Making Sense of CFB Week 13

With the Oregon Ducks on bye, I had a chance to watch more college football games in depth than I ordinarily would. Let’s take a look across the landscape and unpack some of the madness we saw in week 13 of the 2024 season.

In Defense of Talent

It’s often said that talent in sports is overrated. After watching the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers take a 38-15 pounding at the hands of Ohio State, I’m not sure I can agree.

While Indiana is clearly an extremely high-functioning operation that knows itself and executes efficiently, there’s no substitute for horses. It was obvious before halftime that the Buckeyes simply had better players and any perceived coaching advantage for the Hoosiers wasn’t going to matter.

Ohio State controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the game and its secondary, loaded with stars like safety Caleb Downs and cornerback Denzel Burke, held Indiana’s prolific passing attack to just 68 yards. Oregon now looks forward to a conference championship rematch of October 12th’s game-of-the-year contender with the now-10-1 Buckeyes.

A Year of Cannibalism in the SEC

Is there a lack of top-end teams in the SEC or are there simply too many to separate one from the pack? It seemed, early in the year, that Texas, Alabama, and Georgia were the clear-cut top three teams in the conference barring a sensational season from Tennessee.

The waters have since grown murkier. There hasn’t been an undefeated SEC team since October and red-hot Ole Miss just fell to Florida in a game it didn’t lead past halftime, dropping to 8-3 on the year.

My read is that while in past years there have been one or two 10/10 teams in the conference, this year has a solid handful of 9/10s. Is that an improvement or a step back? You decide.

Magicians Aren’t Immortal

It seems every year there are a few teams whose records don’t tell their story in totality, for better or for worse. BYU started the year 9-0 but has since dropped its last two games and has lost almost all of its luster.

The thing is, these teams can usually be identified long before they fall. The Cougars’ 9-0 start was littered with close games and miraculous comebacks, winning four by one score.

Last year, the Washington Huskies held an undefeated 14-0 record heading into their national championship showdown with Michigan, who blasted them to the tune of 34-13. How did their results look earlier in the year?

Good question. Washington won eight of its 14 by one score, including margins of 6, 3, 3, 2, 7, 8, and 7.

In what has become college football antiquity, the national title-defending 2014 Florida State Seminoles won seven games by under two scores before losing 59-20 to Oregon in the first ever College Football Playoff game.

Are these bad teams? Certainly not. I’d simply caution readers against buying into the championship potential of teams that can’t put one away.

Scheduling Malpractice

While most of the country is playing some of its highest-stakes games of the year, one can’t help but notice the SEC isn’t exactly on the same page. In the last two weeks, eight teams from the conference have played non-Power Four opponents during what should be the peak of college football excitement.

‘Those games can be dangerous’, you might say. I don’t argue that, but let’s check the tape.

In the last two weeks of these matchups, Alabama won by 45, Kentucky by 42, Texas A&M by 35, Auburn by 34, Arkansas by 21, Tennessee by 56, and Georgia by 38.

Did you watch any of those? I didn’t. One can only hope the powers that be in college football, whoever they are, see the problem here and get it solved.

---