Winners and Losers from Week 13 in College Football

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Ray Thompson/Associated Press

It’s Rivalry Feast Week in college football, and it should be an exciting weekend of action as we sit back, digest those Thanksgiving dinners and gorge on pigskin.

Check out this early set of slides, and keep coming back. We’ll be updating the winners and losers of Week 13 through the end of Saturday night’s slate. B/R has you covered on a jam-packed weekend of football.

After a lopsided Egg Bowl settled us in on Turkey Night, Friday featured tons of action. Though the day started exciting enough with Texas clinching a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game and Iowa using some late heroics to beat Nebraska, the college football world held its breath in the afternoon.

That’s when Central Florida star quarterback McKenzie Milton suffered a gruesome injury in the Knights’ win over South Florida. Getting to 11-0 was huge, but UCF has heavy lifting to do without its leader.

The night slate gave us two beautiful bouts between Oklahoma and West Virginia in an offensive-minded Morgantown Masterpiece, and the Apple Cup where Washington and Washington State dueled in a driving snowstorm.

Let’s take a look at the early group of winners and losers, and don’t forget to come back for more tomorrow! 

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On a night when almost zero defense was played in Morgantown, Oklahoma’s beleaguered unit made a pair of plays that proved to be the difference in a crucial 59-56 road win over West Virginia.

There’s no question the Sooners have been hamstrung by their defense much of the year and were time and time again Friday night.

Head coach Lincoln Riley fired coordinator Mike Stoops in early October, and it hasn’t gotten much better since then. That scar on the Sooners’ record could keep them from being as attractive to the College Football Playoff selection committee.

But with both offenses firing missiles in the chilly mountain air and Kyler Murray doing his Heisman thing on offense, OU got a couple of plays from its D. Both were on WVU Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback Will Grier, whose career night was blasted by the blunders.

First, Caleb Kelly wrapped up Grier with 3:06 left in the first half, forcing him to fumble. Kelly disengaged from Grier, picked up the fumble and rumbled 10 yards for a touchdown to pull OU ahead 35-21. It was a big moment considering the Mountaineers scored before the break and tied it up early in the third.

Then in the fourth, after WVU had a long run inside the 10-yard line called back thanks to an odd personal foul for a block out of bounds, Grier was hit again, this time by Kenneth Mann, who forced another fumble as Grier tried to do too much.

This time the ball was picked up by Curtis Bolton and returned 48 yards for a touchdown to give OU a 59-49 lead.

Grier’s career-high 539 passing yards weren’t quite enough thanks to those forced errors, and Oklahoma again survived its defensive deficiencies by making tons of offensive plays and doing just enough on defense to earn a spot against Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game on Dec. 1.

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Mike Carlson/Associated Press

When anybody is injured as gruesomely as McKenzie Milton was in Central Florida’s 38-10 win over South Florida at Raymond James Stadium on Friday, it makes you sick.

That Milton is one of college football’s biggest superstars, a fringe Heisman Trophy contender who is the undisputed leader for the team with the longest winning streak in college football, compounds the disappointment.

Milton took off on a designed second-quarter run around the right end. Coming up in coverage, Bulls cornerback Mazzi Wilkins went low for the tackle, contacting the redshirt junior quarterback on the knee.

Milton immediately began writhing in pain, coaches motioned for medics to come over, and Milton’s leg wasn’t where it was supposed to be. He was carted off the field. 

Now, a Knights team that finally started earning respect from the College Football Playoff selection committee—recently jumping over Ohio State and into ninth—must continue without a player who’s accounted for 79 total touchdowns since the start of last year, the most of any FBS player.

But the Knights persevered and are now 11-0. When asked what he’d say to his team at halftime, UCF head coach Josh Heupel told the ESPN crew: “Let’s go play. Let’s go play for him.” 

The Knights did, led by a ground attack that featured 181 yards and three touchdowns by Greg McCrae. Quarterback Darriel Mack Jr. was nowhere near the force McKenzie is, but he managed his team to yet another win. Heupel didn’t have a postgame update on Milton’s status.

“It breaks your heart for a kid who’s worked so hard to go out and compete,” Heupel told ESPN afterward. “[Milton] loves his brothers, and he plays for them. I’m proud of the way our kids responded here today.”

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There were plenty of ugly warts on Texas’ 24-17 win over Kansas in Lawrence on Friday, but the final result at Memorial Stadium was beautiful for the No. 14 Longhorns.

Texas built a 17-point fourth-quarter lead before it had to start sweating a little following a Peyton Bender touchdown pass. KU recovered an onside kick and then made a field goal. But the Longhorns recovered the next onside attempt and were able to go into the victory formation.

