CFB’s age of disruptors is here with Deion Sanders, Lane Kiffin and Curt Cignetti
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David Hale, ESPN Staff Writer
There was a time, not all that long ago, when watching your favorite show meant planting yourself on your couch at some predetermined time; when hitching a ride with a complete stranger driving a 1993 Honda Civic with an industrial-strength air freshener hanging where the rearview mirror used to be would’ve seemed dangerous; when paying $36 for a guy to bring you a beef-and-cheese burrito and a 48-ounce Mountain Dew Baja Blast was little more than some madman’s fever dream.
But thankfully, times have changed. Brave geniuses have disrupted the marketplace, leveled sacred institutions, upended our expectations of what our lives can be.
And so it is that the age of the disruptors has come for college football, too.
There’s Lane Kiffin, who has been thumbing his nose at the powers-that-be, ruffling feathers and breaking the system since a time when we didn’t call people like him “disruptors.” Kiffin has forced his way into the most sacred corridors of power over the years, but he has done it as much through trolling coaches on social media as he has by actually beating them. But Saturday, Kiffin’s Ole Miss team killed one of the last true giants of the old guard, delivering a withering defensive performance that bruised, battered and confounded Georgia in a 28-10 Rebels win.
There’s Deion Sanders, so often viewed as a sideshow to the staid old guard who believed, like fools, that you had to leave your office to recruit and needed five functional offensive linemen to run an offense. Coach Prime has taken the hollowed-out husk of a program and, in less than two seasons, built Colorado into a legitimate playoff contender, one that held off Texas Tech 41-27 on Saturday to assume a commanding position in the crowded Big 12.
There’s Curt Cignetti, overlooked for years as little more than an FCS coach who has won a few games, a cute story hardly worthy of manning the Big Ten sidelines traversed by legends like Tim Beckman, Chris Ash or Darrell Hazell. In Week 11, Cignetti’s Indiana moved to 10-0, thwarting defending champion Michigan 20-15.
Kiffin, Prime, Cignetti — they’re not supposed to be here. For two decades, from Urban Meyer to Nick Saban to Kirby Smart, the blueprint for success at this level was clear. Coaches who won did it the old-fashioned way, ruling with an iron fist, refusing to give an inch in the quest for greatness, tormenting Jimbo Fisher for laughs. Even the few divergences from that blueprint at least had the roots of their DNA in a classical approach to team building, be it Dabo Swinney’s rah-rah optimism or Jim Harbaugh’s investment in a squirrelly underling wearing a fake mustache to steal signals.
But these guys are showing us a new path forward.
Kiffin has invested in the transfer portal like a tech bro buying crypto, stocking a once talent-bereft roster of upstarts with enough stars that Saturday’s win over Georgia barely registers as an upset. Ole Miss has been as explosive as anyone in college football this year, save a loss to Kentucky that we’re now fairly certain was just something we dreamed after eating some expired ham. Should we be surprised that Jaxson Dart out-dueled a flailing Carson Beck, who has been handing out interceptions like Oprah giving away cars? Is it a shock that the Ole Miss defense contained Georgia’s top skill players like Cash Jones, Dillon Bell and Lawson Luckie? Georgia’s depth chart reads like the cast of a teen drama. Meanwhile, Kiffin’s running wildcat with his 325-pound defensive lineman just because he can.
Kiffin’s disruptive impact on Ole Miss has been so profound that the Rebels’ students have even changed the game for goal-post removal.
They got both of them https://t.co/JmMxUkGqIM
— Oxford Police Dept (@OxfordPolice) November 10, 2024
If Kiffin is the OG of disruptors, however, Coach Prime is running the game today.
When he arrived in Boulder, the premise looked simple: Sanders would coach his two boys, be the center of attention at all turns, and if he won a few games, all the better. When Oregon‘s Dan Lanning lambasted Colorado as a team playing for clicks rather than wins last year, it felt like an appropriate measure of Prime’s priorities. And yet, here are the Buffs at 7-2, a mercenary group of transfers who other coaches dismissed as chasing NIL but who’ve emerged as arguably the hottest team in the country.
Shedeur Sanders threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Texas Tech Red Raiders, while Travis Hunter caught nine balls for 99 yards and a touchdown, all with his pants loaded down by tortillas.
Travis Hunter just picked up a Tortilla on the field and put it in his pants 😅
Only in Lubbock 🤣 pic.twitter.com/fBTPLr53HK
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 9, 2024
Never mind that Colorado has little interest in running the football. Put Coach Prime, his son and Hunter on a field, spread the ball around to a deep cast of receivers and offer to repost a clip of the officiating crew’s side project as a barbershop quartet in exchange for a few soft calls, and the recipe comes out perfectly. And speaking of perfect recipes, try grilling a nice carne asada and pairing it with pickled onions and some fresh tortillas from Hunter’s pants.
And perhaps no one has done the impossible better than Cignetti. From 2021 through 2023, Michigan was 26-1 in Big Ten play. In that same time frame, Indiana was 3-24 against Big Ten competition.
But because Cignetti cares not about precedent, the Hoosiers were a 14.5-point favorite Saturday, and while they didn’t cover, they did walk away with a 10-0 record, the first 10-win season in school history. Kurtis Rourke threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns and the defense held Michigan to just 206 yards, the defense had eight pass breakups and the Hoosiers made Michigan look utterly lost (which, to be fair, is not uncommon for Michigan this year).
Indiana is now in position to reach the Big Ten title game and, likely a playoff bid, despite finishing 3-9 last year, starting a QB who transferred from the MAC and a head coach who brought a handful of starters from a Sun Belt team, which begs the question of why Big Ten football looks so hard for Lincoln Riley.
It’s true, of course, that delivery apps rarely turn a profit, and the biggest disruptors are also often megalomaniacs who are more style than substance, so perhaps it’s still a bit early to laud the conquests of college football’s new money.
