The Week Everyone Tried To Talk Themselves Into It

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Late season college football spent the weekend reminding everyone that “stability” is just a word you put in press releases. In Salt Lake City, Utah and Kansas State produced a 51–47 fever dream where Joe Jackson ripped off nearly 300 rushing yards, Devon Dampier piled up four touchdowns, and nobody could honestly claim to be playing defense. While that was melting scorebugs, Cal finally decided 48–55 and a 31–10 Big Game faceplant was enough and pushed Justin Wilcox off the coaching carousel, Florida State looked at 7–16 over two years and a fifty-something-million dollar buyout and somehow chose continuity, and Colorado sat at 3–8 with an 0–5 Big 12 home mark while Deion and an outgoing athletic director tried to talk everyone out of seeing the flames. Arkansas quietly turned the page to KJ Jackson in a 52–37 loss to Texas, signaling that the portal era future matters more than the present, and the Heisman market watched Fernando Mendoza go 22 of 24 with four scores while Diego Pavia dropped 484 and six on Kentucky, just to make the playoff doodlers update every scenario graphic they own.

If it felt like the whole sport was writing break-up texts and marriage proposals at the same time, that is because November is when college football decides who it loves and who it just cannot afford to keep seeing.

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📰 2-Minute Drill: Where Logic Goes to Die

Cal Finally Pulls the Plug on Justin Wilcox
Cal fired Justin Wilcox after a 48–55 run and a 31–10 flop against Stanford in the Big Game — a loss they were favored in. With Cal now an ACC member and Nick Rolovich stepping in as interim, the Bears are basically slapping a “reboot” button on the entire operation. 📎 Read More

Florida State Buys More Time for Mike Norvell
Despite going 7–16 over the last two seasons and sitting at 5–6, FSU is sticking with Mike Norvell — and his roughly $54 million buyout — for 2026. The administration is promising “structural changes” and more resources, but fans mostly see a very expensive snooze on the coaching carousel. 📎 Read More

Auburn Zeroes In on Jon Sumrall
Auburn is widely expected to tab Tulane’s Jon Sumrall as its next head coach, with insiders treating it as a “when, not if” situation. The only wrinkle is timing — a possible Tulane playoff run and Ole Miss sniffing around could complicate how fast the Tigers unveil their $15 million man. 📎 Read More

Bowl Projections Turn the Playoff Into Sudoku
ESPN’s latest bowl and Playoff projections sketch out a mostly settled top tier — Texas Tech, Georgia, Oregon and friends — while the ACC looks like conspiracy-board string. Five-win teams are sweating one last weekend, and the 12-team bracket math is already giving everyone a headache. 📎 Read More

UAB Plays On After Horrific Stabbing Incident
A UAB offensive lineman, Daniel Mincey, was arrested on aggravated assault and attempted murder charges after allegedly stabbing two teammates at the facility hours before kickoff. The players are in stable condition, and the Blazers still chose to play USF, turning Senior Day into one of the season’s most sobering scenes. 📎 Read More

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📼 Instant Classic

Utah 51, Kansas State 47 – Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City

This wasn’t just a comeback—it was a defensive meltdown wrapped in a Big 12 fever dream. Utah erased a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Kansas State 51–47 in a game where “run fits” went to die and the scoreboard operator probably needed an ice bath. K-State gashed the Utes for an absurd 470+ rushing yards, looked in full control up 47–35 late, and then watched the whole thing avalanche in slow motion.

Devon Dampier turned into a cheat code when it mattered most, stacking four total touchdowns and engineering back-to-back late scoring drives while Utah’s defense finally stumbled into a stop. Kansas State’s Joe Jackson ripped off long runs, piled up video-game yardage, and still walked away with the saddest box score in America. Add in playoff and Big 12 title implications, a roaring Rice-Eccles night crowd, and a final-minute go-ahead TD that detonated the stadium, and you’ve got everything we love about this sport: chaos, heartbreak, and just enough defense at the end to make it all count. Yeah. That’s an Instant Classic.

🎙️ Coach Speak Decoder Ring

What they said: “It’s not pretty, but this is not a beauty contest. This is football.” — Brent Venables, Oklahoma, after an ugly, defense-heavy win where the offense looked stuck in mud

What they meant: We know the offense was a tire fire, but we won, so please stop asking me why the points didn’t show up. He’s reminding the playoff committee (and his own fanbase) that the record column matters more than the aesthetics column, especially in late November when everyone’s banged up and paranoid about style points. It’s also a subtle flex that his defense is good enough to win games that look like a 1998 VHS tape. Translation: we don’t do pretty here, we do advancing in the rankings.

