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In the business world, it’s called a “market correction.” In college football, it’s simply referred to as chaos.
That’s what we got in Week 13.
Indiana finally got exposed. The Big 12’s frontrunners aren’t in Kansas anymore. Or at least they wish they weren’t. And the SEC, the mighty SEC, suddenly can’t get out of its own way.
Because Miami and SMU managed to avoid the carnage that claimed 7 of the top 19 teams in last week’s College Football Playoff rankings, the ACC suddenly finds itself in a much more advantageous position than it was when the weekend began,
Suddenly, the narrative has changed from the ACC being a 1-bid league to the growing possibility that it could get as many as 3 teams in the 12-team field.
But let’s pump the brakes on that idea for the time being.
Just because the voters on the AP poll have produced their own market correction by finally moving the Mustangs into the top 10 and Clemson within realistic Playoff contention at No. 12, there’s no guarantee the Playoff Committee will follow suit.
Given the Committee’s history with the ACC, it’s almost a certainty that it won’t.
That’s only 1 of the 10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after Week 13 in and around the ACC.
10. At least they made history
Florida State finally found a team it can beat. Never mind that it was a 1-10 FCS team. A win is a win. Especially when you’ve only won once in your first 10 games. Saturday’s 41-7 win against Charleston Southern marked the first time this season the Seminoles have scored more than 21 points and gained more than 300 yards in a game.
So it had to feel good.
But the rare victory was a small consolation for Mike Norvell’s team, which still managed to make some unwanted history even though it has already completed its ACC schedule. Thanks to Cal’s win against rival Stanford, FSU is guaranteed of going from first to worst and becoming the first team in conference history to finish in sole possession of 17th place.
It’s also the first time the Seminoles have finished in last place in their conference.
9. Maybe it doesn’t mean more. But it sure means a lot
The SEC likes to say that “It just means more” in their conference.
It makes for a nice slogan.
But nothing anyone says or does can tell me that college football means any more to anyone than it did for Fernando Mendoza and his Cal teammates after rallying from a 21-7 deficit with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter to beat rival Stanford, win The Big Game and retain possession of the Stanford Axe for the 4th consecutive year.
The full Fernando Mendoza post game interview after defeating Stanford
I'm not crying, you are#CALGORITHM #GOBEARS pic.twitter.com/5EPIiq7uwM
— c (@calgoldnbears) November 23, 2024
This, my friends, is what makes college football so great. And why money-driven realignment that does away with traditional rivalries like this isn’t just silly.
It’s bad for the game.
8. Winner take all
There will be a lot more on the line than just the Commonwealth Cup when Virginia Tech and Virginia meet in their annual rivalry game next Saturday in Blacksburg.
With both teams sitting on 5 victories, it’s a winner-take-all affair in which one team will head to a bowl and the other team will head home for the season. And adding to the stakes, there’s a good chance that the losing coach will be out of a job.
After seemingly taking himself off the hot seat by getting off to a 4-1 start, the temperature has been turned back up on the Cavaliers’ Tony Elliott after losing 5 of the past 6 games. With the only win, against Pitt, losing its luster with each passing week thanks to the Panthers’ own late-season collapse.
As for the Hokies’ Brent Pry, calls for his job have intensified as his disappointing team falls farther off its lofty preseason expectations. Saturday’s 31-28 loss at Duke dropped his overall record in 3 seasons to 15-20, including a dismal 1-12 mark in games decided by a touchdown or less.
7. Doing Dabo a solid
Dabo Swinney’s loyalty to his players and staff is legendary. Apparently, faithfulness goes both ways.
Clemson’s chances of sneaking into the Playoff is still a long shot. But they’re more realistic now, after Oklahoma, coached by Swinney’s former defensive coordinator Brent Venables, upset Alabama.
The Tigers’ path to the Playoff – either as an at-large selection or conference champion – could have gotten even wider had former Swinney offensive coordinator Elliott found a way to lead UVa to a win against SMU.
But there was only so much he could do with what he’s got to work with.
6. Props for The Manny
Mike Elko’s decision to leave Duke for Texas A&M last December, in the middle of the night, only days after telling athletic director Nina King that he planned on staying, was the source of some hard feelings among the Blue Devil faithful. And it created doubt as to whether the program could continue the positive momentum it gained in the 2 seasons Elko was coach.
Especially after so many of his key players entered the transfer portal. But things have worked out just fine for Duke under new coach Manny Diaz.
He rallied the players that were left behind. He bolstered the roster with some solid portal pickups of his own, including franchise quarterback Maalik Murphy from Texas. And with Saturday night’s 31-28 win against Virginia Tech that improved them to 8-3, Diaz’s Blue Devils surpassed the win total achieved by Elko’s Blue Devils last season.
A victory in next week’s regular-season finale at Wake Forest would match Elko’s 9-win debut in 2022 and keep Duke in position to tie the school record set in 2013 and reach the 10-win mark for only the second time.
Had the Blue Devils been able to score at least once on those 6 turnovers they forced against SMU on Oct. 26, they’d already be ranked. With a record and schedule comparable to current No. 25 Illinois, maybe they should be.
5. Mack’s bad timing
On Wednesday, with North Carolina riding high on a 3-game winning streak that clinched bowl eligibility and poised for a remarkable turnaround, Mack Brown announced during a SiriusXM radio interview that he intends to return and coach again in 2025.
Three days later, his Tar Heels celebrated the news by laying an egg at Boston College.
