/410) 
, Coaches Corner (0/2) , Howtos (0/10) , Inside Deventer Devils (0/28) , Jack6s RZA Guide (0/21) , News (1/655) , Rumours (0/0) , Stories (0/4) , Top25 Rankings (0/22) 2025-12-03 12:58
And we are almost done with the conference decisions.
This weekend did deliver some interesting results, leading to the usual end-of-regular-season-movements, firings and hirings on coaches, the bragging on playoff worthiness (that’s a new one in that dimension since last year) and the general summery of the season (so far).
But let’s start with the crazy games and the rivalry games.
Western Michigan did beat Eastern Michigan, 31:21. By that did WMU not only get the direct ticket to the MAC Championship game, they did also retain the ‘Michigan MAC Trophy’, played out between CMU, EMU and WMU and WMU did win both games against the others. That means, not like last year, they won the trophy on the field, while last year the got it, because the series was tied and the winner of 2023 keeps the trophy, which was also WMU.
Navy won against Memphis, 28:17. Memphis was favored to win, but Navy did beat them, which did in at then not help them, since in a tiebreaker between Navy, Tulane and North Texas did Navy pull the short straw.
Indiana did win big time against rival Purdue, 56:3. Indiana did retain by that the ‘Old Oaken Bucket’, but Purdue is leading the series by a mile.
Ole Miss did play Mississippi State in the ‘Egg Bowl’ and won 38:19. At the end it was not enough to get into the SEC Championship game and 2 days later the team lost their HC on top. Ole Miss will play in the playoffs, but without their HC, which seems unusual, but I will explain that a bit down below.
The ’Duel in the Desert’ was up and for Arizona State in theory a slim chance on a return to the BIG-12 Championship game was on the line. But Arizona won the game 23:7 and got the Territorial Cup. Both teams can now focus on upcoming bowl games.
The ‘Heroes Game’ between Iowa and Nebraska went as expected and Iowa won 40:16. Ok, I have to admit, it’s not really as expected, since I never would have seen Iowa putting up 40 points.
The traditional Notre Dame – Stanford rivalry game with the ‘Legends Trophy’ as award did end in a one-sided Irish win, 49:20.
The ‘Iron Bowl’, for many THE rivalry game in essence, had an interesting twist this season, since for Alabama a SEC championship participation and eventually a playoff spot was on the line, which Auburn would have loved to spoil. But Auburn under interim management did trail, got back into the game to tie it up, only to lose the game on a 4th and 1 play by Alabama at midfield. Bama got the 1st down, went all the way for a TD and forced an Auburn fumble a bit later to secure the ball and the game. Alabama did benefit from the A&M booboo and will play for the SEC Championship against Georgia. Auburn is looking for a new HC, which they seemed to have already found.
The Vanderbilt – Tennessee rivalry is one of those series, where one university is the top dog since ages and leads the series by a mile. But since a few seasons Vanderbilt is in better shape and won several times in a row (under different coaches). This season they won again after several Vols wins, 45:24, and the Commodores QB might be in the mix for a Heisman.
In the battle for LA did USC win against UCLA, 29:10. The ‘Victory Bell’ stays red now for the 3rd time in a row.
Virgina had the ACC Championship game on the line against rival Virginia Tech, but did solve that game with a great 27:7 win. In this series VT is the top dog but must give the ‘Commonwealth Cup’ now to the Cavaliers after a 4 game winning streak.
The ‘Governor's Cup’ of Kentucky is since last season in Louisvilles hand and they did claim the trophy for another year with a whooping 41:0 win. The chatter is, the Kentucky HC might lose his job over that one (and the whole season result).
Clemson was looking for a positive end of the regular season after a bad overall result (compared to the expectations) and did win the Palmetto Bowl against South Carolina, 28:14. Last year did the Gamecocks win.
In the ‘Battle on the Bayou’ did Louisiana win against Louisiana-Monroe, 30:27 in OT. The Ragin’ Cajuns have now won 3 in a row and got bowl eligibility that way.
The ‘Battle Line Rivalry’ did start to heat up only since 2014, but since then is this important inside the SEC between Missouri and Arkansas. Missouri did win again, 31:17, the 4th in a row.
The ‘Paul Bunyan's Axe’ trophy is awarded to the winner between Minnesota and Wisconsin, a very close rivalry. This season Minnesota did win 17:7 to retain the trophy for the 2nd consecutive year.
In the Duke / Wake Forest rivalry it came down to a clear 49:32 victory for Duke, the 4th in a row now, which did by the loss of SMU bring Duke (for me surprisingly) an invite to the ACC Championship game, ahead of all ranked teams having also 2 losses, naming GT, Miami, Pitt and SMU. Wow.
Florida State was looking for the needed 6th win to get into a bowl, but in the ‘Sunshine Showdown’ against Florida did at the end the Gators prevail to win 40:21. That’s the 2nd win in a row here. The FSU HC was named to be returning for 2026. Not sure that will hold after that showing.
I did not have that on the radar, but this season, Oregon State and Washington State decided to play a home-home-series. The 1st meeting was won by Oregon State, mid-season. This weekend was the rematch, Washington State did win 32:8. In direct compare the Cougars now have the better point diff and they and they got the 6th win for a bowl game.
In the Illinois – Northwestern rivalry is the ‘The Land of Lincoln Trophy’ awarded to the winner. This season did Illinois retain the trophy from last year with a 20:13 win.
The North Carolina – North Carolina State rivalry was anticipated, thanks to the new HC of UNC, Bill Belichick. Well, NC State did win another game, 42:19, making it 5 in a row for them.
The ‘Battle for Nevada’ was on again and the ‘Fremont Cannon’ was awarded to UNLV again, 4th in a row, by beating Nevada 42:17. By that got UNLV the win to stay in the tie breaker for the MWC spots and they got it granted by the computers.
