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No, there’s still no resolution to the Lane Kiffin stuff. More on that below. Before that, let’s sprint through lots of things that don’t require ESPN’s Marty Smith to stand in front of a wall at Ole Miss’ facility for like 16 straight hours. What if I told you there’s a scenario in which JMU makes the Playoff, but Bama doesn’t?

Superlatives

Best Fight Put up by No. 15 Michigan: That goes to the grounds crew, feverishly overwriting Brutus the Buckeye’s attempts to write pro-Ohio State messaging in the Ann Arbor snow. Later, Michigan players guarded the midfield logo to prevent any postgame flag-planting. Our most landscaping-focused rivalry. Otherwise, Ryan Day can exhale for the first time since 2019, ending the flawed Wolverines’ Playoff hopes with a 27-9 victory and proving these No. 1 Buckeyes can win a scrapfest.

Worst Possible Moment to Revert to Character: If No. 3 Texas A&M had made it to the postseason before the arrival of the long-dreaded crumbling, Aggie fans could’ve tolerated it. But melting down 27-17 against No. 16 Texas, the rent-free archrival A&M hasn’t beaten since 2010, four games and one hiatus ago? Giving Playoff hope to the extremely beatable Horns? (As Stewart Mandel reminds you in his look at the very crowded Playoff field, Florida beat them!) Totally bottling up Arch Manning before making him look like he’ll be the preseason Heisman favorite again? Absolutely brutal. Again.

Best Game That Could’ve Been Played in a Garage: The sequel to arguably the finest game of 2024 wasn’t quite an eight-overtime epic this year, but it was just as rock-fisted, with No. 4 Georgia recording all of 70 passing yards in a 16-9 win over No. 23 Georgia Tech. Will these 11-1 Dawgs ever look great on both sides of the ball at once? As for the ACC-vs.-SEC rivalry games that are not feeling quite as prestigious:

Most Miserable Conclusion: A three-way tie:

South Carolina fell to 4-8 by losing 28-14 at home to 7-5 Clemson. The Tigers’ disappointment this season is obvious, but Shane Beamer’s Gamecocks feel so much worse, having also started in the AP top 13.
Florida State lost 40-21 to 4-8 Florida, the most scored by the Gators against an FBS opponent since October 2024. The Noles become the first non-bowl team since 2007 ULM to have beaten Alabama.
Kentucky somehow had the worst day of all, likewise missing bowl season by falling 41-0 to 8-4 Louisville. The Cardinals were missing multiple offensive stars, yet still had Mark Stoops telling reporters there’s a “zero percent chance” he quits.

This Week in Vanderbilt Unprecedentedness: If Indiana beats Ohio State next week, perhaps Fernando Mendoza should win the Heisman. Otherwise, Diego Pavia is the best choice, having pulled off his fourth 400-total-yard game in a row as No. 14 Vandy completed a borderline Playoff case with a 45-24 win at No. 19 Tennessee. First 10-win season in school history, and coach Clark Lea is staying. (That Heisman note was by Jason. Alex says Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love should also be right there.)

Best Consolidation: No. 5 Texas Tech’s David Bailey and Jacob Rodriguez have often split the defense-minded votes in The Athletic’s weekly Heisman Straw Poll. During yesterday’s 49-0 win over 4-8 West Virginia, the latter Red Raider linebacker scored his second TD on offense, maybe breaking that deadlock?
Most Bittersweet Kicking: Kansei “Tokyo Toe” Matsuzawa tied the FBS record set in 1982 by Washington’s Chuck Nelson, hitting all of his first 25 field goals this season, then missed the 26th. His Hawaii reached 8-4 though, continuing its best season since 2019 with a win over Wyoming.

