Culture
What we learned about the College Football Playoff: Who’s in? Who’s safe? Who’s on bubble?
We have seen college football teams back into the College Football Playoff, losing their last regular-season or conference title game and still earning a spot in the four-team field.
This happened to Alabama in 2017 after losing the Iron Bowl and to Ohio State after it lost to Michigan in 2022. That was the same season TCU of the Big 12 became the first team to lose its conference championship game (to Kansas State) and still get in. In all those cases, that loss was the team’s only loss.
Now with a 12-team CFP, backing into the Playoff has a whole new meaning. Looking at you, Ohio State (10-2). Miami (10-2), too.
What we learned about the College Football Playoff in the last full weekend of the regular season is we have a pretty good idea of who will be in the College Football Playoff heading into championship weekend.
GO DEEPER
College Football Playoff 2024 projections: What now for Ohio State after Michigan upset?
Playing for a bye
No. 2 Ohio State’s faceplant against Michigan opened the door for No. 4 Penn State to reach the Big Ten Championship Game against No. 1 Oregon. Side note: Congratulations to the Ducks (12-0) for being the only FBS team to get through 12 games unscathed.
The matchup is set 🦁🦆
Early thoughts on who will win the B1G title game?#B1GFootball pic.twitter.com/F5josIsL2T
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 30, 2024
The Nittany Lions (11-1) and Ducks look to be safely into the bracket, with the winner getting a bye. Worst case for the Ducks is hosting a first-round game. Penn State could fall all the way out of a hosting spot, depending on how other championship games work out.
The SEC has a similar situation with No. 7 Georgia (10-2) facing No. 3 Texas (11-1), which clinched a spot after beating rival Texas A&M. We doubt the committee will punish Georgia for reaching the championship game, though it would be in the Bulldogs’ best interest to not get blown out by the Longhorns.
GEORGIA. TEXAS.
THE REMATCH FOR A TITLE. 🏆#SECChampionship pic.twitter.com/xpIiXZ65Rk
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) December 1, 2024
Coming off that great escape against Georgia Tech on Friday night in eight OTs, Georgia doesn’t want to give the selection committee any reason to reconsider Alabama or Mississippi, both of which beat the Bulldogs.
Winner gets in, loser goes home
A wild Big 12 race ended somewhat routinely. All the favorites won this weekend, putting No. 18 Iowa State (10-2) and No. 16 Arizona State (10-2) in the conference title game. We’ll see what the penultimate rankings say Tuesday, but the committee has not been overly kind to the Big 12, which means only the winner will make the field as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions.
Sun Devils. Cyclones.
🏆
📍 Arlington, Texas.
📅 12.7.24
📺 ABC🎟️🔗: https://t.co/O7OY7wQRck pic.twitter.com/K5FENUTn1U
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) December 1, 2024
Same goes for the Mountain West, where No. 11 Boise State hosts No. 22 UNLV on Friday night. The American Athletic Conference will argue for Army (10-1) if it beats Tulane in that title game, but the Cadets failed their Notre Dame test badly and played one of the weakest schedules in the country.
🏈 Highlights from UNLV’s 38-14 win over Nevada!#MWFB | #BEaREBEL | #MWPathToThePlayoff pic.twitter.com/gUUX1K6wBB
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) December 1, 2024
An interesting race has developed between the Mountain West and Big 12 for the No. 4 seed and bye.
Ashton Jeanty and the Broncos (11-1) have held that spot in the last two rankings, comfortably ahead of the highest-ranked Big 12 team. How much the Big 12 can close the gap — if at all — is something to watch Tuesday.
The Broncos beat Oregon State 34-18 on Friday. On Saturday, Iowa State knocked off No. 24 Kansas State 29-21 and Arizona State thumped Arizona 49-7.
UNLV also being ranked — with two victories against Big 12 teams — makes it seem unlikely that the Big 12 title game winner will slingshot past Boise State if the Broncos win. And the Rebels will probably have a good case to make a big leap forward if they win on the Blue Turf.
Bid-stealer
Clemson had a weird day.
The Tigers lost 17-14 to rival South Carolina, with Cade Klubnik throwing a brutal interception in the waning moments when Clemson (9-3) was in position to tie it with a short field goal.
South Carolina holds off Clemson for its sixth-straight win‼️ pic.twitter.com/UOTr9dGWAv
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 30, 2024
But the Tigers did get the help they needed to earn a spot in the ACC Championship Game when Syracuse rallied from 21-0 down in the first half to beat No. 6 Miami 42-38.
