Winners and Losers from Week 12

If you wanted meaningful results, they were not difficult to find in Week 12 of the 2023 college football season.

Michigan and Ohio State both won and improved to 11-0, setting up a season-defining showdown next week. Louisville clinched its unexpected spot in the ACC Championship Game, and Washington did the same in its prime-time game at Oregon State.

There’s been plenty of news within the Group of Five, too.

During the week, #MACtion featured a second division winner. Then on Saturday, the AAC moved toward a dramatic final weekend as Appalachian State wrecked James Madison’s undefeated year.

And you know that’s simply the beginning of a busy week.

After watching Toledo seal a place in the MAC Championship Game last week, Miami finalized the matchup on Wednesday.

Behind a 23-10 win over Buffalo, the RedHawks secured the program’s first trip to Detroit since 2019 when it won the MAC. Rashad Amos scampered for 82 yards and two touchdowns in the victory.

Most impressively, 9-2 Miami has powered through losing quarterback Brett Gabbert to a season-ending leg injury—which happened against Toledo, by the way—a month ago. Since then, an already-stout defense has cranked up its performance and yielded only 26 points in three games. This week, Buffalo mustered 278 yards at just 4.6 per snap.

Miami will probably be the underdog in the rematch with Toledo, but a high-performing defense is always dangerous.

Six weeks ago, Miami lost to Georgia Tech because of a disastrous coaching breakdown and defensive collapse. Saturday, the Hurricanes found a different way to lose in eye-rolling fashion.

Louisville took a 38-31 edge on a late touchdown. Miami quickly put itself in scoring range thanks to a 48-yard pass, and the ‘Canes reached the 4-yard line for 1st-and-goal. The short version is UL’s defense won the battle, stuffing one carry and forcing three incompletions.

Despite the failed fourth down, Miami had a pair of timeouts left, Louisville backed up at the goal line and 1:29 to play.

The problem is a frustrated Jacolby George shoved a defender’s helmet after the fourth-down play, gifting 15 valuable yards to the Cardinals. Miami’s defense made a key three-and-out to force a punt—during which Brashard Smith pushed yet another Louisville player’s helmet. They cost their own offense 30 yards in a seven-point game.

No, the penalties didn’t decide the outcome. But it’s an embarrassing way for the ‘Canes to give away a potential comeback.

Louisville, on the other hand, deserves its own spotlight.

Entering the year, the Cardinals looked like a definite bowl contender, but with moderate upside at best. Instead, the victory at Miami means they’re heading to the ACC Championship Game.

Jack Plummer threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns, including a late 58-yard winning score to Kevin Coleman. Isaac Guerendo added 93 yards and one score on the ground, and Louisville’s feisty defense continued its excellent season with a clutch goal-line stand.

There was a little more drama; Miami’s Xavier Restrepo caught a deflected Hail Mary before getting tackled at the 5-yard line as time expired. Once he was down, the Cards breathed a sign of relief.

And kicked off a celebration, too.

Louisville, which is now 10-1, even has a chance to make the College Football Playoff. Yes, that would require wins against rival Kentucky and then Florida State for the ACC crown, presumably along with a few upsets in the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12.

But the fact we’re still having this conversation is a credit to Jeff Brohm engineering a rapid rise at his alma mater.

Michigan arrived with an opportunity to become the first program ever to record 1,000 all-time victories. In the fourth quarter, Maryland had three drives to prevent the Wolverines from hitting the milestone.

Those possessions didn’t go well.

Maryland picked up a first down on the initial drive, but a false start and a sack led to a punt. The next time out, a second sack preceded Taulia Tagovailoa’s interception on a desperate 3rd-and-18 downfield pass. On the third, the officials called intentional grounding on a pass Tagovailoa threw from the end zone—so it was a safety.

To recap, the Terrapins mustered a punt, pick and safety on their most impactful drives of the afternoon. Not great!

Michigan, meanwhile, improved to 11-0 and held up its side of the bargain for a showdown with Ohio State next weekend.

Yeah, yeah, we’re all excited for Michigan and Ohio State to hold undefeated records in a massive Big Ten game.

We need to talk about the American title race, too.

Friday night, UTSA quarterback Frank Harris accounted for 523 yards and six touchdowns in a 49-21 rout of South Florida. He propelled the Roadrunners to a perfect 7-0 conference record, which Tulane matched on Saturday in a 24-8 triumph over Florida Atlantic.

As if that’s not enough, SMU clipped Memphis 38-34 and also improved to 7-0 in AAC action.

Tulane hosts UTSA in Week 12, and Navy travels to SMU. The simplest scenario is that SMU beats Navy and faces the Tulane/UTSA winner. (If Navy wins, the tiebreakers are reasonably complicated and could ultimately hinge on next week’s College Football Playoff rankings.)

