Takeaways: Notre Dame shows dominance, Big 12 gets more complicated

What a wild week it was in college football following Saturday's matchups. Four ranked teams fell to their unranked opponents, including No. 16 Colorado's loss to Kansas.

With both Colorado and No. 14 BYU losing this past weekend, things get complicated at the top of Big 12 standings. With a current four-way tie, what does each team need to do in the final weeks of the season?

In its first year in the ACC, No. 13 SMU has shown that it needs to be taken seriously. With five wins over bowl-eligible teams, four of which have seven-plus wins, have the Mustangs done enough to show the College Football Playoff committee that they deserve a spot in the 12-team field?

Our college football experts break down key storylines and takeaways from Week 13.

Conference championship games still matter

There has been a lot of angst lately -- voiced most recently by Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, who no longer has to worry about playing in the SEC title game or the CFP -- about the disadvantages of playing in a league title game and losing in the 12-team playoff era.

While it's a concern that certainly merits more discussion from the FBS commissioners, the reality is that the losers of the Power 4 conference title games will receive legitimate consideration from the selection committee -- if they've earned it. The loser of Oregon-Ohio State in the Big Ten is in, assuming it's a one- or two-loss runner-up. The loser of the SEC title game could be in, too, depending on who it is (a four-loss Texas A&M team should be toast). Is the loser of SMU-Miami eliminated if they are both top-10 teams?

The bottom line is it's too early to tell -- or assume -- anything. The picture has changed every week and will continue to change through Selection Day. What we do know is that the four highest-ranked conference champions will earn a first-round bye -- and that's something the winners won't be complaining about. -- Heather Dinich

Don't sleep on the Fighting Irish

It's time to start taking Notre Dame seriously -- maybe past time.

The narrative surrounding the Irish for most of this season has been, "Yeah, but they lost to Northern Illinois."

That's true, plus the Irish have not beaten up on any elite competition along the way. But that being said, this is also not the same team that bowed meekly to Northern Illinois in Week 2.

That was once again apparent Saturday night in Yankee Stadium when Notre Dame took apart previously unbeaten Army 49-14 for its ninth straight win. The Black Knights obviously don't have Notre Dame's talent or depth, but they're a difficult team to prepare for with the option offense. They've been rock-solid all season. After the game, Army coach Jeff Monken mentioned the word "great" about four different times in describing Notre Dame. He mentioned how well coached the Irish were multiple times, too, and referenced the job they did in blocking the punt to set up Notre Dame's second touchdown.

"That never happens to us," Monken said.

In particular, Notre Dame (10-1) has improved on defense and taken the ball away better than anybody in the country. The Irish lead the nation with 26 forced turnovers and have won eight of their past nine games by double digits. On offense, running back Jeremiyah Love is an emerging playmaker with 267 rushing yards and four touchdowns in his past two games. Just as importantly, he has been a big-play threat with touchdown runs of 76 and 68 yards in his past two outings.

It has been a chaotic season and an even more chaotic last weekend in college football. Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said he was unconcerned about how many potential playoff teams lost Saturday and would "leave it to everybody else" to determine what kind of statement the Irish made Saturday as they build momentum toward a College Football Playoff spot and a home first-round game if they can win Saturday at USC.

"We've improved, but we're starting to be more consistent and that's the sign, and I've said this before, but the sign of great teams, great businesses and great people," Freeman said. "They have great consistency, not the ability to do it one day really high and the next day really low, but do it consistently throughout the game and throughout the season. And that's what I think we've seen in the past couple weeks. We had to improve. We had a lot to improve on from [the Northern Illinois] performance, and now you're seeing a consistent football team, and we've got to continue to be that." -- Chris Low

Redemption achieved for embattled coaches Napier, Venables and Freeze

Florida's Billy Napier, Oklahoma's Brent Venables and Auburn's Hugh Freeze weren't coaching for their jobs Saturday. Napier's return in 2025 has already been confirmed by Florida, while Venables and Freeze are not facing immediate job pressure.

But Napier, Venables and Freeze all strengthened their profiles and elevated hope for the future by leading their teams to signature wins in Week 13. Napier, whose Florida team had outclassed LSU the week before in The Swamp, likely eliminated Ole Miss from CFP contention with an excellent second half. A Gators defense that struggled early allowed only three points in the final 39 minutes and intercepted Jaxson Dart twice in the closing minutes, and Florida got impressive play from its own young quarterback, DJ Lagway.

While Florida had shown real signs of promise before Week 13, Oklahoma and Auburn were slogging through miserable seasons. Venables' defense rose up and stoned Alabama, keeping the Tide out of the end zone and intercepting Jalen Milroe three times. OU recorded its first win against an FBS opponent since September in blowing out Alabama. Freeze's team, which has struggled to score points, put together long scoring drives against Texas A&M and received a big performance from running back Jarquez Hunter (130 rushing yards, three touchdowns).

Week 13 doesn't wipe clean the slates for Napier, Venables and Freeze. All three likely will share space on what will be a massive hot seat list next season. But they also have some tangible evidence to cite that better days might be ahead. -- Adam Rittenberg

Four-way tie and plenty more confusion in the Big 12

In less than two weeks, two teams will play in the Big 12 championship game in Arlington, Texas. One of them will win and likely grab a College Football Playoff bid. That team might even get a first-round bye. Wouldn't that be something?