“Hey, Dabo Swinney, congrats. I got you in, baby!” Orange coach Fran Brown said.
The Tigers will face No. 9 SMU (11-1). The Mustangs appear safely in the field no matter what happens in Charlotte, N.C. Win the conference, earn a bye. Easy.
Clemson has no path with a loss but shouldn’t have a problem being one of the five highest-ranked conference champions if it wins the ACC. Whether that’s good enough to get a top-four seed and a bye is iffy.
But if Clemson is in along with SMU, then another team looking good for an at-large spot right now is getting bumped.
Safe
Ohio State’s latest loss to Michigan was the worst one yet during this four-game skid in The Game.
Still, the second-ranked Buckeyes (10-2) are in a group that looks safely into the bracket even though they won’t play championship weekend.
No. 5 Notre Dame (11-1) closed the season with 10 straight victories. The Fighting Irish can’t earn a bye because they’re not in a conference but should have no trouble getting the first-round home game that they have been pointing toward since the end of last season.
Whether the Irish are seeded No. 5, 6 or 7 will be determined by the conference title games.
No. 8 Tennessee (10-2) wiped out an early deficit and beat Vanderbilt 36-23 on Saturday, giving the Volunteers a fairly stress-free week of waiting to find out if they will go on the road or host a first-round game.
As for the Buckeyes, being in position to back into the Playoff seemed to be no consolation for losing to Michigan again.
“I’m not there right now, quite honestly,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said when asked about resetting for a possible playoff run. “Still trying to digest everything that just happened, and I got a locker room full of guys who are just devastated.”
GO DEEPER
Meet 2024 Ohio State, the unhappiest Playoff team in college football history
Kinda safe
As we said, if Clemson wins somebody is getting bumped.
Who will be that someone?
How about Miami? The Hurricanes already handed the Tigers their spot in the ACC title game. The Canes had several great escapes early in the season but closed the year losing two of four. On the bright side, losing one-score games to Georgia Tech (7-5) with Haynes King and at Syracuse (9-3) is nothing to be ashamed of.
The Canes don’t have a bunch of wins against highly ranked teams, but the resume looks better than expected with Tech, Louisville (8-4), Duke (9-3) and Florida (7-5) all closing well.
“This team won 10 football games against some really good teams,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal told reporters after the loss to Syracuse.
What about Indiana?
This committee seems unlikely to turn away an 11-1 team, with its only loss at Ohio State, but the fact remains that outside of the Buckeyes, the only team the Hoosiers played that finished above .500 was Michigan (7-5).
Hey, Ohio State couldn’t beat the Wolverines at home and Indiana did. So that’s something.
Both the Hoosiers and Hurricanes should become big SMU fans.
SEC on the bubble
The committee hasn’t shown much interest in giving these three-loss SEC teams the benefit of a doubt, but the company line is every week the group starts with a blank sheet of paper, so we should be open-minded to a big shift.
The hot team is No. 15 South Carolina, which closed the season with six straight victories.
“If the committee’s job is to pick the 12 best teams, you tell me?” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said.
Ironically, South Carolina’s case gets even better if Clemson wins the ACC, but Clemson winning the ACC also clutters the list of at-large teams by adding SMU.
The other issue South Carolina has is losses to the two teams ranked directly ahead of it: No. 13 Alabama and No. 14 Mississippi.
“Well, I think everyone’s aware of our schedule, and I don’t know the exact stats, but I know we beat four Top-25 teams throughout the year. And I don’t know how many, if anyone, has done that,” Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer said.
It’s actually three since LSU dropped out. Still, victories against Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina are nice. Those losses to Oklahoma and Vanderbilt? Both finished 6-6.
Surely, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey will have something to say about it, but his opinion doesn’t count.
(Photo of South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers running the ball against Clemson’s T.J. Parker: Isaiah Vazquez / Getty Images)
new video loaded: 250 Years of Jane Austen, in Objects
By Jennifer Harlan, Sadie Stein, Claire Hogan, Laura Salaberry and Edward Vega
December 18, 2025
“Window seat with garden view / A perfect nook to read a book / I’m lost in my Jane Austen…” sings Kristin Chenoweth in “The Girl in 14G” — what could be more ideal? Well, perhaps showing off your literary knowledge and getting a perfect score on this week’s super-size Book Review Quiz Bowl honoring the life, work and global influence of Jane Austen, who turns 250 today. In the 12 questions below, tap or click your answers to the questions. And no matter how you do, scroll on to the end, where you’ll find links to free e-book versions of her novels — and more.
