Josh’s College Football Rankings 2024–Week 14

Rivalry Week did not disappoint! Just some fantastic games all week. Also, I think the NCAA should push all teams to schedule a game like this in the last week. Can you imagine instead of playing Kent State, if Pitt and Penn State had their final game of the regular season against each other? Or the Big Ten needs to force Maryland to become decent so it could actually be a rivalry. Speaking of rivalries, the Georgia/GT game did not disappoint. The Bulldogs got a little help from the referees, but hey at least they won. This weekend should remind people that records become irrelevant during a rivalry game. The teams hate each other so much that a 2-9 team will do everything they can to beat their rival. I do not punish teams too much for losing a rivalry game (within reason). 

I need to mention the ending of The Game. I have always thought the flag planting stuff was a bit stupid, but I get that it is a fun thing to do when you beat a rival. Baker Mayfield started it (and I thought it was great when he did it–but I may have some weird love for Baker), and now everyone just wants to copy him. If you do not want a team to do this, then win the game. Ohio State scored ten points. Also, listening to Ryan Day after the game, acting like he did not know what was going on? He was standing directly behind Jack Sawyer who was screaming at his teammates to stop them. What annoyed me though, was seeing the Ohio police out there pepper spraying the Michigan players. It did not look like any Ohio State players were being sprayed. Not cool officers, not cool at all. 

Anyways, on to the rankings.

1. Oregon (12-0)–#1–W 49-21 Washington
2. Texas (11-1)–#3–W 17-7 #19 Texas A&M. So many people thought the Aggies would upset the Longhorns, but Texas shut up everyone by winning this one.
3. Penn State (11-1)–#4–W 44-7 Maryland. Heading to the Big Ten Championship!!!
4. Notre Dame (11-1)–#5–W 49-35 USC. The Irish have been dominant since that loss to NIU. I think they could be a scary team to face in the playoffs.
5. Georgia (10-2)–#6–W 44-42 8OT Georgia Tech. This game should have never went to OT, the fumble by GT that led to a Georgia TD should have been targeting. There were other missed calls that could have ended the game. I hate to blame the refs, but in this game it felt like the Yellow Jackets were fighting the refs as well as the Bulldogs.
6. SMU (11-1)–#8–W 38-6 California
7. Tennessee (10-2)–#9–W 36-23 Vanderbilt. Started a bit slow, but the Vols managed to take control of the game and keep their spot in the playoffs.
8. Ohio State (10-2)–#2–L 13-10 Michigan. An embarrassing loss for the Buckeyes. I will not drop them too much more than this because of the rivalry game, but if they play like this in the playoffs, it will be an early exit.
9. Indiana (11-1)–#10–W 66-0 Purdue
10. Boise State (11-1)–#11–W 34-18 Oregon State
11. Ole Miss (9-3)–#12–W 26-14 Mississippi State
12. Arizona State (10-2)–#14–W 49-7 Arizona
13. South Carolina (9-3)–#16–W 17-14 #13 Clemson
14. Miami (10-2)–#7–L 42-38 Syracuse
15. Alabama (9-3)–#15–W 28-14 Auburn
16. Illinois (9-3)–#18–W 38-28 Northwestern
17. Clemson (9-3)–#13–L 17-14 #16 South Carolina
18. Iowa State (10-2)–#20–W 29-21 Kansas State
19. BYU (10-2)–#21–W 30-18 Houston
20. Colorado (9-3)–#24–W 52-0 Oklahoma State
21. Texas A&M (8-4)–#19–L 17-7 #3 Texas
22. Missouri (9-3)–#22–W 28-21 Arkansas
23. Duke (9-3)–#23–W 23-17 Wake Forest. It is not pretty each week, but the Blue Devils won nine games under Manny Diaz. I am the only person who has probably ranked them most of the year. They lost to SMU in OT (they went for two instead of kicking the extra points). Maybe I am biased for Diaz, but I respect this Duke team.
24. Army (10-1)–#25–W 29-24 UTSA
25. Syracuse (9-3)–HM–W 42-38 #7 Miami. Another team that I have been higher on than other rankings. I feel validated after Saturday!

