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Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s thought-provoking Three-Point Stance is here with Saturday Shine and Saturday Shame from the weekend, as well as some thoughts on recent coaching changes.
1. SATURDAY SHINE
Here's a look at the teams, units and players that should feel good following their performance in Week 13.
Ohio State – I thought Michigan would roll Ohio State and boy was I wrong. The Buckeyes clicked on all cylinders and the offense was simply dominant.
Ohio State's defense – This was what we expected to see for weeks from the Ohio State defense. The Buckeyes played well, especially up front, which helped the secondary.
Oklahoma's offense – This offense can’t be stopped. Name a team that can stop them and then change your mind. Kyler Murray and company are simply amazing on offense. West Virginia had no solution.
Texas A&M – Seven overtimes? This was an amazing win for the Aggies who showed a ton of heart and never quit against LSU.
Kellen Mond, Texas A&M – He’s so inconsistent and it’s hard to watch but accounting for seven touchdowns and setting an SEC record is worth noting.
Washington – Washington is starting to peak. It’s a little too late for a playoff run of course but this is the team we expected to see on many more weekends than we did.
UCF – The win streak continues and deserves some mention despite the weak schedule.
LSU – LSU, like Texas A&M, showed a lot of heart in the seven overtime loss and kept fighting. This was a tough loss to deal with.
Notre Dame – Notre Dame fell down 10-0 and showed fight and desire in coming back. USC isn’t a good team but I like the way Notre Dame fought through a tough start to pull out the win.
Alabama – The Iron Bowl was not a challenge for Alabama who have beaten every opponent by at least 20 points all season long. This is Nick Saban’s best team.
Georgia – The Dawgs keep rolling with an efficient Jake Fromm at quarterback and a great running game. They also showed out on defense against the run versus a tough Georgia Tech outfit.
Clemson – South Carolina put up a fight but the Clemson offense is too strong for most teams. Travis Etienne is impressive, Trevor Lawrence is awesome and the Tigers have a ton of weapons.
Jake Bentley, South Carolina – He threw for 500-plus yards and five scores against a very tough defense. This was a very impressive performance if you missed it.
Florida – Feleipe Franks looked good, the defense was excellent and the Gators manhandled Florida State and happily ended the Seminoles' bowl streak.
Penn State – A 9-3 season may be a disappointment to some fans but this is a good football team and they easily handled a Maryland team that should have beat Ohio State a week ago.
Syracuse – Boston College is a tough opponent but the Eagles were no match for the Syracuse offense. Dino Babers deserves major props for the season his team has put together.
Arizona State – Remember when everyone, including me, was making fun of the Herm Edwards hire? He has the last laugh this season as his team is headed to a bowl with a seven-win season.
Kentucky – Mark Stoops leads his team to a rivalry game blowout and the first nine-win season at Kentucky since 1977. That’s extraordinary.
Utah – The Pac-12 South champs came back from a significant deficit to keep rolling. The 9-3 season has been impressive after two early losses.
Reggie Gallaspy, NC State – He scored all five of his team’s touchdowns in the win over North Carolina, not too shabby.
Minnesota – The Gophers are going bowling thanks to a big win at Wisconsin, a game that looked like a potential blowout at the beginning of the season.
Vanderbilt – Vandy is also going bowling and the Commodores beat their in-state rival handily.
Mississippi State – The Egg Bowl turned into a blowout and the Bulldogs have quietly had a solid year.
2. SATURDAY SHAME
Here's a look at the teams, units and players that should be feeling some heat following their performance in Week 13.
Michigan – This was the best chance in years for Michigan to win the battle against Ohio State and the Wolverines laid an egg as a team. This was an embarrassing loss.
Michigan's defense – Don Brown and his group got rolled by the Ohio State offense which was just too fast for them. Maybe this defense was just overrated?
West Virginia – Should I fault West Virginia for giving up 59 points to the best offense in the country? I think I should because the Mountaineers were supposed to have the best defense in the Big 12.
Oklahoma's defense – This defense is so bad it’s scary to watch. The only way the Sooners can beat teams is to outscore them, period.
Washington State – This was the Cougars' chance to wrap up the Pac-12 North and keep playoff hopes alive and they blew it – and it wasn’t that close against Washington.
Texas – Beating Kansas by seven points with a lame duck coach is not impressive by any stretch of the imagination. This is not a momentum-building win as the Longhorns head into the Big 12 title game.
LSU's defense – LSU has a ton of defensive talent but looked like they belonged in the Big 12 against Texas A&M.
Texas A&M's defense – A&M needed to outscore LSU to win this game because the Aggie defense was so bad.
Auburn – The Iron Bowl was a rout and the season has been a disaster after a promising win against Washington early.
Florida State – The Seminoles' first losing season since 1976 and the first season they won’t go to a bowl since 1981 deserves plenty of shame. What a bad year.
Boston College – BC, at one point, was hoping for a 10-win season and are now in the midst of a losing streak and fighting to win eight games if they win their bowl game. This was an epic collapse.
Arizona – Kevin Sumlin’s team talked trash at the beginning of the game, lost to rival Arizona State and missed a bowl game. That’s a bad weekend and a bad season.
Louisville – The season is over thankfully but the Cardinals deserve the shame because I can’t remember the last time they were actually in a football game.
BYU – The Cougars blew a big lead against rival Utah and blew a chance to finish the season with a huge win.
Wisconsin – What the heck happened to this team? The loss to Minnesota drops a preseason playoff contender to 7-5 overall.
Tennessee – The win over Kentucky was supposed to be a turning point but a blowout loss to Vandy ends a disappointing season.
Ole Miss – The defense continued to disappoint but the offense showed nothing either against Mississippi State.
UConn – The worst team in college football? Yes. And a historically bad defense.
3. RIGHT CALL ON FEDORA, WRONG CALL ON KINGSBURY
We saw two Power Five programs dismissed head coaches on Sunday, and I think one made the right move and the other made a mistake. North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora had to go after back-to-back nine loss seasons but I think Texas Tech head man Kliff Kingsbury should have been given another year.
Fedora, who just a few seasons ago led his team to the ACC title game, has let the Tar Heels' program fall apart and there’s no excuse for that. The North Carolina job is one of the better ones in the ACC and the Heels have long been hailed as a “sleeping giant” in the conference. North Carolina will find another coach, perhaps Ryan Day at Ohio State, and improve.
Texas Tech, on the other hand, is not considered a sleeping giant in the Big 12 and I think Kingsbury has done a solid job. Yes, the Red Raiders went 5-7 this season, finished the season with a five-game losing streak and missed a bowl game, but they have been competitive with everyone. The defense improved, they lost to top-25 teams like Iowa State, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia by less than 10 points and I think there were some positives to the season. Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables might be a great replacement if the Kansas State job doesn’t open up but I think Texas Tech was on the right track with Kingsbury despite the poor season. His biggest problem? Being compared to Mike Leach.
