• Texas A&M’s comeback win against South Carolina shows both championship resolve and potential flaws.
• Notre Dame appears to be a playoff lock, but a head-to-head loss to Miami could complicate their chances.
• Several non-quarterbacks, like Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez, are making strong cases for the Heisman Trophy.

The capacity of college football to put fans through just about every emotion imaginable, sometimes in the course of just one single contest, is what makes it so beautiful and yet so maddening at the same time. Don’t believe us? Just ask the followers of a certain program from the Lone Star State.

It is with that team’s almost unfathomable result from Week 12 where we will begin our latest installment of overreactions of the week. Indeed, since it was a complete tale of two halves in the true ‘best of times, worst of times’ sense, we’ll approach it from both extremes.

Texas A&M is in deep trouble/invincible.

Depending on one’s perspective, the Aggies’ disaster of a first half followed by a nearly perfect performance after intermission to stage their epic comeback against South Carolina is open to multiple interpretations. At one end of the spectrum, the team’s unblemished record is merely a product of a favorable schedule, and the bevy of mistakes in the first two quarters showed the flaws that will eventually prove to be the team’s undoing. On the other hand, the comeback demonstrated the kind of resolve championship teams must have to overcome adversity, finding ways to win even when not everything is working.

As is often the case with the subjects we take up here at Overreaction HQ, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Even before Week 12, the Aggies had endured their share of close calls, some of which were against opponents with sub-.500 records. It’s true the Aggies have yet to face another team in the upper quadrant of the SEC standings and won’t until the title game, but it might also be that their experience with delivering in clutch situations will serve them well later. In short, we shouldn’t anoint them as national title favorites, but neither should we count them out.

Notre Dame is a playoff lock

It would appear that the Fighting Irish’s dominant win at Pittsburgh was their last true hurdle en route to a 10-2 finish that, given their position in the first two sets of rankings from the CFP committee, should all but guarantee their inclusion in the field. But if they find themselves in a pool of other at-large candidates with identical records, there might be a complication.

If shifts in the standings over the next couple of weeks move Miami closer to Notre Dame’s position, that small matter of the Hurricanes’ head-to-head win against the Irish way back in Week 1 will be harder to dismiss. This presupposes, of course, that the ‘Canes are able to win out, which is certainly not a guarantee given the team’s sometimes inexplicable lapses. So yes, it looks good for the Irish, but they are not quite at the finish line.

A non-quarterback will win the Heisman

Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire made a point this weekend of spotlighting his standout linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, lining him up in the offensive backfield to get him a rushing touchdown. It was in fact the second score of the season for Rodriguez, who earlier recorded a touchdown on a 69-yard fumble recovery. He has also recorded a team-high 100 total tackles, including 9½ behind the line of scrimmage, and has snagged four interceptions. That’s a pretty strong case as the most impactful player for a top-10 team to earn consideration.

There are convincing arguments for other non-QBs as well, like Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love or Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith. To be sure, there are plenty of worthy passers this year, like Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, Ohio State’s Julian Sayin or Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia. Alabama’s Ty Simpson is still in the mix as well, though his rough outing in the Crimson Tide’s loss to Oklahoma damaged his case.

Recent history favors the signal callers, of course. Since 2000, there have only been five recipients of the sport’s most prestigious individual honor whose primary position was something other than quarterback. Voters do consider other positions. They did last year in fact. There isn’t a two-way player this year with Travis Hunter’s credentials, but sometimes enough electors think outside the QB box for someone else to bring home the statue.

The Big 12 race is over

Mathematically speaking, it’s still possible for the league to end in a six-way tie for first place at 7-2. That would be fun for fans of chaos and mayhem, but realistically the championship game will likely be a rematch between Texas Tech and Brigham Young. The full chaos scenario can only come to pass if the Cougars lose at Cincinnati this week – conceivable – and the Red Raiders drop their regular-season finale in two weeks at West Virginia – not out of the question but unlikely.

Do the Texas Longhorns still have a shot at the college football playoff? Before the Georgia game, the ESPN FPI playoff bracket predictor gave Texas a 64% chance if they lost to the Bulldogs yet still won its remaining two games. But the manner in which UT lost has seen those odds nose dive.

Saturday night’s 35-10 loss to Georgia in Athens was the worst loss of Texas coach Steve Sarkisian’s tenure in Austin. After the game, Sark and the Longhorns leaders knew they were thoroughly dominated.

“The fourth quarter was, for lack of better terms, a disaster,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said after the game. “We got beat 21-0 in the fourth quarter.”

“It was a disaster,” Texas defensive lineman Colin Simmons said. “We didn’t finish.”

“They kicked our butts in all three phases,” Taaffe said. “We messed up a lot of stuff.”

“I’m frustrated and disappointed we didn’t play better,” Texas quarterback Arch Manning said. “We just didn’t play well.”

While the Longhorns hung around until the fourth quarter, they were still out played from the beginning. Texas’ offensive line was pushed around all night by a Bulldogs defensive front that has been seen as UGA’s weakness all season.

UT’s defense played well for a long stretch in the middle of the game, but ultimately gave up 35 points and let Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton account for five touchdowns. The ‘Dawgs also ran for 128 yards on the Horns defense. While the defense is ahead of the offense, it has still been picked apart several times this season.

What did the loss do to Texas CFP chances? It crushed them.

When the computer models put Texas’ chances at 64% last week, it didn’t account for the Longhorns getting humiliated in Athens. But that’s what happened. UT will probably fall several spots, if not completely out, of this week’s the Top 25 rankings as most voters have no doubt completely lost faith Texas.

The computer model currently puts the Longhorns chances at the CFP at 20%. That’s behind the likes of Virginia, BYU and even North Texas. The computers don’t have faith Texas can win its final two games.

What if the Longhorns beat Arkansas and upset the Texas A&M Aggies? The odds aren’t 64% anymore. The ESPN FPI gives Texas a 45% chance to make the CFP if they win out.

Texas would need a lot of help and make a huge impression against the Aggies to have any shot at all. UT would be at the mercy of the CFP committee. The field is very crowded and 9-3 is probably not good enough to get into the bracket.

The most likely outcome to the Longhorns season will be an appearance in the Gator Bowl or something similar and an offseason filled with frustration and questions about the program’s health as a whole.