A quite new rivalry is the winner of the ‘Paniolo Trophy’ between Wyoming and Hawai’i. This season Hawai’i took home the hardware with a 27:7 win.
That’s for the small notes, let’s look at the games I did pick as preview last week and review them.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 14
Fri. Nov 28
#3 Texas A&M @ #16 Texas
A quite defense driven game, in which A&M did have the 1st error, allowing a field goal to be blocked from 35 yard out, end of the 1st quarter.
The 2nd quarter did feature a few more points than the 0:0 in the 1st, but A&M went to the locker room with a 10:3 lead lonely.
In the 3rd did then the A&M offense sputter and Texas was able to get some points on the board, taking the lead to 13:10.
Then did the shit hit the fan for the Aggies.
Both teams had scored TDs, unfortune for A&M had the Longhorns extended their lead and the time did start to run out.
They did open up the playbook and were intercepted in the Texas redzone.
They stopped the Longhorns but were then again intercepted and Texas won 27:17.
This is bittersweet for the Longhorns, since they did spoil the Aggies perfect season and did actually send them out of the SEC Championship game.
The Aggies are still in the mix for a playoff spot, so no success on that topic on top.
Worse for the Longhorns, likely they will be not listed high enough to get to the playoffs, but they still have championship game weekend and depended on the results, they might slip in as edge case.
#3 Texas A&M 17 @ #16 Texas 27 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 26-8
Sat. Nov 29
#1 Ohio State @ #15 Michigan
The 1st half was quite open, but Ohio State did look like the better team already.
But in the 2nd half, Michigan was already behind 9:17, did only Ohio State score and Michigan did roll over and lost.
For Ohio State, it seems the season just starts, since they will play the toughest cookie in the championship game and then progress towards the playoffs.
Michigan has to focus on the bowl season, I don’t think they will get into the playoffs after that loss, even against a TOP team.
#1 Ohio State 27 @ #15 Michigan 9 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 27-8
San Diego State @ New Mexico
A monster game, and at the end, it was all for nothing! (except the win itself).
Both teams did play very defense driven, the game was close, in every quarter.
SDSU led by 4 at the half, the game was tied after the 3rd and went scoreless in the 4th quarter.
So, it went into OT and 1st went with turnovers on both side, the 2nd then had a New Mexico TD on the 1st drive and San Diego was unable to counter it.
Means, New Mexico won the game, 23:17.
But because of other results 4 teams were with the same record inside the conference and a day later was decided by the crazy tiebreaker rule, which involved several computer metrics, that Boise State and UNLV would play for the Championship. Bad luck for New Mexico and San Diego State.
San Diego State 17 @ New Mexico 23 (2OT) -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 27-9
And some other interesting games:
Fri. Nov 28
#4 Georgia @ #23 Georgia Tech
Georgia was heavily favored, but had their problems with GT.
At the end they did win the CLEAN, OLD-FASHIONED HATE 16:9.
For Georgia, this weekend was fantastic. Wo against the rival, A&M lost, which did lift the Bulldogs into the SEC Championship game and their playoff case is now great.
For GT there is no way they will make the playoffs now.
Jacks interesting games Score: 25-9
Sat. Nov 29
Western Kentucky @ Jacksonville State
A great offense firework, in which WKU did take the lead and defended that for some time, but Jacksonville State came back, tied the game and had the last play needed to win the game 37:34 on a walk-off-field-goal. By that will the Gamecocks play for the CUSA championship and WKU has to settle for a bowl only.
Jacks interesting games Score: 26-9
Troy @ Southern Miss
Well, I had the gut feeling Southern Miss would sink this also, but my head was unable to think of a 3-game losing streak, if a championship game spot is on the line.
Well, Troy did win the game and send Southern Miss packing, 28:18. For Troy now the Championship game of the Sun Belt waits, while Southern Miss can only wait for a bowl invite.
Jacks interesting games Score: 26-10
That wraps up gameday 14.
The conferences are now clear, the championship game participants are set.
Now we can shortly look on the coaches changes, something which happens in big scale when the regular season is over.
The hire and fire part
Not really in the right sequence, but it’s not really important, where the change happened first.
First the firings, since some of the positions were already filled, so the hiring might spoil the firing, if that makes sense.
Coastal Carolina did fire their HC, Tim Beck, after 3 seasons. He posted a record of 20-18, but likely did the decline from 8-5 to now 6-6 cost him the job. CCU was much better under the coach before him (who now sucks at Liberty).
Jonathan Smith was fired from the HC position at Michigan State after 2 seasons. Smith came from a HC at Oregon State, where he had lifted the Beavers to long lost heights in 6 seasons, but his most successful once were in year 5 and 6. So firing him after 2 season is quite pointless. But that is the reality now, either you win right away, or you are garbage. The school will own him likely something in a ballpark of 33 million dollars.
And reports are coming in that after 13 seasons, Mark Stoops is fired from Kentucky. I’m not sure that is a smart move, because for sure did Stoops put all he had into the program, which was shit when he came and which he did build at least to a program teams had to take seriously. Yes, his results were in the past 2 seasons not great, but that can happen. Well, the era of Stoops at Kentucky is over, I’m curious who they will s e l e c t as successor.
And here are the hirings, which did happen over the past few days.
