Baylor's 24-10 win against Texas secures a rematch with Oklahoma to decide the Big 12 championship, with the likelihood that both teams carry just a single loss into December increasing the odds that the championship game will have major College Football Playoff implications.
The Bears' turnaround has been one of the great stories of the season: Matt Rhule, formerly of Temple, has led Baylor from one win in his debut season to the thick of Amway Coaches Poll, with the chance of reaching a New Year's Six bowl.
A week ago, Oklahoma snapped Baylor's unblemished record by reversing deficits of 28-3 at halftime and 31-10 in the third quarter to win 34-31. While the loss only sent Baylor back one spot in the recent playoff rankings, the Bears have a steep hill to climb — including multiple one-loss teams from Power Five conferences — to crack into the national semifinals. In bringing this team back to prominence, however, Rhule has earned strong consideration for national coach of the year.
Then there's Texas, which entered the season viewed as a borderline playoff contender and the closest thing to threat to Oklahoma in the Big 12. Instead, the Longhorns now sit at a pedestrian 6-5 with one game left after once being 5-1 with a competitive loss to top-ranked LSU — a precipitous and surprising decline from the upper reaches of the Amway Coaches Poll to the second tier of conference bowl tie-ins.
One issue has been injuries. Another has been a clear lack of proven depth as third-year coach Tom Herman continues to add impressive but untested talent into the Longhorns' roster. The biggest issue has been the play of the defense, which has plummeted near the bottom of the Big 12 in almost every major category.
Saturday saw two teams moving in opposite directions. Whether the Longhorns can rebound in 2020 will tell if this jarring role reversal is temporary or part of a larger theme.
Here are the rest of Saturday's winners and losers:
Winners
Ohio State
The Buckeyes secured the Big Ten East and proved why they'll be tough to unseat from the playoff chase with Saturday's 28-17 win against Penn State, which was firmly in Ohio State's control before a series of second-half turnovers allowed the Nittany Lions to draw within a touchdown entering the fourth quarter. The Buckeyes led 21-0 five minutes into the third quarter, after quarterback Justin Fields delivered a 24-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver K.J. Hill. Penn State responded with a 75-yard drive for its first score, and then capitalized on two Ohio State turnovers to draw within 21-17.
The final score doesn't quite tell the story. Ohio State gained 417 yards of offense, 229 coming on the ground across 61 carries. The defense was borderline dominant, limiting Penn State to a season-low 227 yards behind another jaw-dropping performance from defensive end Chase Young. Only turnovers allowed the Nittany Lions to crawl back into a game that seemed headed in the second quarter for a multiple-touchdown blowout. From here, the Buckeyes end November against Michigan before meeting one of Wisconsin or Minnesota to settle the Big Ten.
POINT PROVED:No. 2 Ohio State passes first test in Penn State win
Michigan
It's not ridiculous to assume Michigan will give Ohio State all it can handle. The rivalry comes at home, for one. And the Wolverines have been terrific since halftime of the 28-21 loss to Penn State on Oct. 20, winning four in a row by double digits capped by Saturday's 39-14 win at Indiana. Quarterback Shea Patterson threw for 366 yards and five touchdowns, giving him nine touchdowns across his past two games.
Georgia
The Bulldogs' defense is seriously good. Georgia shut down Texas A&M's running game to win 19-13 and remain in the thick of the playoff race. This defense, which entered the weekend ranked second nationally in points allowed per game, presents an interesting counterpoint to LSU's outstanding offense and is the reason why Georgia has a shot at upsetting the Tigers in two weeks to win the SEC. But the Georgia offense keeps on sputtering: Jake Fromm completed less than half of his attempts and the Bulldogs gained just 260 yards, marking the third time in five games Georgia has failed to eclipse the 300-yard mark.
