2024 Week 14 Results
It’s Flag Planting Season
The final week of the regular season in our new college landscape finishes with an absolute bang. Or was it more of a punch? Either way what a final week to cap off an incredible November of football and to send us into our final week in the Pick Em. There is nothing like getting these rivalry games right after Thanksgiving and going from the happiest more grateful day, to just an all out day of brawling on and off the field.
We had another big week for the pool with 4 people tallying a 9-1 record, once again proving the confidence points are the ultimate equalizer with one of those 4 people finishing in 10th place after missing just their 9 confidence. Going into our last week it seems to be Travis B’s Pick Em to lose as he has a 19 point lead over 2nd place in the overall standings. But the battle for everything else is as hot as it can be with just 20 points separating 2nd place and 13th place. A ton up for grabs in championship week! We also have narrowed our Wild Card down to our final 8 contestants. They have survived the last 4 weeks and are picking their best when it matters most. The Wild Card points for those 8 people will once again reset and our top 2 next week will be our Wild Card winners! It was a fun as hell week on the field as well so let’s get into our recap!
In what was possibly the biggest week of the year for playoff movement and security, we had a full slate of Power 4 games through the Pick Em. Probably a very delightful sight to those of you who give no respect to the C-USA and Sun Belt’s of our world.
The first game to kick us off was one of, if not the, biggest rivalries in the sport. It’s Michigan and Ohio State, it’s The Game. Ohio State goes in likely locked into the Playoff already, but still with a lot of actual impact in the game beyond it being Michigan. With a win Ohio State would book their first Big 10 title appearance since the Covid year. A loss would book it for either Penn State or Indiana, but a loss would also lead to far more issues than not making the Big Ten title game. Ohio State went in as a 20.5 point favorite, by far the biggest spread in a while in this matchup. And by now, we all know how this ended, but let’s revisit some of the moments that will live forever from this 13-10 Michigan win, because boy there is more than reasonably makes sense to share here. Tied late in the 3rd quarter it was clear this was going to be a fight to the end, and after back to back possesions from Michigan throwing a pick, inside of their own 10 and then inside of OSU’s 10 it looked like it was all about to fall apart, even Gus Johnson couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
But both interceptions led to 0 Ohio State points, and while Michigan was seemingly giving OSU every chance, let’s just take a look at what the $20M Ohio State offense did late in the 3rd and through the 4th.
Zero first downs and just 10 yards of offense in the last 20 minutes of game time. While the worst Michigan offense possibly ever put together multiple 10+ play drives and overcame two terrible turnovers. A truly unreal collapse from a team that many liked to win it all this year. But, the fun only got started there. The next 30 minutes is what makes college football just so special, and what makes OSU and Ryan Day just so sad and funny.
Absolute chaos ensues as OSU is mad that they have a graduating class leaving with zero (0) wins over Michigan, 0 Big Ten title appearances, and 0 faith in their 3rd base head coach. Even if OSU goes on to win the National Championship, does Ryan Day keep his job? What a game and what a way to start off the day. Ryan Day, we have someone looking for you.
Hard to follow up from that but somehow we have 9 more games to recap so let’s keep it moving to an instate rivalry with some new excitement this year. Tennessee (-10.5) traveled the short distance to Vanderbilt to finish up their season and hope that a win will be enough to secure an At-Large playoff spot. But, that wouldn’t be a simple win as it has in past years as Vandy is trying to cap off their best season in a long time with another big win. Vandy came out of the gates as hot as possible with this happening on the very first play:
Tennessee then proceeded to turn the ball over on their first drive giving Vandy a very quick 14-0 lead in the game and it was starting to look like Tennessee was our next victim to fall to chaos. But Tennessee realized what was at stake and proceeded to play one of their best games of the season the rest of the way. In danger of going down 24-7, players started making plays.
From this point on, Tennessee would score 6 unanswered times to extend their lead to 36-17 halfway through the 4th quarter, giving them a firm grasp on the playoff, but also the cover for our Pick Em. Tennessee secures their 10th win and what should be a solidified spot in our final 12. The future is bright for the Vols as Nico lives up to his preseason hype in his freshman year.
The third game in our slate was yet another instate rivalry, but one with very confusing and up in the air implications on the national scale. #15 South Carolina and #12 Clemson both went in still fighting for an At-Large playoff spot with hopes of a couple of stumbles ahead of them in the rankings. South Carolina trying to make it as the surprise team of the year with 3 losses but a handful of good wins, vs Clemson who is trying to stay alive, but even with a loss is not eliminated due to ACC play. Clemson was holding a 2.5 point favorite spread and 54/94 submitted entries backed the Cocks. This was a true old-fashioned low-scoring, ugly game featuring 5 turnovers and just 5 total scores. With the clock just over 1 minute left, Clemson was hanging on to a 4 point lead for a huge win and cover, but LaNorris Sellers on South Carolina has been that dude all year, and he stepped up one more time.