On Dec. 16, 1775, a girl was born in Steventon, England — the seventh of eight children — to a clergyman and his wife. She was an avid reader, never married and died in 1817, at the age of 41. But in just those few decades, Jane Austen changed the world.
Her novels have had an outsize influence in the centuries since her death. Not only are the books themselves beloved — as sharply observed portraits of British society, revolutionary narrative projects and deliciously satisfying romances — but the stories she created have so permeated culture that people around the world care deeply about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, even if they’ve never actually read “Pride and Prejudice.”
With her 250th birthday this year, the Austen Industrial Complex has kicked into high gear with festivals, parades, museum exhibits, concerts and all manner of merch, ranging from the classily apt to the flamboyantly absurd. The words “Jane mania” have been used; so has “exh-Aust-ion.”
How to capture this brief life, and the blazing impact that has spread across the globe in her wake? Without further ado: a mere sampling of the wealth, wonder and weirdness Austen has brought to our lives. After all, your semiquincentennial doesn’t come around every day.
By ‘A Lady’
Austen published just four novels in her lifetime: “Sense and Sensibility” (1811), “Pride and Prejudice” (1813), “Mansfield Park” (1814) and “Emma” (1815). All of them were published anonymously, with the author credited simply as “A Lady.” (If you’re in New York, you can see this first edition for yourself at the Grolier Club through Feb. 14.)
Where the Magic Happened
Placed near a window for light, this diminutive walnut table was, according to family lore, where the author did much of her writing. It is now in the possession of the Jane Austen Society.
An Iconic Accessory
Few of Austen’s personal artifacts remain, contributing to the author’s mystique. One of them is this turquoise ring, which passed to her sister-in-law and then her niece after her death. In 2012, the ring was put up for auction and bought by the “American Idol” champion Kelly Clarkson. This caused quite a stir in England; British officials were loath to let such an important cultural artifact leave the country’s borders. Jane Austen’s House, the museum now based in the writer’s Hampshire home, launched a crowdfunding campaign to Bring the Ring Home and bought the piece from Clarkson. The real ring now lives at the museum; the singer has a replica.
Austen Onscreen
Since 1940, when Austen had a bit of a moment and Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier starred in MGM’s rather liberally reinterpreted “Pride and Prejudice,” there have been more than 20 international adaptations of Austen’s work made for film and TV (to say nothing of radio). From the sublime (Emma Thompson’s Oscar-winning “Sense and Sensibility”) to the ridiculous (the wholly gratuitous 2022 remake of “Persuasion”), the high waists, flickering firelight and double weddings continue to provide an endless stream of debate fodder — and work for a queen’s regiment of British stars.
Jane Goes X-Rated
The rumors are true: XXX Austen is a thing. “Jane Austen Kama Sutra,” “Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen” and enough slash fic and amateur porn to fill Bath’s Assembly Rooms are just the start. Purists may never recover.
A Lady Unmasked
Austen’s final two completed novels, “Northanger Abbey” and “Persuasion,” were published after her death. Her brother Henry, who oversaw their publication, took the opportunity to give his sister the recognition he felt she deserved, revealing the true identity of the “Lady” behind “Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma,” etc. in a biographical note. “The following pages are the production of a pen which has already contributed in no small degree to the entertainment of the public,” he wrote, extolling his sister’s imagination, good humor and love of dancing. Still, “no accumulation of fame would have induced her, had she lived, to affix her name to any productions of her pen.”
Wearable Tributes
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen fan wants to find other Jane Austen fans, and what better way to advertise your membership in that all-inclusive club than with a bit of merch — from the subtle and classy to the gloriously obscene.
The Austen Literary Universe
On the page, there is no end to the adventures Austen and her characters have been on. There are Jane Austen mysteries, Jane Austen vampire series, Jane Austen fantasy adventures, Jane Austen Y.A. novels and, of course, Jane Austen romances, which transpose her plots to a remote Maine inn, a Greenwich Village penthouse and the Bay Area Indian American community, to name just a few. You can read about Austen-inspired zombie hunters, time-traveling hockey players, Long Island matchmakers and reality TV stars, or imagine further adventures for some of your favorite characters. (Even the obsequious Mr. Collins gets his day in the sun.)