The biggest hire / story of the weekend was the seems-to-be-never ending story about Lane Kiffin, the HC of Ole Miss, and his potential new home, if he decides to leave. There were 3 destinations in the chat, 1st he might stay at Ole Miss, since he is comfortable there, the team was close to get to the SEC Championship game and to a playoff spot. The 2nd spot was Florida, which would be close to his former success at Florida Atlantic with much deeper pockets of course. And as 3rd, not necessarily in that order, there was LSU as another big-name school with deep pockets. Prior the gameday it was named, he would announce his decision after the Egg Bowl (Ole Miss vs Mississippi State on Friday), then after the Saturday games and finally the actual new came out late Sunday. It was quite clear on Saturday, that it won’t be Ole Miss, since then he just would have said so. Then it was leaked that Florida would look for another option, after they got at least burned by Kiffin looking for other options. And then it got leaked that the timing of the leave was in negotiation and at the end it was said, he would leave NOW to LSU. That means, no playoff coaching by him (and no chance on a National Championship) at Ole Miss, which is not the usual procedure, if you hire for example an assistant away from a program. But it seems Ole Miss did not want to have Kiffin on the campus, once he decided to leave. OK, LSU is a direct rival and once the playoff start, the clock is ticking regarding transfer protocol and other stuff. So, instead a clear cut.
Oklahoma State did find their next guy in Eric Morris, the HC of North Texas. Here Morris is allowed to coach UNT into the postseason, which is the AAC Championship game and if they win, quite likely a playoff game or more.
A big splashy move was the hiring by Colorado State of UConns HC Jim L. Mora. Mora did good at UConn but will not coach in a bowl game. Mora did coach in the past at UCLA and 2 NFL teams.
Oregon State has hired the Alabama co-OC JaMarcus Shephard. This is the 1st gig for Shephard as HC.
Stanford did hire former Cardinals QB Tavita Pritchard. He was so far the QB coach of the Washington Commanders.
Auburn decided to hire South Floridas HC Alex Golesh. He had lifted the program back to relevance in his 3 years there and will not coach in a bowl game this season.
The next successful AAC coach was hired by a SEC school, with Ryan Silverfield of Memphis becoming the next HC of Arkansas. Also no bowl game for him this season. At Memphis he had taken over when the current FSU HC was hired away and has rebuild the program very successfully.
Already mentioned Florida did shift their focus from Kiffin to Jon Sumrall, current HC of Tulane. He is allowed to coach in the postseason for Tulane, which will be the AAC Championship game plus in case of a win likely a playoff game.
Michigan State did hire the former HC of Northwestern, Pat Fitzgerald. He was fired at Northwestern prior the 2023 season. He was accused of knowing of hazing of players. He then did sue the school over 130 million dollars, claiming to have no knowledge of the hazing, being wrongful terminated regarding the contract and facing deformation. The case was settle in August this year, with undisclosed results, except that it was stated by both sides that Fitzgerald did not know about the issues and is 100% vindicated. MSU gets a coach, who did lift Northwestern in his 17 seasons from being a bad team to a team, which has to be respected. Given the circumstances at Northwestern, MSU can provide much deeper resources, so it will be interesting to see, what he can do. He has no experience in the NIL processes, so also an issue, which has to be seen in the future.
Kentucky did not wait long and found their new guy in Will Stein, the OC of Oregon. He is only 36 years old and has never been a HC so far.
North Texas filled their void by hiring former West Virginia HC Neal Brown. Brown had great success at Troy, was hired for West Virginia, had there a mediocre career and was fired after 6 seasons 2024. Could be a great hire, could be not.
Ole Miss did promote DC Pete Golding to become their new HC as it seems. He was prior to the Ole Miss job DC at Alabama, so has some SEC experience. But this is his 1st gig as HC. He will lead the team into the playoffs, since it’s a hire from within.
Bowl eligible teams
10 more teams got the bowl standard 6th win last weekend, which makes it now 82 teams eligible.
Week 6: Memphis,
Week 7: Georgia Tech, Navy, Indiana, Ohio State, BYU, Texas Tech, UNLV, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
Week 8: Virginia, North Texas, South Florida, Tulane, Oregon, Cincinnati, Houston, Hawai’i, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, James Madison
Week 9: Louisville, Miami (FL), Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Washington, TCU, Utah, Western Kentucky, Boise State, San Diego State, Tennessee, Texas, Southern Miss, Troy
Week 10: SMU, Arizona State, USC, Minnesota, Illinois, Kennesaw State, Notre Dame, UConn, Fresno State, New Mexico, Old Dominion
Week 11: East Carolina, Wake Forest, Cal, Arizona, Iowa State, Jacksonville State, Ohio, Coastal Carolina
Week 12: Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Toledo, LSU
Week 13: UTSA, Duke, Clemson, NC State, Northwestern, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Miami (OH), Utah State.
Week 14: Army, Penn State, Kansas State, Washington State, Georgia Southern, Louisiana, Arkansas State and Texas State
Delaware and Missouri State got invites, even as not eligible teams thanks to FCS transition phase, since they have the 6+ wins and there were not enough teams to fill all spots.
But ... so far there are only 80 spots in the knows bowls and playoff games. The regular bowl for the 81st and 82nd team would have been the Bahamas Bowl and that was canceled prior the season. Whether there will be a bowl for Delaware and Missouri State is right now open.
We can go now to the last gameday, which is traditionally RIVALRY WEEK!
And many of those games have this season big impacts on the conference standings and championship seatings.
I did s e l e c t only 6 games this year, since covering too many of those is just beyond my time available.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 15
Sat. Dec 7
BIG-12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#11 BYU vs #4 Texas Tech
Played on neutral site in the stadium of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas.
Both teams did quite dominate the BIG-12 this season, except some black-outs.
Texas Tech did play and win in all games, except for whatever reason they did fail against Arizona State mid-October.
In no other game did they lose, and all other games were quite convincing.
They did even play BYU in November already and won 29:7.
BYU on the other hand did win all games, except that one game against Texas Tech. But they had some close calls, at Colorado, at Arizona in OT and against Utah, all prior the game against TTU.
Now they have a rematch on neutral ground, in which Texas Tech is favored by 12.5 points.
