Moving from cupcakes to crunch games, Simon Clancy rounds up the action from his favourite weekend of the college football calendar…

LEAD OFF
Rivalry weekend in college football is comfortably the best weekend and this one didn’t disappoint. Great games, wild finishes, upsets and points, points, points.

As we’ll get into, there’s a fairly significant change in the top four and an argument brewing as to whether Ohio State or Oklahoma should be next man up. Upcoming is Conference Championship weekend with so much on the line and nowhere more so than in the SEC – as we’ll discover.

But let’s start with the Buckeyes and their blow-out win over Michigan in Columbus. One prominent college writer called it the worst defeat in Wolverines’ history and although that seems like hyperbole, given what was at stake for Jim Harbaugh’s side, it’s hard to immediately think of another that was quite so devastating. Dwayne Haskins threw six touchdowns in the 62-39 win and Michigan’s vaunted defense – that led the nation – had absolutely no answers for a Buckeye team that lost by 28 to Purdue, almost lost at home to (then) one-loss Nebraska and only beat Maryland in OT when the Terps failed to score on a two-point conversion that would have won the game.

As bad as Don Brown’s defense was, Pep Hamilton’s offense was even worse. Less than a week after the Rams/Chiefs offensive masterclass on Monday Night Football, Michigan seem stuck in the 1980s offensively. And when former Buckeye passer Cardale Jones tweeted: “I bet home boy wish he stayed at Ole Miss” about the over-matched Shea Patterson, he summed up everything that was wrong with the Wolverines’ day. Purely and simply, it was a huge embarrassment for Harbaugh, whose team gave up the most points since 1891 and falls to 0-5 against the Buckeyes in his tenure. Given the players graduating and likely to declare for the draft, this falls into the category of huge missed opportunity.

BEST OF THE REST
Ohio State started the day as the 10th-ranked side in the nation and, as the clock ticked midnight on Saturday night into Sunday morning, some analysts had them jumping as high as fifth in the rankings that come out on Tuesday. That would vault them over the top of an Oklahoma team whose one loss came against a top 15-ranked Texas side on the road on a last-second field goal, not a four-touchdown blow-out against an unranked Purdue. There should be no way that Urban Meyer’s team ends up fifth given their season and it would be hugely controversial if next man up wasn’t the Sooners. Speaking of which…

Oklahoma’s offense is as good as any in the last few years of college football. But it needs to be given how historically bad the defense is. Lincoln Riley’s decision to fire defensive co-ordinator Mike Stoops and replace him with Ruffin McNeil has had no effect whatsoever. In fact, the Sooners D is probably worse now than at any point in the season – they’re giving up more yards against both the run and the pass under McNeil than they were under Stoops, and have given up 40+ the last four games. But they had enough to squeak past West Virginia 59-56 in a classic, and even got a crucial defensive touchdown when Caleb Kelly punched the ball from Will Grier’s hand and then scooped it up and ran it in for a touchdown. As good as Kyler Murray, Marquise Brown and that offensive line are – and they are – there’s no way the Sooners could compete against an offense like Alabama or Clemson…

The Iron Bowl between Auburn and the Crimson Tide was close for a while until Tua Tagovailoa opened up and threw for five touchdowns, adding another on the ground. Murray had closed the Heisman gap considerably on Friday night, but the Tide signal caller simply pushed him away again with another stand-out showing…

All roads now lead to Atlanta and the SEC Championship Game between ‘Bama and a revitalised Georgia who, aside from a very disjointed showing in defeat to LSU, might be the second-best team in the country. The Bulldogs will have revenge in mind after losing the National Championship game in OT last season and a win here would not only secure their place in the playoff – currently they’re the number four seed in our rankings and those of the AP – but a big win could conceivably knock Alabama out completely. They dominated Georgia Tech thanks to four touchdowns from Jake Fromm and 105 yards rushing from D’Andre Swift and it was over at the half as they led 38-7. Bigger tests await, but Georgia are the biggest threat to Nick Saban’s dominance…

Trevor Lawrence had his best game of the season as Clemson eased past South Carolina. The freshman looks more assured each week and his stare-down of Will Muschamp after his first touchdown throw also shows his confidence level. The Tigers are an ACC Championship win over Pitt away from playing Notre Dame in the playoff – assuming Alabama win the SEC…

Speaking of the Irish, they avoided the usual let-down that’s dogged them the last few seasons, just about escaping from the LA Coliseum with a win over USC. But Clay Helton will be kicking himself because the Trojans lost the game as much as the Irish won it, having dominated the first half. Two fumbles deep in Irish territory by Michael Pittman Jr and Amon-Ra St Brown were the killers, but Brian Kelly’s men escaped and are now guaranteed a playoff berth…

The biggest losers of the weekend were Washington State and UCF. The Cougars lost 28-15 in the Apple Cup in the snow against Washington as Heisman candidate QB Gardner Minshew was held to just 152 yards passing. The defeat eliminates Wazzu from playoff contention…

