College football Saturday, Week 12: Down goes Stanford, Auburn survives

Saturday night, South Carolina fans were counting on two things happening in order to keep their chances of reaching the SEC title game intact. One was a victory over the Florida. The other was Auburn beating Georgia, which due to [complicated SEC East standings] would ensure Missouri must finish perfect in order to take the division. Both of those happened.

Before or after The Play arrived in Auburn (since there’s a debate as to whether action was beamed live to Columbia or slightly delayed), South Carolina’s own game was put on hold to watch the Dawgs fall.

When a game ends like this...

...we should keep talking about it for a while. So let’s do that.

Georgia’s coaches are all dead. This is the good news for them after Auburn catches a Hail Mary that two Georgia players lovingly put on a platter for the Tigers.

If they were not dead — and they are dead — they would have to put up with Georgia fans, at least those who are not dead. Which most of them are. The embattled post-apocalyptic survivors are slightly pissed off. And mutants. But mostly pissed off.

Last Week: 19-for-21, 277 passing yards, two TDs; defeated Syracuse, 59-3

2013 Season: 185-for-261, 2,938 passing yards, 28 TDs, seven INTs; 145 rushing yards, three TDs

Jameis Winston rebounded from his quietest week of the season by silencing anyone who thought TMZ headlines were going to rattle him, dicing up Syracuse’s defense like he did Pittsburgh’s in his national debut. Winston’s two incompletions in this game, much like his two against Pitt, included one drop. His play is unimpeachable.

But it’s going to be hard to discuss Winston for the rest of the season without talking about the Tallahassee sexual assault complaint that involves an investigation into him. Though he hasn’t been charged or even suspected of any crime, he’s not yet cleared.

Days between conference wins for Kansas. (And if we’re talking about current conference mates only, it’s 1,498 days.)

On November 6, 2010, Turner Gill’s Jayhawks ripped off one of the most random, dramatic comebacks in recent history, scoring 35 points in the fourth quarter to turn a 45-17 deficit against Colorado into a 52-45 win. James Sims, then a freshman, rushed for 123 yards and scored three of KU’s five final-stanza touchdowns. Almost three years later to the day, Sims rushed for 211 yards and three touchdowns in a jarring 31-19 win over West Virginia. It was just the second win for the Jayhawks in 20 games vs. FBS teams in the Charlie Weis era, but you know what? When you go that long between conference wins, I can’t even make fun of you for tearing down the goalposts after a win against an awful team.

• Why that was the year’s best college football weekend

• New BCS standings: Baylor stalking Ohio State

The Red Raiders’ season has taken a dark turn, but Seth C at Viva the Matadors told fans not to lose hope just yet.

Texas Tech looked upset-minded early in the game, scoring two straight touchdowns to jump out to a 14-0 lead. Baylor responded, and the two teams ended up trading three touchdowns apiece in the first quarter. Due to a missed extra-point attempt, Baylor held the 21-20 lead, but the margin would grow exponentially from that point on.

It’s not that crazy things happened, though my goodness, did crazy things happen. It’s that they happened when they happened, where they happened.

But they happened in the closing seconds of games that mattered. Worton’s catch helped to bail UCF out of an embarrassing, humbling loss that would have put the Knights’ conference title hopes on shakier ground. And Auburn’s Ricardo Louis didn’t just catch the aforementioned bomb. He didn’t just recreate one of college football’s most famous endings (sans the Gatorade bath). He did so in the 117th iteration of a celebrated rivalry; he did it in a game so important that it might end up deciding both divisions of the SEC.

The BCS has a way of working itself out. In Week 12, it was Stanford’s turn to play themselves out of the national championship picture with a heartbreaking loss to USC. Alabama, Florida State and Ohio State all held strong at the top, while Baylor and Oregon both moved up a spot to round out the top five.