Hardest College Football Weekend to Recap in One Email: This one. Every year. A lightning round of just a few games that meant a lot to lots of people, even though there will not be space for so many others:

No. 6 Oregon won the Big Ten Northwest, 26-14 at 8-4 Washington. Three B1G teams in the top six. (After that, it’s clear why this conference wanted four auto-bids.) Playoff game coming to Eugene.
In No. 8 Oklahoma’s 17-13 win over 7-5 LSU, John Mateer put up actual video-game numbers: 318 yards and three INTs. Excited for casual fans to get a look at the Sooners’ frantic stagnancy in the Playoff.
No. 10 Alabama won a nighttime Iron Bowl 27-20. It came down to a gutsy fourth-down call by the Tide and Auburn’s near-total inability to catch or hold a football.
“Iowa joins Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State as the only programs to win at least eight games in each of the last 10 full seasons.” Meanwhile, suddenly dismal times (again) at Nebraska, where Matt Rhule’s extension weeks ago is already looking 😬.
No. 17 USC whirred to life and beat 3-9 UCLA 29-10, and now looks to sign the 247Sports Composite’s No. 1 recruiting class on Wednesday.

Best Team in the ACC, Not That It Necessarily Matters: No. 12 Miami dominated No. 22 Pitt on the road 38-7. At 10-2, the Canes are once again boxed out of the ACC championship because they lost to the wrong team (SMU, in this case). Miami could also be one of the first two teams out of the Playoff for the second year in a row, though as we’ve discussed, it wouldn’t be shocking for the Canes to keep inching closer.

Best Team with a Currently Disregarded Loss to Miami: No. 9 Notre Dame wrapped up its own 10-2 record with a 49-20 romp over Stanford. The Irish definitely looked aware of style points. Final tally in their games against common opponents: Notre Dame 192-49, Miami 160-31, with the difference essentially being the Irish laugher against Syracuse.

Lineup Most/Least Likely to Resolve Whether Conference Championships Still Matter:

Big Ten: No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Indiana is one of the biggest title games ever, regardless of the Playoff era supposedly limiting the stakes. The freaking Indiana Hoosiers are in what will likely be the season’s only 1-vs.-2 game!
SEC: After all that A&M and Ole Miss stuff, it’s No. 4 Georgia vs. No. 10 Alabama again. The Tide have owned the Dawgs as much as any team can own an opponent that recently won a national title game against it.
Big 12: The No. 5 Texas Tech vs. No. 11 BYU rematch was finalized on Friday by No. 25 Arizona beating No. 20 Arizona State 23-7. The 11-1 Cougars can steal a CFP bid here, making yet another team angry about being left out.
ACC: Hoo boy. At this point, the closest thing to a sensical outcome is for No. 18 Virginia to make the Playoff … in football! Otherwise, a five-loss Duke wins the conference, risking the ACC missing the field entirely. More on that in a sec. Oh, and Duke-UVA was clinched by Cal beating SMU, because those are ACC teams. Sorry, you need a break.
American: 11-1 North Texas at No. 24 Tulane. There. Normal football. The winner is in. Back to wackytown:
Sun Belt: At 11-1, JMU hosts 8-4 Troy. With a win, the Dukes (plural) would have a better case than Duke (singular) for landing the fifth and final conference champs Playoff bid, but would the committee be brave enough to admit it? The ACC nightmare scenario is fully nigh. (Also, combine title wins by Georgia, BYU, JMU and Duke, potentially sending JMU while swiping BYU a spot from … Alabama.)
Mountain West: Boise State, New Mexico, San Diego State and UNLV are tied. This morning, the conference will use a combo of computer ratings to determine which two teams will meet on Friday. (Shoot, whoever wins this game would probably also be favored by Vegas to beat Duke.)
Conference USA: Every program to ever reach a title game within two years of joining FBS: 2023 Jacksonville State and 2025 Kennesaw State (alma mater of this newsletter’s most frequent author, tbh). Now those two meet, blissfully oblivious about the Playoff.
MAC: Miami (the one allowed to attend championship games) faces Western Michigan. The Broncos haven’t been here since P.J. Fleck coached them in 2016.

The Pac-12 Champion: Everyone. Washington State beat Oregon State 32-8 to split the season series and become bowl eligible. The Pac-2 becomes the Pac-8 next year, so this should be the final conference race with a league-wide tie at 1-1.