On top as bad distraction comes for BYU that their HC is in the chat to leave the school and get a new job at Penn State.
Overall, this game seems to be a done deal.
The only thing, which might stop Texas Tech to dominate the game is, that BYU did for sure play tough defense against some good offense and if they manage to stop the TTU attack, everything is possible.
The winner is for sure in the playoffs, the losing team ...
If BYU loses, they are out. If Texas Tech loses, it depends for sure on the results in this game and on the results of the other championship game teams. They might fall deep, or not.
I go with the favorite ...
Red Raiders win.
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#3 Georgia vs #9 Alabama
Played on neutral site in the stadium of the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta, Georgia.
What a season, for both teams.
Georgia lost quite early the matchup against Alabama and went down in the SEC standings and in the national rankings.
Slowly they did climb back with those 8 consecutive wins afterwards.
There were some close calls, but at the end, they are 11-1 and back in the TOP5. Because of the tiebreaker rules on those 4 teams all having just 1 loss inside the SEC, Georgia did get that spot here.
And for Alabama it was even a worse season. They did start with that shocking loss to Florida State (which turned out to be even more shocking, since FSU did suck big time this season and did even miss a bowl game invite). They did almost drop out of the TOP25 and worked hard to get back into the discussion. That win over Georgia did help a lot.
Then came Oklahoma and they lost again, which did drop them in the standings and a bit in the rankings.
That FCS game and the win against Auburn did secure the 10-2 record, but did not help much with the rankings.
It DID help to secure a spot here, thanks to the tiebreaker rules.
Written that, it would be a surprise, if not Georgia would be favored, but it’s just 2.5 points.
Now, that’s not much and some expert expect Alabama to overcome Georgia again.
I’m turn between the team Georgia was and which they became over the past 2 month.
I expect a quite even match, in which the team with the less errors will prevail
The winner will play in the playoffs. If Georgia loses, they might play anyway, if Alabama loses, they might be an edge case and it depends on the results in the other games.
Hmmm.
Bulldogs win.
BIG10 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#2 Indiana @ #1 Ohio State
Played on neutral site in the stadium of the Indianapolis Colts in Indianapolis, Indiana.
This season I’m not sure, what we have here.
Both teams did play a perfect season, no doubt.
Indiana is 12-0 and beside some close games against Penn State, Iowa and Oregon, the team was flying through their schedule.
Their biggest win was likely the one against Oregon.
Now, are they really worth a #2 spot nationally?
They earned the spot in the championship game, but are they better than say Georgia, or other deeper ranked teams?
I don’t know and we will only find out, when they play Ohio State and then likely another game at least in the playoffs.
Ohio State is even more a mystery, since their schedule was quite weak. They are also 12-0 and their closest game was against Texas at season start.
Are they for real? As good as last year in the playoffs?
We don’t know. But we will find out.
The Buckeyes are favored by 4.5 points and I’m willing to believe that.
But there is a BIG BUT!
The BUT is, Indiana has a hell of an offense and did blast several teams away, we are talking about 40+ points here.
So, if Indianas defense can control Ohio State, like several teams did in the past and limit them to 20 to 30 points (which is already a lot) and the offense can exploit the Buckeyes defense and burn them with 40+, well, then we have a great game I guess.
The problem with that thought is, no team did this season (with a quite weak schedule, to remind you) score more than 16 points against the Buckeyes. So, scoring 40+ would be a total destruction of their defense.
I don’t see that happening.
Buckeyes win.
And some other interesting games:
Fri. Dec 6
CUSA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Kennesaw State @ Jacksonville State
Jacksonville State returns to the championship game as reigning champ with home field advantage, thanks to the win against Kennesaw State in the regular season.
On paper, this should be Jacksonville State all the way. But Kennesaw State has played a great season and did also lose only once inside the CUSA.
Vegas does acknowledge that made them favorite by 2.5 points, as guests.
Not bad.
I think, Jacksonville will win here, at home, in a close one.
Gamecocks win.
SBC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Troy @ #25 James Madison
Played at the stadium of the team with the best playoff ranking or if none is available, the best score from several computer metrices. James Madison did get the nod here, likely because of their 11-1 record and the related ranking in the CFP-List.
JMU did not lose inside the Sun Belt and did not play Troy during the season.
Troy had a much worse season, having only an 8-4 record and lost 2 times inside the Sun Belt.
Common opponents were, because of the division structure of the conference, only Old Dominion and Georgia State.
Troy lost to Old Dominion by a landslide, Georgia State was a win.
JMU did win against both of those teams and against Old Dominion they scored the most points of all games in 2025 so far, but did also allow almost the most points (27) beside the loss to Louisville (there they got 28 points against).
The Dukes are a very high point favorite, 23.5 points, to win this championship game.
But we saw upsets in this region during the season.
To be honest, I think here we have a quite good estimation on the difference of power here, but you never know.
If Troy manages to stop the JMU offense, this could become interesting.
I do not see this happening.
A sidenote on the potential in this game regarding the playoffs.
JMU is right now ranked at 24 and plays a non-ranked team.
Beside some unexpected correction by the committee, it’s unlikely the winner will jump the winner of the AAC Championship game.
Dukes win.
AAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#24 North Texas @ #20 Tulane
Played at the home turf of Tulane, this will eventually help Tulane to finally getting the title again, after the last successful one in 2022.
Since then did the team get into the title game, every season, but lost to SMU in 2023 and Army in 2024.
This season they have North Texas as opponent and the 2 teams have not met this season so far.
Common opponents were Army (both won), UTSA (North Texas won, Tulane lost), Temple (both won) and Charlotte (both won), with quite similar results.
Sure, the UTSA game was bad for Tulane, but North Texas lost to South Florida.
North Texas is favored by 2.5 points.
Fun fact, it’s the Mean Green vs the Green Wave, so you can’t go wrong in this game with green fan equipment.