But that’s the real takeaway from these disruptors — in Week 11, in 2024. Things we didn’t dream of just a few months ago — a 10-0 Indiana, a playoff-bound Colorado, an Ole Miss team capable of delivering a potentially fatal dagger to Georgia — aren’t just possible. They’re reality.
Who knows what comes next? The fate of a college football season, which for so much of the past two decades felt entirely predictable, now has myriad loose threads, dozens of potential realities, countless options for us to see something genuinely new and innovative and different.
Jump to:
Down goes Miami | Who controls the SEC?
Ewers hunts Gators | Oregon handles business
Gamecocks roll | Another FSU loss | Vibe shifts
Impressive turnarounds | Heisman five | Under the radar
In a rematch of last year’s miserable loss to Georgia Tech, the clock finally ran out on Miami’s undefeated season. The Canes fumbled their way through the first three quarters, and the ultimate 28-23 defeat must’ve felt like taking a knee to the gut.
Kneel to your King 👑 🐝 #StingEm pic.twitter.com/aVGsXqAUJz
— Georgia Tech (@GeorgiaTech) November 9, 2024
It’s the second year in a row Georgia Tech has delivered a dagger to Miami, and again, this year’s game turned on a late fumble when the Canes were simply trying to do too much. In this case, Cam Ward engineered one of his patented scrambles, hoping for something to open downfield, only to be caught from behind by Jordan van den Berg, coughing up the football down five with just 1:32 to play. Haynes King then converted a late third down, allowing Georgia Tech to kneel out the clock. Miami’s Mario Cristobal, certain that must be against the rules, challenged the play, but the officials assured him it is perfectly acceptable to take a knee to ensure a win.
Georgia Tech fans then stormed the field and tore down both goalposts, ultimately dumping them into the water, which is different from how this many engineers typically celebrate a big victory — with nachos at Dave & Busters before getting back to the office to code for a while.
#GaTech‘s goal posts have found their resting place.
So did Miami’s hopes of going undefeated pic.twitter.com/fJoOBzvDTA
— The Crowded Booth (@thecrowdedbooth) November 9, 2024
Miami had made a habit of falling behind big this season, but because Ward is a Jedi and the ACC review center is still using a 17-inch Zenith with a bunny ear antenna, the Canes were consistently able to escape trouble and emerge with a win. That luck ran out against the Yellow Jackets, who ran for 271 yards although their top three running backs were out with injuries and chewed up enough clock to keep Ward sidelined for long stretches. The maligned Miami D simply couldn’t get off the field — the Jackets were 9-of-14 on third down — and Ward and the offense couldn’t stay on the field (1-of-4 on fourth-down tries).
Georgia Tech, on the other hand, has made a habit of spoiling seasons for good teams. Since Brent Key became head coach before Week 5 in 2022, he’s 6-5 against AP-ranked foes, the most such wins by any ACC coach in that span (and more than all but nine coaches nationally), all while Georgia Tech was unranked.
By Saturday’s end, the SEC had 11 teams bowl eligible and eight with two or fewer conference losses, making for a massive jumble in the standings and a tight race — both for a trip to the title game and a path to the playoff.
Alabama stated its case in emphatic form, marching past LSU 42-13 behind four touchdown runs (and 185 rushing yards) from Jalen Milroe.
Seeing Brian Kelly, stoic and scowling, staring off into the middle distance amid the driving rain, it looked like a scene from a music video for some overly earnest ’90s Emo band. Kelly has always been the Morrissey of college football, but things are looking particularly bleak for the Bayou Bengals after back-to-back losses.
In fairness, this should’ve been expected once LSU opted to bring in an imposter tiger for Saturday’s game.
Frankly, this is a slap in the face to Mike the Tiger. It’s like when they changed Aunt Viv midway through “Fresh Prince” as if we’d just not notice it’s a completely different actor.
Meanwhile, Tennessee remains in control of its SEC destiny after cruising past Mississippi State. The Bulldogs threw for just 92 yards and tossed a pick in the loss, while Dylan Sampson continued his dominance for the Vols, rushing for 149 yards and a score.
The wild card in the SEC might be Missouri, which erased a late deficit then corralled a scoop-and-score in the final seconds Saturday to upend Oklahoma, 30-23. At halftime, the game’s leading passer was Sooners punter Luke Elzinga, but the two teams found their stride after the break, with Drew Pyne throwing three touchdowns in the win.
4 TDs in the final 200 seconds is a hell of a drug. 🤪 pic.twitter.com/lU6BNRWjMM
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 10, 2024
Missouri is now 4-0 in one-possession games this season, including an overtime win against Vanderbilt, a four-point win against Auburn on a touchdown with 46 seconds to play, and Saturday’s fumble recovery with 22 seconds to go.
Ewers hunts Gators
Texas QB Quinn Ewers put on a clinic in a 49-17 win over Florida on Saturday, throwing for 333 yards and five touchdowns and giving the crowd what it really wanted — a fourth quarter featuring Arch Manning.
Ewers had his best game of the season, averaging better than 12 yards per throw, while the Horns’ ground game rumbled for 210 yards and nearly 7 per touch.
For the Gators, it was a dismal performance that comes just days after head coach Billy Napier was given assurances he’d return in 2025, forcing AD Scott Stricklin to amend his previous support by adding, “Wait, no, you didn’t let us finish. What we were trying to say was Billy will be returning … his office keys, company car and that copy of Tom Petty’s ‘Greatest Hits’ I loaned him,” and indeed the job search begins shortly.
Ducks continue march to Big Ten title game
Since slumbering through the first two weeks of the season, Oregon has since become an unrelenting machine tasked only with delivering misery.
On Saturday, the Ducks demolished Maryland 39-18, as Dillon Gabriel threw three touchdowns and the D scored three takeaways in the win. Oregon is now 7-0 in Big Ten play, putting the Ducks one-quarter of the way to Maryland’s total Big Ten wins since joining the conference in 2014.
