College football just gave us a nearly perfect Saturday. Each window of games gave us a dramatic center-of-gravity matchup with lots of rivalry games trying to distract us.
The early session gave us Michigan-Ohio State, with Kentucky-Louisville and Purdue-Indiana doing wild things in our peripheral vision. The afternoon window gave us another all-time Iron Bowl as the main course, with the Apple Cup, Oklahoma State-BYU and Northwestern-Illinois as incredible sides. The evening session was a bit tamer but still gave us huge and mostly close Georgia-Georgia Tech and Florida State-Florida games, mixed with the most aesthetically pleasing game of the entire day, a snowy and explosive Farmageddon battle between Iowa State and Kansas State.
Despite both Thursday's Egg Bowl and most of Friday being a dud, Saturday's perfection alone means that we just witnessed one of college football's best-ever Rivalry Weeks. (And I haven't even mentioned the incredible set of small-school playoff games we got!) Let's take stock of what we saw and what it means with the most enjoyable approach I know: ranking games!
Here are the 35 best games of Rivalry Week. (It took effort to stop at 35.)
Jump to a section:
Top 10 small-school games
What CFP should look like
Heisman of week
1. No. 8 Alabama 27, Auburn 24
The Iron Bowl is typically only good every other year -- average score of the past six games in Tuscaloosa: Bama 46, Auburn 20; average score in Auburn: 28-28 -- but when it's good, it remains the absolute best. And while 2013's Kick Six remains the greatest game the rivalry has produced, this game might have been the best since, or very close to it.
You certainly couldn't tell that Auburn was coming off of a 31-10 shellacking at the hands of New Mexico State. The one dimension of the Tigers' one-dimensional offense shined, producing 244 rushing yards, two explosive passes to Ja'Varrius Johnson and what ended up being a 24-20 lead heading into the final minute. But Bama recovered a muffed punt with 4:48 left and somehow managed to take more than four minutes to go 30 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
Sorry, the fourth-and-31 touchdown.
TOUCHDOWN ALABAMA ON 4TH AND A MILE!
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) November 26, 2023
UNREAL! pic.twitter.com/rX5XPRsuzV
Alabama's CFP odds aren't great, but Jalen Milroe-to-Isaiah Bond kept them from dropping to 0.0%.
2. No. 3 Michigan 30, No. 2 Ohio State 24
There are few things better than when a hugely anticipated game meets the hype. This one most certainly did. And Ohio State has to be aching about letting it get away. The Buckeyes generated more yards (378-338), yards per play (6.5-5.6) and first downs (21-18) and won a majority of the game's third downs, going 4-for-9 to Michigan's 3-for-12.
Michigan won, however, with little things. The Wolverines won the field position battle by 9 yards per drive. They won the special teams battle with awesome punting and better place-kicking. They won the fourth-downs battle -- stand-in head coach Sherrone Moore & Co. were assertive in the first half, going 3-for-3 on fourth-and-short conversions (fourth-and-goal from the 1, then two more on an eventual TD drive), while Ohio State punted on a fourth-and-1 from its 46 in the first quarter and let more than 30 seconds run late in the half to set up an ill-fated 52-yard field goal on fourth-and-2.
Most importantly, Michigan won the turnover battle, setting up the game's first points with an interception and ending the game with another pick.
This wasn't the narrative-defining, second-half domination of the past couple of years -- it was just one team playing slightly cleaner ball than the other (and one staff, without its head coach, doing a better job of playing to win).
3. No. 4 Washington 24, Washington State 21
The thought of a potential win-and-you're-in Pac-12 championship game this coming Friday night -- No. 4 Washington vs. No. 6 Oregon in Vegas -- is certainly tantalizing, and it eventually came to fruition. But damned if the thought of Washington State pulling one over on its Apple Cup rivals, who are leaving the Pac-12 and dooming Wazzu to an uncertain future, felt pretty appealing too.
The Cougs all but pulled it off, getting 317 passing yards from Cam Ward, tying the game with 5:58 left and driving into Huskies territory in the final two minutes. But a late stop by the Washington defense and the most incredible fourth-and-short call of the weekend set up Grady Gross' game-winning (and scholarship-winning) field goal.
