<
        >

          Champ Week recap: CFP gets it right, Heisman watch, bowls we love

          John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports
          • Bill ConnellyDec 5, 2022, 07:00 AM ET
            Close
              Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.
            Follow on X

          The 2022 college football regular season was a hell of a journey.

          It began with Northwestern getting Nebraska's Scott Frost all but fired in Ireland. It gave us App State's all-time trio of incredible September games -- the 63-61 loss to North Carolina, the 17-14 win over Texas A&M, the Hail Mary win over Troy with "GameDay" in town. It gave us Alabama's road travails -- the Tide barely beat Texas, then lost to Tennessee and LSU, all in down-to-the-wire classics.

          It gave us Jalon Daniels' September Heisman run as Kansas -- yes, Kansas! -- stole the hearts of the college football public. It gave us an all-time Saturday in Week 7, with fans rushing the field in Knoxville, Fort Worth, Salt Lake and Syracuse. It gave us San Jose State's win for No. 6. It gave us a November as topsy-turvy as most in recent memory.

          And in the end, it gave us the most straightforward College Football Playoff race one can imagine, one that was sewn up before most of Saturday's conference championship games had kicked.

          Once USC got thumped by Utah on Friday night -- opening the door for Ohio State to get a mulligan after last week's loss to Michigan -- and once TCU didn't get blown out by Kansas State, that was that. We ended up with two unbeaten power-conference champions and two one-loss non-champions, and those are the four teams with a shot at the national title.

          Jump to:
          Final four vignettes | Favorite bowl matchups |
          Heisman of the week | Favorite Champ Week games

          Did the committee get it right? (Yes, yes it did.)

          In a future universe, with an expanded 12-team CFP, we'd have had extra stakes for games like KSU-TCU, Utah-USC and Clemson-UNC this weekend -- two of the three winners would have earned first-round byes (and both Clemson-UNC and Tulane-UCF would have been win-and-you're-in-games).

          And since his team would have been an obvious at-large selection, Alabama's Nick Saban wouldn't have had to go on every TV network available to campaign for his team's inclusion on Saturday night.

          (My favorite was when he explained how Bama would have been favored over TCU to Lacey Chabert on Lifetime, and she pointed out that the Tide lost twice as favorites this season. Just kidding. Or am I?)

          As things currently stand, the committee was primarily tasked with selecting just four teams for inclusion, and despite Saban's protestations that was pretty easy to figure out.

          For the last few weeks of the regular season, I began to track how a BCS-like formula -- two-thirds derived from poll averages (the AP and coaches polls) and one-third from computer averages (FPI and SP+ to simulate "best," strength of record and résumé SP+ to simulate "most deserving") -- would have determined the CFP rankings instead of a committee. There weren't as many differences between the approaches as I originally anticipated, and there certainly weren't at the end.

          Here's how The Formula thought the final CFP rankings should have looked. You can see where the CFP rankings differed on the far right.

          The Formula had Ohio State and TCU virtually tied for third, and if nothing else, one would figure that the natural desire to avoid a rematch maybe broke the tie in favor of the Horned Frogs. Regardless, the math and the committee agreed about the rest of the top six.

          They didn't agree everywhere, however.

          The committee liked the ACC way more than The Formula did. For weeks, the committee insisted on ranking Clemson higher than either the computers or polls (or my eyeballs) could justify, and it saved its most virulent disagreement for last. Somehow the Tigers' thumping of North Carolina impressed the committee more than did Kansas State and Utah beating last week's No. 3 and No. 4 teams, respectively, and Clemson ended up higher than both. Meanwhile, NC State also scored a ranking a few spots higher as well.

          The baffling love of Clemson and the ACC would have made a difference in a 12-team playoff. Since the top four seeds can go only to conference champions, The Formula would have given the No. 3 seed to Utah and the No. 4 seed to Kansas State; the committee would have given Clemson the 3 and Utah the 4. With a four-team playoff, however, the disagreements don't amount to all that much.

          Penn State should have been in the top 10. With losses to only playoff teams and a number of resounding late wins, James Franklin's Nittany Lions ended up ninth in SP+, seventh in FPI and eighth in both strength of record and résumé SP+, but they ended up well behind the other two two-loss non-champions in the top 10, Alabama and Tennessee. I'm not sure I understand that one.

          As far as disagreements go, that's not too terrible. The committee and The Formula agreed on the four teams selected this year and would have agreed with the 12 chosen in a 12-teamer.