Also becoming bowl-eligible at the buzzer: Arkansas State, Army, Georgia Southern, Kansas State, Louisiana, Texas State and some guys by the name of the Penn State Nittany Lions. Delaware also finished 6-6, but joins fellow newbie Missouri State in waiting ‘til next year.

Most Mixed Debut: For the first time ever, the Ivy League participated in the FCS playoffs. Harvard got smoked 52-7 by the pope’s Villanova Wildcats, but Yale came back from 28 down to win 43-42 at Youngstown State in one of the year’s best games. Finally something nice happens for the ruling class.

Waiting Lane: What made the Kiffin thing even worse

He is still, for this moment, Ole Miss’ head coach. That’s despite yesterday having been circled in advance as the day for deciding between the Rebels or rival LSU. The latest: An Ole Miss team meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. CT, which doesn’t sound like news in the Rebels’ favor, though at this point, it doesn’t sound like many Ole Miss fans even want him to stay. Follow along here for updates.

Kiffin’s weekend started with a Friday win over rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, and then college football’s greatest weekend had to compete for attention with the 50-year-old’s waiting game. This circus wasn’t inevitable, either. Kiffin’s had the same set of options for weeks.

Part of why it all got very annoying? ESPN. “College GameDay” has offered an editorial slant that would’ve been bothersome even if several men on the “GameDay” desk didn’t share an agency with Kiffin.

Last week, Nick Saban explained that Kiffin’s will-he-or-won’t-he routine was “not a Lane Kiffin conundrum” but a “college football conundrum” born out of a difficult calendar. (Why couldn’t it be both?) This week, Kirk Herbstreit urged Ole Miss to set its pride aside if Kiffin left, then allow him to coach the Rebels’ postseason run.

That would be foolish, as Kiffin would be using Ole Miss as a platform to help LSU’s recruiting, undoubtedly also using face time with players and staff to woo the best of them to Baton Rouge. Maybe it could work if LSU weren’t a conference rival — or if Kiffin weren’t the only person in history to have been so bad at pulling double duty during a Playoff run that his head coach told him in 2017 to leave early for his new job at FAU. Which head coach required that? Saban.

Meanwhile, Kiffin has made himself inescapable even as he’s tried to avoid adversarial questions, though he had some awkward news conferences as he dodged SEC reporters. He also did not like it when an Ole Miss writer used a 1998 rap-lyric metaphor to describe the coach’s job-hopping. Kiffin courted the negotiating leverage that came with dragging his decision out in public, then didn’t want anyone on his case about it. At this point, whether he next appears on the home or away sideline in Oxford, he’ll hear a lot worse than a Ludacris quote.

As for Florida: 

Quick Snaps

🙌 As noted a few days ago, expect a bunch of hirings soon, especially once Kiffin finally lets Marty Smith go home. Two that didn’t require hijacking every attention span across the country:

Stanford’s bringing home Washington Commanders running backs coach Tavita Pritchard, a former Cardinal QB (best remembered for his first start, when he piloted a 2007 upset of USC as a 41-point underdog) who then worked all the way up Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw coaching staffs.
As expected, Oregon State hired Alabama co-OC JaMarcus Shephard, a former Washington and Washington State assistant who coached a ton of great receivers. Coaches he worked under include Jeff Brohm, Mike Leach and of course Kalen DeBoer.

🦬 Deion Sanders doesn’t sound like he intends to leave Colorado after this 3-9 season.

🎧  “The Audible” podcast will have live weekend (and presumably Kiffin) reactions at 11:30 a.m. ET. Come watch.

Mementos

The best sounds of the weekend included Mississippi State perfectly timing noted fight anthem “Knuck if You Buck” with a fight breaking out, the phenomenally blizzard-afflicted audio that emerged from field mics at the Division III playoffs or someone absolutely losing it over a penalty during Purdue’s blowout loss to Indiana. Sweet music all around.

One semi-full Saturday left before the FBS postseason. Finish strong. Say hey at untilsaturday@theathletic.com.

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