4. Iowa State 42, No. 19 Kansas State 35
The snow alone was worth the watch, but even beyond the white stuff, Farmageddon was easily the strangest game of the week. K-State snapped the ball 102 times to ISU's 35, and the Cyclones didn't run a single play inside the Wildcats' 30. Blowout win for KSU? Not so much. Eight of Iowa State's 35 snaps -- four rushes by Abu Sama III, two catches each by Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins -- gained 455 yards. Six of those went for touchdowns, and the Cyclones took their second straight win in Manhattan.
5. Old Dominion 25, Georgia State 24
ISU-KSU was the strangest game, but ODU-GSU gave us the strangest, most glorious ending.
A. Down 24-14 (after trailing 21-0 early on) and needing a win for bowl eligibility, Old Dominion scored on a tackle-eligible pass to Chris Adams, but he was called for a face mask penalty while stiff-arming a defender, and the Monarchs settled for a field goal.
B. Georgia State barely recovered a squib/onside kick combo but was called offside. ODU squibbed the next kick, and GSU recovered at its own 10. ODU stuffed Darren Grainger for a 6-yard loss and then, after a high snap, sacked him in the end zone for a safety with 1:18 left.
C. After the free kick, Grant Wilson hit Reymello Murphy for a 43-yard gain to the GSU 6. Three plays gained just three yards, however, setting up a fourth-and-goal with two seconds left.
D. On the final play of the game, Wilson scored from three yards out.
JUST. KEEP. SWINGING. 😤#ReignOn | #DDT pic.twitter.com/iR5j9YL709
— ODU Football (@ODUFootball) November 26, 2023
ODU will bowl.
6. No. 20 Oklahoma State 40, BYU 34 (2OT)
OSU absolutely, positively refuses to do things the easy way. The Cowboys spotted Arizona State a 15-7 lead, then won 27-15. They rolled to a 26-7 lead on Kansas State but won just 29-21. They gave up a 25-7 midgame run to Kansas, then finished it on a 15-0 run to win. They watched a double-digit lead turn into a deficit against Oklahoma but won 27-24. They spotted Houston a 23-9 lead, then went on a 34-7 run.
On Saturday came their masterpiece. Needing a win to bowl, BYU pulled out all the stops in Stillwater -- surprise onside kick, fake punt and more -- and turned a 6-0 deficit into a 24-6 halftime lead. Naturally the Cowboys charged back, and Ollie Gordon's third touchdown, with 53 seconds left, gave them the lead. But BYU blocked the PAT, then hit a game-tying 48-yard field goal at the buzzer. The Cougars then took the lead in overtime.
No worries! Another Gordon score tied the game, and a fifth one gave the Pokes the lead in OT No. 2. Trey Rucker then ripped the ball out of tight end Isaac Rex's hands and fell on the fumble.
The win means that, somehow, OSU is going to the Big 12 championship game to play Texas. With the way the Cowboys' season has gone, I would be floored if they didn't either win outright (probably after falling behind by double digits) or lose by 50.
7. Syracuse 35, Wake Forest 31
Walk-off touchdowns are cool. So are walk-off goal-line stands.
First, Syracuse clinched bowl eligibility with a final-minute, fourth-down stop.
Syracuse denies Wake Forest on fourth-and-goal to put the finishing touches on the team's sixth win of the season.
Then Southern won its fifth Bayou Classic in six tries by doing the same thing with 1:11 left.
It all came down to THIS play... pic.twitter.com/LzXSrcO2i7
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) November 25, 2023
9. Utah State 44, New Mexico 41 (2OT)
It's obviously not true that fortune always favors the bold. But it certainly didn't favor the timid in Albuquerque.
In what turned out to be Danny Gonzales' final game as New Mexico's head coach, the Lobos erased a pair of double-digit leads and sent the game to overtime with a late field goal. But in overtime, Gonzales played things safe. He elected to go for two points and the win in the first OT ... only to change his mind after a Utah State timeout. The Lobos kicked the PAT, then kicked a field goal from about the 1.5-yard line in the second OT. Utah State scored a touchdown on its double-OT possession -- after a fumbled snap, no less -- and somehow escaped with a win and bowl eligibility.
