Photo by Michael Reaves from Getty Images
This was a tremendous weekend for college football, on paper.
Big game after big game after big game.
In reality? Some of the games didn’t exactly live up to the hype.
But it was still a fun weekend overall.
Here is this weeks top 5.
5. Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders
MTSU had lost 7 straight games in the 100 Miles of Hate rivalry with Western Kentucky.
That is, until Saturday night, when MTSU won on a last second field goal (and touchdown after WKU tried a lateral play that went awry) to break the streak and get the Blue Raiders to 5-4.
Think that doesn’t matter?
Tell that to head coach Derek Mason who was in the locker room in tears over the streak finally being over.
4. Maryland Terrapins
Speaking of streaks coming to an end, Maryland broke their 13 game conference losing streak after defeat Purdue 34-29.
Still a rough year overall for the Terps, but this is a bright moment for sure.
3. UMass Minutemen
SPEAKING of streaks coming to an end!
UMass hadn’t beaten an FBS opponent at home since 2021.
2021!!
But again, that streak came to an end Wednesday night when Pop Watson led the Minutemen to a 31-30 overtime win against Ball State.
UMass is now just one win away from a bowl game, and has their most ever wins in a FBS season since 1904.
That’s not a typo.
The job Joe Harasymiak has done this year is remarkable.
2. Florida Atlantic Owls
FAU’s offense is one of the best in the country that you should frankly pay more attention to.
But they went up against UTSA, the leaders in the American Conference, and had a tough test to try and stake their claim as an elite offense, and legitimate American threat.
Boy, did they deliver.
FAU put up a 60 burger against UTSA, moving to 6-3 and getting them right back into the fight for the American title game.
Not to mention, becoming must watch TV for me.
1. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
The CFB Playoff Committee does a weekly show on Tuesday showing the playoff rankings for each specific week.
Personally, I think these weekly shows are stupid, because by the beginning of December, the committee simply throws out the rules they made for themselves just a month earlier, but this week, they actually did something notable.
They put Notre Dame, ranked 4th in the AP Poll, at 11th in the College Football Playoff poll.
That ranking gave the Irish all the motivation they needed, because the Committee was flat out telling them.
“If you don’t beat Miami on Saturday, you have no chance at all to make the playoff.”
And the Irish were dominant for most of the game, and staved off a late comeback attempt by Miami to get a 7 point win, and stake their claim as one of the elite teams in the sport.
And no, that incomplete pass by Miami was not a controversial call. Keep your sanity, folks.
