Week 13 is here as we look toward big Saturday matchups that could have an effect on the College Football Playoff rankings, along with what’s going on in the SEC and the success story of a UCLA walk-on who is now leading the FBS in solo tackles.

Starting Saturday’s slate of games, No. 5 Indiana and No. 2 Ohio State will meet in a game that could have Big Ten and CFP implications, while No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 19 Army will face each other in the evening. Army and Indiana enter their matchups undefeated, but will they stay that way?

With conference title games just around the corner, we take a look at what’s going on in the SEC. No. 3 Texas and No. 15 Texas A&M lead in the standings currently, but could we see a potential rematch between No. 7 Alabama and No. 10 Georgia on Dec. 7?

Our college football experts preview big games and storylines ahead of the Week 13 slate.

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UCLA’s Carson Schwesinger | Army-Notre Dame | Who could win the SEC?
Big Ten CFP implications

UCLA’s Carson Schwesinger engineers an extraordinary walk-on story

Before this season, Carson Schwesinger‘s story had the typical markings: walk-on, overlooked in recruiting, worked his way onto the field for a Power 4 program.

Schwesinger was a scout team standout for UCLA. He played on every special teams unit, making the travel squad and catching the attention of running backs coach DeShaun Foster. He earned a scholarship before the 2022 season. Schwesinger had limited opportunities on defense but collected 15 tackles in 2022 and 12 last fall, including a sack.

His was a nice little story. This season, he has become something very different.

Schwesinger, a junior linebacker for the Bruins, leads the Big Ten and is tied for third nationally in total tackles with 109, and also has 2 interceptions, 3 sacks and a forced fumble. A team captain, Schwesinger leads the FBS in solo tackles with 69. He’s even generating NFL draft buzz after recording seven games with 10 or more tackles, including 17 last week at Washington.

“Any opportunity I was going to get, I was going to try and make the most of it,” Schwesinger said. “I don’t like going in with too many expectations about stats or playing time or whatever. I’m not a huge stats guy.”

Schwesinger attributed his production spike to several factors: increased playing time, facing more run-oriented offenses in UCLA’s first season in the Big Ten, and his teammates, especially star tackle Jay Toia and fellow linebackers Oluwafemi Oladejo and Kain Medrano. Ikaika Malloe, who coached the line in 2023, became Schwesinger’s fourth defensive coordinator in as many years but didn’t overhaul the scheme.

“He’s just somebody who you can count on,” said Foster, now UCLA’s head coach. “Just to see him continuously make plays, flying around and really being the quarterback of the defense, is just amazing. We’re not surprised by it, but he just keeps doing more stuff that’s just impressive.”

A native of Moorpark, California, Schwesinger played safety and wide receiver at Oaks Christian School, the football power not far from UCLA’s campus that regularly produces Power 4 recruits. But no one wanted Schwesinger, as he “slipped through the cracks,” Foster said.

Schwesinger came to UCLA to study bioengineering. One of his sisters studied physiological science there, and another was studying engineering “across town” at USC, the team the Bruins host Saturday.

“It’s definitely a little bit more time consuming,” said Schwesinger, who schedules most of his lab classes in the offseason. “It just takes a little bit extra preparedness throughout the week. The professors have been great in terms of being flexible and allowing me to be able to do both of my passions.”

Schwesinger hopes to use his degree and work in the sports science field after finishing with football.

“He’s going to real school, it’s not just showing up and taking TV,” said Foster, quoting fictional coach Pete Bell from the movie “Blue Chips.”

Schwesinger is a semifinalist for the Burlsworth Trophy, given to the top college football player who started his career as a walk-on. He’s also a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, bestowed upon the sport’s top linebacker.