A Botanical Homage
Created in 2017 to mark the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death, the “Jane Austen” rose is characterized by its intense orange color and light, sweet perfume. It is bushy, healthy and easy to grow.
Aunt Jane
Hoping to cement his beloved aunt’s legacy, Austen’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published this biography — a rather rosy portrait based on interviews with family members — five decades after her death. The book is notable not only as the source (biased though it may be) of many of the scant facts we know about her life, but also for the watercolor portrait by James Andrews that serves as its frontispiece. Based on a sketch by Cassandra, this depiction of Jane is softer and far more winsome than the original: Whether that is due to a lack of skill on her sister’s part or overly enthusiastic artistic license on Andrews’s, this is the version of Austen most familiar to people today.
Cultural Currency
In 2017, the Bank of England released a new 10-pound note featuring Andrews’s portrait of Austen, as well as a line from “Pride and Prejudice”: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” Austen is the third woman — other than the queen — to be featured on British currency, and the only one currently in circulation.
In the Trenches
During World War I and World War II, British soldiers were given copies of Austen’s works. In his 1924 story “The Janeites,” Rudyard Kipling invoked the grotesque contrasts — and the strange comfort — to be found in escaping to Austen’s well-ordered world amid the horrors of trench warfare. As one character observes, “There’s no one to touch Jane when you’re in a tight place.”
Baby Janes
You’re never too young to learn to love Austen — or that one’s good opinion, once lost, may be lost forever.
The Austen Industrial Complex
Maybe you’ve not so much as seen a Jane Austen meme, let alone read one of her novels. No matter! Need a Jane Austen finger puppet? Lego? Magnetic poetry set? Lingerie? Nameplate necklace? Plush book pillow? License plate frame? Bath bomb? Socks? Dog sweater? Whiskey glass? Tarot deck? Of course you do! And you’re in luck: What a time to be alive.
Around the Globe
Austen’s novels have been translated into more than 40 languages, including Polish, Finnish, Chinese and Farsi. There are active chapters of the Jane Austen Society, her 21st-century fan club, throughout the world.
Playable Persuasions
In Austen’s era, no afternoon tea was complete without a rousing round of whist, a trick-taking card game played in two teams of two. But should you not be up on your Regency amusements, you can find plenty of contemporary puzzles and games with which to fill a few pleasant hours, whether you’re piecing together her most beloved characters or using your cunning and wiles to land your very own Mr. Darcy.
#SoJaneAusten
The wild power of the internet means that many Austen moments have taken on lives of their own, from Colin Firth’s sopping wet shirt and Matthew Macfadyen’s flexing hand to Mr. Collins’s ode to superlative spuds and Mr. Knightley’s dramatic floor flop. The memes are fun, yes, but they also speak to the universality of Austen’s writing: More than two centuries after her books were published, the characters and stories she created are as relatable as ever.
Bonnets Fit for a Bennett
For this summer’s Grand Regency Costumed Promenade in Bath, England — as well as the myriad picnics, balls, house parties, dinners, luncheons, teas and fetes that marked the anniversary — seamstresses, milliners, mantua makers and costume warehouses did a brisk business, attiring the faithful in authentic Regency finery. And that’s a commitment: A bespoke, historically accurate bonnet can easily run to hundreds of dollars.
Most Ardently, Jane
Austen was prolific correspondent, believed to have written thousands of letters in her lifetime, many to her sister, Cassandra. But in an act that has frustrated biographers for centuries, upon Jane’s death, Cassandra protected her sister’s privacy — and reputation? — by burning almost all of them, leaving only about 160 intact, many heavily redacted. But what survives is filled with pithy one-liners. To wit: “I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
Stage and Sensibility
Austen’s works have been adapted numerous times for the stage. Some plays (and musicals) hew closely to the original text, while others — such as Emily Breeze’s comedic riff on “Pride and Prejudice,” “Are the Bennet Girls OK?”, which is running at New York City’s West End Theater through Dec. 21 — use creative license to explore ideas of gender, romance and rage through a contemporary lens.
Austen 101
Austen remains a reliable fount of academic scholarship; recent conference papers have focused on the author’s enduring global reach, the work’s relationship to modern intersectionality, digital humanities and “Jane Austen on the Cheap.” And as one professor told our colleague Sarah Lyall of the Austen amateur scholarship hive, “Woe betide the academic who doesn’t take them seriously.”
W.W.J.D.
When facing problems — of etiquette, romance, domestic or professional turmoil — sometimes the only thing to do is ask: What would Jane do?
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