10. Kentucky 38, No. 10 Louisville 31
11. No. 5 Florida State 24, Florida 15
Rivalry games don't have to make sense. Kentucky had lost five of six, and Louisville had been mostly untouchable at home in 2023, but that didn't stop the Wildcats from going on a 24-7 run over the game's final 17 minutes, scoring the game-winning points on a 37-yard Ray Davis touchdown and intercepting a late Jack Plummer pass.
Now reeling a bit, Louisville will still meet Florida State in the ACC championship game -- after the Seminoles barely figured out how to hold on to their unbeaten record and CFP hopes in Gainesville. Tate Rodemaker, who will fill in for the injured Jordan Travis for the rest of the season, took three sacks -- including one in the end zone for a safety -- and threw for just 134 yards, and the Noles trailed 12-0 in the second quarter. But two Trey Benson touchdowns and a short field goal gave the Noles a 17-15 lead, and Benson's rugged 26-yard score with 2:48 left and a Kalen DeLoach interception sealed the deal.
Ten glorious smaller-school playoff games
You know by now that I'm a sucker for the small schools, and Saturday gave us one of the best single days of small-school playoffs we'll ever see. From FCS to NAIA, there were too many wild finishes to count. I really had to work to limit this list to 10, but here were the 10 best games from the lower levels.
12. Division III: No. 11 Alma 24, No. 2 Mount Union 20. In the past 30 seasons, Mount Union won 13 national titles and failed to reach at least the semifinals of the Division III playoffs just once. Make that twice. The mighty Alma Scots trailed 10-0 heading into the final quarter (and 20-10 with five minutes left) but scored on a 76-yard pass with 4:45 to go, then drove 96 yards in just 79 seconds to score the go-ahead touchdown with 10 seconds remaining.
13. Division II: No. 3 Harding 35, No. 6 Central Missouri 34. Unbeaten Harding led by two touchdowns with six minutes left but gave up TD passes of 87 and 6 yards to put the game on the verge of overtime. Nope! Gage Price blocked a PAT with 22 seconds left, and the Bison beat the Mules.
14. Division II: No. 2 Grand Valley State 24, No. 5 Pittsburg State 21. Thanks to a focus on regional matchups, GVSU has already beaten two of the top five teams in the country in these playoffs -- first No. 4 Ferris State, now No. 5 Pittsburg State. (Next up: No. 3 Harding. Jeez.) The Lakers trailed 21-14 into the closing minutes but got a field goal and, with 35 seconds left, an Avery Moore touchdown to get the job done.
Lookin' like Grand Valley State is going to play one "MOORE" game next weekend ! 😉
— GVSU Football (@gvsufootball) November 25, 2023
Avery Moore takes it to the house to give the Lakers the lead with just 35 seconds left in the game!!
GVSU 24, PSU 21#AnchorUp pic.twitter.com/Pf9aV9m9qa
15. Division III: No. 13 Cortland 25, No. 16 Grove City 24. After watching a 14-0 lead turn into a 24-17 deficit, SUNY Cortland wanted to end this one as soon as possible. After Jaden AlfanoStJohn scored with 1:23 left, Zac Boyes and Omari Kendrick connected for the game-winning 2-point conversion. Cortland will play Alma for a spot in the semis.
16. Division II: No. 14 Valdosta State 38, No. 8 Delta State 31. Two of the South's most consistent D-II programs put on a fourth quarter for the ages. A 10-0 run gave DSU a 31-28 lead into the final three minutes, but it was 31-31 when VSU got the ball back in the final minute and got a 24-yard Sammy Edwards-to-B.K. Smith strike to win with nine seconds left.
17. FCS: No. 19 Chattanooga 24, No. 10 Austin Peay 21. By comparison, the first round of the FCS playoffs was tame and orderly. But we still got this thriller, in which the Chattanooga Mocs earned their first-ever road playoff win after blowing a 21-7 halftime lead, then getting a 35-yard walk-off field goal from Clayton Crile.
18. Division II: Kutztown 32, No. 24 Charleston (WV) 31. In Charleston, the hometown Golden Eagles took a 31-17 lead with 4:52 left, but a long Steven Burkhardt kick return set up one Kutztown score (plus a key 2-point conversion), and Judd Novak's 14-yard run gave the Golden Bears the lead with 1:21 left. Tim McCutchen's 51-yard field goal at the buzzer fell short, and Kutztown advanced.