          Final four vignettes

          So the CFP is set. SP+ gives Georgia a 62% chance of getting past Ohio State, while Michigan has about a 70% chance of beating TCU. Overall, here are the title odds for each team:

          Georgia 39.0%
          Michigan 33.0%
          Ohio State 19.5%
          TCU 8.5%

          There will be plenty of time to talk about odds and matchups, however. For now, let's talk about what's at stake and how these four teams reached the finish line on top.

          Georgia: First you break the streak, then you build a dynasty

          The late Vince Dooley led Georgia on an otherworldly run in the early 1980s. His Dawgs went 43-4-1 from 1980 to 1983, winning or sharing three SEC titles and winning the 1980 national title with a blessed run of close wins and the efforts of an unreal freshman named Herschel Walker. On paper, they improved in the years that followed, too.

          From 1981 to 1983, they came achingly close to a second title. They lost to eventual national champion Clemson in 1981, eventual national champion Penn State in 1982 and near-champion Auburn in 1983. They rolled to an unbeaten regular season in 1982 with Walker finally winning the Heisman. They were right there, but you're just never guaranteed a second ring.

          It took until 2021 to end that drought. And if last season's victory was about breaking streaks, this season is about establishing a legacy, a dynasty, for head coach Kirby Smart and his Dawgs. No one has repeated as national champion since Alabama in 2011 and 2012; those teams were led in part by Smart, who coordinated the most dominant defense in the land, and while they didn't have four-team playoffs to maneuver through, they quite likely would have done so.

          From 2009 to 2021, Saban won six national titles, finished three more seasons in the CFP finals and boasted title teams with both some of the greatest defenses (2011 and 2017 in particular) and offenses (2020) ever fielded. That run is unmatched in college football history, and we don't know for sure that it's over -- the Tide were, after all, in the title game only a year ago, and while this year's Bama team is quite possibly his worst since 2010, it came up exactly one spot short of another CFP bid.

          But while the Tide remain extraordinarily viable, another Georgia title would officially make it feel like Saban is, at best, the second-best current coach in college football. It would also mean that Smart has won as many rings at Georgia without Saban (two) as Saban has won at Bama without Smart.

          Smart's current Georgia team is an absolute load to deal with. The Bulldogs have fought attention span issues in 2022, as defending champs are wont to do, and they could certainly use one more consistent/explosive option at wideout. But their offense traps even the most well-prepared defense in a hellscape of leverage, outstanding athletic ability and general meanness. The Georgia defense, meanwhile, somehow lost five starters to the first round of the NFL draft and got better. The Bulldogs hadn't allowed more than 22 points in a game all season until Saturday's SEC championship, and of the 30 points LSU scored, 20 came in the second half when the Tigers were down big.

          This is the most weakness-free team in the CFP, and it will take an extraordinary effort to keep Georgia from winning a second straight title.

          Michigan: From 'happy to be there' to 'there to win'

          We spent a good portion of the past 12 months talking about Ohio State's quest to fix last year's issues and get back on top of Michigan. The Buckeyes were definitively better on defense over their first 11 games -- remember, they didn't have problems against just Michigan last year -- and their offense, despite losing receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson to the NFL and never having a completely healthy skill corps, nearly matched last year's production.

          For all intents and purposes, Ohio State did what it needed to reach the level Jim Harbaugh's Wolverines established during their 42-27 win over the Buckeyes in Ann Arbor last season. There was only one problem: Michigan got better, too.

          The Michigan defense lost two first-round pass-rushers, changed coordinators and jumped from 14th in defensive SP+ to fourth. The offense's numbers remained about the same (19th in offensive SP+ last season, 18th this season), and the Wolverines lost star rusher Blake Corum to injury late in the season, but they proceeded to overachieve versus projections in both of their games without him. Donovan Edwards picked up the slack (his past two games: 47 carries, 401 yards, three touchdowns), and quarterback J.J. McCarthy, perhaps feeling the need to start making more big plays in Corum's absence, did just that.

          • McCarthy's past five games with Corum: 56% completion rate, 11.3 yards per completion, 3.9% TD rate, 0.8% INT rate, 120.2 passer rating

          • McCarthy's first two games without Corum: 56% completion rate, 18.4 yards per completion, 14.6% TD rate, 2.4% INT rate, 186.4 passer rating

          After splitting games with secondary rivals Michigan State and Penn State last season (combined score: Wolverines 54, opponents 54) and beating Ohio State by 14 at home, Michigan walloped both the Spartans and Nittany Lions this year (combined: 70-24) and beat Ohio State by 22 on the road. The Wolverines finished last season fourth in SP+; they're currently second and the only team within five points of Georgia. Despite what seemed like an offseason of upheaval -- both coordinators left, Harbaugh flirted severely with the idea of leaving for the NFL, the defense dealt with quite a bit of turnover on the two-deep -- the Wolverines were more consistent, more explosive and more everything than they were in 2021.

