in Allar’s wardrobe, now rivaling Pat McAfee’s for tank tops.
Speed followed, as he arrived running a 5.1 40-yard dash and “in the 16s or 17s” on the Catapult GPS. Allar ran a 4.86 this spring in the 40 and has touched over 20 on the Catapult. “That’s outstanding for someone who is 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds,” Losey said.
It didn’t happen overnight, but the finishing touches of the physical overhaul are viewed as the final step for Allar. His fidelity to routine has been The Difference.
Some of it can be attributed to an improved diet, although Allar’s cooking is a bit of a running joke around the Penn State program.
He’ll boil plain pasta in the kitchen and send out pictures, as Rulli jokes, “like Gordon Ramsey made it.” Then there was the time he tried to mix red wine in a dish, and his inability to remove the cork ended with him spraying the white cabinets in their apartment like a misguided postgame locker room celebration.
The finishing touches of hard work and better eating have put Allar in position to fulfill Penn State’s annual tradition of players crushing the NFL combine, a consistent trait from Franklin’s program.
And as Rulli walks through campus and sees students wearing the No. 15 jersey on the way to class, he just chuckles and says to himself: “You have no idea what he’s done and what he has to do and what it takes to do it.”
NFL scouts have taken notice, but want to see the overhaul completed. He’s clustered in the top tier of potential first-round quarterbacks, but some skepticism lingers.
There are two camps on Allar, the camp that sees the talent, athleticism and arm strength and needs more games like USC. And the camp that wonders if he’ll take the next step: “Is he going to be a guy who teases you?” a veteran scout asks. A different veteran NFL scout says Allar “has a chance” to be the No. 1 overall pick, as he showed great strides last year until the Notre Dame game.
“He needs to play more instinctual,” said another scout. “When he plays loose, he’s better. I thought the Oregon game was a great microcosm — big-time throws and scoring points. Then a couple of brain farts. The talent is all there. First-round talent. Good make-up. He’s just not a swashbuckler type.”
Amid the “whiteout” Saturday night, he’ll get his first high-leverage chance to showcase how far he’s come. Sun’s down, guns out.
ALLAR GREW UP in a football family. His father, Kevin, played with Charlie Batch at Eastern Michigan. They grew up rooting for the Browns in northeast Ohio, with Joe Thomas his favorite player.
His mom, Dawn, explains the football obsession with a story, recalling how she told Drew what he’d learn while attending Parish School of Religion — a Catholic education program for elementary school students. She told him he’d learn about God and Jesus and the saints.
Drew excitedly shot back: “I’m going to learn about Reggie Bush and Drew Brees.”
Dawn laughs: “Not a proud mom moment; I’m going to have serious answers to give if I ever go to heaven.”
There’s a hokeyness to Allar’s final chapter at Penn State that’s authentic, as he cares deeply about the sport, the place and leaving a deep legacy.
He sees how close McSorley is to his teammates from the 2016 Big Ten title team, and he’s envious of the brotherhood forged from a title run.
“I think for me that’s something I want to do,” Allar said. “I want to have our name up, I want to have our team picture up on the wall somewhere in this last facility where whenever I decide to come back when I’m done here, it’s always something I can look back on and kind of spark memories.”
Those are the old-school ideals that Franklin appreciates, as college football leaps into a new paradigm. He sees those ideals as key to The Difference.
“I am scratching, clawing and fighting to hold on to, in some ways, an old-school football program and a transformational experience and not transactional,” Franklin said. “Well, it helps when your quarterback is approaching it the same way.”
And on his last ride at Penn State, Allar takes his old-school approach to writing a new ending.
“This is now or never,” Rulli told Allar after his decision to return. “We have the pieces.”
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