Week 13 – The Call Sheet

CFP Musical Chairs – The Florida State situation is sure to test the CFP committee. If FSU wins out–and maintains a perfect record–do they still get an invite to the playoff bracket? Even knowing they’ll be without Jordan Travis? I’m fascinated to see how this plays out.

Not sure there is a right or wrong answer. On merit, they might deserve it. But if the committee is playing for TV ratings and competitiveness, it might be in their best interest to leave the Noles out in the cold.

Caleb Williams’ swan song – You don’t have to be a USC fan to think Saturday night was an awful way for the college career of Caleb Williams to end. The Trojans are in a tailspin, and while Williams hasn’t been perfect during the dip, he’s far from the big issue. He’s going to go down as one of the most ridiculous and ludicrously fun college quarterbacks we’ve seen in recent memory. What a crap way for it to end.

Arizona’s outside shot – It’s hard to fully wrap my head around this one, but there’s a not totally unrealistic shot for the red-hot Wildcats to make the Pac-12 title game. They need to win, and they need the Beavers to upset Oregon. Not insane! It probably won’t happen…but wow, what a thing to think about.

Orange juiced – On Sunday, Syracuse parted ways with head coach Dino Babers. Babers had some highs, but mostly mediocrity over his eight years there. What a difficult job this is. Not sure what Cuse should do or what direction it needs to go.

Auburn – LOL everybody keep pointing and laughing at Auburn! Don’t let their fans forget they got dump-trucked by NMSU at home.

Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State

Listen, you’ll have to pry this newsletter from my cold damn hands if you thought I wouldn’t include the Egg Bowl in the 5-Wide. No matter the circumstances or standing of either participating team, this game is special, and it deserves its righteous place.

Logic and reason say that Ole Miss should plaster Mississippi State, which is exactly why it should be closer than originally meets the eye.

Ole Miss is fraudulent on a national level, seeing as they’ve barely beaten any good teams and lost to Georgia in their one shining moment. Kiffin will have a point to prove and will be eyeing that 10-win mark, but mysterious things happen during the Egg Bowl. Perhaps it’s the insults hurled across the family Thanksgiving table or a player pretending to pee like a dog on national TV that costs his team the game. Weird stuff happens.

Sadly, this game will bring back memories of former MSU head coach Mike Leach’s untimely passing last year. In fact, the 2022 Egg Bowl was the last time The Pirate would pace the sidelines. MSU has really struggled since his passing, and Thursday night won’t be any different. For Bulldog fans, this game has got to be about throwing the kitchen sink at Ole Miss. I want to see trick plays, trash talk and hopefully a driving rainstorm to help slow down that Ole Miss offense.

Ohio State vs. Michigan

Lord have mercy, this game is going to be hilarious for somebody.

Either we, the greater college football community, will see Ryan Day lose to a Harbaugh-less Michigan to go 0-3 in three years against their bitter rivals, or we get the pleasure of watching Ohio State beat those cheatin’ sons of guns across the way and derailing the Wolverine’s playoff hopes. Funny is gonna win and win big on Saturday.

On the field, this feels a bit like Michigan’s game to lose. Unless OSU can ratchet things up at the LOS, I think Michigan will have its way running the ball and limiting what JJ McCarthy has to do in the air.

For OSU, this game has to be about getting the ball to Maserati Marv. He’s far and away your best player, and on the biggest stage, he needs a ton of touches. If OSU is going to pull the “upset” it’s going to be because MHJ has an all-world game and we see the very best from Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord.

Oregon State vs. Oregon

I’m not totally sure if we’re allowed to still refer to this game as The Civil War…but in my mind, it’s sort of always going to be that. As a child, I remember this game often featuring a good to really good Oregon team versus a scrappy but not great OSU team. Not this year, my friend.

Despite the close loss to UW on Saturday night, Oregon State is still good and can absolutely beat Oregon if things break right. They’ll need to pound the rock with Damien Martinez, limit the amount of mess-ups DJ U can have, and do something special on defense. We’re not asking much, right? Lol.

Oregon has been a complete powerhouse this year. They play like an SEC team, and I mean that in the best way. They’re tough up front, have a great quarterback in Bo Nix and really don’t take no for an answer very often. Dan Lanning has his fingerprints all over this team and I think they’re a strong contender for the CFP.

UTSA vs. Tulane

In our G5 game of the week, we see a pair of conference unbeaten square off with a birth to the American Conference title game on the line. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Both of these teams are absolutely rolling right now, with seven and nine-game win streaks respectively. Despite some closer calls (especially with Tulane), these teams have won when they needed to and have been really fun to watch over the entire season.

This matchup pits a pair of good G5 quarterbacks in Frank Harris and Michael Pratt and two even better coaches in Jeff Traylor and Willie Fritz against each other. This will be some high-level, great offensive football and I can’t wait to watch. Thankfully, this game falls on Friday afternoon so there’s no real reason not to watch.

Tulane are slight favorites, and I sort of suspect they’ll come out on top…but it wouldn’t shock me to see the Meeps win on the road.

Iowa vs. Nebraska

Look man, sometimes you have to dig through the kitchen garbage to find something you accidentally threw away, and that’s what we’re doing here. I know a lot of folks outside of the Iowa-Nebraska area won’t care about this game, but I’m a sicko and am actually looking forward to this.

Last year, Nebraska inexplicably beat the Hawkeyes and I suspect that will loom over this game, too. Unlike last year, this time around it’s the Huskers that have a lot to play for. Win, and they get bowl eligibility. Lose, and they leave their extra game up to chance.

Nebraska’s been edging close to that sixth win for weeks now but keeps finding unique ways to lose. Let’s hope they keep that up again this week.

This game has a preposterously low O/U and I’m hammering the under. I don’t see a ton of points between the two teams. Both teams are led by backup quarterbacks, the weather will be cold and windy and both teams have really strong defenses.

I like Iowa by a score of 9-6 or something like that.

Iowa vs. Nebraska UNDER 27.5 – Let’s get nasty.

-6.5 Miami OH vs. Ball State – The Redhawks will want to finish strong before the MAC Championship game.

-12.5 Arizona vs. Arizona State - I like the Cats to stay hot.

-17 Liberty vs. UTEP – Liberty will try and score a ton to keep that undefeated record looking great in hopes of an outside chance at a great bowl game.