Oregon’s remaining schedule includes a trip to Wisconsin and a home game with former Pac-12 rival Washington. Neither figure to be much of an obstacle between the Ducks and their long, angry march toward a conference title. The bigger question may be whether it will be Indiana as the last team standing in their way or if Ohio State will get a rematch after losing by a point last month in Eugene.
Gamecocks roll again
Every guy has that one buddy who exists simply as an agent of chaos. He probably stole a police car in college, brought fireworks to your kid’s baptism and once referred to a hand grenade as “fishing gear.” He is the initiating force between five of your funniest stories and a dozen of your saddest.
In college football, this role is now being played by Shane Beamer.
South Carolina has no certifiable identity in 2024 beyond simply wrecking things. Each week, Beamer’s team is like letting a group of beavers loose in a Hobby Lobby. You have no idea what will happen, but it’s bound to be interesting. One week the Gamecocks are getting trounced by Ole Miss. The next, they’re taking Alabama to the wire. The next, they’re upending a top-10 Texas A&M. And on Saturday, they went to Nashville, became the first program in college football to make Diego Pavia sad, and walked away with a 28-7 win over Vanderbilt.
Is LaNorris Sellers a good quarterback? Who cares? Pass rushers bounce off him like he’s wearing one of those inflatable sumo wrestler suits. So what if the Gamecocks have only one real playmaker at the skill positions. “Rocket” Sanders racked up 178 yards and three touchdowns against Vandy, and if you said he also recorded a country version of “Sandstorm” afterward to celebrate the win, that’d be entirely believable. And the Gamecocks’ defense is so ridiculously frustrating, Hugh Freeze sent it a “thank you” note for trying to convince Pavia not to come back to college football for another year.
South Carolina is bowl eligible now, which surely means some poor team is going to lose the ReliaQuest Bowl after coughing up four safeties and a 98-yard touchdown run by Sellers in which he steamrolls all 11 defenders and two hot-dog vendors en route to the end zone.
South Carolina makes no sense, is palpably dangerous, and is willing to buy Jager shots for everyone who shows up to its Week 14 showdown with Clemson. It’s a thing of beauty.
Notre Dame walloped Florida State 52-3 on Saturday in a game in which the broadcast crew repeatedly used the phrase, “Stop, stop, they’re already dead.”
The Irish threw for 252 yards, ran for 201 yards and sacked FSU quarterbacks eight times. Unfortunately for FSU, those quarterbacks continued to get up and keep playing.
The Seminoles have now gone 12 straight games without topping 21 points, the longest streak by a Power 5 or BCS-conference team in at least 20 years.
Notre Dame is 4-0 against the ACC this year, with a home game against Virginia remaining on the docket. The Irish are now 40-5 against the ACC since the 2017 season. Notre Dame is also well positioned with three games left to make the College Football Playoff, while Florida State remains well positioned to be relegated to whatever conference Bishop Sycamore is in now.
Week 11 vibe check
Each week, big upsets and shocking results reshuffle the top 25, but there are more subtle changes in the college football landscape that we track here.
Trending down: Cyclones’ Big 12 title hopes
Two weeks ago, Iowa State was undefeated and lingering around the top 10. Now, the Cyclones’ Big 12 hopes are on life support, their spot in the top 25 is likely doomed and they’ve slipped into Texas’ old role as the Big 12 favorite who just lost to a bad Kansas team. Somewhere, Charlie Strong is nodding approvingly.
Kansas earned win No. 3 on the season with a 45-36 win over the Cyclones in Week 11 behind 116 yards and two touchdowns by Devin Neal. Kansas led 38-13 late in the third quarter, but Rocco Becht led a furious comeback attempt, finishing with 383 passing yards and three touchdowns, although it was too little, too late.
The Jayhawks, who opened the season in the top 25, started the year 1-5, with four losses by six points or less, but they’ve now won two of three — a two-point loss to Kansas State in between — and get a crack at the top two teams in the conference (BYU in Week 12, Colorado in Week 13) with a chance to be the ultimate spoiler.
Trending down: Multiple drives in a quarter
Army got QB Bryson Daily back from injury for Week 11, and the offense responded by delivering the most undeniably perfect drive of the season.
Up 7-3 midway through the third quarter over North Texas, Army drove 94 yards on 21 plays — 12 of which went for 4 yards or less — that lasted an astonishing 13 minutes, 54 seconds. Including a time out and a penalty, enough time passed before the Knights cashed in the drive for a touchdown that the players on the field for the entirety of the drive actually fulfilled their active duty requirements, and Daily was promoted to master sergeant after converting a third-and-3 early in the fourth quarter.
Baily finished with 36 carries for 153 yards and two touchdowns in the win. For the game, Army held the ball for 41:45, and most of North Texas’ offense left early to grab some BBQ.
Trending down: Gundy apologies
Last week, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy apologized for calling fans “weak” amid criticism of a winless season in Big 12 play.
This follows a rich history of Gundy apologies that followed lambasting a reporter when he was 40, wearing a Newsmax t-shirt that angered his star tailback and, of course, that time he tried to hunt wild boar inside a Bed, Bath and Beyond.
Unfortunately, scuttling that controversy with a sincerely worded apology inspired by a fortune cookie he had once read wasn’t enough to turn the Pokes’ fortunes on the field. TCU stormed Oklahoma State 38-13, dropping the Cowboys to 0-7 in Big 12 play.
Trending up: Penn State playing mediocre teams
In a game no Penn State fans cared about after last week’s loss to Ohio State, the Nittany Lions ran for 266 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-6 stomping of Washington.
Drew Allar threw for 220 yards and a score, and the Penn State D held the Huskies to just 193 total yards — none of which does anything to change what happened against Ohio State.