          We spent the offseason wondering about the gap between Ohio State and Michigan, but apparently there was another gap we should have been considering. We might find out in the next few weeks that the national title race will come down to how much Michigan has been able to catch up to Georgia. The Dawgs quite literally pushed the Wolverines around in a 34-11 thumping in last year's Orange Bowl semifinal, but on paper Michigan is now the biggest impediment between the Dawgs and a second straight ring.

          TCU's playoff debut: a long time coming

          play
          0:39
          Duggan scores touchdown and tosses tying 2-point conversion

          Max Duggan runs in the 8-yard touchdown and then ties it with a 2-point conversion throw.

          The Big 12 brought back its championship game in part because TCU got screwed. And it almost got TCU screwed.

          In the aftermath of the 2014 CFP race, when Ohio State charged ahead of Big 12 co-champions Baylor and TCU with a demonstrative blowout of Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship (while both the Bears and Horned Frogs sat on their proverbial sofas), the conference decided it needed a title game again.

          Never mind that it had only 10 teams and played a perfect round-robin schedule and built its entire "One True Champion" slogan around those facts. And never mind that the previous version of the Big 12 championship, which ran for 15 years (1996 to 2010), cost the Big 12 three spots in the BCS title game (1996, 1998 and 2007) and nearly cost it four more (2000, 2001, 2003 and 2009). One strange set of circumstances -- and the promise of a mountain of championship-game revenue -- caused the conference to reverse course completely.

          The Big 12 championship returned in 2017, and the conference's playoff hopes haven't really been affected for better or worse. It might have helped Oklahoma get into the CFP in 2018 and nearly knocked the Sooners out in 2019 when they barely beat Baylor in overtime. And with the slightest change in circumstances in 2022 -- if one of TCU's tight regular-season wins had flipped and it had come in at 11-1, or if one of Alabama's tight losses had gone the other way -- the Horned Frogs' overtime loss to Kansas State would have put them on the wrong side of the top-four line.

          If, if, if. In the end, eight years after coming so close, the Frogs are in. Even the most optimistic of purple-clad fans couldn't have seen this coming (even if Todd Graham, of all people, did).

          Now can they stay awhile? In both SP+ (sixth) and FPI (10th), TCU is the lowest-ranked team in the CFP and therefore has the smallest odds of winning it all. On Saturday in Arlington, Texas, we caught a glimpse of the Frogs' primary weaknesses -- an inefficient run defense, a secondary that can suffer some glitches, an offensive line that makes its QB's job harder than it needs to be at times -- but we also got an extended look at their biggest strength: They just keep throwing haymakers.

          Only one team (Tennessee) finished the regular season with more gains of 30-plus yards than the Horned Frogs, only one team (UAB) had more rushes of 30-plus, and among power conference quarterbacks only Oregon's Bo Nix (20.8 yards per pass) topped Max Duggan (20.7) for success on passes thrown 20 or more yards downfield. You have to knock the Frogs down for 60 full minutes to take them out. Only one team could do it in 2022, and it was a KSU team that TCU had already beaten once.

          Ohio State and second chances

          A year ago, Georgia was ... Ohio State, basically. The Bulldogs came into 2021 with one huge doubt -- could the offense keep up in track meets with elite teams like Alabama? -- and found out right before the end of the regular season that it hadn't answered those questions sufficiently well. Leading Bama 10-0 in the 2021 SEC championship, UGA came undone at Bryce Young's hands, gave up a 38-7 run and fell by 17 points. It was an episode similar in many ways to both of its 2020 losses, 40-something to 20-something defeats to Bama and Florida.

          After spending virtually the entire 2021 season in the top two of the polls, Georgia backed into the CFP as the No. 3 seed ... and proceeded to win two games by a combined 38 points and win the national title. All it took to vanquish growing demons was one more shot.

          Ohio State will get that same extra shot. After spending the entire season ranked either second or third in the AP poll, the Buckeyes stumbled right before the finish line. Their second-half collapse against Michigan knocked them to fifth until Championship Week (namely, USC's loss) conspired to give them a second chance.

