6 winners and 6 losers from college football’s quietly busy Week 15

This weekend featured just one FBS game. But it was a really big FBS game, and that was only the tip of the spear on a weekend that also included the sport’s major award ceremonies and key playoff games at every level below FBS. Let’s run through the teams and people who made out best and worst on a low-key important weekend.

On the immediate heels of a 14-year losing streak in the greatest rivalry in the sport, Army beat Navy for the third year in a row, 17-10. The Black Knights clinched a double-digit win total for the second year in a row, which had never happened in program history. They’re just a tremendous team right now, and as successful as their last few years have been, there’s nothing bigger than 360-some days of Navy prep culminating in a win.

For Navy, things are rough. The Midshipmen had an uncharacteristically horrible season, winning just three games. They never found the ground-game efficiency that’s bolstered them to so many solid years. Despite getting outplayed for most of this game, they had a chance to win in the fourth quarter, and they lost it by way of two devastating turnovers. Beating Army would’ve made this year something of a success, despite the results of the other 12 games. Now? It’s unquestionably the team’s worst season in 16 years.

Of course, I’m talking about Notre Dame College in Ohio.

The No. 4 Falcons were gunning for their first national championship, but they lost in a national semifinal to no. 1 Valdosta State. In turn, VSU will play No. 3 Ferris State in the title game this weekend at a nice high school stadium in McKinney, Texas.

The other Notre Dame has a few more weeks before it plays Clemson.

Murray capped off the most compelling Heisman race in recent times by narrowly beating Tua Tagovailoa to win the sport’s most prestigious individual honor. No complaining here; either Tua or Kyler would’ve been a deserving pick. He’s the second Sooner QB in a row to win it, following Baker Mayfield last year. Football might not even be his best sport.

That’s the team that spent a top-10 baseball draft pick on Murray in June. Murray’s already signed with Oakland, and I don’t think he’ll go back on his stated plan to leave football after this year for baseball. But he hasn’t closed the door on it, and that can’t thrill Billy Beane. On another hand, assuming Murray does play baseball, he should help sell lots of tickets.

Tempting as it may be to call Tagovailoa a loser, he still won the Maxwell and Walter Camp Awards and has another college season ahead of him to win the Heisman.

I mean, call Tagovailoa a loser if you want. But his teammates already have a massive chip on their shoulder because of his Heisman loss, with several of them (and an assistant coach) teasing brutal revenge in the Bama-Oklahoma Orange Bowl semifinal. It would surprise no one if Tua threw seven touchdown passes in that game.

The Jackrabbits advanced to a national semifinal by winning at Kennesaw State in the FCS playoffs. What a great achievement for one of the best programs in the country, which still hasn’t won a national championship. They have a great opportunity in front of them.

Except SDSU has to play at North Dakota State now.

The Jacks have beaten the Bison a couple of times since 2016, but NDSU owns them in the playoffs and has enjoyed postseason success where SDSU hasn’t. NDSU will host this game at the Fargodome and probably win, en route to what will probably be the program’s seventh national title in eight years. Probably.

The Aggies took the most gutting loss of the weekend at Eastern Washington in an FCS quarterfinal. They took the lead on a 2-point conversion with 73 seconds left and appeared poised to notch the upset. But they immediately gave up a 75-yard TD drive that took four plays and 47 seconds, and the Eagles advanced to face Maine next week instead.

UCD players will also probably have nightmares from playing on this turf:

Utah State rehired Gary Andersen, passing on a bunch of big names to do it. Andersen was USU’s coach in 2012 and had left two head gigs since then. He’s the latest retread hire in an offseason full of them, with Mack Brown returning to North Carolina and Kansas deciding to just hire Les Miles instead of pursuing a more creative option. Andersen might do great in Logan — he has once before — but there’s been little imagination in a lot of these hires.

The Stagg Bowl will be between Mount Union and Mary Hardin-Baylor, who have won the last three national titles. Mount Union’s won 12 titles since 1993. It’s a great matchup if you like watching elite teams do their thing. It’s not great if you like another DIII school.