Afterward, James Franklin perfected teleportation, saved several kittens stuck in a tree, and convinced the surviving members of Nirvana to go on tour with Taylor Swift on lead vocals, to which Penn State fans eagerly pointed out that he’d lost to Ohio State again this year.
Trending up: Touchdown records
Jeremiah Smith caught six balls for 87 yards in Ohio State’s 45-0 win over Purdue, including a 17-yard touchdown that set the Buckeyes’ TD record for freshmen, topping Cris Carter (and all he did, according to Buddy Ryan, was catch touchdowns).
Record reception 🙌
Jeremiah Smith’s 9️⃣th TD grab of the season breaks a tie with Cris Carter for the most by an @OhioStateFB true freshman.#B1GFootball on @CFBONFOX 📺 pic.twitter.com/s6UDp0l3oS
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 9, 2024
The Buckeyes were dominant, throwing for 260 yards, rushing for 173, holding Purdue to 206 total yards and nabbing two takeaways. Will Howard threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a fourth in the win.
The Boilermakers fall to 1-8 and 0-6 in Big Ten play, and it’s the fourth time this season they’ve lost by at least 35 points. In the playoff era, the only other teams with four 35-point losses in their first nine games of the year are 2019 Rutgers and three different Kansas teams (2015, 2016, 2020). The last time a team lost five games in a season by at least 35 points was 2022 Colorado, so the lesson here is clear. All Purdue needs to do is hire Deion Sanders, turn over two-thirds of its roster, sign Travis Hunter and — boom — the Boilers will be above average by 2026.
Trending down: Running the ball
Cal QB Fernando Mendoza completed 30 passes in Saturday’s win against Wake Forest — in the first half! That’s more than 95 different teams have completed in a full game this year. Mendoza finished 40-of-56 for 385 yards and two touchdowns in the 46-36 Bears win, taking advantage of the fact that Wake Forest’s pass defense is actually just two scarecrows in the end zone and a sternly worded email insisting the other team stop throwing so much.
Trending up: Maalik Magic
Duke is now 7-3 after knocking off NC State 29-19 on Saturday behind 245 passing yards and three total touchdowns from QB Maalik Murphy.
The Blue Devils won despite mustering just 31 yards on the ground thanks in large part to another dominant defensive performance by Manny Diaz’s crew. Duke held the Wolfpack to just 268 yards of offense, forced two turnovers, recorded a safety and stifled NC State in the red zone, where six drives inside Duke’s 20 resulted in a touchdown, four field goals and a missed kick.
After the game, Duke students celebrated by learning for the first time that football season was still happening even though Cooper Flagg had already started playing.
Don’t look now, but …
Just because a team ends September riding an ugly losing streak with a highlight tape scored to “Yakety Sax” doesn’t mean it’s incapable of finishing on a high note (unless that team is Florida State). Indeed, a number of schools we wrote off after a rough start have engineered impressive turnarounds as we head into the season’s final stretch.
After a 1-5 start to the season in which the Bruins failed to crack 17 points in any game, DeShaun Foster’s crew embraced its new Big Ten identity and learned how to win without an actual offense. On Friday, UCLA pulled out Brian Ferentz’s old playbook to upend Iowa 20-17 in a game that included six turnovers, a 57-yard field goal and a season-low rushing tally from Kaleb Johnson (49 yards on 18 carries). After winning 19 games while scoring 20 or less in the four-team playoff era, Iowa is now 0-4 when failing to crack 20 this year. The Hawkeyes are like when Eddie Murphy decided in the mid-’80s he was going to be a singer, too, and started doing videos with Rick James and hasn’t been nearly as funny since. Never forget what got you to the top, Iowa.
UCLA, meanwhile, has now won three straight, all against Big Ten teams that entered their matchup with a winning record. It’s the first time in at least 20 years that a team with a losing record before each contest beat three straight Power 5 opponents with a winning record.
Perhaps no coaching job has been less appreciated than what Bronco Mendenhall has managed with the Lobos. Mendenhall had to completely rebuild a roster that added 43 new scholarship players — including 17 after spring ball — and lost its first four games of the year, including the opener to FCS Montana State. But New Mexico has turned a corner and has now won four of six after upending San Diego State 21-16 on Friday night behind 173 yards and two touchdowns from Eli Sanders. The Lobos are still likely a long shot for a bowl bid, but for a program that hasn’t won more than four games in a year since 2016, anything that doesn’t involve the quarterback playing with his hand stuck in a Pringles can feels like a massive step forward.
Rich Rodriguez’s crew opened the year 0-3 but has reeled off six straight victories, including a rollicking 44-37 overtime win against Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
Tre Stewart ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns, Cam Vaughn caught seven passes for 130 yards and two scores, and the Gamecocks moved to 5-0 in Conference USA.
Rodriguez is now 15-6 since JSU moved up to FBS, including an 11-2 mark in conference play. Meanwhile, Michigan just texted him with a “Hey, U Up?” note and is willing to suggest maybe it was as much to blame for their breakup as Rich Rod was.
Last year’s MAC champions opened the year 1-4, with their lone win coming against lowly UMass by 3. But the RedHawks figured things out, and they’ve now won four straight, including a 27-21 victory over Ball State on Tuesday. Miami is again tied atop the MAC (4-1 in conference play), which is enough to warrant overlooking the slow start and the fact that its mascot is using an umbrella and a poncho to avoid getting wet.
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) November 6, 2024
In fairness, the strange old man who sold Miami the RedHawk costume did warn them not to get it wet or feed it after midnight. Western Kentucky ignored that advice, and now snipers with tranquilizer guns have to monitor Big Red at all times.
Heisman five
It’s largely a four-man race, though Jaxson Dart, Jalen Milroe and Quinn Ewers may be making a late run at things. Still, not much changed in Week 11 in our rankings.
1. Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty
In the past two weeks, Jeanty was held to just 91 yards on 30 carries without a touchdown in the first halves of games, thanks in large part to defenses putting 26 defenders in the box. This week, Jeanty found his groove again, rushing for 93 yards and a touchdown on Boise State’s first two drives. Jeanty finished with 34 carries for 209 yards and three scores. It was his fourth 200-yard rushing performance of the season and his fifth three-touchdown game. Jeanty needs just 266 yards on the ground the rest of the season to crack 2,000 on the year. Assuming Boise State plays for a Mountain West championship and a bowl or playoff game, he would need to average 179 yards per game the rest of the way to top Barry Sanders’ single-season record.
2. Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter
Hunter caught nine balls for 99 yards, including a nifty touchdown run on a wide receiver screen, while also helping stifle the Texas Tech pass game and running a small Mexican restaurant in his pants. Next week, he’ll be aiming to top 100 receiving yards and while making a nice paella in his helmet.
The Canes’ defense finally cost Miami a game, as Georgia Tech dominated the clock and ran for 271 yards. Still, Miami had a chance to win, but for once, Ward’s magic wore off, and he fumbled deep in his own territory, allowing the Yellow Jackets to secure the game. Still, Ward was solid, throwing for 348 yards and three touchdowns, but as many QBs before him have noted, there is no amount of magic that can overcome Miami doing Miami things.
4. Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel
Gabriel only averaged 5.3 yards-per-pass and yet he still threw for three TDs in a blowout win. Gabriel is clearly positioned well to make a run at the Heisman, but the Big Ten doesn’t seem to be offering him enough of a challenge to really pad out the stats. He should be able to go play a few series for Oklahoma again after he finishes his games, just to make it a bit more fair.
5. Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke
Rourke threw two TD passes in Saturday’s win over Michigan, and through 11 weeks, he’s second in the country in Total QBR (88.6), fourth in completion percentage (71.8%) and he’s one of just two QBs (along with Dart) averaging a first down per throw. He’s also asserted himself as the most successful QB in Indiana program history, passing the previous title holder, a coat rack with a Hoosiers jersey hanging on it.
Under-the-radar play of the week
Prior to Saturday, Cade Klubnik‘s elusiveness had been limited to coming up with increasingly lame excuses for why he couldn’t make it to Dabo Swinney’s weekly “Grey’s Anatomy” watch parties. But against Virginia Tech, Klubnik took it to the next level.
0:29
‘What a time to be alive!’ Clemson’s Cade Klubnik works magic for a TD pass
Cade Klubnik makes an impressive 41-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Moore as Clemson takes the lead over Virginia Tech in the third quarter.
Klubnik finished the game with 241 total yards and three touchdowns as Clemson upended Virginia Tech 24-14, but unless he can convince Swinney that he’s the lead in his theater troupe’s reimagining of “Cats” that night, he’s on the hook to bring a casserole for this week’s episode and should refer to his coach as “Swinney McDreamy” throughout the evening.
Under-the-radar game of the week
Marcus Yarns ran for 174 yards and a touchdown, and FCS Delaware upended Rhode Island 24-21.
Why does this game matter so much? Rhode Island is the country’s smallest state. Delaware is the second smallest. It’s basically like watching Spud Webb and Muggsy Bogues play a game of one-on-one.
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David Hale
The first College Football Playoff rankings came out five weeks ago. They looked a lot like tonight’s rankings.
We’ve had precious little movement at the top, with a few teams jockeying up or down a slot, but effectively no seismic shifts in the landscape. BYU and Texas are the only two teams that were projected in the field in the committee’s first ranking that aren’t now — and they’re just barely on the outside with reasonable arguments for inclusion.
Teams ranked in the top 18 by the committee this year are a combined 55-9, with six of those losses coming to other teams ranked in the top 18. All three outliers are courtesy of — you guessed it — the ACC (Louisville to Cal, Virginia to Wake and Georgia Tech to Pitt).
That’s a massive anomaly. Last year, top-18 teams at this point had lost 19 games, including 14 to teams outside their own grouping. Top-10 teams are 33-4 this year. In the first 11 years of the playoff, top-10 teams had lost an average of nine games by this point in the season.
The two words that best describe this year’s playoff push are “status quo.”
That, of course, has been bad news for all the teams on the outside looking in — from those with valid cases such as Miami, BYU and Vanderbilt, to underdogs such as USC, Utah or Arizona that might’ve had a shot in a more chaotic year.
But the real loser in this copy and paste rankings season is all the fans who just want to see things get weird. It’s a sad state of affairs when we’re left to rely on MACtion and the ACC to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to college football drama. The power players need to step up — or, perhaps, ratchet down — their game to add a bit more drama.
The good news is, the committee’s ad hoc reasoning, mushmouthed explanations and mind-boggling about-faces still leave plenty to argue about, even if the big picture hasn’t changed all that much.
Here’s this week’s biggest slights, snubs and shenanigans.
It’s not entirely clear how this committee values wins. For the past month, the priority has certainly appeared to be about which team has the better losses (unless, of course, you’re Alabama).
That seems a foolish way to prioritize playoff teams, since the goal of the playoff isn’t to lose to good teams but to win games.
Does Texas have a bad loss? Yes. A 29-21 defeat to woeful Florida — even if the Gators also played Georgia and Ole Miss close and just walloped a team that beat Alabama head-to-head — is problematic.
But look who Texas has beaten: No. 7 Texas A&M by 10, No. 8 Oklahoma by 17 and No. 14 Vandy by three (in a game they led by 24 in the fourth quarter). That’s the résumé of a team capable of winning a national championship — even if the Horns were also capable of losing to a second-rate SEC team.
Are we trying to find teams with the most upside or give participation trophies to the ones which have not lost an ugly one? (Except, again, Alabama.)