I personally think, the game will be won by the team, which is less distracted.
Let’s face it, the AAC was raided by power 5 schools regarding coaches.
That includes North Texas (coach goes to Oklahoma State) and Tulane (coach goes to Florida). Both coaches were allowed to coach the championship game and eventually the coming playoff games.
So for the teams it is a farewell tour by the coaches and some may be happy for them, but some may be angry, since as a player you commit yourselves to the school and the circumstances you find at that time and if the HC leaves, those circumstances do change. The next HC might be a dick, to call it that way.
Hence, in this game here, if the distraction is too big, the team will play poorly.
This is hard to predict.
There is no way to say, this will happen.
I have the feeling, that Tulanes HC might be a bit over his head with this, but that’s likely just spoiled by the fact, he lost last year against Army.
North Texas has momentum, have a longer winning streak running, I just pick them as a winner here. Can go any way.
I think the winner will play as highest ranked group of 5 team in the playoffs.
Mean Green win.
MWC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
UNLV @ Boise State
Last year, the matchup was exactly the same.
But both teams were ranked and Boise State won to become a champion and was granted, because of the rules last year, a bye week for the playoffs.
Boise lost then against Penn State in the quarterfinal.
This season, this will not happen, regardless of who will win.
Boise State had a rough season and lost in total 4 times, twice inside the MWC. They played UNLV in October and won big time at home.
UNLV lost only twice overall, but both inside the MWC and one of those losses were against Boise State.
Surprisingly is Boise State only favored by 4.0 points in this championship game on the Smurf Turf, while the regular season game was won by a 25-point margin.
I expect Boise State to dominate here.
They are a force at home and had a tougher schedule during the season and did rightfully prevail inside the conference.
But on such games, a lot can happen.
The winning team will not get into the playoffs, since 2 unranked teams clashing won’t boost the record of the winning team much.
Broncos win.
Sat. Dec 7
MAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Miami (OH) @ Western Michigan
Played on neutral site in the stadium of the Detroit Lions in Detroit, Michigan.
Miami (OH) did play also last year in this game, but was blown out of the stadium by Ohio.
This season they have to face a Western Michigan team, which seems to be in a career year.
WMU is 8-4 overall and 7-1 inside the MAC, as lone team in the MAC. Miami is 7-5 overall and 6-2 inside the conference with 2 other teams having the same conference record.
Unfortune for WMU was their lone loss inside the conference against Miami, on the road.
Now they play at home.
Miami lost after that tremendous win against WMI to Ohio and Toledo back-to-back.
Western Michigan is only favored by 2.5 points.
So, Vegas expects a close game.
I personally think, WMU will crack the Miami defense and will win by a higher margin.
Broncos win.
ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Duke @ #17 Virginia
Played on neutral site in the stadium of the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, North Carolina.
I think nobody had expected to see these 2 teams inside the championship game.
Virginia, as best team inside the ACC, did they post a 10-2 record and 7-1 inside the conference. Unbelievable with the result of last year (5-7) in mind and the history of the Cavaliers in mind, also.
And Duke did somehow win the tiebreaker between 5 teams with a 6-2 record inside the conference. It was such surprising, that other teams, ranked teams, did already demand a tiebreaker adjustment to have seemingly stronger teams in the championship game.
This is understandable, since with a ranked vs ranked matchup, the winner would get a boost for sure for the playoffs, while this season likely not.
But on the other hand, it’s not Dukes fault that Miami and Georgia Tech did lose against seemingly bad teams during the season.
If they would have won, the discussion would not have happened.
To my surprise, the betting line for this game is only -3.5 Virginia, while they did win AT Duke 3 weeks ago by 17 points.
I think in total is Virgina the stronger team.
But to be fair, Virginia is beatable, and it does depend on the day form.
This is hard to predict, I pick the stronger team here.
Cavaliers win.
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
Tags: Block of Granite, News
2025-11-26 08:41
Just one week left to sort out the conferences then setup the championship games. This week did not help much, since many teams did play weaker teams or just did what they did the whole season.
One victim of this weekend is already known, Cal did decide after a loss against rival Stanford, 10:31, where they were favored by 4.5 points on the road, that the almost 9 seasons with their HC Justin Wilcox are enough and fired him, one game shy of the season end. Wilcox best season was 2019 with 8 wins, including a bowl win. In total his record is 48-55 and he never managed to get a positive record inside the conferences.
More upsets?
Louisiana won against Arkansas State, 34:30. That did put a dent into the championship plans of ASU. They are still in the hunt but need help from outside.
Pittsburgh did bury and dream the Yellow Jackets might have had for the rest of the season, by winning against the slightly favored GT, 42:28, on the road. With that is GT out of playoff conversations, and very likely out of the ACC championship game, if not total chaos happens on the last gameday.
Wisconsin did show some live with a win against ranked Illinois, 27:10. Illinois was favored over a score, but did not find any tool to stop the Badgers from scoring. The result has no immediate impact, since Illinois is already bowl eligible and Wisconsin is anyway out of postseason plays.
TCU was favored on the road against ranked Houston and won 17:14. By that did Houston officially drop out of the BIG-12 title race.
Army was favored by almost 10 points, but lost at home to Tulsa, 26:25. That was the 1st conference win for Tulsa of the season.
Wyoming was favored by a score against Nevada but lost 13:7. Both teams have down seasons this year and will not play bowls.
Marshall was favored by a field goal to get their 6th win this season, against Appalachian State. But the team did not get the game secured on the 4th quarter and App State won, 26:24. Both teams will look now on the last gameday for a 6th win.
The unbeaten Jacksonville State went to Florida International, as underdogs, and did (at least for me) lose to the Panthers, 21:27. Now the CUSA has no unbeaten team left and is wide open for the last weekend in a 3-team-tie.
