College Football, Week 13 Results

There weren’t many surprises at the top, but from the midpoint on down…oh my!

(This week’s rankings from the AP, Coaches’, Harris Interactive, BCS Standings. Rankings given last week appear in parentheses. NR = Not Rated. Numbers in parentheses after the team’s name are the records.)

1/1/1/1 (3/3/3/3) Notre Dame (12-0) The Fighting Irish defeated the Southern California Trojans (7-5) 22-13. This is their first undefeated season since 1988 and they will likely play for the National Championship for the first time in 24 years. Theo Riddick rushed 20 times for 146 yards and the only Irish TD. Kyle Brindza connected on field goals of 27, 29, 52 (a career long), 33 and 19 yards.

2/2/2/2 (4/5/4/4) Alabama (11-1) The Tide shutout the Auburn Tigers (3-9) 49-0. AJ McCarron completed 15 of 21 for 216 yards and four TDs. The Tide clinched the West Division of the SEC and will now play Georgia for the conference title.

3/3/3/3 (5/4/5/5) Georgia (11-1) The Bulldogs wrecked the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-6) 42-10. Todd Gurley scored twice on the ground and Aaron Murray tossed two TD passes for the Bulldogs. Georgia plays Alabama for the SEC title next weekend. Tech will be playing Florida State for the ACC title.

4/NR/NR/NR (6/NR/NR/NR) Ohio State (12-0) The Buckeyes beat the #20 Michigan Wolverines (8-4) 26-21. Carlos Hyde had 146 yards and one TD on 26 carries for the Buckeyes while place kicker Drew Basil connected on field goals from 41, 52, 28 and 25 yards. Denard Robinson, played as a running back for the Wolverines and had 122 yards and a TD on 10 carries.

5/4/4/5 (1/1/1/2) Oregon (11-1) The Ducks trounced the #16 Oregon State Beavers (8-3) in The Civil War 48-24. The Ducks’ Kenjon Barner rushed for 198 yards and two TDs on 28 carries while teammate De’Anthony Thomas scored three TDs on 17 carries for 122 yards.

6/6/5/4 (7/7/7/6) Florida (11-1) The Gators came from behind to defeat the #10 Florida State Seminoles (10-2) 37-26. After a see-saw first half in which Florida jumped out to a 13-0 lead only to have Florida State come roaring back with 20 unanswered points, the Seminoles seemed poised to pull off the upset as they headed into the fourth quarter leading 20-13, but the Gators reeled off 24 unanswered points to surge to a 37-23 lead that left the Seminoles stunned. Mike Gillislee carried the ball 24 times for 140 yards and two TDs for the Gators.

7/8/7/6 (2/2/2/1) Kansas State (10-1) Had the weekend off.

8/7/8/7 (8/8/8/7) LSU (10-2) The Tigers beat the Arkansas Razorbacks (4-8) 20-13. Tigers gave up 462 net yards while gaining only 306 of their own and Arkansas got 24 first downs to LSU’s 16, but it’s points on the board that count and the Tigers got more of them.

9/10/20/10 (9/10/10/8) Texas A&M (10-2) The Aggies smashed the Missouri Tigers (5-7) 59-29. Johnny Football (aka Johnny Manziel) completed 32 of 44 attempts for 372 yards and three TDs. Oh, and he ran for two TDs as well. And he played most of the game with a knee brace he acquired in the first quarter after getting hit hard. At this rate, freshman or no, he should also be called Heisman Winner.

10/5/6/9 (10/6/6/10) Florida State (10-2) The Seminoles lost to the #6 Florida Gators (11-1) 37-26. See above for more.

11/11/11/8 (14/13/13/13) Stanford (10-2) The Cardinal defeated the #15 UCLA Bruins (9-3) 35-17. Stepfan Taylor rushed for 142 yards and two TDs on 20 carries and Usua Amanam returned a fumble 11 yards for a score for the Cardinal. These two teams meet again on Friday night for the PAC12 Championship.

12/9/9/12 (11/9/9/11) Clemson (10-2) The Tigers ran into a buzzsaw named Jadeveon Clowney and ended up losing to the #13 South Carolina Gamecocks (10-2) 27-17. Mr. Clowney, a sophomore who plays defensive end for the Gamecocks, got to Tajh Boyd often (he was credited with 4 ½ sacks. South Carolina’s starting QB Connor Shaw was out with an ankle sprain he suffered last week. Didn’t matter, backup quarterback Dylan Thompson threw for 310 yards and three TDs.

13/12/12/11 (12/11/11/9) South Carolina (10-2) The Gamecocks beat the #12 Clemson Tigers (10-2) 27-17. More above.

14/13/13/13 (13/12/12/12) Oklahoma (9-2) The Sooners outlasted the #22 Oklahoma State Cowboys (7-4) 51-48 in overtime. The Sooners never led in regulation…or in OT until the final TD scored. Landry Jones completed 46 of 71 passing attempts for 500 yards and three TDs. This ain’t the Oklahoma Sooners of the ‘60s. Joseph Randle ran for 113 yards and four TDs on 21 carries for the Cowboys. Jalen Saunders had an 81-yard punt return for a TD for the Sooners.