Oh, and the AAC champion will likely represent the Group of Five in a New Year’s Six bowl. No pressure, everyone!

It’s been an adventurous week for James Madison, I’d say.

A few days ago, the NCAA once again denied an appeal to grant a waiver for bowl eligibility. Then on Saturday, amid the mayhem of ESPN’s College GameDay and the Jonas Brothers coming to campus, the Dukes’ incredible season lost its perfection.

Appalachian State—because of course it was App State—went to JMU and pulled off a thrilling 26-23 overtime upset.

So long, undefeated record.

If there aren’t 82 bowl-eligible teams, James Madison can still appear in a postseason game. That has a good chance of happening, too. But the Dukes’ justified screams for more respect are a little quieter today.

Bo Nix is continually making it very difficult to not crown him as the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner.

Ever since the Ducks’ mid-October loss to Washington—and its star quarterback Michael Penix Jr.—Nix has absolutely dazzled. Penix remains a strong contender, but Nix’s production is getting absurd.

Oregon traveled to Arizona State this weekend. In the opening half alone, Nix completed 22-of-27 throws for 381 yards and six touchdowns.

I mean, come on.

Nix headed to the sideline after one drive in the third quarter, totaling 411 yards in the blowout win. Oregon is 10-1 and hosts Oregon State with a trip to the Pac-12 Championship Game at stake next weekend.

If that was it, well, yikes.

UCLA put an exclamation point on USC’s horrendous second-half slide, cruising to an emphatic 38-20 rivalry win. The margin accurately reflects just how much UCLA dominated the game.

Ethan Garbers threw for 155 yards and hit Hudson Habermehl for two of his three touchdown passes. TJ Harden piled up 142 yards and a score on the ground. The defense held USC to just three rushing yards, forced three turnovers and returned a fumble for a touchdown.

USC’s once-promising 6-0 regular season is over at 7-5.

Caleb Williams is potentially the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft, and top prospects have generally skipped bowl games recently. This might’ve been his final appearance for the Trojans, who ultimately wasted an extraordinary talent with an abysmal defense.

This phrase—the Aggies beat Auburn by 21 points—would likely not seem shocking. The problem is that Texas A&M already defeated Auburn by 17 points in September.

What a season for New Mexico State.

Diego Pavia passed for 201 yards and three touchdowns, while the running game sliced through Auburn for 213 yards at a remarkable 5.8 per attempt. Makhilyn Young punctuated the 31-10 upset with a late touchdown run in front of a stunned Jordan-Hare Stadium.

One week before a clash with archrival Alabama, this is certainly not what Auburn had in mind.

New Mexico State, though, hardly could have dreamed it up any better. After closing the regular season with Jacksonville State next week, the nine-win Aggies play at Liberty for the Conference USA crown.

Since the arrival of head coach Lance Leipold, the Jayhawks have snapped a number of disheartening streaks. But this pesky Sunflower Showdown is still haunting Kansas.

Make it 15 straight losses to rival Kansas State.

After taking a 20-16 halftime lead, KU quickly scored on the opening drive of the third quarter. From there, though, the Jayhawks gained only 15 yards on their next three possessions.

Worst of all, Cole Ballard—a third-string quarterback who played admirably, for the record—tossed an interception in the end zone while KU trailed 31-27 late in the fourth quarter. Kansas State successfully burnt the five-plus remaining minutes to seal the win.

KU fans could almost feel the relief and joy of a victory. But those hopes have to wait at least another year.

It wasn’t pretty, which has been the story for Washington lately. But so has leaving those ugly games as the winner.

Washington escaped Corvallis with a 22-20 victory over Oregon State despite not scoring in the second half. The defense held when it mattered most, and Michael Penix Jr. zipped a crucial third-down conversion to star receiver Rome Odunze to seal the win.

Sounds like a familiar script, huh?

Not only did UW move a step closer to the College Football Playoff, the Huskies formally sealed a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game. They’ll have a rematch with either Oregon or Arizona for the crown.

Washington must first defeat rival Washington State in next week’s Apple Cup to protect its best possible CFP resume.

We’ll have to settle for substantial mayhem, it appears.

Iowa State put together a fantastic defensive effort, holding Texas scoreless in the first quarter and to just six points at halftime. That’s exactly the kind of performance the Cyclones needed to spring an upset.

However, the ISU offense struggled to break through a stout Texas defense for nearly 40 minutes. Ultimately, the Longhorns took a hard-fought 26-16 game on the road and eliminated the hope of a delightful mess in the final weekend of the regular season.

Had the Cyclones won, five teams—ISU, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas—would’ve headed to Week 13 with two losses in conference play.

What a glorious disaster that could’ve been.

Instead, it’ll be one-loss Texas as a heavy favorite with two-loss challengers in K-State, OU and Oklahoma State likely fighting for a spot.