College football Week 12 winners and losers: Georgia dominates, USC ends with flop

The No. 1 team in college football is playing like the No. 1 team.

You’d say that’s obvious, but it’s not always the case. It is with Georgia, though, which continues to dominate against ranked SEC competition and put a headlock on the top spot in the US LBM AFCA Coaches Poll and the College Football Playoff rankings.

After rolling past Mississippi 52-17 last weekend, the Bulldogs controlled Tennessee for nearly every second of a 38-10 win. The Volunteers scored on a 75-yard run on the game’s opening play; from there, it was all Georgia.

You’re beginning to see a program has won the past two national championships round into form just in time to win a third and make college football history. Georgia may have looked vulnerable after some questionably close games to start SEC play and losing tight end Brock Bowers to an ankle injury, but those doubts have been put to rest as the Bulldogs hit another gear near the finish line of the regular season.

Bowers returned from his ankle injury before last week’s game against the Rebels and has picked up where he left off, with another touchdown against the Volunteers on 60 yards receiving. One constant has been the increasingly productive play of quarterback Carson Beck, who completed 24 of 30 throws for 298 yards and three scores. Beck now has 21 touchdowns and five interceptions and is completing nearly 73% percent of his throws.

Georgia is coming together. The rest of the FBS better watch out — especially Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama and the other blueblood programs in the mix for the national championship.

The Bulldogs top Saturday’s biggest winners and losers:

Winners

Arizona

Jedd Fisch is the Pac-12 coach of the year and should be one of the top names for national hardware after Arizona’s eye-opening 42-18 rout of Utah secured the Wildcats’ first eight-win season since 2014. The Wildcats had one touchdown via a blocked punt and then scored on a garbage-time touchdowns pass with under a minute left, inflating the final margin of victory a touch. But this was dominance: Arizona had four scoring drives of 60 or more yards, didn’t turn the ball over, held Utah to 3.2 yards per carry and averaged 7.7 yards per play, the most the Utes have allowed in a game this season.

Louisville

Another top-line contender for national coach of the year is Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, whose homecoming debut with the Cardinals should go down as one of the most memorable years in program history. After winning 38-31 at Miami (Fla.), the Cardinals are an incredible 10-1 heading into the rivalry against Kentucky and are locked into the ACC championship game against Florida State. Everyone expected immediate improvement under Brohm, a tremendous offensive coach, but no one could’ve seen this coming: Louisville has a small but recognizable path to the playoff with wins against the Wildcats and Seminoles.

SMU

SMU has quietly been one of the best teams in the Group of Five since September. This can be partly attributed to a schedule that included high-profile matchups against Oklahoma and TCU but missed Tulane and Texas-San Antonio during American Athletic play. Beating Memphis 38-34 on the road is easily the most impressive result of the season for the Mustangs, who are now in line to finish with an unbeaten record in conference play and play for the AAC crown with a win next week against Navy. What will be interesting to see on Tuesday night is whether the playoff committee ranks the Mustangs — not that it matters, but being ranked before the AAC championship game guarantees that SMU would reach the New Year’s Six with the win.

Northwestern

Think way back to August, when Pat Fitzgerald was fired amid allegations of hazing within the program, and think about the rock-bottom expectations around Northwestern and first-year defensive coordinator David Braun, Fitzgerald’s interim replacement. Who saw a bowl game coming? Well, here we are: Northwestern will reach the postseason after getting 95 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Cam Porter to beat Purdue 23-15. In addition to the summer’s turmoil and the ensuing coaching change, don’t forget that Northwestern had won four games in the previous two seasons and lost at least nine games in three of the past four. So what the Wildcats have done is incredible, and explains why Braun was named this week as the team’s permanent coach.

Arkansas State

Butch Jones was fired by Tennessee in 2017, spent a few years learning new tricks as an off-field assistant at Alabama and then landed the job at Arkansas State in 2021 in an effort to rekindle his coaching career. His first two teams were terrible, posting just a combined five wins, and this year seemed like more of the same after the Red Wolves gave up 70 points in a humbling non-conference loss to Oklahoma. About two months later, Arkansas State will land in bowl play after using four takeaways to score a 77-31 blowout of Texas State. Remarkably, none of the Red Wolves’ nine touchdowns came through the air, with seven on the ground — three from Ja’Quez Cross and two apiece from Zak Wallace and Cedric Hawkins — and the remaining two coming on interception returns in the fourth quarter.

Losers

Southern California

The only good thing you can say about the Trojans’ regular season is that it’s over. Thank goodness. The ending was predictable: UCLA took advantage of mistakes, controlled the line of scrimmage and was just the better team, period, in a 38-20 win that extends the Chip Kelly era for at least one more week. As they’ve had to do all season, the Bruins maximized some minimal returns on offense and let the defense lead the way; the defense responded with three takeaways and consistent pressure on Caleb Williams. After making last year’s Cotton Bowl and beginning the year as one of the trendiest picks for the playoff, USC heads into the postseason at 7-5 and one of the biggest disappointments in the country. And they’ll have to regroup fast with Williams likely headed to the NFL.

Auburn

Now, to be clear: This isn’t your dad’s New Mexico State, or even your older brother’s New Mexico State. The Aggies are a different program under the great Jerry Kill, who led the program to a bowl game in his debut last season and has his second team in the Conference USA championship game. But maybe you should sit down for this: New Mexico State 31, Auburn 10. One week after whipping Arkansas to reach bowl eligibility under Hugh Freeze, the Tigers were held in total check by a ball-control offense that held possession for almost 39 minutes and helped the Aggies outgain Auburn 414 yards to 213. This was the first win against the SEC after 27 losses in a row for New Mexico State, which was paid $1.85 million to come to Auburn and beat the Tigers like a drum. Nice return on investment, guys!