Mandel’s Last Ideas: Kyle McCord outplays Will Howard, and extra Ohio State woes

And now, 20 Last Ideas from faculty soccer’s Rivalry Weekend, the place most of the groups fought for 60 minutes, after which fought some extra.

1. On his weekly coach’s present final Monday, Ohio State coach Ryan Day described his workforce’s shedding streak to Michigan in stark phrases. “It’s one of many worst issues that’s ever occurred to me in my life, fairly actually, aside from shedding my father (at age 9) and some different issues,” he mentioned. “And for my household, (it’s) the worst factor that’s occurred. So, we will by no means have that occur once more. Ever.”

It occurred once more, and this one was a lot worse than these previous three losses to top-five Michigan groups. This 12 months’s Wolverines had been 6-5 and three-touchdown underdogs, but they nonetheless got here to the Horseshoe and humiliated the second-ranked Buckeyes 13-10 in a mistake-strewn recreation. It ended with Michigan gamers trying to plant their flag at midfield, fights breaking out, the police pepper spraying guys on each groups. Which Day watched unfold in entrance of him in an impassive daze.

Additionally, Ryan Day, your complete workforce is within the midst of a brawl, and also you’re on the sideline asking “what occurred?” Huh!?

Get your butt on the sector and command your gamers go to the locker room.

pic.twitter.com/fjiZGNmIfW

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) November 30, 2024

Whether or not by his personal selection or his employer’s, it’s laborious to think about Day will probably be again in Columbus subsequent season to attempt once more, given the anguish he says the Michigan losses have triggered him and his household. Maybe he’ll take a cue from John Calipari, who learn the room after Kentucky basketball’s unthinkable NCAA Event loss to Oakland final March and hatched his personal exit plan to Arkansas.

2. The loss knocked Day’s workforce out of subsequent week’s Huge Ten Championship Sport, which can now pit No. 1 Oregon (12-0, 9-0 Huge Ten) and No. 4 Penn State (11-1, 8-1). The Buckeyes (10-2, 7-2) will possible fall to No. 7 or No. 8, nonetheless safely within the 12-team Playoff subject, however their berth will include a pall hanging over this system. Ohio State has not lived as much as the expectations that got here with its $20 million roster. Held again by an injury-ravaged offensive line, the Buckeyes couldn’t run the ball on Michigan (77 yards on 26 carries), whereas quarterback Will Howard threw two pricey picks and kicker Jayden Fielding missed 38- and 34-yard subject objectives.

The Buckeyes can nonetheless obtain their objective of a nationwide championship. However their efficiency this season doesn’t elicit a lot confidence they will pull that off.

3. Michigan, led by operating again Kalel Mullings (32 carries for 116 yards), managed to beat the No. 2 workforce within the nation regardless of quarterback Davis Warren going simply 9 of 16 for 62 yards and two interceptions. It’s arguably the most important upset within the historical past of the rivalry, much more so than the famed 1969 Bo-over-Woody recreation. (Michigan was a 17-point canine in that one.)

Approaching the heels of his Bryce Underwood recruiting coup, the win utterly adjustments the story of Sherrone Moore’s first season as head coach.

4. Within the three years since Texas accepted an invitation to the SEC, coach Steve Sarkisian purposefully constructed his program alongside the strains of scrimmage. The third-ranked Longhorns (11-1, 7-1 SEC) flexed each of their 17-7 win over No. 20 Texas A&M (8-4, 5-3) within the rivalry’s long-awaited return after 13 years. Texas’ protection dominated from begin to end, with the Aggies’ solely factors approaching a choose six. In the meantime, Texas operating again Quintrevion Wisner floor out 186 speeding yards on 33 carries.

It’s no secret Texas A&M staunchly opposed permitting its hated nemesis to hitch the SEC, and now we see why. It took Texas one season to succeed in the convention championship recreation, the place it will get a rematch with No. 7 Georgia. Whereas A&M, which joined the league in 2012 and has been promoting that cachet in recruiting ever since, is but to make its first journey to Atlanta.

