Through more than a dozen weeks and three-plus months of competition, only four programs stood remaining as undefeated come bowl season. 

READ: USC’s Lincoln Riley announces QB Caleb Williams won’t play in Holiday Bowl 

The unbeaten teams include No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Washington, No. 5 Florida State and No. 23 Liberty. 

Two of those programs are playing in the College Football Playoff for college football’s biggest prize, a national championship, in the Wolverines and Huskies. 

However, the CFP Selection Committee did something unprecedented: it left an unbeaten Power 5 conference champion out of the Playoff. 

Here are some noteworthy quotes as focus turns from Week 14 to bowl season. 

Bo Nix, Oregon 

No. 8 Oregon had a chance at redemption against Washington going into the Pac-12 Championship game last weekend. 

The Ducks sought to right their only wrong of the season which came in Week 6 when they fell 33-30 to the Huskies, and Washington beat Oregon a second time, this time 36-33, and claimed the conference title. 

Oregon quarterback Bo Nix is out of eligibility. He’s a contender for the Heisman Trophy, given to the most outstanding player in college football. 

Nix leads the country with a 77.2% completion and is tied for most passing touchdowns with LSU’s Jayden Daniels who also has 40. 

Nix gave an ode to his college football career after Oregon’s loss on Saturday. He reflected on a number of college football staples and traditions that meant the most to him. 

“I’m going to miss college football. I know it was my goal my whole entire life to be a college quarterback and to play and to win a national championship, and even though that may be off the table and it’s not necessarily something that can be obtained anymore, it was still a goal and I still worked for it every day,” Nix said. “As crazy as it sounds, I’m going to enjoy this plane ride home around the guys because I’ve had many of them before, but not sure how many I’m going to have in front of me and, I don’t know, it’s just a lot of emotions, a lot going on that, man, you wish you could change, like, you wish you could go back and do so many different things. But, I mean, they’re over there on the same side, you know, they wanted to win too, and that’s what is the good and bad thing about any kind of competition, any kind of sports is there has to be a loser and as bad as it feels, that’s why you play the game.” 

Mike Norvell, Florida State 

As mentioned earlier, the Seminoles got the shorter end of the stick when it came to the CFP. 

READ: Full list of Power 5 bowl games

Unbeaten all season and atop the Atlantic Coast Conference, Florida State was left out of the Playoff based on it seems a couple factors. 

The Seminoles won three of their last four games by 10 points or fewer. But they still won the games. 

Florida State also lost starting quarterback Jordan Travis due to a horrific left leg injury in Week 12. But the Seminoles still won their final three games with backups Tate Rodemaker and Brock Glenn. 

It seems the CFP Selection Committee penalized Florida State for its loss of Travis among other factors. The committee does take into account which players are available for a team when making its decision, and it went with No. 4 Alabama which beat then-No. 1 Georgia 27-24 in the Southeastern Conference Championship game over the Seminoles. 

Florida State head coach Mike Norvell released an emotional statement on Sunday, giving his opinion on the Seminoles being left out of the Playoff which left him “disgusted and infuriated.” 

“I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee’s decision (Sunday) to have what was earned on the field taken away because a small group of people decided they knew better than the results of the games,” Norvell stated. “What is the point of playing games? Do you tell players it is okay to quit if someone goes down? Do you not play a senior on Senior Day for fear of injury? Where is the motivation to schedule challenging non-conference games? We are not only an undefeated P5 conference champion, but we also played two P5 non-conference games away from home and won both of them. I don’t understand how we are supposed to think this is an acceptable way to evaluate a team. I’m hurting for our players who have displayed a tremendous amount of resilience and response this season. What happened (Sunday) goes against everything that is true and right in college football. A team that overcame tremendous adversity and found a way to win doing whatever it took on the field was cheated (Sunday). It’s a sad day for college football. I’m proud of the work we have put in and the players I have the privilege to coach. We have one more opportunity to define this 2023 team in the Orange Bowl, and I believe in how our team will respond.” 

Deion Sanders, Colorado 

The college football world went ablaze over the weekend and into the week after Florida State was left out of the Playoff. 

Many voiced their opinion on the Seminoles missing the CFP on social media, and many voiced displeasure about it. 

READ: Stat Pack: Week 14

This season is the final year of the four-team Playoff. Next year, it will expand to include 12 teams, allowing the six highest seeded conference champions a spot in the CFP. 

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is an alum of Florida State, playing there from 1985-88 across three sports. 

Sanders shared his stance on whether Florida State didn’t receive a fair shot at the Playoff, and while he gave his opinion, he also talked up the 12-team Playoff — and how he and the Buffaloes plan to be in it. 

