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- Jacob Rhee

Here are my 10 biggest takeaways from college football’s conference championship weekend.

1. Batman.

With a name like Wayne Knight, you better be able to put a cape on when the city is in need. 223 total yards and a touchdown, to help send James Madison to the dance? Those fans are going to remember that forever.

Our sport is rapidly morphing into Curt Cignetti’s world. The 64-year-old spotted a 5-foot-7 running back from Delaware without a 247Sports profile, and decided to offer a scholarship. Now Knight sits fourth nationally in scrimmage yards, and is gearing up for a playoff clash with Oregon. Amazing.

2. Florida’s man.

The Gators hit a home run with Jon Sumrall. Had he been passed over in this college job cycle, I would’ve been begging my Bengals to hire him as their new defensive coordinator. North Texas came out and punched Tulane in the mouth, and not a single member of Sumrall’s roster looked remotely shaken. The Green Wave reeled off 31 unanswered points, and put that thing away before the start of the fourth.

Ole Miss absolutely humiliated Tulane back in September, and folks are complaining that they have to watch Part II of the shellacking in 12 days. Those individuals are in for a pleasant surprise. I think that’s a one-possession game late.

3. Red Raiders rolling.

12 victories for Texas Tech. All 12 by at least 22 points. A conference championship. The best scoring margin in the country. A first-round bye. Do you believe me yet?

This team can absolutely win it all. I’m not sure how you could think any differently, quite frankly. I’ll say it again, for those that declined to heed my advice before. Trust your eyes on this one.

4. Barking Dawgs.

For 11 weeks, Glenn Schumann’s defense felt like a fatal flaw. It was CJ Allen, and a bunch of gifted dudes that only looked engaged on occasion. Well, look what Georgia has given up since. 10 points to Texas. Three to Charlotte. Nine to Georgia Tech. Seven to Alabama. Under 275 yards allowed in all four.

This is a flat-out terrifying run of dominance, and you can almost feel Kirby Smart’s confidence rising with each contest. He smells a third ring.

5. Point the finger.

Negative rushing yards for Alabama on Saturday. Like, less than me and you. What?

This is a Chris Kapilovic issue - the Tide’s offensive line coach - and not a personnel one. My biggest piece of evidence wears No. 22 for the Michigan Wolverines. Justice Haynes showed tantalizing flashes as a freshman under Nick Saban’s staff, and immediately started posting ridiculous numbers upon transferring Michigan. That sophomore campaign wedged in the middle was spent behind Kapilovic’s group; Justice rumbled for 102 on four carries in the opener, and then was bottled up for the remainder of the season. Throughout his career, our friend Chris has consistently presided over weak ground games. In fact, people in East Lansing were rejoicing when he got poached. Kalen DeBoer knew what he was getting, and made the hire anyway.

It’s extremely fitting that Bama drew Oklahoma in Round 1. Want to prove that you can establish the run? Go do it against a defense ceding 2.3 yards per attempt. Good luck, boys.

6. Indiana stands tall.

Wow. Simply put, IU showed up to Lucas Oil Stadium with the best quarterback and defense that Ohio State has encountered in many years. It was certainly not an A+ plan from Ryan Day, but that’s no reason to shortchange the Hoosiers when distributing credit. They’re just an awesome football team, that beat us fair and square.

Here are my thoughts on OSU. I’ll whisper them, so the overly aggressive sector of Buckeye Nation doesn’t shove me up against a locker. I… I kind of like that we lost. Furthermore, I kind of like that it happened in that way. The three primary weaknesses of this crew - which OSU had gotten away with hiding for months - finally got exposed, with all of America watching. Offensive line, cornerbacks, kicker. As long as this failure serves as intense motivation in each of those rooms, we’re good.

7. Gap closed.

This is Clemson and Duke side by side, since the calendar flipped to 2024.

Yeah. Not great, Dabo.

8. An embarrassment.

Alabama gets blown out, and stays put. BYU gets blown out, and drops. Notre Dame is ranked ahead of Miami in literally every single prior edition of the rankings, then magically gets surpassed while both squads are on the couch. I’m usually so proud to be a diehard college football guy. That was not the feeling on Sunday afternoon.

Look, I’m a Buckeye boy. The path to a second straight national championship is significantly easier without the Irish in the picture. There’s just no way I could possibly celebrate this, though. The committee did not select the 12 best teams. Or the 12 best right now. Or the 12 most deserving. Every single one of those philosophies would have included Notre Dame. Hunter Yurachek and his buddies essentially just did whatever they wanted, and that should make any football fan angry.

Either establish a sensible and well-understood set of evaluation guidelines, or just bring the BCS back. There exists no merit to a humans-only system, if the people involved are going to behave like this. Marcus Freeman and Jeremiyah Love deserve so much better.

9. My final Heisman ladder.

1) Jacob Rodriguez, Texas Tech LB

2) Fernando Mendoza, Indiana QB

3) Julian Sayin, Ohio State QB

4) Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame RB

5) Caleb Downs, Ohio State S

6) Ty Simpson, Alabama QB

7) David Bailey, Texas Tech EDGE

8) Cashius Howell, Texas A&M EDGE

9) Wayne Knight, James Madison RB

10) Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt QB

10. Time to peek ahead.

We’ll have to wait until late next week, but nirvana is near.

It’s Alabama and Oklahoma, alone in the spotlight on December 19th. The next day, we get Miami and Texas A&M. Tulane and Ole Miss. James Madison and Oregon. Here we go.

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