College football scores, reactions, and fun stuff for Week 12

The committee ranks 25 teams each week, even though the Playoff will only include its top four teams. It ranks more than four teams in part because its final rankings also decide which teams go to the four BCS 2.0 games and in part because weekly top 25s are good for business.

So the committee matches up six games. That’s 12 teams. But, among another concern or two, one of 12 spots is reserved for the highest-ranking non-power-conference champion. That team will often rank outside the top 12, so 25 it is.

Each week, when the College Football Playoff committee releases its rankings, my reaction is basically the same: say, “That’s interesting,” to something that surprises me (in this week’s: Mississippi State falling only to fourth), then decide it’s a pretty decent set of rankings.

Then Jeff Long opens his mouth to explain the rankings, and things fall apart.

As the first year of the College Football Playoff rolls on, we’re getting a better idea of what the committee values. This past week was a doozy, with 10 top 25 teams losing, including No. 1 Mississippi State and two other top-10 teams. That means we have the first-ever change at the very top of the Playoff rankings right now.

Some major questions faced the committee this week. What would it do with the previously top-ranked Bulldogs, who were outclassed by No. 5 Alabama before a late comeback made it close? What about No. 4 TCU, which eked out a comeback victory over what has been an awful Kansas team? Florida State survived against an underrated Miami, but should the committee punish it for another close win over an unranked opponent? Should Oregon drop behind either the Tide or the Seminoles after being on a bye? And where would Georgia and Ohio State end up after wins over ranked teams? And would a non-power-conference team finally be ranked?

Nebraska’s Blackshirts defensive tradition would be much stronger if the Huskers never had to face Wisconsin. The sting of the 70-31 drubbing that Wisconsin administered to Bo Pelini’s team back in 2012 had hardly worn off before their game on Saturday.

That Wisconsin achieved that feat with three different backs is no accident and is a testament to its consistently overwhelming play along the offensive line. Madison is a place where the raw materials of big farm boys and dairy products are assembled in what has become a premier NFL OL factory. Who says American manufacturing is dead?

UPDATE: Contrary to a previous report, Watson’s injury is an LCL sprain and a bone bruise, and he is listed as day to day, according to the school.

Watson missed time earlier this year with a broken hand, and was finally back and playing with a glove on his throwing hand. Before leaving the game, Watson had either thrown or run the ball on 14 of Clemson’s first 18 plays, so he was certainly seeing plenty of action. His early line was 5-7 for 27 yards and also 40 rushing yards on seven carries.

Refs sometimes blow the whistle inadvertently, or throw a flag when there wasn’t a penalty. But for whatever reason we can’t stop laughing about this referee announcement during Oregon State-Arizona State:

Something about the way he says “bean bag” gets us every time. We pay an adult human to throw a bean bag and he didn’t do it and he had to tell everybody he messed up.

[STATE COLLEGE POLICE SCANNER]

RESIDENTS BE ADVISED, JAMES FRANKLIN IS LOOSE.

FCS squad Mercer obliterated NAIA Warner 56-0 today, and with the score so lopsided, the Bears decided they’d run a trick play for an offensive lineman. They threw a backwards pass to 6’2, 287-pound freshman Thomas Marchman -- he’d be ineligible for a forwards pass, because he wears No. 78 -- and he coasted in for a TD. Then, this happened:

This was obviously a penalty for excessive celebration, but it was still AWESOME. The bowling celebration is classic, but more important is the cartwheel:

If you find yourself up 11 points after scoring a touchdown late in a football game, you should kick the extra point. It is much more likely the opponent will score a TD, go for two, and kick a field goal than score a TD and kick two field goals. The chart says it. So does common sense.

Brian Kelly messed this up. After a William Fuller TD from Everett Golson, Kelly told Notre Dame to go for two. They missed. Northwestern scored a TD a few minutes later and picked up the two-point conversion after a Notre Dame pass interference penalty, then kicked a field goal to tie the game at 40 with 20 seconds left, eventually winning on a field goal in OT.

No. 20 Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon rushed for an NCAA FBS-record 408 yards in a 59-24 win against No. 16 Nebraska. And then he sat down for the entire fourth quarter. He didn’t even need an entire game.

It was an all-or-nothing sort of deal for Mr. Gordon.

It was a nightmare of a day for Clemson. They were dominated by Georgia Tech 28-6, and also lost their best player, quarterback Deshaun Watson, for the season reportedly with a torn ACL, according to Clemson247.

With their hopes for an Orange Bowl berth dashed and their best player likely out for the year, all that’s left for the Tigers is to try to snap their five game losing streak to South Carolina.

It’s not exactly ice cream weather in Minnesota -- it’s 20 degrees and snowing -- but WHO AM I KIDDING, YES IT IS:

That appears to be a Dilly Bar, and he’s not the only one snackin’:

Ohio State has had two ghastly turnovers in Minnesota territory. The Buckeyes should probably be up, 28-0, right now, but instead hang onto a perilous 14-7 lead.

