In the days after Thanksgiving, there were many college football games that were worth looking forward to. With high stakes on the line for each matchup, these games proved to be an exciting show for the fans.
On Saturday at “The Game,” top-ranked Ohio State took down Michigan 27-9 to remain undefeated. After Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin threw an interception on their first drive, the Ohio State offense dominated, with Sayin throwing three touchdowns as snow blanketed the field.
With the win, Ohio State’s record is 12-0. They are one of only two teams in college football with an undefeated record.
The other unbeaten team, Indiana, kept their No. 2 spot in the polls with a 56-3 win on Friday against Purdue. Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza completed only eight passes, but Indiana rushed for over 350 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
Ohio State and Indiana will face off against each other this week in the Big Ten championship. This conference championship game has major playoff implications. The winner of the matchup will be the undisputed leader of college football and will hold possession of the No. 1 ranking.
This week also will feature the SEC championship, with Georgia facing off against Alabama. Both teams are coming off an in-state win, with Georgia beating Georgia Tech 16-9 and Alabama beating Auburn in the Iron Bowl 27-20.
This championship game will be a rematch of the 2023 SEC championship, which ended in favor of Alabama. But Georgia is the winner of the most recent SEC championship, beating Texas in 2024.
Speaking of the Longhorns, they took down third-ranked Texas A&M in the Lone Star Showdown, giving the Aggies their first loss of the season. The 27-17 victory for the Longhorns gets them closer to securing a playoff berth and eliminates Texas A&M’s chances to play in the SEC championship.
Penn State won against Rutgers, moving them to a 6-6 record on the season and making them bowl eligible. Running back Kaytron Allen broke the Penn State all-time rushing yards record with 3,954 rush yards, with 226 of those yards coming in the 40-36 win against the Scarlet Knights.
The Pittsburgh Panthers will finish the season with a record of 8-4, making them bowl eligible. Pitt lost to Miami 38-7, but the Panthers had already claimed their bowl eligibility stats after a win against NC State earlier in the season.
After an Ole Miss victory over Mississippi State, Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin left the organization to become the coach for LSU.
Kiffin was originally projected to become the coach for Florida, but after that fell through, he decided to make the shift to become the Tigers’ new coach. He leaves behind a sixth-ranked, playoff-bound team in Ole Miss, which now has to fend for itself for the rest of the season.
Other matchups for this coming weekend include a rematch of Texas Tech and BYU, this time for the Big 12 championship; North Texas versus Tulane in the American Conference championship, and Duke against Virginia in the ACC championship game.
With many bowl games and the playoffs right around the corner, college football fans have a lot of exciting matchups to look forward to, both this week and in the coming weeks.