5. On the identical day that Ohio State’s Howard performed his worst recreation of the season, the man he changed, Kyle McCord, led Syracuse (9-3, 5-3 ACC) to its greatest win in years, a 42-38 upset of No. 6 Miami (10-2, 6-2 ACC). The loss knocked the Canes out of the ACC Championship Sport, which can now be Clemson vs. SMU, and it may probably price Miami a CFP berth as effectively. A vindicated McCord (26 of 36 for 380 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions) outdueled Heisman candidate Cam Ward (25 of 46, 349 yards, two touchdowns) to elevate the Orange to only their third nine-win season this century. Fairly the debut for first-time head coach Fran Brown.

6. The most effective guess right here is Miami will fall proper behind No. 10 Indiana (11-1) and turn into the final at-large workforce as of now. The Canes would nonetheless possible want No. 9 SMU (11-1) to win subsequent weekend and preserve 9-3 Clemson from stealing a bid. Additionally, you will hear an Eleventh-hour lobbying push from the SEC to raise 9-3 Alabama, which closed with a 28-14 Iron Bowl win over rival Auburn (5-7), above Miami and/or SMU. However this committee appears to care firstly about what number of video games you’ve misplaced. Not solely do the Tide have three of them, two had been to a pair of 6-6 groups, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. Even SEC Community thinks that’s a tricky promote.

7. South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers retains outdoing himself. His 20-yard landing run with 1:08 remaining lifted the Fifteenth-ranked Gamecocks (9-3) to a 17-14 win over rival Clemson, their sixth straight win following a 3-3 begin. Per Professional Soccer Focus, Sellers (who completed with 16 carries for 166 yards and two TDs) pressured 18 missed tackles, essentially the most by a quarterback because the firm started its monitoring in 2014. Afterward, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer steered Sellers ought to win the Heisman. That’s a stretch, however he’s excellent.

LaNorris Sellers pressured 18 missed tackles in opposition to Clemson.

Ashton Jeanty was the one participant to have extra in a recreation this season.

Most by a QB in a recreation we’ve ever recorded, relationship again to @PFF_College inception in 2014.

171 speeding yards for Sellers, 176 after contact.…

— Max Chadwick (@CFBMaxChadwick) December 1, 2024

Beamer additionally lobbied for a CFP at-large berth, and he has a case. South Carolina now boasts three High 25 wins (Texas A&M, Missouri and Clemson) and no “unhealthy” losses. However the committee would want to bump the Gamecocks above two 9-3 groups it misplaced to, Alabama and Ole Miss. Mockingly, the workforce it simply beat, Clemson, is win-and-in subsequent week in Charlotte.

8. Georgia and Georgia Tech’s Clear, Outdated-Usual Hate snuck up on Black Friday and delivered an all-time traditional. The Jackets (7-5), up 20-6 within the fourth quarter, appeared on the cusp of ending their rival’s 30-game residence win streak, because of an epic efficiency from quarterback Haynes King (303 passing yards, 110 speeding yards, 5 complete touchdowns). However Georgia security Dan Jackson’s game-changing strip-sack of King — which regarded to many like focusing on — helped the Bulldogs (10-2) come again and ultimately win 44-42 in eight(!) overtimes. Kirby Good praised his workforce’s “resilience” afterward, however Georgia has no option to be resilient when it permits 563 yards, the third-most of the Good period.

The Bulldogs now face a Texas workforce they pummeled 30-15 in Austin on Oct. 19, however don’t assume that end result was a precursor for this one. It depends upon which of Georgia’s 27 identities this season exhibits up.

9. In his first two-plus seasons, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman earned a stigma for shedding video games his workforce had no enterprise shedding. However following a Week 2 clunker in opposition to Northern Illinois, the fifth-ranked Irish (11-1) rolled off 10 consecutive wins, almost all of them blowouts. USC (6-6) put up a struggle for three-plus quarters Saturday earlier than Notre Dame notched a 99- and 100-yard choose six inside minutes of one another to drag away and win 49-35. The Irish, behind Jadarian Value (12 carries, 111 yards, one landing) and Jeremiyah Love (13 carries, 99 yards), ran for 258 yards.