Sounds like fantasy, especially with the game being played at Yankee Stadium and the history of the two institutions, but the winner of this game takes a sizable step toward the playoff. Granted, Notre Dame is a big favorite and has been playing lights out since a shocking loss to Northern Illinois in the second week of the season. Since that loss, the Irish (9-1) have won eight straight games with seven of those wins coming by 18 or more points. After Army comes a trip to the West Coast to face USC, and with wins in both of those games, Notre Dame should be safely in the playoff for the first time since 2020.

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman wants no part of what might lie ahead for his team, and he also doesn’t want anybody mistaking Army for Navy, which the Irish routed 51-14 back in October. The Midshipmen were unbeaten and nationally ranked at the time.

“I met with the defensive staff, and the first thing we said is the biggest mistake we can make is to think this is Navy 2.0. It’s not. It’s a different offense,” Freeman said. “They do some different things. They have a different identity and present a different challenge.”

The Black Knights (9-0) moved to 19th in the playoff committee’s latest rankings and have already clinched a berth in the AAC championship game against Tulane. The highest ranked Group of 5 conference champion will earn an automatic spot in the playoff. But with such a weak strength of schedule, Army is going to need a marquee win (like Notre Dame) to have a chance to pass Boise State in the final rankings even if it wins a conference championship.

Either way, this is the most anticipated Army-Notre Dame matchup in more than 50 years, although Army coach Jeff Monken has chosen to go down another road with his players, as in emphasizing the things — blocking, sure tackling, winning the turnover battle and winning on special teams — that have gotten them to this point.

“If I’m telling our guys this is the biggest [Notre Dame] game since 1946, I mean, how does that help our team win?” Monken said. “Does it? It just puts undue pressure on them.”

The dream of complete chaos happening in the SEC — an eight-team tie for first place — ended with LSU’s 27-16 loss at Florida last week.

With only two weeks to play in the regular season, there’s still much unknown and plenty of potential havoc that can happen in the deepest Power 4 conference.

No. 3 Texas and No. 15 Texas A&M, the only teams with one conference loss, are in the driver’s seat in getting to the Dec. 7 SEC championship game. If those teams win Saturday (the Longhorns host Kentucky, and the Aggies travel to Auburn), the winner of their Nov. 30 showdown at Kyle Field will punch its ticket to Atlanta.

If either Texas or Texas A&M slips up this weekend and then comes back to win in the regular-season finale, however, there’s potential for a six-way tie for first if the other contenders (No. 7 Alabama, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 10 Georgia and No. 11 Tennessee) win out.

Another potential scenario: If Texas or Texas A&M lose this week and then bounce back in the regular-season finale, it could potentially be an Alabama-Georgia rematch in Atlanta (as long as the Tide win at Oklahoma on Saturday and against Auburn in the Nov. 30 Iron Bowl).

Still with me?

Georgia’s SEC season is complete after the Bulldogs took down the Volunteers 31-17 last week. Tennessee closes the regular season at Vanderbilt on Nov. 30. The Rebels play at surging Florida on Saturday and host rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl on Nov. 29.

Even if the Texas-Texas A&M winner has only one SEC loss, there’s a good chance there could be a multiteam tie for second. Because not everyone played each other in the 16-team league, head-to-head and common-opponent tiebreakers can’t be used.

So the fourth tiebreaker, cumulative conference winning percentage of all SEC opponents, would probably be used to settle the debate. That’s where Alabama has an advantage over the others with a 27-26 record (.509) going into this weekend.

Indiana: Led by the electrifying playmaking foursome of running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins and wideouts Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith, the Buckeyes rank third nationally in offensive efficiency. Operating with those playmakers around him, quarterback Will Howard ranks fourth with a QBR of 85.3.

Still, despite thriving otherwise in his first and only season with the Buckeyes, Howard remains prone to making big mistakes. On Nov. 2 against Penn State, Howard committed two colossal turnovers, throwing a pick-six on Ohio State’s opening drive, then later fumbling away the ball on the way to what would’ve been a touchdown run. The Buckeyes overcame those takeaways on the way to a 20-13 victory. But if the Hoosiers, who rank 10th nationally in turnover margin, can force Howard into those types of mistakes again, they could hang around and, potentially, pull off the upset.

