🏈 🔵 Oregon Claims No. 1 Seed, Georgia Captures SEC Crown, & Arizona State Cements First-Round Playoff Bye
The 12-team College Football Playoff is finally set. Let's see how the field amounted to be on conference championship Saturday!
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Championship Weekend | AB’s Dudes Of The Week 😤
Tez Johnson
Wide Receiver, Oregon
When Dan Lanning’s squad needed an offensive spark on Saturday, Oregon gunslinger Dillion Gabriel turned to pass catcher Tez Johnson, who accounted for 11 of Gabriel’s 22 total completions.
Johnson picked up nearly 17 yards per catch, tallying 181 receiving yards and a score to help Oregon knock off Penn State in a 45-37 offensive thriller.
Oregon punted just four times throughout the 60-minute affair, picking up 469 yards by churning out almost seven yards per snap.
Cam Skattebo
Running Back, Arizona State
The Sun Devils overwhelmed No. 16 Iowa State 45-19 to pick up their first-ever Big 12 Championship, with tailback Cam Skattebo’s production highlighting Kenny Dillingham’s offensive success.
Skattebo received just 16 carries, but he made the most of his touches, accounting for 170 yards on the ground and two touchdown scampers.
The senior rushed for at least 147 yards in four of his last five games, helping him finish second among all Big 12 rushing leaders with 1,568 yards and 22 touchdowns.
With the conference championship victory, Arizona State captured the College Football Playoff’s No. 4 seed, awaiting the winner of No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas.
Warren Brinson
Defensive Tackle, Georgia
For the second time since late October, Georgia’s physical defensive line outmatched Texas’ offensive front, bottling up the Longhorns for 31 rushing yards in 28 attempts.
Tackle Warren Brinson constantly served as the Bulldogs’ catalyst for disruption, producing four total tackles, three solo stops, a sack, and 2.5 tackles for a loss.
Texas gave up 15 tackles for loss to Brison, Jalon Walker, and Co., including six sacks, holding Texas to just 19 points in over four quarters of play.
Despite quarterback Carson Beck’s long-term injury, which will sideline him for the postseason, Kirby Smart proved that his defensive will keep his unit competitive against the nation’s best.
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Mood Tracker Across Fanbases 🤯
Alabama 📉
Unsettled
Although the Crimson Tide remained sidelined during the SEC Championship, Alabama’s players, coaching staff, and administration remained hopeful that the College Football Playoff Committee would select the historic power for the 12-team dance.
However, after Clemson ousted SMU, the Tigers earned an auto-bid as ACC Champions, despite standing as the nation’s No. 16th ranked squad.
Despite being ranked No. 11 in the committee’s final poll, Alabama missed the College Football Playoff in favor of SMU, which lost on championship Saturday.
In response to the close call, Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne said the school will “need to assess how many [Power Four] non-conference games make sense in the future,” after SMU made the playoff without any ranked wins.
It’s important to note that all three of Alabama’s losses came to SEC foes, but the committee did set a precedent that the quantity of losses matters more than the quality of wins.
SMU 📈
Relieved
On the opposite side of the coin, SMU fans took a collective sigh of relief on Sunday afternoon after solidifying their spot in the 12-team playoff.
The Mustangs eclipsed their second-straight 11-win campaign after dismounting Cal on November 30 for its best two-year stretch since 1983.
If the committee failed to select SMU for meaningful postseason contention, it could’ve become the end of conference championship games as fans currently know them to be.
SMU’s loss to Clemson moved the Mustangs down just two spots but kept the newly initiated ACC squad in the playoff mix, making the ACC a multi-bid league.
While Alabama fans are rightly disappointed, the Mustangs ripped off a perfect, 8-0 record in conference play, a feat the Crimson Tide didn’t come close to achieving.
Who Made Money This Week? 💰
Andy Kotelnicki
Offensive Coordinator, Penn State
Although the Nittany Lions fell by a score to No. 1 Oregon, Drew Allar and Co. put together their most complete offensive performance of coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s tenure in State College.
Penn State produced 523 total yards and did so in a balanced fashion, picking up 226 through the air and 297 on the ground.
Kotelnicki’s attack also held claim to two 100-yard rushers individually in Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton.
Allen’s bruising style led to nearly 9 yards per carry, picking up 124 yards and a score with his legs.
Earlier this week, Kotelnicki reportedly emerged as West Virginia’s top candidate to backfill its current vacancy at head coach.
However, with a favorable playoff path on the line for Penn State, Kotelnicki took to social media yesterday, announcing he’d be staying put in Happy Valley and “looking forward to what 2025 has in store” for the blue and white.
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Shoutout to Connor Krause for helping to write this newsletter and putting it together!
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