Notre Dame is a lock to host a first-round CFP recreation and will even land the No. 5 seed if Penn State takes its second loss within the Huge Ten title recreation. That will arrange properly for Notre Dame, now 31 years faraway from its final main postseason win, to lastly finish that drought.

10. Subsequent week will carry the primary Huge Ten Championship Sport that entails no Midwestern colleges. No. 1 Oregon (12-0, 9-0 Huge Ten) clinched its berth two weeks in the past however added a 49-21 rout of rival Washington (6-6, 4-5) because the cherry on high. The door opened for No. 4 Penn State (11-1, 8-1) when Ohio State misplaced, and the Nittany Lions stormed by way of it with a 44-7 rout of Maryland (4-8, 1-8). It was one other dazzling day for Penn State tight finish Tyler Warren, who had six catches for 68 yards, three carries for 32 yards and a 9-yard move.

James Franklin returns to Indianapolis for the primary time since profitable the 2016 Huge Ten title. Fairly the flip of occasions because the Nittany Lions misplaced at residence to Ohio State on Nov. 2.

11. Iowa State has been stacking milestones all through Matt Campbell’s nine-year tenure, and Saturday introduced his most notable but. The 18th-ranked Cyclones’ 29-21 win over No. 24 Kansas State (8-4, 5-4 Huge 12) gave Iowa State its first-ever 10-win season, and now the Cyclones are headed to the Huge 12 Championship Sport to face Arizona State (10-2, 7-2). Iowa State did it with an on-brand efficiency, stuffing two fourth downs, notching a security and blocking a subject objective.

Ought to the Cyclones win subsequent week, they’ll finish a staggering 112-year convention championship drought. Sadly, there was no Playoff with computerized berths in 1912.

12. No. 16 Arizona State has surged from 3-9 in coach Kenny Dillingham’s first season to a convention championship recreation look in 12 months 2. Working again and soon-to-be All-American Cam Skattebo burst for 177 yards and three touchdowns because the Solar Devils drilled rival Arizona (4-8, 2-7) 49-7. It marked an entire 180 from final 12 months’s Territorial Cup, when ex-coach Jedd Fisch’s Wildcats gained 59-23 en path to a 10-3 file. Dillingham has stolen all of the thunder within the Valley since Fisch left for Washington, and the excitement will develop solely louder if he leads ASU to a convention championship.

13. Colorado (9-3, 7-2 Huge 12) mercifully ended Oklahoma State’s (3-9, 0-9 Huge 12) nightmare season with a 52-0 beatdown that ABC portrayed as a Heisman coronation for Travis Hunter. The outstanding two-way star notched his fourth interception of the season and caught 10 passes for 116 yards and three touchdowns. Enjoying at the very same time, Boise State operating again Ashton Jeanty carried 37 occasions for 226 yards and a rating —– his fifth 200-yard recreation this season — within the Broncos’ (11-1) 34-18 win over Oregon State (5-7).

Hunter, the game’s most original participant in many years, is definitely the favourite to hoist the trophy, however Jeanty is himself having a transcendent season (2,288 yards, 28 TDs). And he’ll get one final showcase alternative in entrance of possible his greatest viewers of the season as a result of …

14. After rising to No. 17 within the CFP rankings, Tulane (9-3, 7-1 AAC) fell 34-24 at residence to Memphis on Thursday, ruining its probabilities of ending because the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion. The Inexperienced Wave will nonetheless play for his or her convention championship on Friday, however they now should journey to West Level to satisfy unranked Military (10-1, 8-0). All of which turns Friday’s Mountain West Championship Sport between No. 11 Boise State and No. 22 UNLV on the blue turf right into a de facto CFP play-in recreation.

That’s proper. Both Boise State, which had two undefeated groups beneath Chris Petersen that by no means obtained to play for a nationwide championship, or UNLV, till just lately one of the downtrodden applications within the sport, will turn into the primary workforce to formally clinch an computerized berth. What a time to be alive.