Honorable Mentions

•  UNLV (10-2)–HM–W 38-14 Nevada
• Memphis (10-2)–NR–W 34-24 #17 Tulane. Memphis kind of fell off the radar for most people. They went 10-2, and yet they are not playing the AAC championship game. The loss to UTSA really hurt them (they also lost to Navy, but at least Navy was ranked at a point this year).
• Tulane (9-3)–#17–L 34-24 Memphis
• Louisville (8-4)–HM–W 41-14 Kentucky
• Kansas State (8-4)–HM–L 29-21 #20 Iowa State
• Baylor (8-4)–HM–W 45-17 Kansas. Won 6 in a row to end the year.
• LSU (8-4)–HM–W 37-17 Oklahoma
• Iowa (8-4)–HM–W 13-10 Nebraska. 164 total yards of offense, and 72 came on one play! Hawkeye football at its finest.
• Michigan (7-5)–NR–W 13-10 #2 Ohio State. It was easy to crap on the Wolverines, but their losses are not terrible. This defense is still formidable. I look for them to build on this big win, and maybe win their bowl game to set up next year.
• Texas Tech (8-4)–NR–W 52-15 West Virginia
• Georgia Tech (7-5)–HM–L 44-42 8OT #6 Georgia. A bonus Honorable Mention this week. They should have won the game, I will keep saying it!

Watch List
Time for conference championship games!!! 

Friday (December 6th)
Conference USA: Western Kentucky (8-4) at Jacksonville State (8-4)–a rematch of this week, WKU won 19-17.
AAC: Tulane (9-3) at #24 Army (10-1)–this should be a good game, the Army defense will give Tulane some trouble.
MWC: UNLV (10-2) at #10 Boise State (11-1)–it was a close game last time they played, and I think UNLV might come out on top this time.

Saturday (December 7th)
MAC: Ohio (9-3) vs. Miami OH (8-4)–The RedHawks won 30-20 back in October. They have won seven in a row. 
Sun Belt: Marshall (9-3) at Louisiana (10-2)–Marshall had to fight to get into the championship by beating JMU. Can they take down the Ragin’ Cajuns to win their first Sun Belt title?
Big XII: #18 Iowa State (10-2) vs. #12 Arizona State (10-2)–this will be a battle. It should be ugly, and if the Cyclones can keep it tight, I think they win, but if Cam Skattebo starts breaking off big runs, it could end up being an easy win for the Sun Devils.
SEC: #5 Georgia (10-2) vs. #2 Texas (11-1)–another rematch. My money is on Texas this time.
ACC: #17 Clemson (9-3) vs. #6 SMU (11-1)–if Clemson wins this game, the playoff committee will have a fun time figuring out where to rank teams. 
Big Ten: #3 Penn State (11-1) vs. #1 Oregon (12-0)–could be a good game, I believe Penn State matches up well with Oregon. The defense can get pressure on Dillon Gabriel. If the Nittany Lions can keep it a low-scoring affair, I think they win.

Coaching Hot Seat
I feel like Ryan Day will be hearing his name way too often this week. I already mentioned him a few weeks ago. I want to talk about Rhett Lashlee of SMU. The Mustangs are in the ACC, but I do not think they get the TV revenue sharing stuff yet (I think I heard someone say that on TV the other day). Teams could start looking to poach him away from SMU. Maybe UNC keeps him in the ACC. Or perhaps UCF throws money at him. If I were the Mustangs, I would try to find a boatload of cash and keep him there. He is 27-10 during his time there. He won the AAC last year, and is poised to win the ACC this year. I hope they can find a way to keep him, it would be nice to see another superpower emerge in the ACC.

Awful Losses
I was screaming at the Georgia/Georgia Tech game. The fumble was totally caused by targeting. It was like the definition of targeting, the defender led with the crown of the helmet, right into the King’s helmet, which I think popped off, or came close. Then, there was a 3rd down play earlier when GT gets stopped. The Bulldog defender gets up, and steps over top the Tech player, then taps his helmet. This is taunting! Why does this piss me off? Penn State got called for taunting against Ohio State, same situation, the defender stood up, and straddled the receiver, and it was immediately called. The frustrating part was Jesse Palmer and Joe Tessitore not even mentioning this stuff. They actually laughed about the helmet slap. And yeah, I hate the taunting call, I was mad about it against Penn State (that one did not look like taunting, it just felt like the only way for him to get up out of the way, but as the rules analyst explained, straddling a player will draw a flag every time now because they want to get taunting out of the game). There was also a blatant facemask not called against Georgia. Just a terribly officiated game. 

Joe Tessitore was also awful. I am not someone who gets worked up over announcers, but this game was terrible. You could feel the two of them rooting for Georgia. Tessitore kept saying that if Georgia wins they are guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Not true. I mean, yeah, they are pretty much in, but things could happen. Like, what if Texas A&M blew out Texas (obviously that did not happen), then came out and destroyed Georgia in the championship game. Tessitore saying it was guaranteed  made it sound like there was some automatic bid. The ESPN talking heads wonder why fans are so confused about the bracket.