🧢 The Backup Plan: Quarterback Controversy of the Week

Location: Fayetteville, Arkansas (2-9)

Involved Parties: Taylen Green vs. KJ Jackson

Arkansas watched its season and its quarterback situation unravel in real time at Texas. Taylen Green left in the third quarter after throwing an interception that set up a Longhorns score, and redshirt freshman KJ Jackson stepped in and went 16 of 29 for 206 yards with two touchdowns in a 52-37 loss. Bobby Petrino said trainers later cleared Green but admitted, “We’re going to finish this one with KJ and keep him playing,” while local columns flat-out argued he should “pull the plug on Green” for Missouri.

This is not just about one game. Green is a turnover machine on his way out the door, while Jackson has three years left and just proved he can move the ball against SEC athletes. Fans are already treating him as the future, and in a portal era, the future usually wins. If Petrino trots Green out for Senior Day instead of handing Jackson the keys, the loudest boo may come from Arkansas 2026.

🚨 DEFCON 1: Hitting the Panic Button

Colorado (3–8)

Colorado just finished 0–5 at home in Big 12 play and got drilled 42–17 by Arizona State, locking in a 3–8 mark and a second losing season in three years under Deion Sanders. Sanders is in full damage control, telling reporters, “You’ve got the right man. I promise you, you do. Just give me an opportunity and a little more time.” At the same time, AD Rick George is tweeting, “The seat is not hot. We believe in what is ahead for this program,” while also announcing he will step down after this academic year.

Next up is a road trip to Kansas State, where Colorado enters as a double digit underdog and a 3–8 team averaging 21.5 points and allowing 31.1. Between a cratering season, a changing athletic department and portal risk all over the roster, this feels less like a rough patch and more like a cruise ship slowly realizing it is headed straight for an iceberg.

🏆 Heisman Watch: The “Up and Down” Section

The Headliners

The Headliners
📈 Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) [+120] – Fernando Mendoza just went 22 of 24 with four touchdowns in a Wisconsin beatdown, stacking that on his Penn State game winning drive; at roughly +120 he is a blue chip ETF.

📈 Julian Sayin (Ohio State) [+300] – Julian Sayin cruised through Rutgers with efficient numbers while Ohio State stayed unbeaten; his odds drifted to around +300, but looming Michigan and a title game still make him a blue chip slightly on sale.

The Lurkers
📈 Marcel Reed (Texas A&M) – Marcel Reed erased a 27 point hole against South Carolina with 400 plus yards and three scores; if he shreds Texas and an SEC title game, this becomes the ultimate high beta growth stock.

📈 Gunner Stockton (Georgia) – Gunner Stockton dropped five total touchdowns on Texas while Georgia reinserted itself into the playoff picture; one more explosion in Atlanta and his long shot ticket suddenly looks like a mid cap rocket.

The "Can They Sustain It?" Crew
📈 Jeremiyah Love (Notre Dame) – Jeremiyah Love turned eight carries into three touchdowns and 170 plus yards in Notre Dame's 70 7 demolition of Syracuse; incredible efficiency, but without another headliner, his chart screams short term meme spike.

📈 Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) – Diego Pavia just shattered Vanderbilt records with 480 passing yards and six scores versus Kentucky, vaulting into top four odds; amazing story, but Commodores volatility makes this feel like buying crypto at the top.

The "We Need to Talk About…" Section
📉 Ty Simpson (Alabama) [+350 once upon a time] – Ty Simpson was once around +350 with Alabama expectations baked in, but the Oklahoma loss and late turnover cratered his odds; at this point his chart looks like a busted SPAC heading for delisting.

Penny Stock to Watch
💰 Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State) – Jeremiah Smith keeps stacking absurd highlight catches in Ohio State's unbeaten run; the odds sit in five figure territory, but every one handed snag adds another degenerate parlay ticket to this cult microcap.

Week 13 delivered exactly what college football promised: a Utah–Kansas State track meet disguised as a defensive game plan, Cal hitting Ctrl+Alt+Delete while Florida State smashed the snooze button on its buyout clock, and Colorado insisting the seat is not hot while the room clearly fills with smoke. Somewhere in Fayetteville, Arkansas basically handed the keys to KJ Jackson, and the Heisman race turned into a tech chart with Fernando Mendoza and Diego Pavia trading candles. Next up, rivalry week will swear records do not matter, then prove they absolutely do. Always remember: “We will evaluate everything” is just carousel music with better lighting.

— The Convert on Fourth Down Team

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