Southern Miss had 2 games ahead to all other teams to reach the Championship game and did lose now 2 in a row to open up the division again. Grrrr. This time they lost to 2.5-point underdogs South Alabama, 35:42.
Utah State did sleep almost the whole season, but against Fresno State the team came in as visitors and took away the victory with a 28:17 win. Fresno was favored by an inch only but was hoping for a championship game spot. Well, that hope is buried, I guess.
Let’s look at the games I did pick as preview last week and review them.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 13
Sat. Nov 22
#22 Missouri @ #8 Oklahoma
Not sure, whether this game was really that exciting.
For me, likely not, because it was quite low scoring and with almost no big plays.
Most scoring did happen in the 1st half, so go figure how interesting the 2nd quarter must have been with a LOT of 3-and-outs.
At the end did Oklahoma win 17:6 and kept their playoff ambitions alive, while Missouri will likely drop out of the top 25.
#22 Missouri 6 @ #8 Oklahoma 17 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 23-8
#15 USC @ #7 Oregon
This game did slowly slide USC out of their hands, and they had nothing in their portfolio to stop that.
It did end actually with a few less USC points than I expected, but overall, quite in the range.
Almost each quarter was won by Oregon, just the 3rd was tied at 7.
Oregon did their homework and waits for rivalry weekend surprises, while USC can concentrate on a bowl game, no way this team will get a playoff spot, now.
#15 USC 27 @ #7 Oregon 42 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 24-8
#11 BYU @ Cincinnati
Another game, which did just plain and simple grinded to the result.
BYU did stumble a bit in the 2nd quarter and did let Cincinnati get close, but at the end was BYU just better and won this game.
I think we will see from the BIG-12 only 1 team inside the playoffs, likely the Champ. So, this win was important for that and to reach the Championship game in general.
#11 BYU 26 @ Cincinnati 14 -> Jacks TOP GAMES Score: 25-8
And some other interesting games:
Fri. Nov 21
Hawai'i @ UNLV
I had some hope for Hawai’i, but the team did just forgot their offense in the middle of the pacific. They lost 10:38 and did by that not really boost their profile. I think it’s obvious they are not championship caliber this season. UNLV might be, if they win their last game and have some luck.
Jacks interesting games Score: 22-9
Sat. Nov 22
Louisville @ SMU
Not much to say here.
SMU did dominate and Louisville is for sure not the team anymore they did show at the beginning of the season.
SMU won 38:6 and can hope for a championship spot.
Louisville lost now 3 in a row but is already bowl eligible anyway.
Jacks interesting games Score: 23-9
East Carolina @ UTSA
UTSA did have a great day and won, 58:24.
I think East Carolina will think about that beating for a long time, which did likely send them out of a championship game spot and gave UTSA a bowl spot.
Jacks interesting games Score: 24-9
That’s it for gameday 13.
Let's go to the conference standings after week 13, just one week shy of the final standings.
Please note, that the rankings are for the CFP-ranking.
American Athletic Conference
There are 3 teams left on the top with 1 loss each inside the conference.
North Texas, #24 Tulane and Navy.
UNT will play Temple, Tulane will play Charlotte and Navy will play Memphis.
So, all 3 can win, can lose or some will lose or win.
That opens up a lot of scenarios, including the worst-case scenario, when all lose, and the 2-loss teams will come into the mix also.
South Florida and East Carolina are right now in that group and they will play also teams outside that group.
According to some pages, the best chance to reach the title game have UNT and Tulane based on their record and tiebreaker rules. If they win, they will likely be the top 2 teams.
That would mean Navy needs one of those teams to lose to have a title shot.
And according to those pages, South Florida can never reach the title game, since it would lose the tiebreaker in any cases.
East Carolina seems to have an outsider chance, but they need all teams to lose.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Here also 3 teams are sitting on top with 1 loss each.
#18 Virginia, #21 SMU and #22 Pittsburgh.
Virginia plays rival Virginia Tech, SMU plays Cal and Pitt plays Miami (FL).
Right behind them are 3 teams with 2 losses now, #23 Georgia Tech, #12 Miami and Duke.
GT is done inside the conference; Miami plays Pitt and Duke plays Wake Forest.
According to the internet, best chances have Virgina and SMU with simply winning, Pitt needs to win and a loss by Virginia or SMU.
If the 2-loss teams come into play, the strength of schedule is taking into the account, which can only be determined after the gameday.
BIG10 Conference
Still #2 Indiana and #1 Ohio State are the teams to beat, being perfect so far.
Indiana plays Purdue, while Ohio State plays rival Michigan.
Behind them are 2 1-loss teams, #6 Oregon and #15 Michigan.
Oregon will play Washington and Michigan takes on OSU.
Here, all 4 teams still have a chance. A major key is of course the OSU/Michigan game. If Ohio State wins, it seems Indiana will play any way in the title game against OSU, because they won against Oregon before.
If Michigan wins, you can play all variations of the other 2 teams winning or losing and you get different setups for the title game and Michigan in not always in it!
BIG-12 Conference
The 2 1-loss-teams in the lead are #5 Texas Tech and #11 BYU.
TTU will play West Virginia, BYU will play UCF.
Next behind them are #13 Utah and #20 Arizona State with 2 losses each.
Utah play Kansas and ASU will play Arizona.
Of course, if TTU and BYU win, all is done.
Utah needs to win and a TTU loss, a BYU win AND an ASU win to get into a 3-team-tiebreaker they would win.
ASU needs a win and either a BYU loss or a pack of TTU AND Utah loss.
Conference USA
Now at the top of the CUSA are 3 teams with 1 loss each.
Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State and Western Kentucky.
Missouri State has now 2 losses and is the lone team with such, but ineligible for post-season activities, thanks to their FCS-to-FBS-transition.
