2019-20 NCAA Football (Week 13)

Games I saw (some of):
(8) Penn State 17-28 (2) Ohio State
Slog of a game in the 1st half as both teams adjusted to slippery weather conditions, but it felt like the Buckeyes finally had their legs under them when suddenly they started fumbling all over the place and the Nittany Lions made the most of those mistakes. But once the Buckeyes stopped giving away the game, then the game was over. Buckeyes are seriously legit as a championship contender while the Nittany Lions are nice but second tier at best.

Texas A&M 13-19 (4) Georgia
You know all season long Texas was the team that seemed impressive even though they clearly weren't that good, when actually it is A&M that has been putting up good efforts against teams that they just shouldn't be competing with: tough against Clemson, gave Bama a good game, hung with Auburn. And here they kept UGA from taking off, really made them churn on offense. That said, it never felt like they would win any of those games, so does A&M really have anything to build on? I dunno. Georgia is good but I don't think they're good enough, I don't give them any shot against LSU, though their path to the playoff is still right in front of them. 

(6) Oregon 28-31 Arizona State
I caught the 2nd half of this game and I kept waiting for Oregon to start rolling up points but kudos to State for playing them tough and bringing the offense of their own to make this a for-real contest. Oregon needed to win out to get to the playoff and the Sun Devils kept that from happening, tough L for the Ducks.


Top 25
Handled their business
(1) Lousiana State, (2) Ohio State, (4) Georgia, (5) Alabama, (7) Utah, (10) Minnesota, (12) Wisconsin, (13) Michigan, (14) Baylor, (15) Auburn, (16) Notre Dame, (17) Iowa, (18) Memphis, (20) Boise State, (21) Oklahoma State, (23) Southern Cal, (24) Appalachian State


Won but did not impress
(9) Oklahoma. Wasn't that long ago that I was crafting the argument for OU in the playoff, now they're squeaking by TCU. That defense is not top tier even if that offense is.
(19) Cincinnati. I keep waiting for Cincy to do...something interesting. They're good enough to hang around the fringes of the poll by getting by on a flimsy schedule. They're getting W's and that's not insignificant but I'm not blown away by UC.
(22) Iowa State. Meh. Iowa State's whole identity is catching people off guard but how long can that work?


Not so good
(6) Oregon. Offense never got going.
(25) Southern Methodist. Feels like they had Navy in hand, but they did not. Not so good.


Bad beat
(8) Penn State. Game effort but they're not as good as the Buckeyes this season.


Next week's interesting matches:
(1) Ohio State @ (13) Michigan (still a big game, a big opportunity for the Wolverines (re: Coach Harbaugh) to get a signature W)
(5) Alabama @ (15) Auburn (I'm not giving Auburn much of a chance but I'm just trying to give Auburn something to fight for)
(12) Wisconsin @ (8) Minnesota (who had this game circled at the start of the season? I think UM is actually pretty good and this is a great chance for them)
(7) Oklahoma @ (21) Oklahoma State (OU ought to blow them out but that defense is giving OSU a great shot here)