BULLDOGS SCARE:No. 4 Georgia holds off No. 24 Texas A&M late
Virginia Tech
The Hokies continue to roll. Tech has now won six of seven since a horrible Thursday night loss at home to Duke in September, with the one loss coming by a single point to Notre Dame. The latest, 28-0 against Pittsburgh, came in longtime defensive coordinator Bud Foster's final home game — so the shutout was only fitting — and puts the Coastal Division at stake in a winner-take-all finale against rival Virginia. Good news: Virginia Tech has won 15 games in a row in the series.
Kansas
With just three wins in Les Miles' debut, Kansas remains in the early stages of a long rebuild under the former LSU coach. But the Jayhawks have been pesky, most recently in Saturday's 41-31 loss to surging Iowa State. Kansas committed no turnovers, gained 493 yards of offense and averaged 5.2 yards per carry in holding a pair of second-half leads, the latest coming at 31-27 in the fourth quarter.
Brigham Young
BYU dropped 42 points in the second quarter of its 56-24 win against hapless Massachusetts, one touchdown off the Bowl Subdivision record for points in a single quarter, to turn a 7-0 game into a 49-0 halftime advantage. The Cougars had well over 400 yards of offense after the first half before pulling back the throttle across the final two quarters. They're now 7-4 with wins against Tennessee, Southern California and Boise State.
California
Here's a nice three-for-one afternoon for the Golden Bears. First, the 24-20 win against Stanford secures a bowl game for the second year in a row under coach Justin Wilcox, who has done fantastic work across his three seasons. This was also the first rivalry win against the Cardinal since 2009. Lastly, beating Stanford means the Cardinal will miss out on the postseason for the first time since 2008.
Yale
It's not the FBS, and yeah, perhaps the biggest story from this game was the student protest at midfield that delayed the start of the second half. But Yale added another footnote to one of college football's best rivalries with an unbelievable comeback: Harvard led 15-3 at halftime, 22-3 one minute into the second half and 29-13 midway into the third quarter before the Bulldogs stormed back to tie the score at 36-36 with 18 seconds left. Yale scored a touchdown in the second overtime to win 50-43.
GAME STOPPED:Protesters storm field at halftime of Harvard-Yale clash
Losers
Penn State
There will be no shot at the Big Ten championship, let alone a case for the national semifinals. But the loss at Ohio State will keep Penn State right in the mix for a New Year's Six bowl should the Buckeyes reach the playoff. That's partly because of how dominant OSU has been otherwise, with every other win coming by 24 points. The Nittany Lions will be a strong contender for the New Year's Six due to wins against Iowa and Michigan, which should help overcome an earlier loss to Minnesota even if the two teams end the regular season with the same number of losses.
Maryland
It's hard to believe that this team was once ranked in the Amway Coaches Poll. (As it turns out, Syracuse is also terrible.) The Terrapins continued their rapid descent to the second-to-last rung in the Big Ten with a 54-7 loss at home to Nebraska, which led 34-0 at halftime and ended with 531 yards of offense. Maryland's lone win since routing the Orange on Sept. 7 came against Rutgers, with every Big Ten loss but one, to Indiana, coming by 26 or more points.
UCLA
A burst of strong play in the middle of Chip Kelly's second season sent the Bruins into last weekend's game against Utah with a chance of winning the South Division. The last two games have gone poorly. After losing 49-3 to the Utes a week ago, the Bruins lost 52-35 to rival Southern California and will miss out on bowl eligibility. After a brief improvement, this marks the second time this season UCLA has allowed a combined 100 points across back-to-back games. Two other factoids: Kelly has as many losses this season as during his entire four years at Oregon, while UCLA will finish with four losing seasons in a row for the first time since 1924.
SMU
Navy continued its fantastic bounce-back season under Ken Niumatalolo with a 35-28 win against SMU sealed on a SMU late offside penalty. The Midshipmen play at Houston next Saturday before closing the regular season on Dec. 13 against Army in Philadelphia. For SMU, the loss ends any hope of winning a division championship and playing for a New Year's Six bowl.
