The 4 Things from an Eventful Last Week of the Regular Season

Ohio State Might Just be Invincible

If you happen to be facing the Buckeyes in the postseason, how exactly do you attack them? It’s truly difficult to identify any weaknesses for Ohio State after they wrapped up the season 12-0 by demolishing rival Michigan.

First off, there doesn’t seem to be an offense with the firepower to out up many points against their defense. They are loaded with NFL talent on all three levels, and are incredibly difficult to run or pass against. They can easily get to the quarterback with a four-man front, while keeping some of the most talented defenders in the nation to fly around and patrol the rest of the field. On offense, they have the two best receivers in college football and a quarterback that almost never misfires or makes careless throws. Ok, so the running backs took a slight step back from last year when Quinshon Judkins and TreyVeon Henderson were early second-round picks. However, they can still pound the ball behind a talented offensive line, as they proved over and over again against Michigan.

If I were to pick between the Buckeyes or the field to hoist the national championship trophy, I’m taking Ohio State without much hesitation.

Texas A&M’s Defensive Woes Finally Caught up to Them

It seemed like the Aggies had enough firepower on offense to overcome a sometimes shaky defense. Texas then proved otherwise with a 27-17 upset victory that handed Texas A&M their first loss of the season and knocked them out of the SEC Championship Game.

The Aggies were able to overcome a shaky performance by the defense on several occasions this season. However, you can’t always count on an offense hitting on all cylinders week in and week out. As the competition stiffens, the defense may need to make quick improvements or face an early exit from the playoffs.

Texas Should be Lobbying Hard for a Playoff Spot

The Longhorns should be screaming their case to anyone who will listen. Yes, a 9-3 record typically knocks a team out of the playoffs. However, Texas would be sitting at 10-2 and be preparing for a playoff run had they scheduled a creampuff rather than Ohio State in the non-conference slate. The Longhorns lost to the Buckeyes 14-7 on the road all the way back in week one. Texas has certainly improved since then, and looking back, they were the only team to test the Buckeyes all season. Adding Texas into the playoff pool could help prove that the level of competition in out of conference is highly considered, rather than setting up a system where teams should just schedle the easiest three games they can outside of conference play.

Texas would be 10-2 if they didn’t lose to 4-8 Florida, so there’s also plenty to say about taking care of business throughout the season.

A 7-5 Duke Team is a Win Away from a Likely Playoff Berth

It was a wild ending in the ACC race, as nearly half the conference was in play for the conference championship game throughout the last month of the season. Somehow, someway, Duke came out of the tiebreaker scenario with a trip to Charlotte to face Virginia after SMU was upset by Cal on Saturday.

While Duke stands at 7-5, only two of its losses came in conference play – against ranked Virginia and Georgia Tech. Their other losses came to Illinois, Tulane and UCONN in games that do not impact the ACC race. There is also the chance that Duke could win the ACC yet be left out of the playoffs. The rule is that the top six conference champions receive an automatic bid – meaning the Blue Devils could be omitted in favor of James Madison and the winner of Tulane-North Texas game on Friday. It may all be a moot point however — just two weeks ago, Duke lost to Virginia in a game they were behind 34-3 in the fourth quarter.