College football notes: November 26th

November 26, 2017

For those that don’t really follow college football, conference championship weekend is coming up this coming week. Here’s the schedule for the Power 5 conferences:

Friday:

  • PAC-12: #11 Southern California (10-2) vs #14 Stanford (9-3); 8 PM ET; ESPN

Saturday

  • Big XII: #2 Oklahoma (11-1) vs #10 TCU (10-2); 12:30 PM ET; FOX
  • SEC: #4 Auburn (10-2) vs #6 Georgia (11-1); 4 PM ET; CBS
  • Big Ten: #3 Wisconsin (12-0) vs #8 Ohio State (10-2); 8 PM ET; FOX
  • ACC: #1 Clemson (11-1) vs #7 Miami (11-1); 8 PM ET; ABC

It certainly appears that the winner of the SEC and ACC championship games are virtually assured of berths in the 4-team playoff. It also appears that Oklahoma and Wisconsin are virtual playoff locks if they win their respective titles. The wild card in all this though is Alabama which was ranked 1st or 2nd all year long but didn’t make the SEC championship after losing to cross state rival Auburn on Saturday evening. However, the Tide still could very well get a playoff bid, especially if there are upsets in either the Big XII or Big Ten championship games.

One of the major questions for the Big Ten title game between Ohio State and Wisconsin will be the health of Buckeyes’ QB J.T. Barrett who was forced to leave Saturday’s win over Michigan with a balky knee. What made that injury a little different is that Barrett claims the injury originally occurred when he was bumped by an unidentified cameraman during pre-game warm-ups. Needless to say, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was not amused and wants an ‘investigation.’ The injury isn’t believed to be serious, but expect Barrett to be a game-tiem type decision this coming week.

Notes: Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield sat out the Sooners’ opening series in their game with West Virginia as punishment for his sideline outburst the previous week in Kansas. However, Mayfield came off the bench after that initial series to complete 20 of 30 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover in the Sooners 41-3 win. Those three TDs meant Mayfield has thrown at least one TD pass in 37 consecutive game while he has thrown at least two TD passes in 24 straight games. At the same time, Mayfield, whose crude gestures in Kansas made national headlines last week, was on his best behavior this week as he played peace maker in a couple of scuffles between Sooner teammates and players from West Virginia.

Wyoming QB Josh Allen did not play for a second straight week as the Cowboys wrapped up their season with a loss to San Jose State on Saturday. Allen injured his shoulder three weeks ago and did not play in either of the Cowboys’ final two games. Allen, a junior, still has not announced his plans for the 2018 draft, but he was introduced with the Wyoming seniors in their final home game and is expected to enter the draft despite the fact he didn’t have the season he was hoping for. Also not playing this week for the 2nd straight week was LSU DE/OLB Arden Key who did not play in the Tigers’ season finale against Texas A&M because of a knee injury.

Meanwhile, Mississippi State junior QB Nick Fitzgerald suffered a gruesome ankle injury in Friday’s disappointing Egg Bowl loss to rival Mississippi and has already undergone season-ending surgery. Fitzgerald had been considered to be a dark-horse candidate to enter the upcoming draft so the injury complicates his decision. However, that decision is further complicated by the fact that Bulldogs’ head coach Dan Mullen has left the program and is headed to Florida.