15. No. 10 Indiana (11-1, 8-1 Huge Ten) disregarded final week’s Ohio State loss to mangle rival Purdue 66-0, essentially the most lopsided rating within the 125-year historical past of the Outdated Oaken Bucket. Indiana scored almost as many factors as its opponent gained yards (67). “It was the worst efficiency offensively that I’ve ever seen,” Boilermakers coach Ryan Walters mentioned of his workforce, which had beforehand suffered top-10 losses to Notre Dame (66-7), Oregon (35-0), Ohio State (45-0) and Penn State (49-10).

16. Think about being a Kansas Metropolis Chiefs/Nebraska Cornhuskers fan. It should be bittersweet to root for one workforce that seemingly can’t lose a detailed recreation and one other that may’t win one.

Nebraska outgained Iowa 334-164, gained 20 first downs to the Hawkeyes’ 5 … and misplaced 13-10 after Dylan Raiola fumbled with 22 seconds left and Iowa’s Drew Stevens nailed a walk-off 53-yard subject objective. Amazingly, it marked the second straight 12 months, and fourth time in seven seasons, that Iowa (8-4, 6-3 Huge Ten) has defeated Nebraska (6-6, 3-6) on a last-second subject objective. The Huskers are nonetheless going bowling for the primary time since 2016, however Matt Rhule’s second season finally didn’t really feel a lot completely different from the earlier seven.

17. It was a no-fun week for Mack Brown. On Tuesday, North Carolina fired its Corridor of Fame coach, who had mentioned solely a day earlier he meant to return for a seventh season. Then on Saturday, NC State (6-6, 3-5 ACC) drove 75 yards within the remaining two minutes for a 35-30 win over the Tar Heels (6-6, 3-5), the Wolfpack’s fourth straight win within the rivalry. Afterward, Brown, 73, instructed reporters he wouldn’t coach UNC in a bowl. Presumably, he has coached his final recreation.

In his second stint on the faculty, the previous nationwide champion took the Heels to the 2022 ACC Championship Sport however misplaced a minimum of 5 video games in all however one season. North Carolina AD Bubba Cunningham was justified in opting to begin anew.

18. For the primary time within the 28-year historical past of the MAC Championship Sport, arch-rivals Ohio (9-3, 7-1 MAC) and Miami of Ohio (8-4, 7-1) will meet for the title. (They had been beforehand in the identical division.) The RedHawks, defending league champs, mounted fairly a surge after beginning the season 1-4, knocking off Bowling Inexperienced 28-12 to get again to Detroit. The Bobcats will probably be making their sixth championship recreation look, nonetheless in search of their first win. Their final MAC title got here in 1968.

19. UConn (8-4) reached eight wins for the primary time since 2010 with a 47-42 win at UMass (2-10). Then got here a weird subplot. A UMass collective just lately introduced the creation of a brand new trophy for the rivalry, the Southwick Jug, however that collective, Midnight Experience, is now not acknowledged by the college. UConn coach Jim Mora tweeted after the sport that “I particularly requested for the trophy on the finish of the sport and was instructed level clean you of us weren’t giving it up.”

That is 100% false. I particularly requested for the trophy on the finish of the sport and I used to be instructed level clean you of us weren’t giving it up. @FightMA247 come clear, don’t put this on @UConnFootball or @UConnHuskies https://t.co/0c5xXhR4t7

— Jim Mora (@CoachJimMoraFB) December 1, 2024

UConn racks up all types of {hardware} in basketball. Why gained’t anybody let it have one awful soccer trophy?

20. Lastly, a phrase in regards to the onslaught of postgame skirmishes that permeated the game Saturday, from Columbus to Tuscaloosa to Tucson to Tallahassee. No tsk-tsk lecture about sportsmanship right here. Over the previous 15 years, conferences and their TV companions have killed off a few of the sport’s greatest rivalries within the pursuit of extra {dollars}. In the meantime, many feared the Playoff would deaden their stakes.

Seems, the coaches and gamers nonetheless actually, actually care about their rivals — particularly those that try to plant flags on their residence fields.

(Photograph: Jason Mowry / Getty Photos)