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I hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving week as much as we did! In addition to a little traveling, a lot of eating, and some family fun, last weekend’s college football didn’t let us down, either!
Just when you thought that Ohio State was finally going to prove to the world that it was ready to be the top contender to Georgia, the Michigan Wolverines took the Buckeyes to the proverbial woodshed 42-27 with the help of 106,000 fans in the Big House Saturday. Ohio State lost its second game of the season and (let’s hope) is finally gone from the College Football Playoff chatter.
As for 11-1 Michigan, Coach Jim Harbaugh finally seized his first win over arch-rival Ohio State and moves into the Big Ten Conference championship game against surprising 10-2 Iowa. The Hawkeyes were the beneficiary of yet another surprise game as the 8-4 Golden Gophers of Minnesota shot down Wisconsin’s championship hopes by methodically downing the Badgers 23-13 Saturday.
It’s all in front of Michigan this Saturday (7PM Central on Fox). Before anyone hands the Big Ten crown to Michigan just yet, the “experts” were saying last week to expect an Ohio State vs. Wisconsin Big Ten championship game. Will the Iowa Hawkeyes play spoiler and burst Michigan’s bubble at the worst possible time?
Then there’s Alabama. Though the oddsmakers figured that one-loss Bama should make mince meat pie of arch-rival 6-5 Auburn, the three-touchdown favorites from Tuscaloosa had to fight for their proverbial lives on Saturday against this year’s home team in the Iron Bowl.
Auburn was the aggressor for about 58 minutes of the sixty minutes of regulation time on Saturday on the Plains. Unfortunately for Auburn fans, Alabama (like wrestling’s Undertaker) found a way to climb-up off the mat, tie the game in the final two minutes of play with a 97-yard drive and eventually pinned Auburn in quadruple overtime 24-22. The finish of this game even had Alabama head coach Nick Saban smiling (yes, I said smiling) as nearly everyone in the stadium and watching at home had thought his team was about to lose their second game of the season and drop out of playoff contention.
The Crimson Tide’s next task is now right in front of them. By winning the tough SEC West, Alabama has earned the chance to play SEC East champion #1 Georgia. With a win, Bama will earn a spot in the four-team college football semifinal rounds. 12-0 Georgia breezed through its regular season schedule and is licking its chops for a chance to take down last year’s national champs. Bama and Georgia will kick-off at 3PM Saturday on CBS.
They call the annual sports battles between the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University the “Bedlam” series. Like Auburn and Alabama, games between these two intrastate public schools are quite highly charged for bragging rights within the state. Recent football games between OU and OSU have produced some high scoring photo-finish thrillers.
Last Saturday night in Stillwater, both teams entered Boone Pickens Stadium at Oklahoma State with identical 10-1 records and seeking to work their way into the four-team College Football Playoffs. Oklahoma grabbed the lead early in the second half, but Oklahoma State’s defense clamped down enough to preserve a 37-33 victory. Okie State (11-1) will now play 10-2 Baylor for the Big 12 Championship (11AM Saturday on ABC). With a win, there’s a decent chance that the Cowboys might sneak into the playoffs, but Baylor will be seeking to extract a little revenge from an earlier loss to OSU.
Don’t forget about that certain 12-0 “underdog” team named Cincinnati which is trying to claw its way into college football’s final four. The Bearcats have earned the right to host the University of Houston on Saturday afternoon in the American Athletic Conference championship game (3PM Saturday on ABC). Cincinnati is trying to become the first “non-Power 5” conference team to be selected for the College Football Playoffs. They are America’s underdog!
The 11-1 Houston Cougars’ only blemish came in their first game of the season (Texas Tech). The Coogs are now on an 11-game winning streak. Houston features a solid passing game and fantastic freshman running back named Alton McCaskill looking like a future Heisman trophy candidate already. Cincy will need to score enough points and hope to slow down the 40 points per game scoring average of Houston. If Cincinnati wins Saturday afternoon, they are nearly a “lock” to make the College Football Playoffs.
This weekend will also feature several other conference championship games:
Get your chores done early on Saturday, prime the popcorn popper, and enjoy a great day of college football!
Now, it’s time to reveal this week’s SwampSwami.com College Football Top 25 rankings for the week ending Saturday, November 27, 2021:
