College Football Week 13 Takeaways
Any Given Saturday
Week 13 was one of the craziest weeks of the 2024-25 College Football season as many of the country’s top teams went down. It all sets up an interesting final week of the regular season as schools battle to reach conference championship games, bowl eligibility, and other achievements.
Here are some thoughts as we enter the season’s final week.
Playoff committee deals with the chaos of “Any Given Saturday”
Saturday provided great football for those of us whose teams had already played. With no anxiety to face on the field, we got to watch some epic collapses as seven of the top 20 teams in the country lost.
Now, the College Football Playoff committee has to sort it all out, and tomorrow’s rankings become appointment viewing as teams and fans clamor to see where they stand.
Obviously, conference championship teams will sort a lot of things out, but the at-large bids just became much less certain with few games remaining. How many teams get in from the SEC? How many 3-loss teams make it? Will any other conference besides the Big Ten and the SEC have multiple teams in the field? We’ll just have to wait and find out.
Indiana is good, but not good enough
Indiana football was a good story this year, but the Hoosiers aren’t ready for national contention. Sure, they’ll make the 12-team playoff field because of the conference they play in and the way they were able to rip through most teams for dominant wins, but what they proved against Ohio State was the truly elite teams will still simply be too much.
Florida shows progress
There were many raised eyebrows when Florida announced head coach Billy Napier would return for a fourth season at the helm in 2025, but the recent play of the Gators has backed up that decision.
Florida is 2-1 since the decision was announced, losing to No. 3 Texas but knocking off ranked LSU and Ole Miss teams in back-to-back weeks. I understand Florida football has a higher standard and higher expectations that have not been reached under Napier, but the way the team has played in recent weeks may start to slowly silence some critics — unless he flops again next season.
SMU becomes the most successful team to jump from G5 to Power 4 and should be favored over Miami
Many wrote off SMU after an ugly win against Nevada to open the season and an early loss to BYU, but the Mustangs have now secured a spot in the ACC Championship and have proven to be one of the top teams in the country.
As Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde points out, SMU has traditionally been thought of as an offensive team, but the strides it has taken on defense have been the real difference makers and a challenge for ACC opponents.
Miami has been ranked ahead of SMU all season, but I don’t see how that can continue, and I think SMU has a better team than the Hurricanes.
Underachievers
Much is expected of the teams at schools like Ole Miss and Penn State, yet they always seem to fall flat.
Penn State barely squeaked past Minnesota on Saturday, narrowly avoiding the annual James Franklin late-season meltdown, but still looks like a lock for the College Football Playoff because of how things turned out elsewhere. Still, I would have concerns about this Penn State team going up against whoever it draws in the first round because nothing about this team says it’s really elite.
On the other hand, OIe Miss was trying to reestablish itself as a potential playoff team and may have played its way out. The playoff committee might not be able to write off any 3-loss SEC teams yet, but the Rebels now have 2 bad losses (Kentucky and Florida) on their resume and are tied for 5th in the conference with too many teams to fight through. Disappointing for a team that many thought could win the SEC.
SEC title picture and playoff hopes
Many of the victims of Saturday’s on-field events reside in the SEC and were looking to make a case to stay in the conference title picture. However, the conference title is now down to 3 teams.
Georgia has clinched a spot in the game due to a tiebreaker over Tennessee and will face the winner of the Lone Star Showdown between No. 3 Texas and No. 15 Texas A&M. The Longhorns can clinch the regular season title with a win, while the Aggies are trying to avoid a third conference loss that would eliminate them from the SEC and CFP pictures.
Arizona State emerges in the Big 12
This is one of the most underrated stories in college football this year. The Sun Devils joined the new-look, 16-team Big 12 Conference as part of the ongoing national expansion and realignment over the summer and were picked to finish dead last in the league by the media.
With one game left in the regular season, Arizona State now sits in first place in the Big 12 and is ranked No. 14 in the country. The Sun Devils can finish a 10-win regular season against Arizona on Saturday and clinch a spot in the Big 12 Championship game with a chance to crash the College Football Playoff.
It’s been their best season since 2014. Not bad for a team that went 3-9 last year and has the youngest Power 4 coach in America.
Notre Dame seals a playoff spot
There was probably little question that the Fighting Irish would make the College Football Playoff at this point, but they made their case even stronger with a decisive win over a previously undefeated Army team that was fighting for a spot in the 12-team field itself.
Notre Dame has an ugly loss to Northern Illinois but has won 9 in a row since — beating three teams that were ranked heading into their matchups. It hasn’t been particularly close either, as the Irish have not allowed more than 14 points in a game since Sept. 28 and beat each team by several scores during that time.