The penultimate week of the college football regular season can tend to be underwhelming, but the 2023 iteration delivered with chaos and competitive games across the board. No. 1 Georgia and No. 5 Washington passed difficult road tests, while No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Florida State ultimately pulled out of lookahead spots.
Still, the top 10 remain untouched once again as only nine power conference teams remain with zero or one loss. Missouri needed some late heroics from quarterback Brady Cook to topple Florida, while Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. made Heisman-like plays despite lacking numbers to keep the Huskies unbeaten.
More importantly, conference championship game races are coming to an end. Alabama and Georgia have punched tickets in the SEC, while Louisville joins Florida State in the ACC title game. Iowa locked down the Big Ten West on Saturday and will meet the winner of next week’s Ohio State-Michigan showdown for the Big Ten crown, while Washington reserved its spot in the Pac-12 title game with its win over Oregon State.
As the season rapidly comes to its conclusion, let’s have a look at the biggest winners and losers from the Week 12 action.
Winner: Washington
Look, I get it, the Huskies have gone from video game numbers to just squeaking by in games. But at some point Washington’s resume deserves more respect. UW went on the road and edged out No. 11 Oregon State 22-20 to move to 11-0. The win was the 18th straight for the Huskies, trailing only Georgia for the longest winning streak in the nation.
Penix completed just half of his passes for 162 yards but threw for two scores and added another on the ground. The running game played well enough to win. The Huskies held Oregon State to 319 yards and turned DJ Uiagalelei over twice. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a complete team performance.
Resume alone without impressive results was enough to push Ohio State to No. 1 in the country. Despite impressive wins, Washington has been treated more like a one-loss team than an unbeaten squad. After going on the road and beating the No. 11 team in the country, show Washington some respect. The program has arguably the best resume in the nation.
Loser: Auburn
It’s almost impossible to contextualize New Mexico State’s 31-10 win over Auburn. The Tigers had a streak of wins over non-power conference teams at Jordan-Hare Stadium dating back to 1991. New…
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