19. NAIA: No. 6 Indiana Wesleyan 24, No. T-10 Morningside 21. Morningside had won three of the past five NAIA national titles; make it three of six because Indiana Wesleyan got a go-ahead touchdown from Isaac Smith with 8:06 left, then blocked a 40-yard field goal with seven seconds left.
Let's see that again! 👀
— Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats (@IWUWildcats) November 26, 2023
Relive yesterday's blocked field goal by Matthew Schager that sent @IndWesleyan_FB to the NAIA FCS Quarterfinal! 😼🏈
Jonathan Matthes and Charlie Hill on the call! 🗣️🎙️#BothAnd | #BattleForTheRedBanner pic.twitter.com/yzA2K5lHmN
20. Division II: Central Washington 21, No. 21 Bemidji State 17. With all these dramatic endings, how about an anti-drama ending instead? CWU advanced to its first regional final in 14 years by overcoming a 17-0 first-quarter deficit, getting the ball back at its own 2 with 12:48 left ... and never giving the ball back. The Wildcats moved the chains six times in 19 plays, your typical 13-minute drill executed to perfection.
21. NAIA: No. T-10 College of Idaho 49, No. 8 Montana Western 42. We end the list with a track meet. The Yotes beat the Bulldogs for the second time this season by gaining 621 yards, bolting to a 28-7 lead, watching it disappear in about 12 minutes, then scoring twice late to hold on. A delightful YouTube watch.
22. Northwestern 45, Illinois 43
The over/under for this one was 46.5. The teams topped that five minutes into the second half, then scored 37 more points in the fourth quarter. Down 45-37, Illinois got an 80-yard touchdown catch from Casey Washington with 55 seconds left but couldn't connect on the 2-point conversion or recover the onside kick.
Purdue made its last quarter of the season its best. Trailing by 10, the Boilermakers quickly tied the game with 8:41 left, and after IU took the lead back, Hudson Card completed a five-play, 65-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. On fourth-and-1 from the Purdue 35, Nic Scourton exploded into the Hoosiers backfield to sack Brendan Sorsby and seal the comeback win.
24. No. 1 Georgia 31, Georgia Tech 23
If you've watched enough Georgia football of late, you never really thought the Dawgs were in danger. But all the credit in the world goes to Tech for simply refusing to go away. Trailing 31-13 heading into the fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets scored twice and had a third-and-3 chance to make a stop and get the ball back one last time. But Daijun Edwards' 5-yard run wrapped it up. Georgia has won 29 games in a row and has finished three straight regular seasons at 12-0.
The last team to beat the Dawgs: Alabama in the 2021 SEC championship game.
The next opponent for the Dawgs: Alabama in the 2023 SEC championship game.
25. West Virginia 34, Baylor 31
WVU outgained Baylor by 185 yards and 2.5 yards per play but had to overcome two Richard Reese kick-return scores in a four-minute span, then a sudden 17-0 Baylor run in the second half. Garrett Greene and Jahiem White connected for a 29-yard score with 23 seconds left to survive.
26. No. 17 Iowa 13, Nebraska 10
All you really need to know about Friday's Iowa-Nebraska game is that, when Iowa's Deacon Hill threw a dreadful and unnecessary interception near midfield with 31 seconds left in a tied game, Iowa's chances of beating Nebraska in regulation actually went up.
I don't mean that in any official sense, of course. The analytics would have told you, logically, that Nebraska's win probability was higher after the play than before, because the Huskers suddenly had the ball about 20 yards from field goal range. But in the reality Iowa football creates, in which the goal is to get the ball to the other team as quickly as possible* so your defense can take it from them in better field position, the Hawkeyes' best chance of winning was giving the ball to Nebraska so that they could force a turnover and kick a game-winning field goal.
Iowa forced a turnover and kicked a game-winning field goal. The Hawkeyes will head to the Big Ten championship game at 10-2.
Cold-blooded 🥶#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/FlICtN50Xc
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) November 24, 2023
* An exception comes when Iowa has a chance to hold on to the ball forever while going nowhere, as the Hawkeyes did during an 11-play first-half drive that resulted in a punt from their own territory.
