As a typical rivalry week goes in college football, nothing goes as expected. Let’s take a look back at the final week of the regular season and see how it affects Championship Saturday next weekend.
SEC Least: The Southeastern Conference Eastern Division, arguably one of the most unimpressive divisions in college football, had a horrible weekend against its traditional out-of-conference rivals. To put horrible in to perspective, four SEC East teams — South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky — all went 0-4 against their annual Atlantic Coast Conference opponents.
South Carolina got drubbed 35-17 by Clemson, and on top of that Clemson’s quarterback Deshaun Watson was announced after the win that he played with a partially torn ACL.
Georgia lost in overtime to Georgia Tech, and Kentucky lost 44-40 to Louisville, who picked off quarterback Patrick Towles late to hold off the Wildcats. The last loss from the SEC East came from Florida, falling 24-19 against No. 3 Florida State, who will face Tech in the ACC Championship next week.
Perhaps the lone bright spot for the conference came on Friday afternoon as Missouri beat Arkansas to clinch the SEC East title—the Tigers’ second East crown in just its third year in the conference.
Iron and Egg Bowls Didn’t Disappoint: Two of the biggest games of the weekend were from two SEC West rival games in Auburn-Alabama and Ole Miss-Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl.
Ole Miss came into the Egg Bowl limping with three losses, a banged-up quarterback in Bo Wallace and still without its best receiver, Laquon Treadwell. But it managed to upset the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who came in sitting at No. 4 in the country and still vying for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Wallace had 296 yards in the air on just 13 throws, and the Rebels’ run game had one of its most successful games on the year. Jaylen Walton had a 91-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to put the Rebels up two touchdowns. He would finish with 148 yards. Running back Jordan Wilkins took a pitch from Wallace and threw a touchdown to Cody Core to go up 34-17 with just over nine minutes left in the game.
Alabama avenged last year’s "kick six" last second loss to the Tigers and won 55-44 in Bryant-Denny while putting a couple of records in the books in the process. The Crimson Tide’s 99 combined points were the most scored in Iron Bowl history. The Tide’s explosive wideout Amari Cooper tied his school record of 224 yards, which he first acquired against Tennessee last month.
With the victory, the Crimson Tide secured a trip to Atlanta, Ga. for the SEC Championship Game against Missouri next Saturday.
Playoff bids on the line next week: No. 7 Baylor and No. 3 Oregon could earn their spots in the playoff with wins on Saturday. Oregon, who beat in-state rival Oregon State 47-19 last week, will face Arizona in the Pac-12 Championship. A loss for the Ducks will likely take them out of the playoff picture.
Baylor’s final game of the season comes against No. 12 Kansas State. With a win over the Wildcats the Bears will win the Big 12 Title outright. Although No. 4 TCU is ranked ahead of Baylor as of right now, Baylor winning the conference would likely put them into the Top 4.
Follow Morgan Moriarty on Twitter @Morgan_Moriarty
Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper (9) scores a 75-yard touchdown reception as Auburn defensive back Jonathon Mincy (6) attempts to tackle him during Alabama's 55-44 win against Auburn on Saturday.
