College football says, ‘Let’s get weird,’ plus Playoff predictions for Tuesday – The Athletic
NCAAF
Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈 | This is The Athletic’s college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox.
Yesterday was an extra weird day of college football. Let’s get into it … starting with two top-five upsets.
Here are the other bizarre things that happened on Saturday ranked from 🤯(definitely unique) to 🤯 🤯🤯🤯 (you HAVE to see this).
🤯 Indiana is 10-0 for the first time EVER after beating Michigan 20-15. Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti isn’t done either, shrugging off his team’s historic start in a postgame interview: “What are we 10-0? … Not bad.” But here’s the real kicker. Cignetti’s daughter, Natalie, got engaged on the field after the game as the jumbotron read: “Natalie, every day with you is 10-0, will you marry me?” IU, clearly in the Big Ten title and CFP picture, really is experiencing a season like no other.
Advertisement
🤯 🤯🤯 Texas Tech fans are known to throw tortillas on the field at kickoff, but with Colorado in town, the decades-long tradition had some added flare to it. Buffs two-way star Travis Hunter picked up a tortilla and tucked it into his pants before the game began. Later, Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders signed a tortilla, telling reporters, “They just kept throwing them at me, so I had to sign one.” No. 21 Colorado beat Texas Tech 41-27 to gain sole possession of second place in the Big 12.
🤯 🤯 Ole Miss has a squirrel problem … or maybe a squirrel good luck charm. The No. 16 Rebels are now 2-0 in games with squirrel appearances (yesterday’s win vs. Georgia and a win against Oklahoma on Oct. 26). With just one regular-season home game left in Oxford, the squirrel is on track to retain his redshirt.
🤯🤯🤯 LSU announced during the week it would bring out a live tiger before its game against Alabama, but instead of resident mascot Mike VII, a tiger named Omar Bradley would be sent in from Florida for the pregame showing (he was still introduced as Mike, which was met with a mix of cheers and boos). Adding a wrinkle, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a complaint and requested action against the animal’s Florida owner. That was probably the most dramatic part of this SEC showdown. No. 11 Alabama comfortably beat No. 14 LSU 42-13, essentially eliminating the Tigers’ CFP chances as Garrett Nussmeier and the LSU offense went cold and Jalen Milroe wreaked havoc on Brian Kelly’s squad for the second straight season.
🤯🤯🤯🤯 The Jacksonville State–Louisiana Tech ending was one of the wildest of the weekend. After trailing all of the second half, JSU came back to tie the score with a 49-yard Hail Mary as time expired. The Gamecocks were an extra point away from winning the game … but the kick sailed wide, and the game went to overtime with the score tied at 37. JSU prevailed in OT to win 44-37 and remains tied atop the Conference USA standings with Western Kentucky.
Advertisement
🤯🤯🤯🤯 But the ultimate weird ending goes to No. 9 BYU holding off Utah 22-21. The Utes looked like they had the game in the bag, pressuring Cougars QB Jake Retzlaff deep in BYU territory and sacking him on fourth-and-10. But BYU got a first down off a Utes holding call and took advantage to take the lead on a 44-yard field goal. Utah AD Mark Harlan blasted Big 12 officials afterward, saying the “game was absolutely stolen from us.” Just look at the Cougars’ win probability late in the second half, and you’ll understand why we’re glad to have this Holy War rivalry back as a conference affair.
Here’s my projection for Tuesday’s CFP rankings:
Alabama got its act together against LSU. Stewart Mandel takes a look at the Tide and more in his Final Thoughts.
What did we learn about the CFP from Week 11? Ralph Russo breaks it all down.
In Michigan’s loss to Indiana, Austin Meek believes Sherrone Moore’s game management should be called into question.
Want a brain teaser? Check out Seth Emerson’s SEC championship tiebreaker explainer.
You can buy tickets to every college football game here.
For streaming info on Fubo, click here.
📫 Love Until Saturday? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters.
(Top photo of Kirby Smart: Justin Ford / Getty Images)
Jayna Bardahl is a college football staff editor for The Athletic. She has worked as an editor and reporter covering Big Ten football and men’s basketball, and was an intern at The Boston Globe, where she covered the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots. Follow Jayna on Twitter @Jaynabardahl