The reward was the program’s first berth in the Big 12 Championship Game since 2009, when it played Alabama for the national title.

Considering head coach Tom Herman’s sophomore campaign started with Texas’ second straight season-opening loss to Maryland, getting here is a major accomplishment.

It hasn’t always been pretty, but the bottom line is the Longhorns are ahead of schedule and winning the way they should. They finished on the short end of a pair of shootouts against West Virginia and Oklahoma State earlier this year, or else they’d have an even better record.

Quarterback Sam Ehlinger threw a pair of interceptions against the Jayhawks, but he was responsible for three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) to help propel Texas into the title game. For anybody thinking KU is a gimme win, this could have been the Longhorns’ second consecutive loss in Lawrence.

Instead, they came through with a victory to end the regular season. It may not win many happy headlines for national observers, but that doesn’t matter. The Longhorns are playing for the conference crown Dec. 1 at AT&T Stadium.

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Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

Washington State once again held its own destiny in its hands. All it needed to do was beat heated rival Washington in the annual Apple Cup, and not only would the Cougars go to the Pac-12 Championship Game, but they would also remain on the cusp of the College Football Playoff conversation.

But the Huskies and their rugged defense went into the driving snow in Pullman and shaved up the Mustached Mystique by forcing Heisman Trophy hopeful quarterback Gardner Minshew II into a pair of pivotal mistakes.

The graduate transfer quarterback’s two interceptions proved crucial as the Huskies held Wazzu at arm’s length much of the night before scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown to pull away and win 28-15 in miserable conditions.

The weather favored Washington’s grind-it-out style, and WSU head coach Mike Leach’s offense couldn’t get into its normal rhythm. The Cougars also didn’t have a defensive answer for senior runner Myles Gaskin, who churned out 170 yards and three touchdowns.

The Huskies ground out a typical win with defense, exceptional running from Gaskin and some well-timed plays by steady senior quarterback Jake Browning. All that equalled the sixth consecutive Apple Cup victory for U-Dub.

So, instead of Wazzu representing the North Division in the conference championship game next Friday, coach Chris Petersen and company spoiled the Cougars’ season and tossed the Pac-12’s hopes of representation in the College Football Playoff in the garbage.

For Washington, it was little solace to salvage a conference championship game appearance after a disappointing season that started with the Huskies ranked sixth but saw them lose three times.

They never trailed Friday night, and Petersen remained unbeaten in the Apple Cup.

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Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

They don’t have a Comeback Coach of the Year award, but if they did, Mississippi State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop would run away with it.

Shoop joined first-year coach Joe Moorhead’s staff after a miserable stretch at Tennessee under Butch Jones. The Vols finished 82nd in total defense in 2017, and Shoop’s unit looked like it had no clue what it was doing against even serviceable offenses.

All that changed this year with Mississippi State. The Bulldogs entered Thanksgiving night’s Egg Bowl against hated rival Ole Miss ranked fourth nationally in total defense, second in scoring defense, 13th in rushing defense and eighth against the pass.

They didn’t go anywhere but up (and held steady against the pass) after a dominant showing against an Ole Miss team that entered second in the SEC in offense. In a 35-3 MSU win that was lowlighted by an ugly brawl, the Bulldogs D delivered the biggest black eye.

Ole Miss mustered just 189 total yards despite entering the game averaging 539.7. Electric quarterback Jordan Ta’amu ended his career in Oxford with a forgettable performance, completing just eight of 17 passes for 87 yards and an interception.

The Rebels squeezed out just 37 rushing yards and went 0-of-11 on third-down conversions.

It was complete dominance as the Bulldogs exacted Egg Bowl revenge.

As for Shoop, he is a semifinalist for the Broyles Award, which goes to college football’s top assistant coach. He probably won’t win it with Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley and Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown among the favorites, but Shoop deserves tons of credit for a big year.

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As Bryce Perkins completed pass after pass, helping Virginia storm back, it looked like 15 years of frustration would be exorcised.

But even in a bad year, the Hokies found a way to break the Hoos’ hearts with a wild-and-wacky 34-31 overtime win that was gut-wrenching for Virginia.

“This football team’s been through a lot, and we had adversity in this game, and our kids stuck together and found a way,” Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente told the ABC sideline crew after Friday’s game. “We knew it was going to be a back-and-forth battle. We just had to find a way to keep plugging away.”

After Virginia turned a Ryan Willis interception at the UVA 11-yard line into just three points and a 31-24 lead late in the fourth quarter, many fans at Lane Stadium scrambled for the exits.

But the Hokies weren’t done. They pieced together an incredible drive, punctuated by Dalton Keene, who wrestled a 45-yard catch from Bryce Hall to put Tech into Hoos’ territory.