That means, the top 2 spots will be set by those 3 teams at the top only.
And guess what, Jacksonville State will play WKU and Kennesaw State will play Liberty.
That means, the winner of Jacksonville State/WKU will get a spot for sure and then it depends on the other game.
If Kennesaw wins, they are in.
If they lose, they would still be in, if WKU loses. If WKU wins, Kennesaw would be out, and Jacksonville State would play a rematch for the title.
Mid-American Conference
Western Michigan is still ahead by having just 1 loss.
Behind them are Central Michigan, Ohio, Toledo and Miami (OH).
WMU plays EMU, CMU plays Toledo, Ohio plays Buffalo and Miami plays Ball State.
The easy part is, if WMU wins, they are in. And the loser of CMU/Toledo is out, which is also clear. The rest is a nightmare of tiebreaker scenarios.
We will see.
But best chance has WMU and actually Miami, if all favorites, all leading teams, except CMU, would win.
Mountain West Conference
The conference is led by San Diego State by 1-loss alone.
With 2 losses behind Boise State, New Mexico and ULNV
SDSU plays New Mexico, Boise State plays Utah State and UNLV plays Nevada.
The easy way would be, if SDSU, Boise and UNLV would win.
Then SDSU and Boise State would play in the title game.
All other stuff will result in a complicated tiebreaker scenario with crazy rules which might include College Football Playoff rankings and computer rankings.
Those rules were setup (I hope so) to have the highest ranked team in the title game and if that wins, to give that the best chance to actually get into the playoffs, which would mean money for the conference.
Yes, understandable, but still crazy.
Southeastern Conference
#3 Texas A&M is the only team left inside the SEC with a perfect record so far.
Behind them are #4 Georgia, #7 Ole Miss and #10 Alabama with 1 loss each.
Texas A&M will play Texas, Georgia is done with SEC-games, Ole Miss will play Mississippi State and Alabama will play Auburn.
If Texas A&M wins, they are in the title game.
If they lose, they are still in, if Ole Miss AND Alabama lose.
Alabama is in, if they win and out with a loss.
Georgia needs an Alabama loss or a Texas A&M loss.
And Ole Miss needs Alabama AND Texas A&M to lose.
Sun Belt Conference
The East is won by James Madison.
The West has Southern Miss and Troy ahead with 2 losses each.
And they play against each other, which means, the winner of the game will face James Madison for the title.
Bowl eligible teams
Last week, 9 more teams get a ticket to the bowls, potentially.
In total now there are 72 teams eligible.
Week 6: Memphis,
Week 7: Georgia Tech, Navy, Indiana, Ohio State, BYU, Texas Tech, UNLV, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
Week 8: Virginia, North Texas, South Florida, Tulane, Oregon, Cincinnati, Houston, Hawai’i, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, James Madison
Week 9: Louisville, Miami (FL), Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Washington, TCU, Utah, Western Kentucky, Boise State, San Diego State, Tennessee, Texas, Southern Miss, Troy
Week 10: SMU, Arizona State, USC, Minnesota, Illinois, Kennesaw State, Notre Dame, UConn, Fresno State, New Mexico, Old Dominion
Week 11: East Carolina, Wake Forest, Cal, Arizona, Iowa State, Jacksonville State, Ohio, Coastal Carolina
Week 12: Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Toledo, LSU
Week 13: UTSA, Duke, Clemson, NC State, Northwestern, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Miami (OH), Utah State.
Several teams are looking for their 6th win on that last gameday:
Army (they have 2 games left, with Navy-Army in 2 weeks), Temple, Rice, Florida State, Penn State, Rutgers, Kansas State, Baylor, Kansas, UCF, Buffalo, Washington State, Kentucky, Auburn, Mississippi State, Georgia Southern, Marshall, Appalachian State, Louisiana and Arkansas State.
So, plenty of drama left for the final gameday on that side.
That’s that for the overview.
Before we proceed to the preview section, a small note to the current brewing coaches hiring cascade, which will happen in the next few weeks.
The media has, likely rightfully, focused on the current HC of Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin. He is named for several high-profile openings, mainly for Florida and LSU.
As the business is working, he is very likely already sure, whether he will leave Ole Miss for one of those schools (or different one) or he will stay, but he is expected to announce that after the gameday, likely after the last game, which is on Friday.
But it could happen, if the team gets into the SEC Championship game and maybe beyond, that he will delay that announcement, which will create problems.
Because, once it’s know, what he will do, several other schools will know what is available and where.
We will see.
We can go now to the last gameday, which is traditionally RIVALRY WEEK!
And many of those games have this season big impacts on the conference standings and championship seatings.
I did s e l e c t only 6 games this year, since covering too many of those is just beyond my time available.
The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 13
Fri. Nov 28
#3 Texas A&M @ #16 Texas
This is likely the biggest game this weekend, even some might see of course the Iron Bowl (Alabama/Auburn) and/or The Game (Ohio State/Michigan) traditionally as bigger. But this year the impact and the level of strength of both teams in THIS matchup is bigger than any matchup.
And it’s a long-standing rivalry, which was only paused, when Texas A&M joined the SEC and Texas stayed in the BIG-12, until Texas did join the SEC also, last year.
Now the so called LONESTAR SHOWDOWN is on his way, again.
In short, Texas has a 2-game winning streak, if you want to count it that way, dating back to 2011!
Overall does Texas lead the series 77-35-5 and the series dates back to 1894.
This year a spot in the SEC Championship game is on the line, for Texas A&M, and a playoff spot is for Texas on the line, A&M is quite secure to get one anyway.
The math is clear for A&M, if they win, all dreams come true.
If they lose, it depends on Ole Miss and Alabama, whether they still play for a SEC championship or not.
