2025 NCAA Football (Week 16)

Last week's championship results:

(24) North Texas 21-34 (20) Tulane

In and out of this game, looked like Tulane had it handled by halftime--is it notable that Tulane got outscored in the 2nd half?

Troy 14-31 (25) James Madison

Saw none of this game, feels like James Madison struggled, didn't seal the W til the 4th quarter. Oh well, because of the ACC's utter incompetence, they'll be sitting at the adult table this Xmas. 

(2) Indiana 13-10 (1) Ohio State

Wow, Indiana was the better team from beginning to end and I...don't know how to process that. Until last season Indiana football had never--NEVER--been more than a mild surprise once a decade or so. But they are the for real #1 team in America right now with a hot coach, a lovable QB, a solid receiving corps and a defense that just fustigated the mighty mighty Buckeyes. I'm agog...yup, agog....pure non-stop agog over here. Their only worry is that they now take on Ohio State's preoccupation about their remaining opponents. I wondered how good the Buckeyes really were, but that question wasn't so much answered as transferred to Indiana. So can the big bad SEC also-rans hang with these Big 10 bruisers? Honestly, I have no idea.

(3) Georgia 28-7 (9) Alabama

Bama just never got any offense going. UGA was good but I thought it was Bama's inabilities that were the larger factor in this match. UGA is really good, I have no second thoughts about their brilliance. But Bama was so bad in this game--they can't really be this bad. So did UGA finally solve their Bama problem? Or is Bama just not that good? Or did Bama just have a bad day? My gut feeling is the third: Bama is better than this, they just didn't show up for this match. Voters apparently agreed because Bama (and their 3 L's) were invited to keep going and I'm curious to see how they do. I think Bama is really good and they just whiffed in this match and are lucky to be getting a second chance. 

(11) Brigham Young 7-34 (4) Texas Tech

The BYU (and Utah, too, for that matter) haters got their wish in the form of another drubbing at the hands of Texas Tech. These two L's to Tech are used as evidence that the BYU offense was embarrassingly awful and they've been overrated all season long; but I must counter that outside of these games against Tech, BYU comfortably handled everyone else they played and I'm not sure what else could be expected of them. Hey, man, Texas Tech is legit good! That offense can move the ball and that pass rush is cold blooded, I can't help thinking that their two drubbings of BYU are arguably their best games of the year and if we're devaluing BYU. that only serves to devalue Texas Tech.  So I'm going the opposite route: I think BYU is pretty good and Tech's mastery of them shows how really really good Tech is. 

Duke 27-20 (OT) (17) Virginia

I saw none of this game and I'm convinced no one else did either. The fact that the ACC ended up with these two in their final just shows that the ACC doesn't deserve to have nice things. 

This leaves us next weekend with an opening round of:

(9) Alabama @ (8) Oklahoma (+1.5; O/U 40.5)

(10) Miami @ (7) Texas A&M (-3.5; 51.5)

(11) Tulane @ (6) Mississippi (-17.5; 56.5)

(12) James Madison @ (5) Oregon (-21.5; 50.5)

The controversies: Because the ACC screwed up their championship, it meant that there would be 2 small conferences teams (Tulane, James Madison) instead of just one (which we all agree is 1 too many). Subsequently, the fight between Notre Dame and Miami ended up with the Hurricanes advancing because they beat Notre Dame head to head (and that has to matter!). Personally I would've taken Notre Dame over Miami (*), becasue Notre Dames 2 losses (A&M and Miami, who meet next week) are better than Miami's 2 losses (Louisville, SMU)--and that has to matter!

My final top 12 of this season:

1) Indiana (I can't believe what I just typed)

2) Georgia

3) Ohio State

4) Texas Tech

5) Mississippi

6) Oregon

7) Alabama

8) Texas A&M

9) Notre Dame

10) Brigham Young

11) Vanderbilt 

12) Miami

(*) And I would've taken Vanderbilt over Notre Dame or Miami or Oklahoma. Yeah, Vandy was really fucking good this year.