With one week left in the regular season, we truly have no idea what either of those two teams will be. The Big 12 title race has been chaotic from the start, so why wouldn't it end this way? In a 16-team league with no divisions and no more recruiting powerhouses in Texas and Oklahoma, any team -- really, almost literally any team -- can win the conference this year.

Arizona State, BYU, Colorado and Iowa State are tied at 6-2 in the league standings. Iowa State is the closest to win-and-in entering its finale at home against Kansas State (which won't be easy). ESPN Analytics gives Arizona State the best chance of clinching a title game berth at 71% ahead of its meeting with struggling rival Arizona.

The Big 12 has run through its tiebreaker scenarios and believes that, in the event of a four-way tie at 7-2, Arizona State would earn the top seed in its title game and face Iowa State. Maybe it will end up being that simple.

But if you're rooting for chaos, just know this: There's also a 1-in-1,270 chance that the Big 12 ends up with an eight-way tie for first place, according to ESPN Analytics. There are scenarios in which Kansas State or Baylor make it to Arlington. It could all come down to complicated tiebreaker calculations.

In short, this could get weird and messy if enough upsets occur in the final week. Given how this Big 12 season has played out to date, we certainly wouldn't rule it out. -- Max Olson

Time to take SMU seriously as a playoff team

SMU has been on the outside looking in the past three weeks when the College Football Playoff selection committee has released its rankings. But with the chaos over the weekend, it is time to take the Mustangs (10-1) seriously as playoff contenders.

SMU has made history -- becoming the first team to make the ACC championship game in its first year as a league member. No other Group of 5 team that has made the transition to the power level has been as successful as the Mustangs in their first year.

Friendly reminder: This team is, indeed, playing an ACC schedule -- not an American schedule. It is comparable, or even better, than several other one-loss teams. For example, SMU, Texas and Penn State have all beaten five Power 4 bowl eligible teams. SMU has beaten more teams with seven-plus wins (four for the Mustangs, compared to zero for Texas and one for Penn State). Fellow ACC member Miami, ranked higher than SMU, has four wins over Power 4 bowl eligible teams. Indiana has beaten three bowl-eligible teams -- none with more than seven wins.

SMU and Notre Dame have played four ACC teams in common, with nearly identical results -- dominant wins over Stanford, Florida State and Virginia and a close win over previously ranked Louisville.

With a win over Cal on Saturday, SMU will finish 8-0 in league play. If Oregon also wins, they would be the only two Power 4 teams to go undefeated in league play. That should make SMU's playoff case stronger.

Expect the politicking to begin if the Mustangs reach the ACC championship game at 11-1 -- for two reasons. No. 1, the ACC learned a hard lesson last year after Florida State missed the CFP. Speaking up matters. But more importantly, the committee has repeatedly said teams will not be penalized for losing a conference championship game. If both SMU and Miami are 11-1 going into that game, they should be in. The committee has been signaling a lack of consideration for SMU to date, though.

"I told the team this week, we talked about it for the first time," SMU coach Rhett Lashlee told ESPN on Sunday afternoon. "I said, 'Hey, no one's disrespecting you. No one expected you. We've caught everybody off guard, and everybody's a little uncomfortable because they don't know what to do with us.'"

But they should know what to do. SMU has won 21 of its past 25 games. Its only loss this year came to a top-25 Power 4 team. The Mustangs have come into the ACC and done everything that has been asked of them. An 11-1, 8-0 ACC season should matter, regardless of the name next to that record. -- Andrea Adelson

An inauspicious Big Ten debut season for USC and UCLA

While Oregon is riding high as the No. 1 team in the country and fellow former Pac-12 member Arizona State is still in the running to win the Big 12 in its first year in the conference, the two programs that first began the Pac-12's dissolution were trying to salvage their disillusioned seasons with a rivalry win late Saturday night in Los Angeles.

The USC-UCLA rivalry has seen its share of down years, but during a season in which USC was ranked as high as No. 11, it was striking to see both programs relegated to the 10:30 p.m. kickoff having combined for just nine wins and 11 losses this season.

With nothing but a bowl berth and rivalry pride to play for, the football at the Rose Bowl wasn't pretty. Both teams combined for four field goals through halftime, and while the Trojans made three trips to UCLA's 5-yard line, they could get only nine points out of it. It wasn't exactly the kind of offensive performance USC coach Lincoln Riley is accustomed to, but it was representative of his team's struggles on offense. An improved defense can only help so much.

UCLA, meanwhile, has had its growing pains and bright spots in DeShaun Foster's first season as coach, but the expectations were low. In the end, USC made a few more plays than its crosstown counterpart and edged out a 19-13 win to clinch a bowl berth. Battling for six wins was not how many expected this USC season to go, but after being on the wrong end of a slew of close losses, Riley was able to sigh from the other side.

"We've played some good football this year. It's been a unique year," Riley said. "We've tried to block out any of the good, any of the bad, any of the things that went our way, anything that didn't and just really focus on being in the moment here at the end."

Six wins is far from the standard at USC, especially with the investment it has made in Riley. Four wins at UCLA isn't it either. If both teams want to be significant factors in the new Big Ten, they're going to need to be a whole lot better. One year in, they're already playing catch-up. -- Paolo Uggetti