Ohio State: The Hoosiers became the first team in 26 years to open 8-0 without trailing once. Despite winning 10 games for the first time in program history, Indiana has yet to face a ranked opponent. The Hoosiers also haven’t had to play in an imposing venue like Ohio Stadium. Two years ago, while still at Ohio, Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke struggled in such an environment, throwing for just 119 yards in a 46-10 loss at Penn State. In two years with James Madison competing in the FBS, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti never coached anywhere like the Horseshoe. Cignetti is on track to become college football’s coach of the year, and Rourke is having a fabulous season. But Ohio State can make the moment — and the setting — too big for them. Indiana hasn’t had to play from behind all year. Ohio State could put the Hoosiers in an uncomfortable and precarious position with a couple of quick early strikes. — Jake Trotter

NEW YORK — With uncertainty looming over when Japanese baseball star Roki Sasaki will sign with a major league club, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred offered some clarity Wednesday, saying that he expected Sasaki to be part of the 2025 international amateur class.

That would mean Sasaki, one of the top pitchers in the world, will be posted after Dec. 2 and will not sign with a club before Jan. 15.

“It kind of looks like the way it’s going to shake out that the signing there, just because of the timing, will happen in the new pool period,” Manfred said at MLB’s Manhattan offices, where the owners meetings are taking place this week.

Earlier this month, the Chiba Lotte Marines made official what was anticipated around the baseball industry for months, announcing it would post Sasaki this winter.

The signing period for international free agents stretches from Jan. 15 to Dec. 15 every year. All 30 clubs have 45 days to negotiate with a player from Nippon Professional Baseball once he is posted. If a deal is not struck in that 45-day period, the player is returned to his NPB team.

In Sasaki’s case, he is considered an international amateur free agent and, as a result, can only sign a minor league deal because he is under the age of 25 and didn’t play six seasons in NPB. That designation, combined with international bonus pools being capped, suppresses the amount of money teams can pay the 23-year-old Sasaki, who surely would have reaped a nine-figure contract in an unrestricted market if he had waited another two years to join an MLB club.

Sasaki would have been eligible for the 2024 signing period only if he were posted before Dec. 2 because the 45-day negotiating window would elapse before the 2025 signing period begins. Most clubs have spent their allotment for the 2024 period. Sasaki waiting until the 2025 period resets each club’s budget. That theoretically could give more teams a better opportunity to land a starting pitcher with a triple-digit fastball, nasty splitter and top-flight slider at a bargain price a year after the Los Angeles Dodgers signed then-25-year-old Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract last winter.

The Dodgers have been widely considered the favorites to sign Sasaki, too. They had the most international bonus pool money remaining for the 2024 signing period — about $2.5 million — ostensibly to offer Sasaki. Rules stipulate their 2025 bonus pool is capped at approximately $5.1 million.

The largest bonus pools for 2025 are set at around $7.5 million, though most teams have committed the majority, if not all, of their money to players in nonbinding deals. Clubs could, however, choose not to honor those verbal pacts and trade for international bonus space to offer Sasaki more money.

MLB to test robot umpires in spring

Also Wednesday, Manfred said MLB would test robot umpires as part of a challenge system during spring training at 13 ballparks hosting 19 teams, which could lead to regular-season use in 2026.

MLB has been experimenting with the automated ball-strike system in the minor leagues since 2019 but is still working on the shape of the strike zone.

An agreement for big league use would have to be reached with the Major League Baseball Umpires Association, whose collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1.

“I would be interested in having it in ’26,” Manfred said Wednesday. “We do have a collective bargaining obligation there. That’s obviously a term and condition of employment. We’re going to have to work through that issue, as well.”

Manfred said the spring training experiment would have to be evaluated before MLB determined how to move forward.