This week’s slate of games could really shake things up once again. After Baylor knocked off Texas Tech over the weekend, some thought the Bears might leapfrog Ohio State for the No. 3 spot. That didn’t happen, as they moved up to just .001 points behind tOSU. But if the Bears are able to go on the road and beat No. 10 Oklahoma State on Saturday, that jump will be hard to avoid..

With the current BCS system, you have to win, and win big, if you want to be in the national title game. Such is the issue for the Ohio State Buckeyes, who are expected to seemingly beat every opponent by 60 points or more if they are to remain in the title hunt. Ohio State did fine in a 60-35 win over Illinois, but it wasn’t enough in the eyes of the AP voters, who bumped Baylor above the Buckeyes.

Ted Glover at Land-Grant Holy Land refused to get bogged down into the complexities of BCS implications, and instead chose to celebrate the Buckeyes’ recent success.

USC upset No. 4 Stanford this past week, defeating the visiting Cardinal on College Gameday 20-17 on a last-minute field goal by Andre Heidari. The athletic department posted a behind-the-scenes video of the win, and it’s great if you want to either relive the victory, experience a taste of football on the sidelines and in the locker room, or just get really fired up by a man speaking in a thick Cajun accent.

The video starts with USC’s pre-game, goes through the game itself and ends on interim head Coach Ed Orgeron’s post-game speech after the huge victory.

With fellow Coastal competitor Virginia Tech falling to Maryland, Miami faced a must-win game at Duke, hoping to take down an upstart Blue Devils team putting together a historic season. The Hurricanes were unable to do so, falling 48-30 to a Duke team that looks on track to play in the ACC title game.

Duke had quarterback questions coming into the game, but Jim Sumner at Duke Basketball Report said head coach David Cutcliffe has shown an ability to utilize both of his signal callers.

Texas entered Saturday tied for the Big 12 lead with Baylor, as Mack Brown’s midseason turnaround of the Longhorns resulted in six straight wins to open up conference play. Those wins didn’t exactly come against marquee competition, however (with the exception of Oklahoma), and Texas looked to face a stiff test at home against Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon.

After a loss to West Virginia to open up conference play, Oklahoma State won five straight games in conference play, including a blowout win at Texas Tech. The Cowboys were favored to win this one, and did not disappoint, blowing out the Longhorns by a final score of 38-13.

Every week, the battleground redefines itself. What was Florida State vs. Oregon became Stanford vs. Ohio State and Baylor. That’s now given way to Ohio State vs. Baylor.

With Alabama and Florida State entrenched at Nos. 1 and 2 and in line for the BCS National Championship Game, the Buckeyes and Bears form the clear second tier. Odds are still slim we’ll reach the end of the season with four unbeaten teams from power conferences (but what a frustrating segue to the College Football Playoff era that would be), so positioning still matters.

Auburn’s 43-38 win over Georgia was remarkable for a number of reasons. It was remarkable for the way that, in the first half, Gus Malzahn’s offense hummed with ruthless efficiency after the Tigers were so inept against the Bulldogs in their past two meetings. It was remarkable for the way Georgia roared back from a 20-point third quarter deficit to take the lead on Aaron Murray’s quarterback scramble, where he barely crossed the plane on fourth-and-goal.

After the stinging loss, DawgSports is trying its best to keep things in perspective:

Did Stanford just fall from the doorstep of the national championship game to out of the BCS entirely? After Saturday’s 20-17 upset at the paws of USC and Ed Orgeron, the Cardinal are no longer in line for even the Rose Bowl consolation prize and will now have to scrap with teams like Arizona State, UCLA, and those same Trojans for bowl positioning. That’s life.

Elsewhere, the Big Ten gets a boost across the board, while the Pac-12 fallout jams up everything for just about the whole West Coast. Explanations to follow, and let’s talk about these things in the comments.

Quarterback Blake Bell left the Sooners’ game against Iowa State early with an injury of an undisclosed nature. He had his helmet taken away from him early in the second quarter and did not return.

Knight completed 8 of 14 passes for 61 yards against the Cyclones, and added 10 carries for 123 yards and one rushing touchdown.