The 41-21 rout, in which UNC seemingly forgot ACC-leading rusher Omarion Hampton made the trip by running him only 11 times on the way to being outgained 422-212, wasn’t nearly as bad as the thumping it took against James Madison earlier this season.
But in this case, the timing couldn’t be worse.
Because while the 73-year-old Hall of Fame coach might want to return for another season in 2025, there’s a good chance that athletic director Bubba Cunningham and the folks who sign the checks might not be so eager to have him back.
Especially if he loses to rival NC State for the 4th straight year on Saturday.
4. Aaron is a home run in ATL
Haynes King has been one of the primary catalysts for Georgia Tech’s improvement under Brent Key. And when healthy, he’s still one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country. The problem is, he’s not healthy right now. He’s got a shoulder injury that has turned him into a 1-dimensional runner.
He was able to use that ability, along with the element of surprise, to engineer an upset of Miami. But given time to scout and prepare, NC State was ready for him on Thursday. King averaged a paltry 2.8 yards on his 8 carries while completing all 3 of his passes for just 7 yards. His ineffectiveness left it up to true freshman Aaron Philo to take the reins and lead the team.
He responded by throwing for 265 yards and showing off both his poise and running ability in driving the Yellow Jackets 75 yards in the final 90 seconds for the winning touchdown. Philo is a former 3-star recruit who broke a Georgia state high school record for career passing yards previously held by Trevor Lawrence. And with King at significantly less than full speed, he’s no longer Tech’s quarterback of the future.
To give the Yellow Jackets their best shot at upsetting Georgia on Saturday, Key should keep his King on the sideline and go for a home run by turning the offense to his heir apparent.
Who better to hit the long ball in Atlanta than a guy named Aaron?
3. Targeting or not targeting? That depends
The ACC’s interpretation of targeting gets cloudier every week. It’s gotten so arbitrary that ESPN’s David Hale suggests the folks in the league’s command center are using a Magic 8-Ball to decide whether targeting calls should be upheld or overruled.
It sure seemed like it Thursday night.
If there was ever a classic example of what targeting is supposed to be, Georgia Tech’s Kyle Efford did it early in the fourth quarter at the end of a 13-yard run by NC State’s Kendrick Raphael. Somehow, though, the control center overruled the call and determined that the hit was legal.
How do you miss this as an official? What’s the recourse for being terrible at your job? pic.twitter.com/MQ1vaSGHFV
— Red White ACC Champion Pod (@RedWhitePodcast) November 22, 2024
The decision didn’t have any impact on the outcome of the game. The Wolfpack scored a touchdown 4 plays later. But it could have a profound impact on the next game Tech plays.
Efford is the Yellow Jackets’ leading tackler and the unquestioned leader of their defense. Had the targeting call stood, he would have been ejected and forced to sit out the first half of this week’s rivalry showdown against Georgia.
Tech is going to have a hard enough time beating the Bulldogs with Efford. The odds would be even greater with him standing on the sidelines watching for the first 30 minutes. It’s reasonable to speculate whether the call would have stood had a less impactful player than Efford been flagged for targeting.
Conspiracy theory?
Maybe.
But if you believe that the league was protecting Miami’s Playoff chances by overruling a pivotal targeting call on the Hurricanes’ Wesley Bissainthe against Cal earlier this season, you should be just as skeptical of this reversal. Because a Yellow Jackets win against UGA would greatly enhance the ACC’s chances of getting multiple teams in the bracket.
2. Hey, we were here first!
Imagine getting to a restaurant, being seated at a table and then watching as everyone else in the room is served, including the party that walked in long after you did, while you’re still waiting for the waiter to take your order.
That’s how NC State must feel about SMU earning a spot in the ACC Championship Game in its first season in the league.
The Wolfpack haven’t won a conference title since 1979 and is 1 of only 2 current members – Syracuse being the other – to have never been to the championship game since it came into existence in 2005. In the Wolfpack’s defense, they were stuck in the Atlantic Division with Clemson and a still-elite Florida State for most of the championship game era. And SMU did get some scheduling luck by avoiding Miami and Clemson and catching the Seminoles in a historically bad season.
But regardless of the schedule, you have to win the games in front of you. The Mustangs have. NC State are still waiting.
1. Let the lobbying begin
Social media began spiking the football on the SEC even before the final seconds of Alabama’s lopsided loss to Oklahoma ticked off the clock Saturday night. The dancing on the league’s Playoff grave became even more joyous once Auburn took down Texas A&M in the 4th overtime later in the evening.
It’s a celebration that was richly deserved, fueled by the SEC’s incessant flexing.
But it’s also premature. To paraphrase Mark Twain, rumors of the league’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Truth be told, the SEC stands a better chance of getting multiple 3-loss teams into the Playoff bracket than the ACC has of getting 3 teams, period.
The lobbying effort has already begun.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich got the ball rolling Sunday. And that’s just the prelude to the fullcourt press Paul Finebaum and others affiliated with the SEC’s publicity arm in Bristol, Conn., will undoubtedly put on over the next 2 weeks. That’s the power of having your own dedicated television network with leadership that knows how to use it effectively to use it.
Something the folks at ACC Network have yet to figure out.
According to a graphic posted by ESPN’s SportsCenter social media account, Alabama still has a 23% chance of getting into the Playoff despite its 21-point debacle in Norman. That’s 23% more than any 3-loss team in any other conference would have.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