“First and foremost, I want their problem. Can I have that problem? Can I have those problems please? I want those problems,” Sanders said. “Thank God the committee got it right next year when there’s a bigger gate and open for a plethora of schools having an opportunity to go to the playoffs — and we plan on being one of them. There’s no way that you’re going to leave coach Saban and Alabama out of a playoff and Georgia. No, you’re not going to leave Georgia and Alabama out. It ain’t no playoff if you do that. I’m happy man, I’m not happy. I don’t know how I would have handled that. I think coach Norvell did a wonderful job articulating himself speaking his truth and the players supporting him as well. That’s a tough one man. I would love to be in that situation. Unfortunately, we’re not but we plan on being in that situation. But that’s a tough one. But they’re going to always go with the business. See, people think it’s just football man. You got to understand this is a business as well.” 

The post Quotables: Week 14  appeared first on Saturday Glory.

Both of those ranked games will be previewed later. But there are conference championship game implications also on the line this week. 

PODCAST: Despite chalk at the top, week 12 had intrigue

Spots in the Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12 title games are up for grabs this Saturday. Alabama-Georgia and Florida State-Louisville are already conference championship games set in stone for Dec. 2. 

There are also 13 ranked teams that will play on the road this week including No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 5 Florida State and No. 8 Alabama. 

Here are several games to watch this week. 

No. 16 Oregon State at No. 6 Oregon 

There is a lot on the line this week for the Ducks. 

Sitting comfortably at No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings, Oregon is playing for a place in the Pac-12 Championship game. 

The quarterback matchup Saturday will pit Oregon’s Bo Nix, who is coming off of a six-touchdown performance, against Oregon State’s DJ Uiagalelei. 

No. 16 Oregon State upset Oregon 38-34 in the final week of the regular season last year. The Beavers scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter as they ran for 268 yards. 

The two teams will match up once against on Friday night, and there’s a shot for either team to possibly advance to the Pac-12 Championship game. 

“I think it resonates with every single one of us and certainly not far from our mind,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said. “They’re a good team. We have to go play really well to compete against them, and you got to play an entire game.” 

No. 2 Ohio State at No. 3 Michigan 

Is there mutual respect in a rivalry? 

That was a pertinent topic this week in the press conferences that Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and Ohio State’s Ryan Day took part in during the days leading up to “The Game” on Saturday. 

READ: Big Board: Week 13

Harbaugh was asked first on Monday about his level of respect for Day and the Buckeyes coaching staff, and here is his response. 

“It’s all about our preparation for Ohio,” Harbaugh said. “The days, the minutes, the hours, everything leading up to this game, that’s where our focus is. Preparing ourselves and planning, going to practice and then execute, so I mean, anything else is irrelevant when you get into this kind of just kind of big game week.” 

Both Michigan and Ohio State will enter Saturday 11-0 and with top-three defenses. Their scoring offenses are two of three teams in the Big Ten averaging more than 33 points per game. 

Day answered a similar question about his level of respect for Michigan. 

“I think with everything going on and the things that are out there, we’ve just kind of stayed away from all the distractions,” Day said. “We have, and (we’re) just focused on our team, and I think our guys have done a good job of it. I think when you talk to our guys, I’ve talked to them a couple times about what’s going on this season and then going into the game, but they’re focused on this game, they’re focused on the season, they’re focused on their preparation, and we’re just going to continue on that.” 

No. 5 Florida State at Florida 

The Seminoles might just have their backs against the wall. 

Steady for most of the season, No. 5 Florida State earned a bittersweet 58-13 victory over North Alabama last week. While the Seminoles got the win, they lost quarterback Jordan Travis due to a horrific left leg injury. 

Backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker entered the game after Travis’ departure and tossed two touchdowns alongside 217 passing yards. 

READ: Quotables: Week 12

Florida State dropped a spot in the fourth CFP rankings of the season on Tuesday. Head coach Mike Norvell said he can sense an urgency to the Seminoles, something that’s helped them earn two ranked wins this season and maintain their place atop the ACC standings. 

“You say urgency — you always want it.,” Norvell said. “It’s always like the push, the standard, the expectation. Sometimes I need to encourage more, and like they came in the door (Tuesday_ and they weren’t needing a whole lot of my encouragement. In the meeting room, they were ready to go. You felt it, you felt the energy, and we’re going to push the standard. We’re all going to be held accountable to it, but I thought the guys did a nice job with that.” 

The post Preview Thursday: Week 13  appeared first on Saturday Glory.

Washington rose to No. 4 in Tuesday’s rankings, its highest of the season. The Huskies defeated then-No. 11 Oregon State 22-20 and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. threw two more touchdowns to total 30 on the year. 

PODCAST: Despite chalk at the top, week 12 had intrigue

No. 5 Florida State dropped a place in the rankings, and the loss of quarterback Jordan Travis looms large. 

Here are several players and notes to keep a tab on in this week’s Big Board. 

