Greetings, fellow travelers!
We’re rapidly moving into the time of the year where it’s crossover season for those of us who are big-J journalists (ha!), holiday time (love your family, people — you only get one), and playoff and bowl time. For all zero of you who read my live blog during the playoff and bowl announcements, I’m not sure of my ability to be here for that this year. Ah, the sounds of hearts breaking from miles away. We’ll try to carry on.
As we near the finish line for this year’s edition of this here feature, we kind of have a formula. We look back at the week prior, look ahead to the next week, and tell a bunch of groan-worthy jokes in between. Y’all ready? Let’s do just that.
- Death, taxes, and Miami losing a dumb game it should not lose. The ‘Canes rolled into Atlanta last week and rolled out holding an L, as Georgia Tech scored a tuddy (please, stop using that word) per quarter in a 28-23 decision. Haynes King threw just six times — completing all six — for a score, but his 20 carries for 93 yards and another score helped tell the tale. The Jackets have already locked down one of those coveted bowl spots, and while Miami has also done so, things are much more dicey for the U. SMU and Clemson have both overtaken Miami in the league standings — quick, who had that one at the start of the season? — and Clemson’s lone remaining ACC contest is at Pitt this Saturday.
- Kansas got its biggest hit since Steve Walsh — oh look, a joke for the olds! — in a 45-36 win over Iowa State. Kansas still needs to run the table to become bowl-eligible, but this was a nice sign of life in an otherwise-lost season for the Jayhawks. The Cyclones scored 16 points in the final stanza, but those points were not enough to recover from the early Jayhawk onslaught. Iowa State now falls into the pile of tied-for-third flotsam in the Big 12 following successive losses.
- Georgia tumbled — again — in a 28-10 tail-kicking (the words of a Georgia fan on Twitter, not mine) in Oxford. Part of the reason I’ve grown to despise the expanded playoff is that a team like Georgia — sorry to the wonderful bloke who runs this place and has inexplicably employed me for well over a decade — is still in the likely group to make said playoff. It’s gone from a highly-anticipated event to a shoulder-shrugging cash grab — even with campus sites hosting some of the games.
- Kennesaw State fired Brian Bohannon, then tried to claim that he “stepped down” after the reaction from anyone who knows anything was predictably and wildly negative. Sure, the Owls have been mostly dreadful this season, but firing a guy who built the program and was 40 games over .500 before this season is just asinine. Their ascension to FBS this season and the subsequent fallout was akin to the administration shoving Bohannon into traffic, then pointing at him as if to blame him when he was hit by a car. Much of the team has announced this week it will transfer.
- Neither big FCS game was close. South Dakota State walloped North Dakota, 38-7, while UC Davis went into Washington-Grizzly Stadium and took down Montana, 30-14. The FCS playoff picture is rounding into shape a bit — and by that, I mean that many of the same players have already locked up their postseason invitations.
And now for what I’m watching this week. Again, please know that I know that there are big games on the docket this weekend. You can hear and read about those anywhere. I’d rather take the more scenic route. Let’s take a peek into my addled mind for Week 12’s action.
- #25 Tulane(8-2, 6-0 AAC, -7) at Navy (7-1, 5-1), noon, ESPN2: This is arguably the non-power game of the week, and there are serious implications in this one. The Green Wave are in position to win the league outright — potentially — if they can hold down their current spot, while Navy wants to potentially set themselves up for Army-Navy having even more significance than it usually holds. Tulane are third in the AAC in rush defense, surrendering 114 yards a game. This lends a bit of an irresistible force/immovable object feel, as the Mids are fifth in the land on the ground at 259.11 yards per tilt.
- Sam Houston(7-2, 4-1 CUSA, -16) at Kennesaw State (1-8, 1-4), 3pm, ESPN+: Okay, to be fair, I’ll likely not linger long on this game. There are, though, reasons to watch. For the Bearkats, they are currently a game off the first-place pace in the league behind Western Kentucky and Jacksonville State, so they need a win to stay in the running. We’ve outlined the reason to watch for Kennesaw. Will the Owls play angry after the coaching shakeup, or will they take it to the house?
- Arizona State (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) at #16 Kansas State (7-2, 4-2, -7.5), 7pm, ESPN: I mentioned the third-place tie flotsam in the Big 12, and the Sun Devils and Wildcats are among that group. Kenny Dillingham’s Devils are an intriguing group, as ASU was probably not on a lot of boards to be 7-2 at this point. The Wildcats and Devils are fourth and fifth in the Big 12 in team defense, falling to sixth and tenth in team offense. This game screams as if it should come down to a late possession.
- #2 Montana State (10-0, 6-0 Big Sky) at #4 UC Davis (9-1, 6-0), 8pm, ESPN+: The Big Sky will mostly be decided Saturday night at UC Davis Health Stadium in the shadow of I-80. The Bobcats come in fresh off a 49-7 throttling of Sacramento State, while we’ve already mentioned Davis’ 30-14 decision at Montana. The Big Sky has had a bit of a down year in 2024 — odd to say for a league that routinely places a handful of teams in the playoffs — but the winner of this one all but locks up a spot in the top four when the playoff bracket is announced.
* All times Eastern. At no point should any part of this feature be construed as gambling advice. Please play responsibly and source any guidance elsewhere.
Our time for the week has drawn to a close. As your team readies for the playoffs — or the portal and 2025-26 — I hope you enjoy your college football weekend. Crack a beverage — don’t drive if you do, please — deep-fry a turkey, or whatever you love, surrounded by those you love.
Until we meet again, friends…