College Football Takeover: Week 12 Down to the Wire We Go!

Dude...

It's coming down to the wire to see who is going to make it into the 4 team College Football Playoff. There is 9 teams still in contention to make it to the playoff. Now, some teams have way better chances at making it than others. Week 12 was a factor into these 9 teams considerations to making the playoff. How6rd and PC have taken their reactions to some of those teams and other in our latest takeaways!!!

How6rd’s Takeaways

Jordan Travis’ season comes to an unfortunate end, but not the end of FSU: If you, unfortunately, happened to see the injury that forced Florida State’s talented QB to leave the stadium in an ambulance then you are aware that it’s the end of Jordan Travis’ season. This is an awful way for the star in Tallahassee’s year to be done with as not only was he having another stellar season in what is his final year in college, but the Seminoles are also rolling this season and he was the main architect on the field for a squad that at least last week looked nearly completely safe to make it to the CFB playoffs. If there is a bright side to this takeaway meanwhile, the Seminoles stayed focused and looked sharp after the unfortunate happening as they scored 58 unanswered points as the backup QB Tate Rodemaker who never has started for FSU looked solid considering the situation. The defense also lit up the field and took over this game once Jordan Travis went off the field as it ignited a spark playing for their brother shutting down the team at hand afterward the rest of the game. Although it was an FCS opponent, the Seminoles had a difficult objective to rally and win the game after the elite QB got hurt and Rodemaker made many solid throws that show promise for him to at the very least push this team to victory over questionable defenses in Florida and Louisville to at least bring the ACC Championship home in honor of the main guy at FSU.

The Heisman race comes down to two: I still stand very close to my statement from last week in saying that the Heisman is in Jayden Daniels’ favor as it stands, but I’d be a fool to say that the season Bo Nix is having as well shouldn’t at least have him still well in the race. Jayden Daniels had yet another historic performance this past weekend totaling eight (!) touchdowns with six passing scores against Georgia State (yes they aren’t Power 5 and he stayed in late but going back to how he’s looked before this game it’s still stellar). Daniels has had a total of 1,115 yards and 13 touchdowns in the past two weeks alone and he is the only QB out of anybody at the position in any Heisman talk currently to face a top-10 schedule according to ESPN FPI (even though I don’t like ESPN it’s by an understandably wide margin too). Now let's not hand Daniels the trophy yet as my personal runner-up right now in Bo Nix has also had a remarkable season both statistically speaking and film-wise, as the Oregon QB has had good games all season long even in his lone loss to Washington and had six passing touchdowns against Arizona State in barely more than TWO quarters letting the country know that he’s very much still alive in this race. I believe that the rest of the field including once the favorite Michael Penix has fallen behind a lot in the race the past month compared to the two I mentioned above, but If Jayden Daniels has another dominant performance in his last college home game against Texas A&M it would take an unbelievable performance in the Pac 12 Championship for Bo Nix to have a shot in my opinion.

Michigan…Ohio State… here. we. go.: It’s safe to say the majority of the country has been looking forward to this matchup as both teams are at the top of the country, and without any major chaos happening in the final weeks leading up to New Year's Eve only one of these teams will most likely make the playoffs. After the controversy Michigan has gone through on the field in scheduling and off the field with the whole “sign stealing” scandal they still will be amongst the best teams going into this week and the favorites for the first time in five years. Ohio State has had its fair share of questions as well (not really off the field) as they’ve had close games against lackluster opponents and Kyle McCord has been arguably the worst starter at the college level in Columbus, Ohio in a long time. Meanwhile, both of these teams have incredible defenses and some solid skill position players both in the run and passing game along with both teams being capable of taking over the game in a matter of one play. Ohio State has been well-known for slow starts this season and with no Jim Harbaugh on the sidelines once again while he’s suspended who knows what could happen if Michigan ends up being on the losing side for once in a big game all season in this one. There is not only a lot of anticipation for this to go either way, but the stakes haven’t been this high in seven years and there’s no way that this game will be sunshine and rainbows between these two teams as arguably the best rivalry in college football almost certainly has EVERYTHING at stake.

PC’S Takeaways

Kansas never can beat the K-State Wildcats: 15 years I’ve been waiting for a KU win over their little brothers over in Manhattan, Kansas. 15 GOD DAMN YEARS!! The last time the Jayhawks beat the Wildcats was in 2008. I was 7!!! This year, seemed like the best year for this to become a reality. With third string QB, Cole Ballard at the helm, it seemed like a possibility. Ballard looked like a very competent backup QB in his first outing. In this matchup, he looked a lot more like a freshman than in week 1. He threw for 162 yards and 1 touchdown. However, he had 2 interceptions. The biggest issue for KU was the run game. The thing the Jayhawks had hung their hat on all season wasn’t there for them this week. Devin Neal did have 138 yards and 3 touchdowns. It seems like that was a great game, however, if you watched the game, the great runs were spread out over the whole game. It never seemed like the running game took over until the second half. Once the second half hit, it was back and forth. It seemed like Kansas would score, Will Howard and the K-State Wildcats would come back. With a 27-16 lead in the 3rd by the Jayhawks, the Jayhawks didn’t score for the rest of the game. Will Howard put together two outstanding drives to give them the lead. Ballard tried to answer back, but couldn’t find the endzone. Will Howard’s up and down career continues the long win streak the Wildcats have over the Wildcats. The Jayhawks look to end the regular season on a high note against Cincinnati this week, to give them momentum into the bowl game.

Washington or Oregon???- The Huskies and the Ducks have already given us an action packed game that went down to the wire. We saw the cool, calm, and collected Michael Penix Jr. free style rapping in a pivotal drive for the Ducks. We’ve seen Bo Nix blossom into the QB he was always meant to be after he left Oregon. Both QBs are candidates for the Heisman. Bo Nix coming off a 6 touchdown game and Michael Penix Jr. coming off a tough battle against #11 Oregon State. The Huskies are undefeated. The Ducks only with one loss to those Huskies. Each team has a big contest next week. Oregon faces rival Oregon State, who has been performing very well this season. Washington takes on a very good Washington State team. Will both teams come out on top? Washington has already secured its spot in the PAC-12 Championship. Will Oregon join them? If they can get past the pesky Beavers then we will get the rematch all college football fans are hoping for. Whoever wins that, will more than likely find themselves in the College Football Playoff. A lot rides on these two teams the next two weeks, which makes it a fun watch for any college football fan.