Winners and Losers: Is the Big 12 going to be out of the College Football Playoff aga

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Baylor and West Virginia both lost on Saturday. (Getty) The Big 12 had a horrible Saturday.
Four undefeated teams lost in Week 9 and the conference took the brunt of the damage. With losses by West Virginia and Baylor, the Big 12 is now the only Power Five conference without an undefeated team.
With no unbeaten, the conference’s chances of missing the College Football Playoff for the second time in three seasons are suddenly incredibly real. Heck, the Big 12 may not have a team in the top 10 when the committee’s first set of rankings is released Tuesday evening.
The Big 12’s chances of making the playoff have seemed tenuous for a while. Oklahoma is the only team without a loss in conference play, but its two nonconference losses to Houston and Ohio State severely dampened not only its own playoff chances, but the chances of the conference getting a team in. Why? No team has made the playoff with two losses.
The two loss statistic severely hurts Oklahoma State too. The Cowboys should be 7-1 after defeating the Mountaineers on Saturday, but the officiating gaffe that cost them a win vs. Central Michigan isn’t going away. And even if Oklahoma State was 7-1, its loss is to Baylor. It’s hard to see how the Cowboys would be ahead of the Bears if they had identical records.
Baylor’s case for the playoff wasn’t incredibly strong if it had beaten Texas anyway. The Bears played an incredibly weak nonconference schedule and the specter of the sexual assault scandal looming over the university was likely going to play a factor. While the committee is supposed to simply evaluate what it sees on the field, it’s only human nature to be cognizant of the discoveries at the university.
The Big 12 is adding a championship game in 2017 with the hopes that it can have a big game at the end of the season to boost one of its teams’ CFP hopes. But a title game wouldn’t save the Big 12’s hopes in 2016 without a one-loss team winning it. And with Baylor and West Virginia yet to play, it’s guaranteed there won’t be more than a single Big 12 team with one loss at the end of the season.
The other two teams that fell from the ranks of the unbeaten were Boise State and Nebraska. The Broncos suffered the most damage, ceding the title of best Group of Five team to Western Michigan with a road loss to Wyoming. It’s likely WMU will be in pole position for the Group of Five berth in the New Year’s Six bowls while Boise State doesn’t even have control of its own division any longer.
Had Nebraska beaten Wisconsin, there was still a chance the Huskers would be third among Big Ten teams in Tuesday’s rankings. With the loss, Nebraska is likely fourth, though it still has control of the Big Ten West. Every other team in the division has two losses. If Nebraska keeps winning, it’ll get a chance to get back into the playoff discussion via the Big Ten Championship Game.
Here are the rest of this week’s winners and losers:
WINNERS
Boston College: The Eagles’ 12-game ACC losing streak dating back to November 2014 is finally over thanks to a game-winning touchdown pass by its running back. Yes, you read that right: RB Davon Jones threw a 14-yard TD pass to Tommy Sweeney with less than five minutes to go in the fourth quarter to give the Eagles a lead they wouldn’t relinquish vs. North Carolina State. BC hosts Heisman-frontrunner Lamar Jackson and the Louisville Cardinals next week.

Ohio: The last time Ohio won in Toledo, Lyndon B. Johnson was president. It was a win 49 years in the making, but the Bobcats finally pulled off their first win in Toledo since 1967 with a 31-26 victory vs. the Rockets on Thursday. The win was also the first for the Bobcats against the Rockets in any capacity since 1988.
Donnel Pumphrey, San Diego State: San Diego State’s dynamic running back moved up to No. 5 in the all-time FBS rushing leaders list with a 223-yard outburst vs. Utah State. Just days removed from making his first appearance in Dr. Saturday’s Heisman Watch, Pumphrey needs just 657 more rushing yards to pass current all-time FBS rushing leader Ron Dayne.

Antonio Calloway, Florida: There wasn’t a whole lot of offense in Florida’s 24-10 win over Georgia on Saturday, but that didn’t stop Antonio Callaway from doing something no other player in Gator history has done. With his four-yard rushing touchdown in the third, Callaway became the first player in UF history to have a rushing, receiving, passing, kick return and punt return touchdown in his career. That’s impressive.