Clemson got the ball back with their own chance at magic, but the Cocks stood strong and held on to win 17-14. It’s not exactly a flag plant, but a belt smack works too this week!
Now with just championship games left to play, the conversation turns fully to who will get those final at large bids, and the Cocks are making every case they can for it to be them.
5 straight good wins and 3 ranked wins in November is all you can ask for from the Cocks. If the committee, does do them dirty, just remember what will be the ultimate nail in the coffin for South Carolina from way back earlier this season.
For Clemson, their At-Large hopes are dead, but all of those fans very quickly flipped over to watch our next game as their ACC hopes remained alive, but out of their hands. This next game is also just a personal victory lap and something I look forward to seeing happen every single year. That’s right, let’s talk Miami.
Going into this game there was a lot at stake for Miami, and not as much for Syracuse. Syracuse couldn’t get a 10 win season, they didn’t have a shot at the ACC Championship, no outside chance at the Playoff, just a first year coach with a new QB trying to build a program. Miami on the other hand came in ranked #6 nationally, a 10-1 team with a Playoff Bye hopes, and just 1 win away from securing the ACC championship and likely the playoff no matter what. They went into Cuse as 10.5 point favorites, so should be no problem right? Well early on it certainly seemed so.
It felt like the opposite of every other Miami game this year where they typically are falling behind 21-0 before having some nonsense go there way to get them back into games and ultimately win. But the fates were just today, and just how Miami won every game this year, they gave it all back and it started to crumble. Earlier this year I declared Miami our fuck-shit team of the year, and this final game lived up to it in every way. After Syracuse battled back from 21-0 and some back and forth insanity in this game, Syracuse found their edge.
An absolutely insane game with touchdowns back and forth, and with just 3 minutes left in the game down 7 with a goal to go situation, what do you think Miami did to cap off their drive?
If you guessed ‘kick a 27 yard field goal to make it a 4 point game and never get the ball back’ you would be right! An absolutely pinnacle Miami end to a game, and Syracuse wins it outright giving CLEMSON the ACC Championship birth vs SMU. What a year for first year coach Fran Brown and OSU reject Kyle McCord up in Syracuse.
What a day, and we are just 4 games in. Let’s run through a couple of more fight games quickly too. Our next game took us out to the Grand Canyon state as Arizona State, initially picked to finish LAST in the Big 12 this year, was just one win away from securing their place in the Big 12 championship and a shot at the playoff. They traveled to instate rival Arizona as 8.5 point favorites and were the clear Public selection #1 for the week with 74/94 selections on the Sun Devils. What turned into an absolute rout of a game as ASU won 49-7 gave us arguably our single best fighting moment from the week. Thats right, we got a mascot fight.
The immediate cut to ASU scoring a TD on that play is all time camera work. And we would be remiss to not celebrate yet another flag trident planting at midfield as well. Road teams have a day!
ASU keeps their Playoff hope alive and will play Iowa State in the Big 12 championship this week!
Moving onto another team looking to lock up their Playoff berth, we have Notre Dame traveling to USC as a 7.5 point favorite. Notre Dame has been destroying teams as of late, and they just were 1 more away from locking up likely the 5th or 6th seed, but this game didn’t quite go like the past few. As USC hung around late, Notre Dame kept looking to pull away but never quite could. Until they decided to follow suit with the rest of CFB on Saturday and get a little physical.
Nothing quite like a punch right to the facemask to really get your message across. But with just 4 minutes left, this was still a game as USC was driving down only 7 looking to tie it, and then it all happened.
An incredible Pick 6 puts Notre Dame up 14, now covering the spread. But USC would get the ball back after the touchdown with one more chance for a backdoor touchdown to kill the cover. But Notre Dame had other plans…
Back to back 100 yard Pick 6’s to close out the game and secure your spot in the Playoff. Notre Dame is here to play, and with no conference title game to be had, they are guaranteed to be playing in the first weekend of the playoff. Notre Dame wins and covers 49-35.
Rounding out the afternoon slate we have yet another banger of a rivalry as we stroll down to Old Dixie for the Iron Bowl renewal once more. Another game with massive implications as Alabama is fighting for their lives to get the last At-Large bid to our 12 team playoff this year. Coming off a horrible loss to Oklahoma, they still held an 11.5 favorite tag over visiting Auburn. As this game got going, the Alabama defense stood strong all game to help propel a struggling Milroe and the Tide to a fairly straight forward cover. Of course not without a few fire works along the way.
