By Donovan Gibbs, Staff Writer
The college football regular season finished the year with the same theme that was provided to fans in week zero: mayhem. Week 14, also known as rivalry week, supplied Thanksgiving weekend with thrillers, upsets and endless brawls with multiple teams playoff lives depending on the outcome of their performance.
Week 14 started Friday with a slate of games that gave a pair of Heisman hopefuls their last chance to leave their mark on voters before the award is announced on December 14th. The #11 ranked Boise State Broncos took down the Oregon State Beavers 34-18 thanks to another monster game from Junior running back, Ashton Jeanty. Jeanty ran for 226 yards and a touchdown, bringing Boise’s bellcow closer to history at 2,228 yards rushing for the season. The performance placed him 5th all-time in FBS history for single-season rushing yards, only 54 yards behind 4th place Marcus Allen and only 340 yards away from the 2,628-yard feat held by Barry Sanders in 1988 (both won the Heisman in their respective seasons). Travis Hunter had another standout performance in Colorado’s 52-0 win over Oklahoma State. The two-way player had 10 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown while contributing on defense as well with an interception.
Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders thought Hunter’s game against Oklahoma State was seen as the final stamp on a potential Heisman trophy,
“You’ve got to give me another definition of the award. The award is to go to who? The best quarterback? I don’t know how you could be voted in every category in some sort. I think he’s up for best offensive player, best defensive player, best receiver. Who else has done that ever?”
Friday night set up the expectations of enjoyment for Saturday’s slate games thanks to a thriller in Athens between the #7 Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The rivalry game with the name of “clean old-fashioned hate” lived up to every word of the title as Georgia survived 8 overtime periods (most in a game since 2021) against Georgia Tech, winning 44-42. Coming into this game, the Yellow Jackets were looking to snap their previous 6-game losing streak against the Bulldogs and beat their 3rd AP Top-10 ranked team this season. Georgia had to win to clinch their spot in the SEC Championship game and for the their seniors, a win would make that class 30-0 at home, never losing a home game throughout their college career.
The Yellow Jackets came out hot in the first half, as Junior quarterback Haynes King (who would finish the night with 413 total yards and 5 touchdowns), had a two-yard rushing touchdown and a 4-yard passing touchdown to junior running back Jamal Hayes to create a 17-0 halftime lead against the Bulldogs. This halftime deficit marked the first time Georgia failed to score a point in the first half for the first time since 2019.
Georgia’s stagnant offense would come alive in the second half thanks to quarterback Carson Beck, who would finish the game with five touchdowns with 297 yards completing 28 of his 43 pass attempts. Georgia would end up scoring 27 points in the second half, 21 of those points would come in the final 8:18, including two touchdowns in the last 3:39 of the 4th. The game would completely alter thanks to senior safety Dan Jackson forcing a fumble recovered by linebacker Chaz Chambliss on a crucial 4 and 1 stop, setting up the Bulldogs in Georgia Tech territory with 2 minutes left in regulation. This would lead to a 3-yard touchdown pass from Carson Beck to wide receiver Dominic Lovett to tie the game up at 27 each.
Overtime would start and the grueling midnight marathon would commence as both teams would score in the first two overtime periods, both failing to convert a 2-point conversion after touchdowns in the second. This would set the stage of intensity for the next 6 OT periods where it comes down to 2pt conversions. Georgia was 2-for-6 on 2-point tries; Georgia Tech was 1-for-6.
With the game tied at 42 in the 8th overtime period, freshman running back Nate Frazier, would put the game on ice with a 3-yard game-winning touchdown run to give the Georgia Bulldogs the dramatic victory. This is the second time in the past 20 seasons that they rallied from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter and a heartbreaking defeat for the scrappy Yellow Jackets.
“Hands down, the best game of the year. I could feel the tense atmosphere from my TV and thank you Georgia Tech for being a part of three memorable matchups this season.” said junior sports management major Daniel Frankenberry.