While we're here, let's share some more place-kicker love ...
27. Hawai'i 27, Colorado State 24
Watch the field goal team charge onto the field and get this one off as time expired.
MATT SHIPLEY YOU BEAUTIFUL HUMAN BEING!!! pic.twitter.com/Iyljv16xfM
— Hawaii Football (@HawaiiFootball) November 26, 2023
28. New Mexico State 20, Jacksonville State 17
And watch NMSU wrap up its first 10-win season since 1960.
Ethan Albertson wins it for @NMStateFootball as time expires! 🙌
— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) November 26, 2023
📺: ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/gyu9I4tkmj
Watch North Texas finish a 14-point comeback -- and a 34-point fourth quarter -- with a 32-yarder from Noah Rauschenberg.
NORTH TEXAS WINS ON THE WALK OFF FG!!#AmericanFB x @MeanGreenFB pic.twitter.com/LCYti3weNX
— The American (@American_Conf) November 25, 2023
30. Tulsa 29, East Carolina 27
And watch Chase Meyer knock in a 37-yarder to give Tulsa its fourth win in Kevin Wilson's first year in charge.
MEYER CALLED GAME.#AmericanFB x @TulsaFootball pic.twitter.com/RG1VSTyEZe
— The American (@American_Conf) November 25, 2023
31. Sam Houston 23, Middle Tennessee State 20
Kickers don't always nail 'em at the buzzer, however. After John Gentry's 3-yard touchdown gave Sam Houston the lead with 57 seconds left in Huntsville, Nicholas Vattiato completed six passes to get MTSU within field goal range. But Zeke Rankin's 47-yard try missed wide right. (And after some SHSU players appeared to taunt Rankin, a mini-brawl ensued.) After four heartbreaking, tight losses during an 0-8 start, Sam Houston won a pair of tight ones on the way to a 3-9 finish.
Despite having been eliminated from bowl contention, and despite playing with backup quarterback Ryan Staub, Colorado, to its credit, showed up and fought. But Utah, starting fifth-string QB Luke Bottari, fought harder. The Utes rushed for 268 yards and rode two short Bottari touchdown runs and three field goals to a 23-10 lead. Travis Hunter scored to make it 23-17 with 7:25 left, but Utah pulled a Central Washington and never gave the ball back. Three third-and-short conversions allowed the Utes to eat up the rest of the clock.
33. Boise State 27, Air Force 19
34. San José State 37, UNLV 31
We had to wait until Sunday morning -- when formulas long ago associated with the BCS could spit out ratings to serve as a final tie-breaker -- to find out who was going to play in the Mountain West championship game after UNLV, Boise State and SJSU all finished tied at 6-2 in conference play. (The verdict: It's BSU at UNLV.)
That came after a pair of delightful weekend contests. On Friday, Boise State took a 17-3 lead on a long Ashton Jeanty catch-and-run, but Air Force cut the Broncos' lead to five before a 52-yard Jonah Dalmas field goal and a Kaonohi Kaniho interception sealed a BSU win. The Broncos will play for the title despite having fired head coach Andy Avalos two weeks ago. They'll face a UNLV team that nearly came back from two large deficits -- 17-0 in the first quarter, 37-17 early in the fourth -- but could get only to midfield on a last-minute desperation drive.
35. Rice 24, Florida Atlantic 21
Rice bowled at 5-7 last season, but the Owls scored their sixth win of the season for the first time since 2014 thanks to 255 passing yards from AJ Padgett, 141 receiving yards from Luke McCaffrey and two late defensive stops.
By my count, 12 teams won their sixth games and clinched bowl eligibility this week. The five I find most exciting:
• California. Injuries at quarterback and on defense wrecked Justin Wilcox's plans, but freshman Fernando Mendoza steadied the offense, the defense surged late and a three-game winning streak pushed Cal to .500.
• Eastern Michigan. All-time EMU bowl bids before Chris Creighton took over in 2014: one. EMU bowl bids over the last eight years: six. Don't take for granted how good a job Creighton continues to do in Ypsilanti.
• Rice. Mike Bloomgren has been plugging away for six years and continues to make improvements.