          Granted, their second-chance draw isn't quite as positive as Georgia's -- the Dawgs were 7.5-point favorites over Michigan in the semifinals last season, while the Buckeyes opened as 7-point underdogs to UGA. But they still get a chance to exorcise the demons that have begun to loom after the past two losses to Michigan.

          I'm not going to predict a Buckeyes win in the Peach Bowl. Georgia might just be too good for anyone in this field. But if the Buckeyes do take down the Dawgs, we will act like we saw it coming. This is a team, after all, with a skill corps so deep that it could lose star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and watch star running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams both battle nagging injuries all year and barely miss a beat.

          In Smith-Njigba's absence, sophomores Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka have combined to catch 138 balls for 2,196 yards and 21 touchdowns. Harrison is a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award that was supposed to be Smith-Njigba's this year.

          The well of offensive stars is endless, and recovery time might actually mean that the Buckeyes are healthier than they've been all year when the CFP rolls around. The remodeled defense, meanwhile, appears stronger against the run than it was last year, and the Buckeyes get a chance to prove that the big-play breakdowns that cost them the Michigan game aren't a full-time thing.

          Getting a second chance can backfire if you get thumped and end up backing up all the growing negative impressions. But it's still better than not getting a second chance. Let's see if Ryan Day's Buckeyes can take advantage.

          My favorite bowl matchups

          I'll have a larger piece about the bowls before they get rolling in 12 days, but at first glance here are 10 I'm particularly excited about.

          10. Myrtle Beach Bowl (Dec. 19): Marshall vs. UConn. The best bowls are the ones that feature teams really excited about playing. That's admittedly an issue at times. But Marshall finished the season on a strong note, winning four straight to finish 8-4, and is there any team in any bowl more excited to be there than UConn? The Huskies went 4-32 from 2018 to '21 and 6-6 this fall, and while Marshall is much better on paper (about 17 points, per SP+), UConn will likely try to throw some haymakers.

          9. Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 17): Florida vs. Oregon State. I enjoy bowls that pit old rivals against each other -- especially in this age of conference realignment -- but I also enjoy bowls that do the opposite. The Gators and Beavers have never played each other and might not have even thought about playing each other. And now their fans get to hang out in Vegas.

          8. New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 21): Western Kentucky vs. South Alabama. Styles make fights, and this one pits one of the most relentless passing teams in FBS (WKU) against one of the best pass defenses in FBS (USA). Some close early losses cost the Hilltoppers a big season, but they've got a shot at redemption against an impressively stout Jaguars squad.

          7. Cheez-It Bowl (Dec. 29): Oklahoma vs. Florida State. A great big-brand battle and a matchup we've seen a few times through the years -- the Sooners and Seminoles faced off in the 1965 Gator Bowl, 1980 and 1981 Orange Bowls and, of course, 2000's BCS National Championship/Orange Bowl. FSU could be prepping for sky-high expectations in 2023, while OU's just looking for some positivity.

          6. Quick Lane Bowl (Dec. 26): New Mexico State vs. Bowling Green. After a long string of success, BGSU fell off the map in 2016 and has had to scrape and claw to get back to bowl eligibility. NMSU, meanwhile, has bowled once since 1960. This one is off the charts on the "happy to be there" scale.

          5. Liberty Bowl (Dec. 28): Kansas vs. Arkansas. Granted, Kansas-Mizzou would have been better, but this one pits two of the country's most exciting quarterbacks -- KU's Jalon Daniels and Arkansas' KJ Jefferson -- and Kansas brings major happy-to-be-here points to the table. The atmosphere should be lively for this one.

          4. Rose Bowl (Jan. 2): Penn State vs. Utah. We'll see who opts out of this one, but the hype is going to be sky high for Penn State in 2023, and even if there are opt-outs, Utah always brings the lumber. Two physical teams playing in the most perfect sports venue in the world: a must-watch.

          3. Cure Bowl (Dec. 16): UTSA vs. Troy. Both teams made the final CFP Top 25, neither team has lost since September, and both teams should be 100% engaged for this one. When UTSA has the ball, it will pit one of the best Group of 5 offenses in the country against one of the best defenses.

          2. Cotton Bowl (Jan. 2): Tulane vs. USC. Speaking of hype, USC's could be otherworldly heading into 2023. And after the Trojans' Pac-12 championship disappointment, they could plant the seeds for another run at the CFP with a win at Jerry World. Of course, with Tyjae Spears, an athletic skill corps and one of the most improved defenses in the country, Tulane is ready to land some haymakers if USC isn't ready.