It’s rivalry week 

The final week of the regular season is here. 

Matchups such as “The Game” between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan, the in-state rivalry between No. 13 Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and the Iron Bowl between No. 8 Alabama and Auburn are among the notable bouts this week. 

What’s on the line this week? 

Well, a spot in the Big Ten Championship game is on the line in Ann Arbor. No. 6 Oregon has virtually locked up a spot in the Pac-12 title game, awaiting a potential rematch with No. 4 Washington, while the Ducks will play No. 16 Oregon State. 

No. 7 Texas can clinch a Big 12 Championship game berth with a win over Texas Tech on Friday, and the Longhorns will need to watch multiple games in order to find out their potential opponent. 

No. 13 Oklahoma will host TCU, and No. 20 Oklahoma State will play BYU. The Cowboys have an advantage over the Sooners due to their head-to-head matchup that saw Oklahoma fall 27-24. 

So while the CFP picture is mostly clear, and becoming clearer each week, the conference championship scene still has some things yet to unfold. 

Welcome to rivalry week. 

Jayden Daniels, LSU and Bo Nix, Oregon 

Fourteen touchdowns, two players. 

That’s what LSU’s Jayden Daniels and Oregon’s Bo Nix combined to do last weekend in their respective matchups. 

READ: Quotables: Week 12

Daniels tied Joe Burrow for the LSU program record accounting for eight touchdowns in one game. He threw for six and rushed for two as the Tigers defeated Georgia State 56-14. 

Nix, on the other hand, had a six-touchdown performance for the second time in three games. He tied the Ducks’ single-game record in passing touchdowns, and Nix received Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for a conference-record seventh time. 

So where do these two quarterbacks sit in the Heisman Trophy odds? 

According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Daniels has –110 odds to win the Heisman and Nix has +125 odds, which are second-best. 

These are two of the frontrunners for the Heisman Trophy. Both are on teams with slightly different seasonal paths as Oregon stands No. 6 in the country while LSU is No. 15. 

Both Daniels and Nix could receive invitations to the Heisman Trophy Ceremony in New York City on Dec. 9. LSU will face Texas A&M on Saturday and the Ducks will play No. 11 Oregon State during rivalry week, and both quarterbacks will have a chance to lock up Heisman moments to compete for the sport’s most prestigious individual trophy. 

How will Travis’ injury affect No. 5 Florida State’s season? 

Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a horrific left leg injury last Saturday against North Alabama. 

He announced on Monday that the injury will end his college career, and the sixth-year quarterback will finish with 69 total touchdowns as a Seminole. 

The question next becomes whether or not Florida State can continue to play the way it has this season down the stretch and into the College Football Playoff, which it could reach for the first time since 2014. 

The CFP Selection Committee does factor in player availability into its rankings, and this week saw the committee drop the Seminoles to No. 5. Backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker did throw two touchdowns and for over 200 yards in his appearance after Travis’ injury. 

READ: Stat Pack: Week 12

Florida State already has a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game coming up against No. 10 Louisville on Dec. 2. 

If the Seminoles can continue their winning ways and win out the rest of the season, perhaps they’ll return to the CFP top-four and get back to the Playoff for the first time since 2014. 

The post Big Board: Week 13  appeared first on Saturday Glory.

Travis left the game with less than two minutes left in the first quarter after a horrific left leg injury that appeared to impact both his leg and ankle. He had gone 2-of-4 for 21 yards.

READ: Drinkwitz says there’s ‘new respectability’ to Missouri after highest CFP ranking in program history 

In Travis’ place, both redshirt junior Tate Rodemaker and freshman Brock Glenn played under center.

Rodemaker had the most production. He went 13-of-23 for 217 yards and two touchdowns, both for more than 24 yards.

Glenn went 2-of-3 for 35 yards and taking his reps in the fourth quarter. He had four rushes for five yards with one carry going for a 4-yard touchdown.

The Seminoles faced an early 13-0 deficit going into the second quarter. Then, the rushing took over.

Five different Florida State ball-carriers scored a touchdown in the game, and three came in the second quarter.

Trey Benson, Caziah Holmes and Lawrance Toafili all had touchdown runs in the second quarter. Benson ran it in from 4 yards out, Holmes 3 and Toafili 17.

Seminoles running back CJ Campbell Jr. broke off a 70-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to make it a 45-13 game. He totaled  78 yards to lead Florida State.

Florida State never let North Alabama score again after Lions quarterback Noah Walters had two touchdown passes in the first quarter. Walter’s found Takairee Kenebrew from 13 yards out and J.J. Evans from 6 to give North Alabama its big, early lead.

Walters finished with 50% completion and 65 yards along with an interception.

The post Travis exits with injury, No. 4 Florida State beats North Alabama appeared first on Saturday Glory.