• South Florida. In Alex Golesh's first season in Tampa, he inherited a team that had gone just 4-29 in the past three seasons and, despite an almost nonexistent defense, knocked out a 6-6 season. Impressive.
• Virginia Tech. A sudden and much-needed turnaround: Brent Pry's tenure began with 12 losses in 17 games, but behind an offensive surge, Virginia Tech won four of six and pummeled rival Virginia on Saturday to earn a postseason bid.
What should the CFP rankings look like?
A while back, I crafted a BCS-like formula that combines poll averages with computer rankings -- two power ratings (SP+ and FPI), two résumé ratings (résumé SP+ and strength of record) -- in an effort to compare this more objective process to what the CFP committee comes up with each week. For the most part, the two processes end up agreeing, but the differences are always noteworthy.
Let's once again see what happens this week.
Here are the BCS-style rankings.
1. Georgia (12-0): 0.988 rating
2. Michigan (12-0): 0.972
3. Washington (12-0): 0.930
4. Florida State (12-0): 0.928
5. Oregon (11-1): 0.895
6. Ohio State (11-1): 0.888
7. Texas (11-1): 0.873
8. Alabama (11-1): 0.854
9. Missouri (10-2): 0.790
10. Penn State (10-2): 0.789
11. Ole Miss (10-2): 0.760
12. Oklahoma (10-2): 0.750
13. LSU (9-3): 0.718
14. Louisville (10-2): 0.665
15. Notre Dame (9-3): 0.651
16. Arizona (9-3): 0.648
17. Tulane (11-1): 0.581
18. Iowa (10-2): 0.575
19. Oklahoma State (9-3): 0.530
20. Liberty (12-0): 0.515
21. Oregon State (8-4): 0.504
22. NC State (9-3): 0.496
23. Tennessee (8-4): 0.469
24. SMU (10-2): 0.468
25. James Madison (11-1): 0.462
Some thoughts about this list:
• We can obviously assume that the four power-conference unbeatens will indeed make up the top four, but the big question this week is how far does Ohio State fall? Do the Buckeyes, whom the committee ranked second last week, simply fall to the top of the 11-1 pile? Do they drop below Oregon, at the very least? Further? The formula here suggests they should rank below the Ducks, but it might not matter if Oregon is No. 5 or No. 6 -- the Ducks get Washington in the Pac-12 championship game Friday night, and it would be quite surprising if they didn't end up ahead of Ohio State with a win.
• Liberty is getting pretty hard to ignore. The Flames' regular-season schedule was softer than anyone else's -- their strength of schedule indeed ranks 133rd, dead last, per SP+. But they've also gone unbeaten, winning their last four games by an average of 46-23 and charging to fifth in total offense, sixth in scoring offense and 11th in the opponent-adjusted offensive SP+. That Tulane ranks ahead of them makes sense, as their lone loss was to an Ole Miss team Liberty would have been picked to lose to as well. But if two-loss SMU takes the Green Wave down in the AAC championship game while Liberty wins the CUSA title, do the Flames get the New Year's Six nod?
• If the projected favorites all win next week -- namely Georgia, Michigan, Florida State, Oregon and Texas from the power conferences, plus Tulane from the AAC -- these rankings suggest this is how a 12-team playoff might be projected to look, depending on how far title-game losers Washington and Alabama fell:
9 Penn State at 8 Missouri (winner plays No. 1 Georgia)
12 Tulane at 5 Ohio State (winner plays No. 4 Oregon)
11 Ole Miss at 6 Texas (winner plays No. 3 Florida State)
10 Alabama at 7 Washington (winner plays No. 2 Michigan).
Are we absolutely positive we can't go ahead and get things rolling with the playoff this year?
Who won the Heisman this week?
I've once again awarded the Heisman every single week of the season, doling out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, 9 for second and so on). LSU's Jayden Daniels burst out to a huge midseason lead with this method and wrapped up the race last week, but let's keep divvying out points for another two weeks.
Noah Fifita heaves one down the field to a wide-open Tetairoa McMillan for a 50-yard Arizona touchdown.
