College Football Week 15 Recap

1. Georgia Tech ends Florida State's undefeated run

I had the score prediction of 37 - 35 exactly right, but flipped the teams.  Florida State held on to beat Georgia Tech, win the ACC title, and earn a spot in the playoffs.  Looks like I was wrong about the Seminoles, as they made it through their schedule unscathed.  They will face Oregon in the Rose Bowl, underdogs for the first time this year.

2. Kansas State knocks off Baylor

The Bears came away with a 38 - 27 win but it was not enough to make the playoffs, as top teams won their conference championships, including several in blowout fashion.  A major factor that likely kept Baylor out was an abysmal out-of-conference schedule. The Bears faced FCS squad Northwestern State, one-win SMU, and a Buffalo team that is not even bowl eligible.  The co-championship with TCU, despite beating the Horned Frogs, probably didn't help their cause either.  The Bears end up in a New Years bowl against Michigan State as a consolation prize.  But can they overcome their disappointment and beat the Spartans?

3. Cardale Jones has 100+ rushing yards against Wisconsin

He may not have done much with his legs, but the 6'5" sophomore made big play after big play with his arm.  He was helped out by some fantastic performances by the rest of the offense, though.  The offensive line gave him plenty of time to throw, wide receivers made big-time catches, and Ezekiel Elliot did his part with a career-best 220 yards on the ground.  But perhaps more surprising was the Buckeye defense, who shut down the Badgers (who had averaged 37 points per game before Saturday) and effectively ended Melvin Gordon's Heisman campaign, limiting him to just 76 yards.  The result was a 59 - 0 thrashing that led to a spot in the playoffs.  Up next, Ohio State faces a tough test against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

4. Oregon's Marcus Mariota puts exclamation point on Heisman-worthy season with 5 or more touchdowns in PAC-12 title game

The Ducks' offense started a little slow, with numerous penalties costing them points early.  But once Oregon got going, things got ugly.  Mariota had another great game, as predicted, with 313 passing yards, 33 rushing yards, and 5 total touchdowns.  The Heisman ceremony is more of a formality at this point, as it looks like Mariota has the award wrapped up.  More importantly for the Ducks, they beat Arizona, 51 - 13, and head into the playoffs to face Florida State on January 1st.

5. The Big 12 changes their motto to "As many champions as we damn well please"

It looks like the decision to label TCU and Baylor as co-champs backfired, as the Big 12 was the only Power Five conference to not send a team to the playoffs.  Even if they don't change their motto,  they should probably look to change their model, as the round-robin format and lack of a championship game certainly hurt when it came time for the committee to select the top four teams.

Week 15 record: 1 - 4
Overall record: 29 - 46

Other headlines from week 15:

First playoff reveals flaw in system

It doesn't take a math genius to figure out someone was going to be left out.  With four playoff spots and five major conferences, we should have seen this coming.  But everyone assumed chaos in the final weeks would clear things up, as it usually did with the BCS system.  But the last couple of weeks were mostly chaos free, and we ended up with a logjam at the top, including an undefeated Florida State and five one-loss teams.  When the final rankings were revealed, it was the Big 12 who was left out, as co-champs Baylor and TCU sat at 5 and 6, respectively.  It's clear that something needs to change, as the Bears and Horned Frogs both had legitimate arguments to be included.  The calls are already starting (especially in Big 12 country) for expanding the playoff to eight teams.  I don't know how soon it will happen, though, as the current four-team system is slated to run through the 2025 season.  I have concerns about expanding the playoff, too, so we should be wary of jumping the gun here.  More to come on this in a later post.

SMU wins their first game, can't figure out victory formation

The Mustangs were the last remaining winless team in FBS before finally pulling off a 27 - 20 win over struggling UConn.  But they had a bit of trouble with the victory formation, which they had apparently never practiced before.  Congrats to SMU all the same, as they finally got to celebrate.  According to interim coach Tom Mason, "That locker room, it was like winning the damn national championship."

Central Michigan players learn bowl destination in fun way

CMU got creative in revealing the Chippewas' bowl game to the players.  Watch here, or below.