For Texas the math is much clearer. If they win, they might rise in the ranks high enough to get a playoff spot, if they lose, for sure they are out.
The Aggies are favored by 2.5 points as unbeaten team coming in as guests, while the overall 8-3 Longhorns have to settle as underdog on their homefield.
I think, when you look at the betting line, it’s clear the people are not sure, what to expect here.
A&M was flawless this season, they come only close to a loss against Notre Dame (1-point win), Auburn (6-point win), Arkansas (3-point win) and South Carolina (1-point win), but overall, they won all of those.
Texas lost to Ohio State, Florida and Georgia, but all on the road.
Man, I don’t know either.
If Texas fields their top game, they are for sure hard to beat.
But they had on and off days, so it’s basically a lottery out there.
Motivation should be high, for both teams.
The coaches are also fine, even there might be little distraction on Texas side, for whatever reason. That HC had to declare he likes Texas, which is usually a statement you give, once the name pops up for other vacancies.
Will that disturb the process? I don’t know, likely not.
In doubt I give it to the home team, even I think it would be a big accomplishment for Texas to actually win this.
But the fact is, A&M did play not many top teams of the SEC and they had many close games, so at some point, your luck runs out.
Longhorns win.
Sat. Nov 29
#1 Ohio State @ #15 Michigan
It’s THE GAME, but for me, this season, it’s not the top game.
Right now, I have not a good feeling on both teams.
Let’s face the series, running since 1897, with Michigan leading 62-51-6.
Michigan won the last 4 games, including last season, when Ohio State did at the end win the National Championship.
And now, let’s face the current season.
Ohio State did play basically nobody so far, except Texas on day 1, which they won by a score in a low scoring game.
Since then, was the toughest team they did play ... well, which one? The ranked Illinois team? The no longer ranked Penn State team?
Michigan is by far the toughest opponent since day 1.
And we don’t know, how tough the Wolverine actually are, because they did also not play many tough teams.
They lost to Oklahoma, lost to USC, and believe it or not, since Oklahoma mid-September, no rankled team since then.
Sure, they are floating on the top level of the BIG10, they won many conference games, but are they really TOP level national wide?
We don’t know.
Ohio State is favored to win, by 9.5 points. On the road is that a statement. But sure, Ohio State is flawless, and Michigan lost twice so far. And likely the Buckeyes have the national championship preseason boost.
If you are ranked at the start of the season and never lose, who has the balls to say ‘na, they are strong, but not THAT strong, I rank them #10 or #20 or so?’ Nobody. This will be the test and if they win, they will be #1, at least until the BIG10 Championship game.
Do I believe in a Wolverines win?
Not really.
We might see a surprise, but overall did Ohio State at least look a bit stronger.
But in THE GAME, everything is possible.
Buckeyes win.
San Diego State @ New Mexico
Surprise!
I put one of the most important games from the Mountain West into the TOP3.
It’s not even a rivalry game!
And the impact is hard to predict, of not San Diego State wins.
But I liked the matchup, and I liked the opportunity to present something outside the power 4 conference bubble.
San Diego State is favored by just 1.5 points. Not much.
Their whole season was quite convincing, except the loss to Washington State (gameday 2) and Hawai’i. But both were on the road and might have explanations. Early in the season stuff might not be perfect in synch and that road trip to Hawai’i is always a grinder.
Here the trip is shorter, and the team is hopefully in shape.
New Mexico had a slightly worse season, losing to Michigan on day 1 and then on the road back-to-back against San Jose State and Boise State.
At home did the team win all games, but those were all against weaker teams.
Likely San Diego State is the toughest one coming to town this season.
I expect the Aztecs to win here, in a close game.
New Mexico is on a 5-game winning streak, but had some close games in that series against weaker teams, so I expect the Aztecs to exploit some weakness of the Lobos defense and grind this home.
Aztecs win.
And some other interesting games:
Fri. Nov 28
#4 Georgia @ #23 Georgia Tech
This is called CLEAN, OLD-FASHIONED HATE and is played since 1893, with Georgia leading by a mile in the series.
The last 7 games went all to the Bulldogs, but Georgia Tech has one of the best teams in recent years and Georgia, while for sure fielding a good team, is not on the same peak as in some years before.
Still the betting line is Georgia, -13.5.
The reality is, that Georgia Tech is just not on the same level as the Georgia and only human errors can bring this Bulldogs team down.
On the line is for Georgia eventually a playoff spot, we don’t know how deep they would fall in the rankings if they lose, and for GT, if they win, I think a playoff spot is still a wet dream and too far away, now.
But the win alone would be a great party at GT, for sure.
I personally think we will see a tough game, but a Georgia win.
Bulldogs win.
Sat. Nov 29
Western Kentucky @ Jacksonville State
The CUSA championship spots are on the line here.
The winner will have a sure spot in that game, the loser has to watch the Kennesaw game closely.
Being the guest is WKU favored by 2.5 points. Not much, but a bit surprising.
That loss by Jacksonville State last weekend did not fuel much confidence, as it seems.
I think, they will try their best at home and get this game under control.
But I might be wrong.
Gamecocks win.
Troy @ Southern Miss
And here we have the Sun Belt East division on the line.
The winner will win the division and will play James Madison for the Championship.
Can’t be better than that, right?
Despite the fact that Southern Miss did drop 2 games in a row to actually getting in this showdown situation, they are the favorite by 6.5 points.
That’s quite a lot.
Too much?
I don’t know. It seems the Sun Belt is quite gameday form driven and has no clear dominating team, which makes it hard to predict a game.
Does Southern Miss get their troubles solved?
Did Troy get their stuff together and get back on track after losing 2 in road 3 weeks ago?
I don’t know.
In doubt I pick the home team, and I will do it here.
Golden Eagles win.
'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE
Tags: Block of Granite, News