And it’s not as if the committee believes an extra loss is disqualifying. Oklahoma, Alabama, Notre Dame and Miami all have two losses and are ranked ahead of one-loss BYU (more on that in a moment), so what’s the harm of moving a three-loss Texas ahead of a two-loss team that has accomplished less?
This all comes back to the most frequent and justified criticism of the committee: The same rules aren’t applied evenly. In some cases, record matters. In some cases, best wins matter. In some cases, better losses matter. The standard varies based on the team being considered. But if the committee is going to err in favor of any team, it should probably do so for one that’s proved — not once, not twice, but three times — that it can beat an elite opponent.
Oh, and moving Texas up ahead of, say, Notre Dame would also have the added bonus of allowing the committee to sidestep another tricky situation. Which leads us to…
We’re putting these two teams together because we’ve already lamented the committee’s utterly disingenuous evaluation of them repeatedly, so it feels redundant to keep going down the same rabbit hole. But, for the sake of two programs being astonishingly misevaluated, let’s do one more round.
For Miami, the logic is obvious: The Canes beat Notre Dame head-to-head.
But let’s keep going. Miami’s two losses — SMU and Louisville — would rank as the fourth- and fifth-toughest games on Notre Dame’s schedule, had the Irish played them. Instead, Notre Dame has cruised through an essentially listless slate. Six of Notre Dame’s 10 wins came against teams that beat zero or one other Power 4 opponent. Stanford — seriously, Stanford! — is Notre Dame’s fourth-best win (by record). Yes, Notre Dame played well enough in losses to two very good teams, but one of those teams has the same record and is somehow ranked lower! Even if this is strictly about the “eye test,” there’s little argument for ignoring the head-to-head outcome. Notre Dame’s strength of record is 13th. Miami’s is 14th. Notre Dame’s game control is fifth. Miami’s is sixth. If all else is the same, how is head-to-head not the deciding factor?
Yet, here’s a little more salt in the wound for the Canes: Had Florida State finished 6-2 instead of 2-6 in ACC play, Miami would’ve won the (fifth) tiebreaker for a spot in the ACC title game and could’ve locked up its place in the playoff by simply beating Virginia. Instead, the Canes will sit at home and watch and hope and, at this point, probably get left out. Chess, not checkers, by rival FSU.
As for BYU, the committee’s desire to overlook the Cougars makes no sense. Let’s take a look at a blind résumé, shall we? (Note: Best wins and composite top 40 based on an average of SP+, FPI and Sagarin ratings.)
Team A: No. 6 strength of record, No. 14 game control, best win vs. No. 11, next vs. No. 28, loss to No. 5, four wins vs. composite top 40, five wins vs. teams that finished 7-5 or better
Team B: No. 7 strength of record, No. 10 game control, best win vs. No. 13, next vs. No. 27, loss to No. 7, three wins vs. composite top-40, two wins vs. teams that finished 7-5 or better
Now, just based on that information, Team A would seem the obvious choice. Now what if I told you Team B just lost its head coach, too?
That’s right, Team A is BYU and Team B is Ole Miss. Every bit of data here suggests the Cougars are, at worst, on even footing with the Rebels or ahead, and yet the committee has Ole Miss ranked five spots higher.
This is, arguably, the second year in a row in which BYU was clearly the most overlooked team in the country.
A week ago, Notre Dame was ranked one spot ahead of Alabama.
Then on Saturday, the Irish beat 4-8 Stanford by 29 (in a game they at one point led 42-3), while Alabama beat 5-7 Auburn by seven (in a game the Tigers had a chance to tie before fumbling in Tide territory late).
The committee looked at those two results and said, “You know what, we like what we saw from the Tide! Move ’em up!”
What could possibly be the logic for shifting opinions on these two teams? The only other team that jumped another winning team was Texas, and the Longhorns beat the No. 3 team in the country emphatically, not a second-tier team that fired its head coach a month ago.
Oh, and hasn’t the committee made it pretty clear losses are supposed to matter? Well, Notre Dame has two losses to teams ranked in the top 12. Alabama got beat by a Florida State team that finished 5-7.
Even by the eye test, this makes little sense. Notre Dame has proved to be one of the most complete, dominant teams in the country, with a secondary that’s near impossible to throw on, a rookie quarterback who has been nearly flawless and a running back who might well be the best player in the country. Alabama, on the other hand, has a one-note offense that can’t run the football.
We’re not believers in using advanced metrics as a ranking of accomplishment, but if this is simply a “who’s better” debate…
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SP+ ranks Notre Dame fifth and Alabama 12th.
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FPI ranks Notre Dame third and Alabama sixth.
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Sagarin ranks Notre Dame second and Alabama seventh.
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FEI ranks Notre Dame fourth and Alabama ninth.
So, again, we ask: Why would the committee possibly make this change?
We’d wager you know the answer. That sticky Canes vs. Irish head-to-head debate is a real headache for the committee. But if Notre Dame’s currently the last team in and something unexpected happens this weekend (hello, BYU over Texas Tech), then the committee can do as it did in 2014 and wash its hands of a tough choice and keep both Notre Dame and Miami out.
(It’s also interesting that a seven-point win over a team with a losing record is enough to jump Notre Dame, but a 31-point win over a ranked Pitt did nothing for Miami’s relative placement with the Irish despite — and we’re not sure anyone has mentioned this yet — a head-to-head win!)
But, speaking of Alabama…
4. Championship game participants
Step into the time machine with us for a moment, all the way back to championship week 2024. Here’s the state of play: Alabama, at 9-3, is ranked No. 11, the first team out of the playoff and also out of the SEC title game. Still, the Tide and the SEC hope there’s a pathway to salvation because SMU — 11-1 and ranked eighth — still has a game to play against Clemson in the ACC championship. If the Mustangs were to lose, couldn’t the committee then justify slotting SMU behind Alabama based on another data point, even though the Tide were simply sitting at home watching the action?