MLB to give Tampa area time on ballpark

Manfred also discussed the Tampa Bay Rays‘ ballpark situation following Hurricane Milton, saying there has been no thought to allowing the team to explore a relocation.

Manfred said Tampa-area politicians will be given time to sort out the situation.

“Given the devastation in that area, it’s kind of only fair to give the local governments in the Tampa Bay region an opportunity to sort of figure out where they are, what they have available in terms of resources, what’s doable,” Manfred said.

Tampa Bay announced a stadium plan in September 2023 but following Hurricane Milton, which damaged Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on Oct. 9, the Pinellas County Commission has not approved financing bonds for the new ballpark. The Rays said this week the new ballpark wouldn’t be able to open until 2029, if at all.

“We’re committed to the fans in Tampa Bay,” Manfred said. “Given all that’s happened in that market, we’re focused on our franchise in Tampa Bay right now.”

No 2025 games in Mexico City, San Juan

Manfred announced that MLB has scrapped plans to play regular-season games next year in Mexico City and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The season opens on March 18 and 19 with a two-game series in Tokyo between Shohei Ohtani‘s Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. The collective bargaining agreement agreed to in 2022 also called for Mexico City games next May, the first Paris games in June and San Juan games in September.

MLB called off the France games in 2023 after failing to find a promoter. It played 49 regular-season games at San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium from 2001 to 2018. Scheduled games at San Juan and Mexico City in 2020 were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re not going to San Juan. We did not have, despite a lot of efforts, an arrangement that made economic sense for us,” Manfred said. “We’d like to do San Juan and what’s available kind of changes year to year and I hope it all works out in the future.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal have a lot in common: left-handed, pitching Triple Crown winners, former Tommy John surgery patients. And now, first-time Cy Young Award recipients.

Sale’s comeback season with the Atlanta Braves ended with the National League honor, as he received 26 of the 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to finish ahead of Philadelphia‘s Zack Wheeler, who received the other four, and Pittsburgh rookie Paul Skenes.

Skubal, the ace for the Detroit Tigers, won the American League award in unanimous fashion, with Kansas City‘s Seth Lugo (16-9, 3.00 ERA) finishing a distant second in the voting. Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase (47 saves) was third.

It was only the third time two left-handers won Cy Young honors in the same season, with Steve Carlton and Sparky Lyle winning in 1977 and Randy Johnson and Barry Zito in 2002.

Sale, 35, finished 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts — leading the NL in wins, ERA and strikeouts. He and Skubal were the first pitchers to win the Triple Crown in a full season since Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander did it in 2011 (Shane Bieber did it in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season).

A pitching Triple Crown has happened 25 times, and a Cy Young Award has followed each time.

Sale’s resurgence was a blast from last decade, when he was one of the top starting pitchers in the sport. He had battled a series of injuries since 2019, including Tommy John surgery in March 2020.

“To be able to show my sons the hard work, the dedication, not giving up. My wife having my back the whole time. I’m sure I was real peachy at times during those injuries,” Sale said. “I was talking to my dad the other day and whether it did or didn’t happen, he was proud of me.”

From 2020 to 2023, Sale made only 31 starts, although 20 of those came with the Boston Red Sox last season. The Braves took a chance and acquired him in an offseason trade.

“The biggest thing is health,” said Sale, who was named the NL Comeback Player of the Year last week at Major League Baseball’s All-MLB Awards Show. “I was healthy earlier in my career and I was able to sustain some success and stay out on the field. Ran into a buzz saw over the past handful of years. Just couldn’t stay healthy, couldn’t stay on the field, and you’re not doing anything when you’re not on the field.”

He responded with a season that looked like his prime years with the White Sox and Red Sox from 2012 to 2018, when he received Cy Young votes all seven seasons — finishing second, third, fourth, fifth (twice) and sixth (twice). He had been tied with Mike Mussina and Nolan Ryan for the most top-five finishes (six) without winning.