Saturday would pick up where the excitement left off as two top-12 ranked teams would fall to unranked opponents and put their playoff chances in jeopardy. #2 Ohio State Buckeyes would host unranked Michigan Wolverines in the 119th meeting of “The Game” at Columbus. Ohio State, led by head coach Ryan Day, was looking to beat Michigan for the first time under Day’s tenure as well as punch their ticket to the Big-10 championship game and rematch the #1 Oregon Ducks. Michigan, led by first-year head coach Sherron Moore, planned on playing spoiler and making it a four-game winning streak against Ohio State. The Wolverines came into this game without key players, tight end Colston Loveland and all-American cornerback Will Johnson.
The Ohio State offense would be silenced by a stout Michigan defense. The Buckeyes, who put 38 points against #11 ranked Indiana, would be held to 10 points and only reached the red zone four times and left points on the table due to two missed field goals by kicker Jayden Fielding.
The Buckeyes quarterback, Will Howard had a rough afternoon throwing for 175 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions performance at home.
“It’s hard, man,” Howard said after the game. “I really don’t have much right now. I do know we’re a two-loss team. We’re going to get into the playoffs and make a run. But, I mean, this one hurts.”
Michigan would win the game 13-10 thanks to kicker Dominic Zvada kicking a go-ahead 21-yard field goal with 45 seconds left in regulation. Michigan running back, Kalel Mullings, would carry the workload for the Wolverines offense with 32 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown. Mullings would break off a 27-yard run to get Michigan to the Buckeyes 17-yard line with 2 minutes left in the game, eventually leading to Zvada’s chip shot field goal.
Michigan would improve to 4-0 against the Buckeyes in the Ryan Day era and pull off their first unranked win against a ranked Ohio State team since 1950. All while being 21-point underdogs, the widest point spread for this rivalry since 1978, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
#6 Miami Hurricanes would get knocked out of the ACC championship game and jeopardize their spot in the college football playoffs by falling to the unranked Syracuse Orange 42-38. Miami started the game striking on all cylinders, holding a 21-point lead at the beginning of the second quarter by capping off three touchdown drives on their first three possessions.
The Orange would storm back from this deficit because of senior quarterback Kyle McCord, who would go 26-36 passing for 380 yards and 3 touchdowns. Junior running back La’Quint Allen would also contribute with 2 rushing touchdowns.
The game would shift in Syracuse’s favor late in the 3rd quarter when safety Devin Grant forced a fumble on Hurricanes receiver Xavier Restrepo and returned it for a 56-yard touchdown to give Syracuse their first lead of the day.
Miami quarterback Cam Ward had 349 yards passing with two touchdowns for the Hurricanes as their playoff lives are up in the air as they await the winner of the ACC championship game next week against #8 SMU and #17 Clemson.
Rivalry Week had a whole bunch of physicality during the game and some after the game as Saturday’s slate of games was filled with post-game bench-clearing brawls. All these spontaneous melees were instigated by one thing: flag planting. The mayhem began after Michigan’s 13-10 victory over Ohio State when Michigan players would plant their team’s flag in the middle of the Buckeyes logo. This would insinuate a brawl between both teams on live TV being watched by 12.3 million viewers. The result of this rumble would lead to minor injuries to both teams coaching staff and players being pepper sprayed by field security to separate the skirmish.
This would have a snowball-like effect as the games after would follow suit. There would be a post-game brawl in: Arizona State’s 49-7 victory over Arizona, North Carolina State’s 35-30 victory over North Carolina, Missouri’s 28-21 victory over Arkansas and Florida’s 31-11 win over Florida State.
All these fights would lead to each conference of the teams involved handing out hefty fines and many speculate flag planting could be outlawed in the future.
“There shouldn’t be an issue of the road team planting their flag on their rival’s field.” Graduate sports marketing major and former SEC football player Donovan Hardin said. “The emotion is high during these types of games, all that work and preparation you go through during the week and then when you enter the stadium. In that hostile environment and pulling off the win, you deserve to plant your flag. Don’t want a flag planted on you, don’t lose at home.”
Championship week is next Saturday and will determine who is guaranteed a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoffs.
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