This was the case being made throughout the run up to the ACC championship last season. SMU, which should’ve been celebrating a miraculously successful first season in the Power 4, spent hours upon hours defending itself against criticism that it didn’t belong in the same conversation with big, bad Bama. Rhett Lashlee hinted he thought the committee’s vote was rigged, SMU players lamented their status on the chopping block despite a ranking that should’ve put them safely in the playoff field, and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey made the rounds arguing that Alabama’s (and Ole Miss’ and South Carolina’s) strength of schedule ought to put them ahead of SMU (and others).
OK, back to the present day. Here we are with Alabama sitting perilously on the dividing line between in the field and out — a week ago, it would have been the last team in, but of course the committee had other ideas this time around — with a game to play against Georgia in the SEC championship. An ACC team (Miami) sits just a tick behind the Tide in the rankings, but it will be off this week.
So, what happens if Alabama loses?
The comparison to last year’s SMU isn’t even a particularly fair one. The Mustangs were at No. 8 before the ACC title game. Alabama is at No. 9 (and probably should be a spot or two lower). SMU’s game against Clemson was new territory. A loss to Georgia will actually undermine Alabama’s best argument for inclusion — the three-point win in Athens in September. And while SMU did make the playoff field last year, a last-second loss on a 56-yard field goal still dropped the Mustangs from No. 8 to No. 10 in the rankings.
Play this scenario out now: Alabama, ranked at No. 9, plays a team that currently counts as the Tide’s best win. Imagine if Georgia wins the rematch and does so convincingly. The committee docked SMU two spots for a last-second loss, so surely it will do at least that much to Alabama for a more convincing defeat, right? And here’s the other thing: Even with the ACC title game loss last year, SMU was 11-2 — one less loss than Alabama had. A Tide loss in the SEC title game will be defeat No. 3 — one more than Notre Dame or Miami or (presumably) BYU.
It’s hard not to see a conspiracy here given the committee’s inexplicable flip-flop between Alabama and Notre Dame. It’s hard not to see brand bias in how the Tide’s championship week narrative diverges from SMU’s a year ago. It’s not at all hard to envision a scenario where Alabama loses to Georgia, gets in as the last team anyway, and it’s all explained away as a completely reasonable decision.
Well, the committee finally weighed in on more than one team outside the Power 4 — mostly because it was just impossible to find enough Power 4 teams worth ranking — and the news isn’t good for JMU. With the committee deciding already that North Texas is the higher ranked team, the Dukes’ only hope for the playoff would seem to be a Duke win in the ACC title game.
But what exactly has the committee seen to warrant that decision? Check out the numbers.
Best win (by average FPI, SP+ and Sagarin ranking)
JMU: No. 54 Old Dominion
UNT: No. 62 Washington State
Next best
JMU: No. 62 Washington State
UNT: No. 68 Navy
Loss
JMU: No. 29 Louisville
UNT: No. 24 USF
Wins vs. bowl-eligible
JMU: six
UNT: five
Strength of record
JMU: 18th
UNT: 22nd
FPI
JMU: 28th
UNT: 37th
There are certainly some check marks in North Texas’ favor, including a more impressive win over common opponent Washington State and a slightly better SP+ ranking, but on the whole, James Madison has had the tougher path here. That can change should UNT beat Tulane, but the committee should’ve waited for that to happen. Instead, it has made it clear JMU isn’t sniffing the playoff unless it comes at the expense of the ACC.
Also angry this week: Vanderbilt Commodores (10-2, No. 14); The ACC leadership who voted on its tiebreaker policies; Manny Diaz, who has to try to make a coherent argument for his five-loss Duke Blue Devils getting in ahead of a one-loss JMU; Every 8-4 team with a markedly better résumé than 9-3 Houston, which isn’t ranked this week; and Lane Kiffin’s yoga instructor and Juice Kiffin’s dog walker.
Welcome to the party, James Madison.
With the inclusion of JMU at No. 25 in the selection committee’s penultimate ranking — its first appearance all season — the possibility of the ACC being excluded from the playoff entirely just got real. Five-loss Duke is nowhere to be found in the ranking.
If Duke beats Virginia in the ACC championship game, it’s not guaranteed a spot in the 12-team field. It could open the door for two Group of 5 conference champions to compete for a national title, and if the playoff were today, it would be Tulane out of the American and JMU from the Sun Belt. The ACC’s best team, Miami, is still on the outside.
At No. 12, the Hurricanes still need some help, but Alabama increased its chances of earning a spot as the SEC runner-up with a small promotion to No. 9. The conference championship games can still alter the picture, but hope on the bubble is dwindling.
Bubble Watch accounts for what we have learned from the committee so far — and historical knowledge of what it means for teams clinging to hope. Teams with Would be in status below are looking good after the committee’s fifth ranking. For each Power 4 conference, we’ve also listed Still in the mix. Teams that are Out will have to wait until next year.
The conferences below are listed in order of the number of bids they would receive, ranked from the most to least, based on the selection committee’s latest ranking.
Jump to a conference:
ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten
SEC | Independent | Group of 5
Bracket
SEC
Would be in: Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas A&M. Right now, the Crimson Tide are the last SEC at-large team in the field. Alabama will face Georgia in the SEC championship game, but the committee could have a difficult decision if Alabama loses and finishes as a three-loss runner-up. The Tide would have defeated Georgia during the regular season but lost to the Bulldogs in the championship game. Even in moving up a spot to No. 9 this week — ahead of Notre Dame — it still seems as if they have a little more margin for error, but how the SEC title game unfolds could matter. And how far Alabama drops could determine if the SEC gets four or five teams in the field. Alabama could finish as the committee’s highest-ranked three-loss team and still be excluded from the playoff to make room for a conference champion — as they were last year.