Steven Peoples burst up the middle toward the goal line, but he fumbled into the end zone, where Hezekiah Grimsley recovered for the game-tying touchdown. 

Brian Johnson nailed a 42-yard field goal in overtime after Virginia’s Charles Snowden missed a sure sack that would have put Tech out of field-goal range. Bryce Perkins then fumbled the ball without anybody touching him, and VT recovered for the victory.

It marked the Hokies’ 15th win in a row in the series. If Tech beats Marshall next week, it will go to a bowl game for the 26th consecutive season: the nation’s longest recognized streak.

“We live to fight another day,” Fuente said.

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When teams play Iowa, they often leave a hard-hitting, rugged affair feeling like they’ve been battered and bloodied.

Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz actually was bleeding from the lip and sported a bruised face after his team’s 31-28 last-second win over Nebraska at Kinnick Stadium on Friday, but the wound was suffered in celebration, which made it worth the battle scars.

After quarterback Nate Stanley found tight end T.J. Hockenson for 10 yards on a 4th-and-8 to set up Miguel Recinos’ 41-yard game-winning field goal in the driving rain, the scene was raucous as the Hawkeyes got their eighth win and hoisted the Heroes Trophy.

“I just head-butted Stanley, unintentionally,” Ferentz told the Fox crew after the win. “That one’s easy to live with,” he said.

The victory halted the fourth-quarter momentum Scott Frost’s Cornhuskers built by scoring a late touchdown and converting the game-tying two-point conversion. It also severed any good vibrations Nebraska could have built with a season-ending win.

Yes, the Huskers made strides in the second half of 2018, particularly with freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez. But Iowa is a battle-tested team, and the Hawkeyes came through with enough plays to get a victory. None was bigger than the fourth-down pass.

“That was a huge play, obviously,” Ferentz said. “We thought we had a good matchup, so we just went with it, and Nate delivered a good ball.”

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Brandon Wade/Associated Press

A week ago, there was more drama than anybody wants at this juncture of the season. Star defensive tackle Ed Oliver got visibly angry with head coach Major Applewhite when the team was going into the locker room at halftime. Applewhite told Oliver to remove a jacket reserved for active players.

With Oliver suited up against Memphis on Friday and active for the first time since October, all would be well, right?

Not exactly.

While playing for the AAC West’s spot in the conference title game, Oliver remained in full pads but didn’t play in the second half. Applewhite told the Houston Chronicle‘s Joseph Duarte that Oliver tweaked the knee he’d injured and the timetable for his return would be two-to-three weeks.

With Oliver out, the Tigers and star Darrell Henderson (178 yards) ran wild. They scored on five of their seven second-half possessions and tormented a young Cougars defensive front that featured two freshmen at times.

Memphis won 52-31 and will play Central Florida on Dec. 1 in the title game. 

Though Houston’s defensive woes were more deeply rooted than just Oliver’s absence, he was definitely missed. And Memphis rightfully exploited the weakest link. 

Oliver told Duarte afterward that he planned to participate in the postseason. Unfortunately for the Cougars, they needed him Friday.

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L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

At least Kansas put up a fight in David Beaty’s final game before the Les Miles era begins in earnest.

That’s more than a couple of fellow Power Five whipping posts can say about their Friday games.

Arkansas barely made a whimper in a 38-0 loss to a surging Missouri team that won four straight to end the year after that extra-down loss to Kentucky. After showing signs of life a couple of weeks ago against LSU, the Razorbacks were pummeled by Mississippi State and Mizzou to close the season.

The Hogs have just two wins (over Eastern Illinois and Tulsa), and they lost to Colorado State and North Texas in Chad Morris’ first year replacing Bret Bielema in Fayetteville. There are plenty more questions than answers heading into the offseason for a team that looked far and away worse than any in the SEC this year.

Arkansas was consistently bad, and Saturday may have been its worst performance.

Oregon State also has been awful in Jonathan Smith’s first season in Corvallis, failing to consistently stop anybody on defense (the unit is second-worst in the nation). It was much of the same in the Civil War on Friday.

Though the Oregon Ducks have scuffled during the second half of the campaign, they got things going on the road and never looked back, blasting the Beavers 55-15 in their Pac-12 rivalry.

It’s not a surprise that Oregon and Mizzou dispatched the Beavers and the Hogs, but the relative ease of both wins are red flags for the losing programs entering an important offseason of development. Morris and Smith have their work cut out for them in tough conferences moving forward.

Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of Sports Reference and CFBStats.com.

Brad Shepard covers college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @Brad_Shepard.