Buffalo Rumblings
Three NFL prospects are playing their best football at the right time
Week 13 of the 2024 college football season was complete chaos amongst the past week’s ranked teams. A couple of the ranked matchups didn’t live up to the hype and instead resulted in blowouts. In extreme college football fashion, of course, there were ranked teams getting knocked off by the unranked in dramatic and shocking nature.
Second-ranked Ohio State blew out No. 5 Indiana 38-15 at home in a contest where Indiana never felt competitive. Indiana’s offense looked completely anemic and dysfunctional against one of the best defenses in the country that the Buckeyes boast. The Buckeyes controlled the game and also were the beneficiary of a couple Indiana special teams blunders.
The sixth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish erased previously unbeaten No. 19 Army 49-14. Football is a game where players matter and Notre Dame has much higher-tiered athletes than what Army is afforded. The Irish averaged 10 yards per snap and were unstoppable all night in a completely dominant effort in the trenches.
Seventh-ranked Alabama fell to Oklahoma on the road, losing 24-3. Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe played his worst game of the season and threw three interceptions. Oklahoma, meanwhile, fully committed to running the football with a complete lack of healthy receiving options. The Sooners cashed in on a pick-six and a short-field touchdown on two of Milroe’s interceptions.
Ninth-ranked Ole Miss fell apart in the red zone against Florida on a Saturday in the swamp. Interceptions on each of the final two drives put the nail in the coffin for the Rebels and likely ended their hopes at the College Football Playoff (CFP).
There was a bit of a changing of the guard on Saturday in the Big 12, which was led by a big home victory for No. 21 Arizona State over No. 14 BYU, 28-23. The Sun Devils now control their own destiny in the conference with the ability to clinch a Big 12 title game appearance with a win. The ending of this game included Arizona State running backwards and purposefully taking themselves out of scoring position to kill clock. There was a field storming when it was presumed the Sun Devils threw the ball out of bounds to win, but there was a second put back on the clock with a field full of people. BYU did throw a last second Hail Mary, which was caught a few yards short of the end zone.
The best game of the day was likely a four-overtime thriller between Auburn and No. 15 Texas A&M. Auburn squeezed out the 43-41 victory on The Plains. The Aggies can still make the SEC Championship Game with a road win over Texas next week — keeping their CFP hopes lingering. But that remains a big “if” the Aggies can pull that upset. This was a huge result in terms of CFP hopes and seeding.
Sixteenth-ranked Colorado was beaten up by Kansas this past weekend. The Jayhawks...