          1. Alamo Bowl (Dec. 29): Texas vs. Washington. The last time Washington played in the Alamo Bowl, we saw one of the most absurd points festivals of the burgeoning spread era. (Final score: Robert Griffin III's Baylor 67, Huskies 56.) Do I therefore have impossibly high expectations for this one? Yes. But barring major opt-outs, a battle between UT's Quinn Ewers and UW's Michael Penix Jr. sounds absolutely delectable.

          Who won the Heisman this week?

          We attempted what I felt was a fun experiment this season: What happens if I award the Heisman Trophy every single week of the season and dole out weekly points, F1 style (in this case, 10 points for first place, nine for second, and so on)? How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting?

          Here's the Championship Week top 10:

          1. Max Duggan, TCU (18-for-36 for 251 yards, one TD and one INT, plus 110 rushing yards and a touchdown vs. Kansas State)

          2. Cade Klubnik, Clemson (20-for-24 for 279 yards and one touchdown, plus 30 rushing yards and a touchdown vs. North Carolina)

          3. Stetson Bennett, Georgia (23-for-29 for 274 yards and four touchdowns vs. LSU)

          4. Mohamoud Diabate, Utah (eight tackles, two sacks among three TFLs, one forced fumble vs. USC)

          5. Cameron Rising, Utah (22-for-34 for 310 yards and three touchdowns vs. USC)

          6. Donovan Edwards, Michigan (25 carries for 185 yards and a touchdown, plus one reception vs. Purdue)

          7. Caleb Williams, USC (28-for-41 for 363 yards and three touchdowns, plus one interception vs. Utah)

          8. Tyjae Spears, Tulane (22 carries for 199 yards and a touchdown, plus one reception vs. UCF)

          9. Michael Pratt, Tulane (20-for-33 for 394 yards, four TDs and one INT, plus 48 rushing yards and a touchdown vs. UCF)

          10. Jalen Carter, Georgia (four tackles, one sack among two TFLs, a pass breakup and one celebratory quarterback lift)

          Honorable mention: Zakhari Franklin, UTSA (10 catches for 144 yards and three touchdowns vs. North Texas); Frank Harris, UTSA (32-for-37 for 341 yards and four touchdowns, plus 49 rushing yards and a touchdown vs. North Texas); Cam Lockridge, Fresno State (two tackles, two interceptions for 46 yards, one pass breakup); Will Johnson, Michigan (two tackles, one tackle for loss and two interceptions vs. Purdue); Charlie Jones, Purdue (13 catches for 162 yards vs. Michigan); Gabe Reid, Utah (five solo tackles, two sacks among three TFLs vs. USC); Gunnar Watson, Troy (12-for-17 for 318 yards and three touchdowns vs. Coastal Carolina)

          Duggan didn't produce his most dominant statistical performance of the season, but the guts and playmaking ability he showed while bringing TCU back from 11 down in the fourth quarter earned him the No. 1 spot.

          Meanwhile, I don't want to be That Guy, and I know plenty of others have already piled on, but now that we officially know what Cade Klubnik is capable of ... what on earth were you waiting for, Dabo Swinney??

          Here are the final point totals from this exercise.

          1. Caleb Williams, USC (49 points)
          2. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State (39 points)
          3. Bo Nix, Oregon (38 points)
          4. Stetson Bennett, Georgia (33 points)
          5. Hendon Hooker, Tennessee (33 points)
          6T. Drake Maye, North Carolina (26 points)
          6T. Bryce Young, Alabama (26 points)
          8T. Jalon Daniels, Kansas (24 points)
          8T. Max Duggan, TCU (24 points)
          10. Bijan Robinson, Texas (23 points)
          11. Michael Penix Jr., Washington (22 points)
          12. Jayden Daniels, LSU (20 points)
          13. Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA (17 points)
          14. Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State (16 points)
          15T. Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State (14 points)
          15T. Adrian Martinez, Kansas State (14 points)
          15T. Cam Rising, Utah (14 points)

          Williams had already clinched the win heading into Championship Week, and I assume that, since he still gutted out a solid performance despite an obvious injury, he didn't do much to dissuade voters from awarding him the Heisman a week from now. I'm very curious who else is invited to New York, though. It wouldn't surprise me if Stroud, Bennett or even perhaps Duggan finished second. (Hooker obviously would have had a case, too, if not for his late-season injury. Blake Corum, too.)