It happened again. (h/t to Blitzed Thinker on Twitter for noticing)

The two players involved eventually figure out they’re blocking each other and turn upfield, but there was about a second or two where they were engaging each other with no realization that they were doing something wrong. Florida ends up gaining yards, but solely because QB Treon Harris dodges the tackle of the South Carolina defender these two guys let breeze right on past them so they could focus on each other.

When Texas A&M and Missouri came to the SEC, many people wondered how they would be able to compete in such a good league after coming from a conference like the Big 12, which had a bit of a worse reputation. But in the first year, Johnny Football and Texas A&M lit up the league, and in the second year, Missouri went all the way to the SEC Championship Game and gave Auburn a run for its money.

This year, both teams are decidedly “meh,” though this game has a bit of juice to it after the Aggies took down Auburn on the road last week. This young team may have finally found its way under Kevin Sumlin, and the offense last week was as high-powered as ever to go with a huge performance from Myles Garrett. Meanwhile, a different Missouri team has shown up every week — the same one that demolished Florida and got demolished by Georgia.

The team getting most attention in the state of Arizona is Arizona State, and rightfully so, as the Sun Devils are in contention for the College Football Playoff. But the University of Arizona is in pretty good shape as well, making this quite a year of football in the state.

The Huskies have been a mixed bag this year. They blew out Cal but haven’t beaten any of the top teams in the Pac-12 in Chris Petersen’s first season. Beating Arizona would be their first marquee win of the year and would set them up for a solid finish, with Oregon State and Washington State still on the schedule.

Two of the Pac-12’s best defenses will square off on Saturday when Stanford hosts Utah. Both teams suffered blowout losses to Oregon last time out, but have played well in most of their other games this season.

Utah has been one of the conference’s biggest surprises this season, but it didn’t start out that way. After a dominating road victory over Michigan rounded off a perfect record in non-conference play, the Utes suffered a disappointing home loss to Washington State to start Pac-12 competition. They then fired off three close wins in a row -- two points over UCLA, a double-overtime triumph over Oregon State and three points over USC -- before their recent two-game losing streak brought them back to .500 in conference play.

Two teams in the middle of the Big 12 pack will try to separate themselves Saturday night when Oklahoma State hosts Texas.

The winner will earn bowl eligibility, a different mark of achievement for each of these programs. Texas is in the process of an intensive rebuild under first-year head coach Charlie Strong, and after a 3-5 start that included a 41-7 loss to BYU, it looked like the Longhorns would be missing postseason play.

When the nation’s two best rushing offenses square off Saturday afternoon, don’t expect a lot of passing. Option-based Georgia Southern and Navy will play in Annapolis in one of the day’s most overlooked matchups.

Georgia Southern has cruised through conference play, winning Sun Belt games by an average margin of 40.6-19.7. Navy offers a different sort of test -- another high-powered running team with a defense used to facing some of the option schemes the Eagles will be throwing out there. It’s easy to see one of two outcomes occurring: these two teams combining to set NCAA rushing records in a shootout, or defenses well-prepped to face option attacks forcing season-low outputs from these prolific attacks.

After Saturday, one of the SEC’s two leading Playoff hopefuls will likely find themselves out of the top four. No. 1 Mississippi State travels to play No. 5 Alabama in one of the most anticipated matchups of the year.

Mississippi State is 9-0 for the first time in school history and could be breaking out some new uniforms in this one. The Bulldogs’ balanced offensive attack has led to a lot of points and they’ve been helped by strong defensive play -- they rank in the top-16 nationally in points per game (39.8) and point allowed per game (19.7). Heisman candidate Dak Prescott leads the way at quarterback with 29 total touchdowns, and bowling ball running back Josh Robinson could give a stellar Alabama defense problems as well.

The last time Wisconsin and Nebraska shared a football field, the Badgers left with a Big Ten Championship after a thorough 70-31 evisceration of the Huskers. That was in 2012 and Nebraska has not forgotten about the beating it took.

The Huskers head to Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday to try and exact some revenge on the Badgers. They will be fully rested coming off their bye week and bring the No. 10 scoring offense to face off against the Badgers’ No. 3 scoring defense.

The college football season is winding down, and that makes us sad. However, with so many intriguing matchups this weekend, there’s plenty of reason to be happy.

The game everyone will be watching comes Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa, where No. 5 Alabama plays host to No. 1 Mississippi State. The Bulldogs have been the darlings of college football this year, going from unranked and nowhere near the national spotlight to the No. 1 spot.

Both teams face an uphill battle to make the ACC Championship game, but the winner will set themselves up nicely for a potential New Year’s Day bowl game.

Game time: Noon ET