UCF remain unbeaten as they smashed South Florida, but the devastating knee injury to QB McKenzie Milton means they’re unlikely to be able to compete against an Alabama or Clemson should they happen to end up in the playoff. Injured on a second quarter scramble, he lay on the turf with his knee pointing in one direction and his foot in another. Reports indicate that he underwent emergency surgery, perhaps to save the leg, although at the wishes of the Milton family, very little information has been forthcoming. Given he’s accounted for 79 touchdowns over the past two seasons, it would seem that the Golden Knights chances have diminished greatly. We wish him all the best in his long road to recovery…

The game of the season – and perhaps the decade – came as Texas A&M beat LSU 74-72 afterseven overtimes. Kellen Mond found Kendrick Rogers with the game winning two-point conversion as the two teams combined for 146 points, the most in NCAA history and the second most in college football history (Abiline-Christian beat West Texas A&M 93-68 in 2008). However, the Tigers can consider themselves hugely unlucky as they had at least three very controversial calls go against them…

The coaching carousel has begun spinning in earnest: Larry Fedora is out at North Carolina, as is Kliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech. Both are very appealing jobs…

GRIDIRON TOP 10
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Georgia
4. Notre Dame
5. Oklahoma
6. Ohio State
7. UCF
8. Michigan
9. Texas
10. Washington

GAME OF THE WEEK
Championship weekend perhaps lacks some of the lustre of previous years with two games – Clemson/Pitt in the ACC title game and Northwestern/Ohio State in the Big 10 version – lacking the wow factor as, on paper, there should be easy wins for the Tigers and Buckeyes respectively. But the SEC and Big 12 match-ups are absolute crackers, so let’s start in Atlanta and the scene of last year’s thrilling National Championship game.

Alabama come into this one as a 10.5-point favourite, but it should be significantly closer than that. The Tide look all conquering but, as we mentioned, Georgia could offer them their most difficult game of the season. If Georgia are to win this one, they need to capitalise on three areas of concern for Nick Saban’s team: the first is the first half – ‘Bama have been slow out of the blocks the last two games and, if the Bulldogs can jump out to an early lead, then the Tide will be in the very unfamiliar position of playing from behind.

D’Andre Swift will need a huge game: ‘Bama’s run defense has looked a little suspect since they shut down LSU and Swift is comfortably the best offensive player they’ve gone up against this season. And thirdly, can they win the special teams battle? Alabama had a punt blocked against Auburn, have missed five PATs and less than half of their kick-offs go for touchbacks. With explosive return man Mecole Hardman back deep, the Dawgs have consistent chances to break it or set themselves up in great field position. This should be Alabama’s first close game of the season and the revenge factor should make it even tighter. If the Tide blow Georgia away, however, then we may as well hand them the trophy now.

BACK-UP GAME OF THE WEEK
The Big 12 Title game is another re-match, but from earlier this season rather than last with Texas taking on Oklahoma at Jerryworld. The Longhorns won that first game 48-45 on Cameron Dicker’s 40-yard field goal at the end of the game, but are 4-2 since then, with wins over Baylor, Texas Tech, Iowa State and Kansas coming by a combined 34 points. Oklahoma, on the other hand, is a perfect 6-0 and on the cusp of cracking the final four in the final College Football Playoff picture. That said, three of the Sooners wins (Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, West Virginia) have come by a combined nine points. Can Lincoln Riley’s team get the Longhorns offense off the field and can a Texas defense, which has struggled at times since winning the Red River game, stop Kyler Murray long enough to assert itself? On a neutral field, especially turf, I can’t see anything other than an Oklahoma win.

HEISMAN FIVE
For a while on Friday night it felt like Kyler Murray wasn’t just upsetting the apple cart but taking it, breaking it and stomping all over the Granny Smiths as he ran, passed and led Oklahoma past West Virginia in Morgantown, throwing for 364 yards and adding 114 more on the ground including a magical 55-yard scamper for six. But, less than 24 hours later, Tua Tagovailoa was making miracles happen in the Iron Bowl, accounting for six touchdowns including five in the air. I just don’t see a way he loses it from here.

Gardner Minshew fell away as quickly as he arrived, whilst Wisconsin’s 37-15 embarrassment at Minnesota ended Jonathan Taylor’s chances. Will Grier of West Virginia may well end up as third wheel in New York when the finalists are announced, although there remains no more dominant performer in the game than ‘Bama DT Quinnen Williams.
Dwayne Haskins’ performance against Michigan – where he broke Drew Brees’ 1998 Big 10 record for touchdown passes in a season by throwing his 40th – sees him back into the top five.

1. Tua Tagovailoa – Alabama (1)
2. Kyler Murray – Oklahoma (3)
3. Quinnen Williams – Alabama (4)
4. Will Grier – West Virginia (-)
5. Dwayne Haskins (-)