Here is this week's Heisman top 10:
1. Noah Fifita, Arizona (30-for-41 for 527 yards, 5 TDs and an INT against Arizona State). Few teams defied preseason projections like Arizona. The Wildcats were projected 68th in SP+ but are currently up to 21st following Saturday's 59-23 humiliation of rival Arizona State. Fifita might be the main reason for the surge: When he took over as the starting QB in Week 5, Arizona was 36th in offensive SP+; now the Wildcats are 16th. He has 2,515 passing yards, and he's fifth in QBR. As a redshirt freshman. Arizona will head to the Big 12 next year and might immediately have the best quarterback in its new conference.
2. Abu Sama III, Iowa State (16 carries for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 11 receiving yards against Kansas State. Farmageddon was indeed one of the most aesthetically pleasing games of the season, and Sama, who scored on the first play of the game and exploded for rushes of 71, 77, 31 and 60 yards, was the No. 1 reason.
(Well, the snow was the No. 1 reason. But he was No. 2.)
3. Bo Nix, Oregon (33-for-40 for 367 yards and two touchdowns, plus 31 rushing yards and a score against Oregon State). Nix's past four games: 109-for-138 (79%) for 1,569 yards, 16 touchdowns and 1 interception. I've made it pretty clear that I think Jayden Daniels should take the Heisman this year -- and the points race results provide pretty clear evidence in Daniels' favor -- but there's no questioning that Nix has both peaked at the right time and barged his way fully into the discussion.
4. Jayden Daniels, LSU (16-for-24 for 235 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus 120 rushing yards against Texas A&M). At this point, 235 and 120 almost feels underwhelming for Daniels -- it was his second-lowest passing yardage total of the season, among other things -- but when you realize he pulled that off in only 52 snaps, it starts to look infinitely more impressive.
5. Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona (11 catches for 266 yards and a touchdown against Arizona State).
6. Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma (24-for-38 for 400 yards, 3 TDs and an INT, plus 36 rushing yards and a score against TCU).
7. Audric Estime, Notre Dame (25 carries for 238 yards and four touchdowns against Stanford).
8. Cody Schrader, Missouri (27 carries for 217 yards and a touchdown against Arkansas).
9. Ollie Gordon II, Oklahoma State (34 carries for 166 yards and five touchdowns, plus 10 receiving yards against BYU).
10. Richard Reese, Baylor (two kick-return touchdowns in four minutes, plus 42 rushing yards against West Virginia).
And here's a heaping helping of honorable mentions. This might have been the hardest list to cut down all season.
• Eddie Heckard, BYU (2 interceptions, 1 touchdown, 1 tackle and a forced fumble against Oklahoma State)
• Ashton Jeanty, Boise State (14 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown, plus 118 receiving yards and a TD against Air Force)
• Jacory Croskey-Merritt, New Mexico (31 carries for 233 yards and a touchdown against Utah State)
• Triston Newson, Missouri (17 tackles, 2 TFLs and 2 fumble recoveries against Arkansas)
• Rome Odunze, Washington (7 catches for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus a 23-yard run against Washington State)
• Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland (24-for-31 for 361 yards, 3 TDs and an INT, plus a rushing touchdown against Rutgers)
• Bhayshul Tuten, Virginia Tech (16 carries for 117 yards and a touchdown, plus a kick-return score against Virginia)
• Casey Washington, Illinois (9 catches for 218 yards and 3 touchdowns against Northwestern)
Through 13 weeks, here are your points leaders:
1. Jayden Daniels, LSU (79 points, 35 in Nov.)
2. Bo Nix, Oregon (40 points, 29 in Nov.)
3. Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma (39 points, 14 in Nov.)
4. Michael Penix Jr., Washington (34 points, 0 in Nov.)
5. Ollie Gordon, Oklahoma State (29 points, 2 in Nov.)
T-6. J.J. McCarthy, Michigan (22 points, 0 in Nov.)
T-6. Jordan Travis, Florida State (22 points, 0 in Nov.)
8. Caleb Williams, USC (21 points, 0 in Nov.)
9. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado (16 points, 0 in Nov.)
T-10. TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State (13 points, 7 in Nov.)
T-10. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss (13 points, 5 in Nov.)
Daniels and Nix have separated themselves pretty thoroughly from the pack in November, with Gabriel coming in third in that span. Fourth in November? Cody Schrader! Maybe Eliah Drinkwitz was on to something.