In 2024, Sale made his most starts and pitched his most innings since 2017, not missing a start until the final week of the season, when he was scratched in a crucial season-ending series against the New York Mets because of back spasms and then sat out the Braves’ wild-card series loss to the San Diego Padres.

Along the way, Sale won his final eight decisions as the Braves won a wild-card berth, overcoming a disappointing first half to make a late run and capture a playoff spot on the final day of the season. The Braves went 12-2 over his final 14 starts, with Sale posting a 1.93 ERA.

He not only led the NL in the Triple Crown categories but also led in ERA+, fewest home runs allowed per nine innings (0.5), strikeout rate (32.1%) and most strikeouts per nine (11.4). He led all pitchers in FanGraphs WAR (6.4) while ranking third behind Skubal and Cincinnati‘s Hunter Greene in Baseball-Reference WAR (6.2).

Sale’s ERA was the lowest for a Braves left-hander in the expansion era (since 1961).

It was the eighth Cy Young for the Braves’ organization, and the first since Tom Glavine won for the second time in 1998.

With his signature unorthodox sidearm delivery, Sale’s stuff hasn’t lost anything from his prime, despite all the injuries. He averaged 94.8 mph on his fastball, and batters hit just .171 with one home run in 280 at-bats off his slider.

“It’s special and I appreciate it,” Sale said. “It wasn’t just me rolling out there and throwing the baseball. There were a lot of people who got me here: teammates, family, training staff. For me to go out there and do what I was able to do, I wouldn’t have done it without them. The last few years were tough, so to go through what I went through with the support I had, I’m very thankful.”

Skubal, who celebrated his 28th birthday Wednesday, had the breakout season that many saw coming after the second half of the 2023 season. He finished 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts in 2024. He was certainly the team MVP for the surprising Tigers, who had a historic surge over the final seven weeks of the season to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

“It was a ton of fun to be part of,” Skubal said. “The last two months of our season and even the postseason was very special. The memories and the experience will obviously help our club going forward, and I’m glad we got to experience it as a team and as a young team.”

Skubal, who had Tommy John surgery in college at Seattle University, was a ninth-round pick of the Tigers in 2018, but he climbed quickly through the minors and reached the majors in 2020. After a solid rookie season in 2021, he battled injuries in 2022 and ’23, but he posted a 2.80 ERA in 15 starts last season, including 2.15 over his final 10 outings.

That carried over into 2024. Skubal won his first six decisions, posting a 1.80 ERA, and made his first All-Star team. With the Tigers under .500 as the trade deadline approached, Skubal’s name was mentioned in trade rumors, but the Tigers kept him — although they did trade Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

An unlikely run to the postseason followed. The Tigers were 55-63 on Aug. 10 but went 31-13 in their final 44 games. Skubal went 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA over that stretch, including two 2-1 victories.

His ERA was the lowest for a qualified Detroit starter since Mark Fidrych in 1976, and he’s the Tigers’ first Cy Young winner since Max Scherzer in 2013. Verlander, Willie Hernandez and Denny McLain (twice) also won the award with Detroit.

Skubal has a five-pitch repertoire, and his four-seam fastball averaged 96.8 mph and ranked in the 99th percentile of all pitchers in Statcast run value. He mixes in a changeup, sinker, slider and knuckle-curveball. Overall, batters hit just .201 against him with a .558 OPS.

“It’s special,” Skubal said. “All the hard work, all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, moments like this make it extremely worth it.”

Skenes, the 22-year-old who won the NL Rookie of the Year award Monday, finished third in the NL Cy Young balloting — just the fifth rookie to finish among the top three. Only Fernando Valenzuela won both awards in the same year, in 1981 with the Dodgers in the NL.

Clase, with a 0.61 ERA in 74⅓ innings over 74 games, is the first reliever to finish among the top three in Cy Young voting since San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman came in second for the NL award in 2006.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.