Power 5 Week 12 Recap: Culprits behind the mask
By: The Waco Kid
Some may say I have ridiculed the Big 10 and the Pac 12 for no reason and have overlooked top teams from these conferences based on a bias towards the SEC. Bias confirmed, not by me but by the play of these “top teams.” This past weekend two top 15 teams, one from each of these conferences, saw their playoff dreams evaporate into thin air like the silent expelling of gas that you only hope your friends do not get a whiff of. To make matters worse both teams lost to unranked and unproven opponents, which goes to show that as much as analysts want you in their top 10, you have to show up or shut up. These games reminded me of those old Scooby-Doo cartoons, you know the ones where the Mystery Gang would capture the bad guys and unmask them just to reveal it was an overrated character behind the atrocities. Well, Oregon and Northwestern showed their true identities this past weekend, and all they can say now is “We would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids and your Dawgs.” Shoutout to a Kirby Smart quality win.
There is so much to criticize but not enough time to get in all the jabs, so I will go ahead and begin with a pretty disappointing week in the Big 10. We saw three top 25 teams play, and three overwhelmingly underwhelming performances. Let’s start with the lesser of evils, the Indiana game. Coming off of a close-fought loss to #4 Ohio State, the Hoosiers were being looked upon as the next man up in the B1G. For a school that has never been known for football, this was an incredible feat. IU, however, disappointed in this one as they were never able to get quarterback Michael Penix Jr. zeroed into the game like they must do to win on a week to week basis. Penix Jr. threw for only 84 yards and no touchdowns. Unfortunately, Penix left the game in the third quarter due to what we now know is a season-ending ACL injury. Luckily, running back Stevie Scott III was able to rush for 3 touchdowns which was more than needed against a stalled-out Maryland offense. Terrapins’ quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa threw three interceptions to the Hoosier D which just about killed any hope of an upset. Indiana produced a 27-11 win because of a solid defense and a strong rush attack.
Then we have #24 Iowa Hawkeyes hosting the Nebraska Cornhuskers. It is hard to grasp what is going on with either of these programs because the B1G is just way too confusing this year. I mean the two things these teams have in common are a loss to Northwestern and a win over Penn State. My mind is blown. Should we have been concerned that the Huskers had only won one game this season, absolutely, but the teams the Hawkeyes have recorded wins over are by no means the cream of the crop or even in the same crop this year. This proved evident due to a close showing orchestrated by the top 25 Iowa team. The game was tied at 20 going into the fourth quarter but with the Hawkeye defense playing at a top tier level, two field goals were all that was needed to put this game away. Nebraska was sent home with a 26-20 loss, in hopes of turning things around next week against Purdue. Scott Frost will have to begin a turnaround or find himself back with the likes of UCF, Cincinnati, or BYU, having to self proclaim a national championship title.
Most importantly, the #8 Northwestern Wildcats were behind a top 10 mask, taking on Michigan State and the Sparty faithful. By the resume that the Spartans were providing this should have been a “wham bam thank you ma’am” kind of night for the Wildcats. But we are talking about the B1G so that was just not going to happen. MSU is not a good team which pains me to say because I would have loved to see an underdog in NW make the conference championship and shake things up. Unfortunately, Rocky Lombardi and State got the best of the Cinderella Wildcat team this past weekend. The Lansing loyal were able to see their offense put up 29 points behind the arm of Rocky VI and that was enough to hold off a team based purely on defensive production, not offensive. Any other year the #8 team in the country does not lose to a very poor Michigan State team, but again it is 2020, and no one knows what the future may hold. Sparty left this one as a 29-20 victor, removing the mask of the Wildcats and exposing them for the disappointment they are.
“And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for Rocky Lombardi!”
Oregon played the one meaningful game in the Pac 12 and managed to screw the pooch. This was a rivalry game so anything could go, but for a team that college analysts were trying to push into the College Football Playoffs, there was no love lost from the Oregon State team. Oregon showed up looking good behind quarterback Tyler Shough but his two turnovers killed the Ducks’ prospects at a playoff berth. OSU tore up the OU defense with running back Jermar Jefferson who rushed for 226 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Beavers finished the upset, 41-38. If the committee had any common sense they would read this blog and understand that over ranking a team based on what they can do financially will no longer be the choice of the people. Just take politics in 2020 for instance, no one wants to be monetarily sound, they want to be socially woke, that should be an obvious indicator. The problem is the Ducks wanted to be coddled and told they were the best. In reality they continued to be wiped ass to front and now have an infection that will be exploited by any decent opponent they may face. This game proved to be another Scooby-Doo culprit, Marco Cristobal has been exposed as a guy we all had hope in, but he turns out to be another villain.
The PAC-12 staff handling Oregon’s loss and their dashed playoff hopes extremely well.