Florida traveled to Columbia on Saturday night looking to snap its four-game losing streak and spoil South Carolina’s hopes of winning the SEC East in the process. Not many gave the injury-riddled Gators much of a chance to compete with the Gamecocks, but Florida came to play and gave one of its better halves of the 2013 season before fading in the second half.

South Carolina fell behind early and went into halftime down 14-6. Garnet And Black Attack explained why the Gamecocks struggled to keep pace with Florida at the start of the game:

You know, there are a lot of people in this office. And not a lot of them get that special parking spot that reads EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK. It’s an honor, and it’s one this regional branch takes very seriously.

In fact, that space has, for most of fiscal year 2013 and a few before that, been reserved for one employee. And though we don’t want to name names -- because we’re a team -- I do think you might have a good idea of who that is. Let’s be honest: we all know who that is. We know the big, stupid truck they park there.

After Auburn’s last-gasp, 43-38 win over Georgia, the Tigers are 10-1 and two weeks away from an SEC West-deciding contest against No. 1 Alabama. The Crimson Tide took care of business -- albeit in sloppy fashion -- Saturday against Mississippi State with a 20-7 win, and they’re one victory over Chattanooga away from entering the regular-season finale at 11-0. Gus Malzahn and Nick Saban have their teams in position for the Iron Bowl to end all Iron Bowls.

The annual rivalry game has featured plenty of national-title implications in recent years -- Alabama and Auburn have combined for the last four national championships -- but never has there been so much to gain for both teams at the same time. They will have the best combined record since 1994, when 10-0 Alabama defeated 9-0-1 Auburn, 21-14. Even in that game, the Tigers were on probation and not in position to win a championship. This time around, the winner will advance to the SEC Championship Game. An SEC title would give the Tide a shot at their third straight BCS win. Auburn likely would need some help, but the 12-1 conference champs would likewise have a chance to play for their second national championship in four years.

Arizona State took care of business on Saturday night, dispatching Oregon State 30-17 to set up a huge matchup against UCLA next weekend. The winner of that one will be in the driver’s seat for the Pac-12 South.

Though the Sun Devils have made their name by lighting up scoreboards this season, their victory was keyed largely by how they shut down Mannion, who entered the game as the nation’s leading passer at 393.3 yards per game. Against ASU, Mannion spent most of the game struggling to reach half that number, finishing with 320 yards on 31 of 46 passing, with four interceptions against two touchdowns.

Adam Jacobi also contributed to this story.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Florida State beat the living daylights out of an inferior opponent. The deer in the highway that walked in front of the Seminole semi this week was Syracuse, and this one was over in a hurry.

It became evident early on that there would be no Oregonian style steamrolling in this one -- USC’s defensive front was clearly better equipped to handle Stanford’s ground attack than the Ducks were, as they held the Cardinal to a three-and-out on their opening drive. Two of those plays were runs that went for gains of one and three yards, respectively.

Though the statistics do not show it, USC’s defense performed fairly well against a Stanford rushing attack that ranked 28th in the country coming in. The Trojans allowed a total of 211 yards on the ground and 6 yards per carry, but unlike Oregon, they were able to get off the field, preventing the long, clock-killing drives that did in the Ducks.

The Bears got back to work in the third quarter, as Baylor took its first drive methodically down the field and punctuated it with Petty’s six-yard touchdown run. Less than four minutes later, Chafin ran 47 yards up the middle for a touchdown, giving Baylor a comfortable 49-27 lead.

Baylor responded immediately as well. On the second play of the next drive, Petty completed a 48-yard pass to Goodley, and the Bears were able to run it down the field and punch it in with the quarterback’s one-yard touchdown run.

Foster’s 35-yard field goal at the start of the fourth quarter were the only points scored in the period, and the Tide won the game 20-7.

Rankings Ramifications: Alabama entered the game as the top-ranked team in the country, while Mississippi State was unranked. Neither of those will change.