A Georgia win should lock up a first-round bye and a top-four finish for the Bulldogs, while a loss should still put them in position to host a first-round game. Georgia beat Ole Miss, so it would be surprising to see the Bulldogs drop below the Rebels with a loss, even though the Bulldogs would have one more defeat. With a 35-10 drubbing of Texas also on its résumé, Georgia would still have a strong enough case to finish as the committee’s top two-loss team.
At No. 6, the selection committee moved the Rebels up one spot, so clearly the departure of coach Lane Kiffin to LSU didn’t hurt Ole Miss or its chances of hosting a first-round home game. The bigger reasoning was a promotion after winning the Egg Bowl combined with Texas A&M losing to Texas.
Still in the mix: Texas. The Longhorns moved up to No. 13, but the win against Texas A&M wasn’t enough to put them into the field after the fifth ranking. Texas is stuck behind Miami in part because of its loss to Florida, which Miami beat. Even if BYU and Alabama were knocked out with title game losses, that still probably won’t be enough for Texas to get into the field because the bracket has to make room for conference champions.
Out: Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Big Ten
Would be in: Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon. Both Indiana and Ohio State are CFP locks — even if they lose in the conference title game — and the runner-up will still have a strong case for a top-four finish and a first-round bye. The loser’s only loss will be to a top-two team, but it could fall behind Georgia in the top four if the Bulldogs win the SEC, and/or Texas Tech if it wins the Big 12.
The Ducks punctuated their résumé with a respectable win at Washington and should be secure in their playoff position, probably hosting a first-round game. Oregon received a small boost to No. 5 after Texas A&M lost to Texas.
Still in the mix: None.
Out: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Washington, Wisconsin
Big 12
Would be in: Texas Tech. The Red Raiders will play BYU in the Big 12 title game and have a great case to be in the playoff regardless of the outcome. It’s highly unlikely the selection committee would drop the Red Raiders out of the field as a two-loss Big 12 runner-up — especially considering they would have a regular-season win against the eventual conference champion. It’s also possible Texas Tech earns a first-round bye as a top-four seed if the Red Raiders win the Big 12. The committee moved them into the top four Tuesday night following Texas A&M’s loss during Rivalry Week.
Still in the mix: BYU. If BYU doesn’t win the Big 12, it’s unlikely to earn an at-large bid as the conference runner-up because the Cougars are already on the bubble and would be eliminated during the seeding process if the playoff were today. It’s not impossible, though. If Alabama finishes as a three-loss SEC runner-up, it could at least open the door for debate. BYU would have lost to Texas Tech twice, and Alabama would have defeated Georgia, the eventual SEC champ once — and it was on the road. If BYU wins the Big 12, it’s the ideal scenario for the conference because it would have two teams in the playoff.
Out: Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, UCF, Utah, West Virginia
ACC
Would be in: TBD. The ACC championship game will feature Virginia and Duke, and if five-loss Duke wins, it’s possible the ACC is excluded from the playoff since Duke is not part of the CFP rankings. If Virginia wins, it will represent the league in the playoff, as the two-loss Cavaliers are ranked in the top 20. And no, Miami did not play Duke or Virginia during the regular season. Duke lost to Tulane, which is the top Group of 5 playoff contender and will reach the playoff if it wins the American. Duke also lost to UConn. And it has already lost to Virginia 34-17 on Nov. 15.
Still in the mix: Miami. The Canes are still the committee’s highest-ranked ACC team, but they would be excluded if the playoff were today to make room for a conference champion. That means the ACC winner could knock the league’s best team out of the playoff. The committee isn’t ignoring Miami’s head-to-head win against Notre Dame, but it also isn’t comparing the Canes only to the Irish. Miami also needs to earn an edge against BYU — which the committee has deemed better than Miami to this point. Miami inched closer to Notre Dame because Bama moved up Tuesday, but with neither team playing in a conference championship game, would the committee flip them on Selection Day with a BYU loss?
Out: Boston College, Cal, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Pitt, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Independent
Would be in: Notre Dame. The Irish have done everything right since their 0-2 start, running the table and doing it with consistent dominance regardless of opponent. At No.10, Notre Dame is in a precarious position. If BYU wins the Big 12 and enters the field, that could bump out the Irish. If BYU wins the Big 12, both BYU and Texas Tech are highly likely to make the playoff, which means someone currently in the top 10 would have to be excluded.
Group of 5
Would be in: Tulane. If the Green Wave win the American, they will represent the Group of 5 in the playoff. Tulane is currently the highest ranked Group of 5 team, but if North Texas beats Tulane on Friday, the Mean Green would be the most likely team to reach the CFP, given the overall strength of the American Conference this season.
Still in the mix: James Madison, North Texas. JMU (11-1) has clinched the East Division and a spot in the Sun Belt Conference championship game, where it will face Troy (8-4) on Friday. North Texas will face Tulane in the American, and if it wins, it’s more likely to represent the Group of 5 in the playoff than JMU because of its schedule strength. JMU could still be considered, though, if Duke wins the ACC, giving the Group of 5 two playoff teams in the 12-team field. With JMU earning a spot in the top 25 this week, the situation became more probable.
Bracket
Based on the committee’s fifth ranking, the seeding would be:
First-round byes
No. 1 Ohio State (Big Ten champ)
No. 2 Indiana
No. 3 Georgia (SEC champ)
No. 4 Texas Tech (Big 12 champ)
First-round games
On campus, Dec. 19 and 20
No. 12 Tulane (American champ) at No. 5 Oregon
No. 11 Virginia (ACC champ) at No. 6 Ole Miss
No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 7 Texas A&M
No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Oklahoma
Quarterfinal games
At the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl Presented by Prudential and Allstate Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.
No. 12 Tulane/No. 5 Oregon winner vs. No. 4 Texas Tech
No. 11 Virginia/No. 6 Ole Miss winner vs. No. 3 Georgia
No. 10 Notre Dame/No. 7 Texas A&M winner vs. No. 2 Indiana
No. 9 Alabama/No. 8 Oklahoma winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State
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