The ACC welcomed back powerhouse Clemson to their “games being played this week” schedule for the weekend. The Tigers were slated to play the Pitt Panthers, and why they didn’t play that FSU game is beyond me. Trevor Lawrence came back just as sharp as ever and threw for over 400 yards and 2 touchdowns. With T. Law opening the air raid, Travis Etienne was able to rush for a mere 58 yards but 2 touchdowns. This was a game that fans only hoped Pitt would get out of, but they held their own, scoring 17 points against one of the top teams in the nation. 17 was obviously not enough to upset the 2020 national championship runner up but it was enough to get people interested in an unranked Pitt team. The Tigers ended this one 52-17.
The conference incumbent this year seems to be Notre Dame. Have they proven anything? Outside of a Trevor-less offense? No, but they continue to be ranked in the top 4 even though everyone knows the next time they face Clemson they will face an insatiable offense looking to put as many points as possible on the board, followed by an Irish defense that has nothing to offer. It is a week by week type of year and the Irish proved this week that they still deserve to be in the conversation. ND headed down to Chapel Hill to face off with Mack Brown’s North Carolina Tar Heels. This game had upset potential and was trending in that direction until running back Kyren Williams scored from the one and put the game away with a little over a minute left in the fourth quarter. Williams was the X factor in this one, rushing for 124 yards and two touchdowns against a porous Tar Heel defense. The Irish also shut down the best rushing duo in college football. Michael Carter and Javonte Williams could not get anything going ending the game with only 85 yards combined and keep in mind these are two guys that have been rushing for over 100 yards each in previous games. Those dirty little leprechauns outlasted Macky Mack’s squad and headed back to South Bend with a 31-17 victory.
Photo: Robert Willett, The News & Observer
Finally, the Big 12 had two competitions featuring top 25 teams. #23 Oklahoma State hosted the Texas Tech Raiders in what would turn out to be a classic Big 12 shootout. Tech came out with a balanced offense behind the passing attack of Alan Bowman and the ground game of Sarodorick Thompson. Bowman threw for 384 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception while Thompson gashed the Cowboy defense with 133 yards and 2 touchdowns. As impressive as these stat lines were it did not matter because OSU’s Dezmon Jackson taught a lesson on how to run the ball and unfortunately the Red Raiders served as the student. With Chuba Hubbard sidelined, Jackson ran for 235 yards and 3 touchdowns. Those are season statistics for many backs, not single-game numbers. Needless to say after an outing like that, Oklahoma State came away with the win, 50-44.
We talked about Scooby-Doo culprits earlier and the first few may have been a shock but the next one you should have seen coming from a country mile away. The #17 ranked Texas Longhorns also fell this week but at least they lost to another ranked team. I have been harping on the Big 12 all season and you may wonder why. The proof is in the pudding. Show me a team in the conference that has less than two losses and I will walk around Central Texas in a Longhorn T-shirt that I most definitely bought from a Walmart Black Friday sale. Embarrassing I know, but even more embarrassing is as much as the committee wants a Big 12 team at the top, they can in no way allow that to happen, hence me resting easy knowing I will not have to wear that stupid burnt orange. Polls can only serve as a lifeline to Tom Herman for so long before the Texas Exes dump their latest beau and create the newest soon-to-be-ex.
These Longhorns were once again led by the play of quarterback Sam Ehlinger. Honestly, without him on the team, Texas could be looking at a winless season. They are just not good. Yet, every year they have an insurmountable amount of hype surrounding them, it is almost as if they have a contract with a top channel that was supposed to be making money off of the success of their football program. Surely no one in their right mind would give a team, with one national championship in the past 50 years, a deal like that…Anyways, Ehlinger was the pass and run game accounting for 363 total yards and both touchdowns. Cameron “Dicker the Kicker” Dicker was responsible for the other 6 points but was ultimately the demise of the Longhorns. Down by 3 with a few seconds left in the 4th, Tom Herman sent out Cameron Dicker to attempt a 57-yard field goal. That is further than most NFL players nail kicks from, but still, Dicker had the strength just missed left by a few feet to lose the game 23-20. Still, the cannons were fired in celebration of the Texas win that never occurred, and the Horns made a mockery of The Battle of Gonzales' war flag and cry “Come and Take it”. No one can blame a collegiate kicker for missing a 57-yarder and on top of the two field goals he made earlier in the game, he was the Longhorn’s second-leading passer completing 1/1 for 5 yards. UT might as well have just dressed Ehlinger and Dicker for the game. Iowa State was not overly impressive in this game but they didn’t have to be because they were playing the Texas Longhorns.
Photo: Ricardo B. Brazziell, Austin American-Statesman
The Pac and Big 12 are OUT and the B1G may not have a representative in the Playoffs if Ohio State cannot play their last two games. Things are getting interesting and will only heat up in the approaching weeks. Will the ACC and SEC own the Playoff committee or is there a shot for any other conference to make their mark? Only time will tell, but I am sure there will be an answer soon.
See you on the couch next week.