After Bama rolls 28-14 to secure a cover and a win, the conversation was in full swing of who should get that last spot between Alabama, Miami, South Carolina, and delusional Ole Miss fans.
The committee has their hardest challenge yet coming up and seeing where those teams get ranked going into Championship Week is going to tell a lot of what is really up for grabs. A fun as hell week coming up for the bubble!
Moving into the night slate after one of the most electric starts to Saturday we had 2 games yet again with massive implications, and Oregon looking to just quack their way into one of the easier and seemingly quieter undefeated and dominant years in recent history. An 18.5 point favorite, it looked like a chance of a cover for the Huskies at halftime as Oregon was only up 28-14, but those hopes quickly faded as late in the 4th the Ducks scored to make it 49-14 before finishing it up at 49-21. Oregon finishes undefeated and looks to cap it off against Penn State in the Big Ten title this week.
The other two night games were the ones with an immediate impact with the results. Earlier we saw Arizona State lock up their Big 12 title game birth, and at night we had Iowa State looking to do the same. Not a traditional rivalry, but a top 25 matchup gave us #24 Kansas State traveling to Ames, Iowa as a 2.5 point dog against #18 Iowa State. A win for Iowa State not only gives them a Big 12 title birth, but their first 10 win season in program history as well. As the 2nd half got underway it was a close game and Kansas State found themselves down 7 with 4th and goal on the 3. It’s the decision making that can often change these games, and Kansas State decided to kick it instead of go for it. And then proceeded to do this from 21 yards away:
Iowa State came to play and they were doing everything they could to pick up this 10th win. And in the end it was enough as they pul out a 29-21 win late into the night.
Iowa State will take on Arizona State with the winner going to the Playoff. The Big 12 is our chaos conference of the year! Just look at the preseason predicitons vs final standings.
And that brings us to our final game of the week. One of the most anticipated matchups in the last two decades and one with about as much stakes as you can have on a game. For the first time in 13 years Texas and Texas A&M renewed their rivalry as freshly minted SEC opponents. #3 Texas went into Aggieland against #20 A&M with the winner getting a title birth in the SEC championship. Beyond just that, an Aggie win would propel them into the Playoff conversation and would thrust Texas back into that dreaded bubble conversation. The game kicked off as electric as ever, and that intensity would carry the whole game.
As the game got going, the first drive for Texas A&M would prove to be an unfortunate foreshadowing of what was to come the whole game. After getting their opening drive down inside the 10, the Texas defense steps up and that D-Line shows why they are the best in the country.
After an absolute battle for 4 quarters, Texas held a 17-7 lead with about 4 minutes to play as A&M finally made it back inside the 10 and looked to make it a one score game with a chance at still winning, and then it all happened again.
The Texas defense stood on their heads all night and A&M struggled to find any success all game. Then late in the 3rd as Texas looked to go up 24-0 and put the game out of reach, November magic struck.
A&M battled to get back to the 5 yard line with just over 4 minutes to play to try and make it a one score game, and the familiar Texas defense showed just how strong they really are.
Texas shuts out the A&M offense all night to win 17-7, secure an SEC title birth in their first year, and end A&M’s hopes for the season. And for good measure, one final mid field celebration.
That is a wraps on the regular season for the new College landscape and what an incredible overall year. The first year in a long time it feels wide open, and new faces all over making a lot of noise this year, shoutout Indiana. With just 1 week left in the Pick Em let’s take a look at next week’s slate. As a reminder, in Week 1 the pool voted to include Army/Navy so that will be our 10th game of the slate next week.
All four major conferences have a first-year team in the championship game with SMU, Oregon, Texas, and Arizona State looking to make huge first year statements. Should be another fun week and its all eyes on the committee now as we have a true bubble for our 12 team playoff.
And that will conclude our Week 14 slate. Pat D. takes the 1st place win for the week with a 9-1 record for 54 points. And Kyle S. takes 2nd place at 8-2 for 52 points. In the Wild Card Katie B. takes the top spot with 51 points for the bonus win. We cut another 8 and we are into our final 8 in the Wild Card looking to grab the Top 2 spots. Shoutout to Katie B., Meghan M., Peter S., Ted S., Garrett M., Derek B., Will F., and Garrett B. for making it this far. Will anyone catch Travis B. in the overall standings? How will 2-5 play out? So much at stake with 1 week to go!
Check the standings page below to see who is left.
We are onto Week 15!
Check out the latest full standings here.