There’s turkey on the table. There’s crazy sales in the shops. This weeks matchups have such great names as the “Egg Bowl”, “The Apple Cup”, and “Clean, Old Fashioned Hate”. It can only mean one thing.
It’s Rivalry Week in College Football. Let’s go!
Ole Miss Scrambled by State in the Egg Bowl
There was absolutely no love lost between Ole Miss and Mississippi State as they went at it in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Thursday night.
State’s quarterback Nick Fitzgerald found revenge comes in the form of victory. One year on from a career threatening injury in the fixture, he lead his Bulldogs to a 35-3 win.
Fitzgerald contributed three touchdowns to add to Kylin Hill’s 6 yard touchdown run. Mississippi State held a 28-3 lead by the end of the third quarter.
All of this was over shadowed by what came next.
Fight!
Ole Miss’ highly rated receiver AJ Brown appeared to score a touchdown to make it 28-10. A WILD brawl ensued with pretty much all players involved. Punches were thrown. Four players were ejected and all players issued with an unsportsmanlike behaviour penalty.
For Fitzgerald, not even the brawl could sour his evening:
“It feels amazing to know that the people who kind of caused it, you get to go in to their house, you get to dominate them on their field in front of their fans”
Murray and Oklahoma overcome Grier’s Mountaineers
When two quarterbacks who are leading contenders for the Heisman go head to head on a Friday night you know you are in for a treat.
This game did not disappoint.
Will Grier threw for over 500 yards and 4 touchdowns. However, West Virginia couldn’t keep pace with the scorching Sooners who ran out 59-56 winners to book their seat at the Big 12 Championship table for the fourth straight year.
Despite Kyler Murray’s 4 touchdowns and Kennedy Brooks 182 yards on the ground, the difference maker for Oklahoma was their much maligned defence.
Turning Point
The game went back and forth on the scoreboard with touchdown and counter touchdown.
Caleb Kelly’s 10 yard fumble return for a touchdown gave the Sooners a 35-21 lead with 3 minutes left in the second quarter.
Touchdowns either side of the half got the Mountaineers back level, and the lead continued to see-saw between the two until a Curtis Bolton 48 yard fumble return put Oklahoma 59-49 ahead.
A Martel Pettaway 17 yard rushing touchdown made it a one score game at 59-56. However, the Sooners recovered the onside kick attempt to end the game.
The win sets Oklahoma up for a Red River Rivalry re-run against Texas in the Big 12 Championship game after the Longhorns secured their ticket to the dance with a nervy win at Kansas.
It also puts them firmly in the College Football Playoff conversation.
Washington All White as Huskies Plow Through Cougars
Number 8 Washington State came in to the Apple Cup matchup looking to make it to the PAC-12 Championship Game.
For the third straight year those hopes were trampled on by the Washington Huskies, and specifically Myles Gaskin, as the purple and gold took home the Apple Cup for the sixth straight year.
The swirling wind and snow really grounded the Cougars air raid offence. Gardner Minshew could only manage 152 yards and threw two interceptions.
Miles Gaskin plowed through the snow for 170 yards and three touchdowns as the Huskies ran out 28-15 winners in a game they never went behind in.
The Washington players threw snow balls and made snow angels in celebration as they advance to the PAC-12 game against Utah next Friday night.
Championship Matchups Set
We already knew going in to this week that Alabama and Georgia would contest the SEC Championship game.
Clemson and Pitt were already set to do battle in the ACC Championship.
As discussed earlier, The Red River Rivalry will form the Big 12 Championship. Washington’s win in the Apple Cup sets them up against Utah for the PAC-12 Championship.
Ohio State’s defeat of Michigan, which you can read about in Alex Chinery’s review, gives the Buckeyes a ticket to the Big 10 Championship against Northwestern.
The Ragin’ Cajun’s of Louisiana-Lafayette set up a Sun Belt Championship date with Appalachian State after beating UL Monroe 31-28 in a tight fought affair.
After shocking Ed Oliver’s Houston with a fourth quarter runaway win 52-31, Memphis will take on UCF in the American Championship game.
UAB lost to Mid-Tennessee 27-3 this week. They go head to head in the Conference USA Championship game next week.
Finally, Boise State and Fresno State will matchup for the Mountain West Championship Game.
You to me are perfect
Back in October, I wrote a piece on the eleven remaining perfect teams in the league. Wins for Clemson (56-35 vs South Carolina), Notre Dame (24-17 @ USC), Alabama (52-21 vs Auburn) and UCF (38-10 @ USF) ensure they are the only four teams to end the regular season undefeated.
UCF are now 24 games unbeaten as they continue to push for a claim for playoff inclusion. Their win came at a cost on Friday night. Quarterback McKenzie Milton suffered a horrendous knee injury which required emergency surgery. Not only is he a talented quarterback, he seems like a genuinely nice lad. All at ninetynineyards.com wish him well in his recovery.
FREE FOOTBALL!!!
I finish this weeks review at Kyle Field, Texas where the WILDEST of wild games finally came to a close some five hours after it started.
LSU came in to the game against Texas A & M with one of the most heralded defences in the league. They left with the unwanted record of most points allowed by a ranked team.
It was a night of records as the combined 146 points set a new FBS record and is the second most in College Football history.
The seven overtime periods was a first for a game involving a ranked team.
Texas A & M’s Kellen Mond threw for SIX touchdowns. Jake Burrows for LSU had six of his own.
However, it was Burrows who missed a key two point attempt in the seventh period of overtime. Mond converted his own attempt to give the Aggies a 74-72 win.
With that, Week 13 is in the books. For some, the season is over. Championship Games loom for others. For four, the College Football Playoffs are calling. Keep it here for all the news and reviews.
photo credit: AOL.com