15/16/16/17 (17/16/19/17) UCLA (9-3) The Bruins lost to the #11 Stanford Cardinal (10-2) 35-17. More above.

16/17/15/15 (15/17/16/16) Oregon State (8-3) The Beavers fell to the #5 Oregon Ducks (11-1) 48-24. The Ducks rebound nicely from their loss to Stanford. More above.

17/14/14/14 (16/14/14/14) Nebraska (9-3) Cornhuskers came from behind to edge the Iowa Hawkeyes (4-8) 13-7on Friday afternoon. Trailing 7-3 in the second half, the Huskers got a 52-yard field goal from Brett Maher and a 3-yard TD run from Rex Burkhead making his first appearance since October 20th to take the lead. Staunch defense that yielded just 200 net yards kept the Hawkeyes off the board after the first quarter. Nebraska and Wisconsin square off for the B1G title on Saturday.

18/15/17/16 (18/15/15/15) Texas (8-3) The Longhorns fell to the TCU Horned Frogs (7-4) Thursday night by a score of 20-13. Matt Tucker scored twice on short runs and Jaden Oberkrom connected on two field goals while the Horned Frogs defense stifled the Longhorns all night creating four turnovers.

19/18/18/18 (20/18/17/18) Louisville (9-2) The Cardinals lost to the Connecticut Huskies (5-6) 23-20 in triple overtime. Lyle McCombs carried 29 times for 133 yards for the Huskies. Teddy Bridgewater completed 30 of 57 passes for 331 yards, two TDs and one INT…a very BIG INT. DeVante Parker scored two TDs for the Cardinals, one in regulation and one in OT. But, after an interception by Blidi Wreh-Wilson—his first of the year—ended Louisville’s chances in the third OT, Chad Christen kicked his third field goal of the day (second in OT) for the UConn win. UConn plays Cincinnati next weekend for chance to become bowl eligible. The Cardinals will play at Rutgers Thursday night and the winner will earn the Big East's BCS bid.

20/20/20/19 (23T/23/24/23) Michigan (8-4) The Wolverines were defeated by the Ohio State Buckeyes (12-0) 26-21. More above.

21/19/19/20 (22/20/21/22) Rutgers (9-2) The Scarlet Knights lost to the Pittsburgh Panthers (5-6) 27-6. Pitt was playing for bowl eligibility (they still need one more win next week in South Florida), Rutgers could have clinched the Big East Championship. Pitt played with passion. Rutgers? Not so much. Tino Sunseri lead the Pitt offense completing 21 of 39 passes for 227 yards and two TDs. Pitt defense held Rutgers to 207 yards net offense; just 50 yards on the ground. Rutgers got a share of the BE Championship thanks to Louisville’s loss. RU hosts Louisville next Thursday with an opportunity to be outright Big East Champs, but they better play better than this.

22/21/22/21 (NR/24/NR/24) Oklahoma State (7-4) The Cowboys gave the #14 Oklahoma Sooners (9-2) all they could handle but ultimately fell 51-48 in overtime. More above.

23/25/25/24 (25/NR/NR/NR) Kent State (11-1) The Golden Flashes beat the Ohio Bobcats (8-4) on Friday 28-7. Kent State jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to two defensive scores. Luke Wollet returned a Bobcat fumble 50 yards to open the scoring and C.J. Malauulu returned an interception 33 yards for the third score of the period. Kent State, 8-0 in the MAC East now plays Northern Illinois, also 11-1 and 8-0 in the MAC West, for the MAC Championship.

24/23/24/NR (NR/NR/NR/NR) Northern Illinois (11-1) The Huskies routed the Eastern Michigan Eagles (2-9) 49-7. Akeem Daniels rushed for 112 yards and four TDs on 12 carries and Jordan Lynch rushed for 107 yards on 20 carries for the Huskies. Northern Illinois, 11-1 and 8-00 in the MAC now faces Kent State (11-1, 8-0) for the MAC Championship.

25T/NR/NR/NR (NR/NR/NR/NR) Utah State (10-2) The Aggies routed the Idaho Vandals (1-11) 45-9. This is the Aggies first 10 win season in 114 years of playing football. The win also gave the Aggies their first Western Athletic Conference championship in eight years. Just in time too, as the Aggies are headed to the Mountain West Conference next season. Chuckie Keeton threw two TD passes and ran for two more. Trey Farquahar scored all of Idaho’s points with three field goals from 38, 46 and 52 yards.

25T/24/23/25 (NR/NR/25/NR) Mississippi State (8-4) The Bulldogs got beat by the Mississippi Rebels (6-6) 41-24. Bo Wallace completed 15 of 22 passes for 294 yards and five TDs—three of them to Donte Moncrief. Chad Bumphis had six catches for 146 yards and two TDs for the Bulldogs. Jameon Lewis had a 100-yard kick return for a Bulldog TD.

NR/22/21/22 (NR/22/23/NR) Boise State (9-2) The Broncos had the weekend off.