This was sweep.
Antonio Callaway walks it into the end zone for a @GatorsFB touchdown. https://t.co/Ves1Wj4Jey
— SEConCBS (@SEConCBS) October 29, 2016
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Temple and USF:*The top two teams in the AAC East had impressive wins this weekend. Temple won its third straight game Saturday by dominating Cincinnati 34-13 at home. Led by Jahad Thomas and Ryquell Armstead, the Owls put up 275 yards rushing while the defense held the Bearcats to just 186 yards of offense.
Temple clinched bowl eligibility and improved to 4-1 in AAC play and holds an edge over USF in division play because of its win over the Bulls last weekend. But USF, also 4-1, kept pace with a big win of its own on Friday night, knocking off No. 22 Navy 52-45 at home. The game wasn’t as close as the score may indicate. The Bulls put up 629 yards of offense and had three players with more than 100 yards on the ground. USF opened the game 12 for its first 12 on third down.
Saquon Barkley, Penn State: For the second time in three weeks, the Penn State sophomore passed the 200-yard mark on the ground. In a 62-24 win over Purdue, Barkley rushed for 207 yards and two scores on 18 carries. He also led the Nittany Lions with 70 receiving yards on three catches. Barkley now leads the Big Ten with 888 rushing yards on the season. No. 24 Penn State improved to 6-2 (4-1 Big Ten) with the win.
Oregon: It’s been a tough season in Eugene but Oregon was able to snap its five-game losing streak with a 54-35 win over Arizona State. The Ducks looked like Oregon teams of the past few years, putting up 734 yards of offense. Freshman quarterback Justin Herbert had a huge day, throwing for 489 yards and four scores. He also rushed for 23 yards. His total yardage output was a program record.

Single-Game Total Offense for @WinTheDay
512 – Herbert (vs. ASU, 2016)
498 – Musgrave (at BYU, 1989)
483 – Mariota (vs. Tenn, 2013) pic.twitter.com/yZk8gHYZXQ
— Andy McNamara (@McNamaraUO) October 30, 2016
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LOSERS
Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh: A bit of advice for Pitt’s football coach: Instead of complaining about officiating, how about adjusting the defense so your team doesn’t give up 556 yards to Virginia Tech? After Thursday night’s loss to the Hokies, even the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has nearly had enough of Narduzzi’s non-existent defense by*saying Narduzzi may have to start going by “Naruzzi” (get it?). After the coach broke his headset over a pass interference call, he began trending on Twitter for all the wrong reasons.

Maryland: Maryland’s 42-36 loss to Indiana marked the third loss in four games and keeps the Terps stuck on five wins with a brutal four-game stretch remaining to end the season. Maryland plays Michigan, Ohio State and Nebraska before clashing with Rutgers to end the year. It’s going to be a daunting task trying to get at least one win for bowl eligibility. Maryland had been to bowl games in 2013 and 2014 before winning just three games last season.
Miami: Miami’s slow start doomed the Hurricanes in Saturday’s 30-27 loss to Notre Dame. The Irish kicked a game-winning field goal with 30 seconds remaining to earn the win. Notre Dame outgained Miami 143-2 in total yards in the first quarter, but special teams helped the Hurricanes get back into the game. However, the inability to run the ball — Miami had 18 total rushing yards — made it tough for the Hurricanes to get any momentum on offense. The loss is the four straight for the Hurricanes, who were ranked as high as No. 14 before the slide.
Central Michigan: Leading two-win Kent State 24-10 late in the third quarter, it looked like Central Michigan would cruise to its sixth win of the year and clinch a berth in a bowl game. Kent State had other ideas. The Golden Flashes reeled off 17 straight points in the game’s final 20 minutes to shock CMU, 27-24. Kent State won the game on a 35-yard Shane Hynes field goal as time expired. CMU’s final four drives ended in two punts, a missed field goal and an interception.
Connecticut: After beating Cincinnati earlier this month to improve to 3-3, it looked like UConn may*be ready to maybe make some noise in the AAC. Instead, the Huskies have lost three in row, including Saturday’s 41-3 beatdown at the hands of East Carolina. UConn’s defense surrendered 430 yards of offense while the offense committed three turnovers. The Huskies, now 3-6, will have to win out to reach a bowl game. ECU improved to 3-5 with the win.
Rhode Island: We don’t usually dip into the FCS level in this column, but Rhode Island had a really, really rough day. The Rams lost 84-7 on the road to James Madison. Yes, 84-7. The Rams surrendered 628 yards of offense in the loss while gaining only 109. Rhode Island QB Jordan Vazzano was 4-of-25 throwing for 12 yards and five interceptions. The game was so lopsided that James Madison simply took a knee instead of scoring with more than nine minutes left in regulation.

@edsbs JMU kneeled the ball 4 straight times at the 2 yard line with 9:33 left in the 4th. pic.twitter.com/JMRTcMcgCF
— PuppyBowlEnthusiast (@ninjarxa) October 29, 2016
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