          My favorite games of Championship Week

          At the FBS level, we really had only one good game this weekend. But as I've written a million times before, college football always gives you something thrilling to find if you're willing to dig a little bit.

          1. No. 10 Kansas State 31, No. 3 TCU 28. It was the only title-game classic we got this year, but it was still a classic. K-State moved out to a 28-17 lead with 11:27 left after Deuce Vaughn's nasty 44-yard touchdown, and everyone prepped their "Should Alabama get into the CFP if TCU gets blown out?" talking points. But Max Duggan converted a fourth-and-2 and a second-and-20 with his feet, scored to get the game within 28-26 with 1:51 left, then threw the game-tying 2-point conversion to Jared Wiley.

          In overtime, it sure looked like officials missed a pair of spots that were detrimental to TCU, but K-State stuffed Kendre Miller on fourth-and-goal, Ty Zentner nailed a 31-yard field goal, and the Wildcats had their first Big 12 title in a decade. It was the fourth straight amazing Big 12 championship game.

          2. FCS: Samford 48, Southeastern Louisiana 42 (OT). A week after beating Mercer in double overtime, the Bulldogs watched a two-touchdown lead over SELA disappear in the fourth quarter. But Seth Simmer recovered a Cephus Johnson III fumble in the end zone to start OT, and Quincy Crittendon scored from 10 yards out to advance the Bulldogs to the quarterfinals.

          3. Division II: Ferris State 24, Grand Valley State 21. Two months after losing to its heated rivals by one after failing on fourth down in the final minutes, Ferris State got its revenge. Eddie Jewett kicked the go-ahead field goal with 64 seconds left, and Cyntell Williams picked off a pass at the goal line as time expired. The defending national champs are on to the semis.

          4. FCS: Incarnate Word 41, Furman 38. Lindsey Scott Jr. threw a pick-six one minute into the game, then nearly threw another one later in the first quarter. But he settled down to throw for 394 yards and five scores -- including the game winner to Kole Wilson with 1:54 left -- and rush for another 124 yards as the Cardinals advanced. Barely.

          5. FCS: Sacramento State 38, Richmond 31. The unbeaten Hornets are the projected national title favorites per SP+, but their lack of playoff history showed as they let Richmond bolt out to a 21-7 lead 20 minutes into an extremely rainy night in Sacramento. They trailed again heading into the fourth, but Pierre Williams' 51-yard catch-and-run from Asher O'Hara gave the Hornets the lead, and Cameron Broussard's interception with 1:19 left sealed the win.

          6. NAIA: Keiser 38, Grand View 21. NAIA reseeds its playoffs after each round. That is usually a detriment to lower seeds making underdog runs -- your reward for an upset is having to play another high seed -- but Keiser moved to the national finals Saturday by taking down its third top-four seed in a row! The Seahawks took a 28-7 lead early in the second half and cruised. They'll face a torrid Northwestern (Iowa) in the finals.

          7. Division III: Wartburg 45, Aurora 17. Two teams that had never been to the Div. III semis faced off for the right to go there, and unbeaten Wartburg took advantage. Eventually. The Knights spotted Aurora a 10-0 first-quarter lead but went on a 28-0 run to take control. Hunter Clasen scored four times, and Wartburg moved on to face mighty Mount Union.

          8. No. 18 Tulane 45, No. 22 UCF 28. That Willie Fritz brought Tulane to three straight bowls from 2018 to '20 was enough of an accomplishment. That his Green Wave outlasted Cincinnati and UCF to take their first AAC title -- a year after falling apart to 2-10, no less -- is utterly incredible.

          9. No. 11 Utah 47, No. 4 USC 24. This game was obviously dampened by the realization that Caleb Williams was hurt and wasn't able to put on quite as much of a show. But the atmosphere and intensity jumped off the screen, and Utah's undying meanness and physicality are always ridiculously fun to watch.

          10. New Mexico State 65, Valparaiso 3. I love it when college football actually proves itself nimble. NMSU had a home game postponed and then canceled in October after San Jose State's Camdan McWright tragically died in a scooter accident. In need of a 12th opponent so they could have a senior day, the Aggies were approved to schedule Valparaiso on Tuesday. On Thursday, they learned that, at 5-6, they would be deemed bowl eligible and would participate in the postseason for just the second time since 1960. And on Saturday, they had a lovely senior day with about 15,000 of their friends in Las Cruces, pummeling an admittedly bad Beacons team (one that had never before played an FBS opponent).