Everything We Learned in College Football Week 12

This week in college football exceeded expectations and did a beautiful job of muddying the playoff picture. 

The top undefeateds managed to stay undefeated, but it wasn’t without a few scares along the way. Notre Dame has all but claimed a playoff spot, and the Big 12 is close to securing two bids for themselves. 

Here are the big takeaways from week 12 in college football.

Georgia is the Best in the SEC

Yes, Texas A&M pulled off some second-half heroics to stay undefeated on the season, but my biggest takeaway from the weekend is that Georgia is the best team in the SEC. Georgia is a few lucky bounces away from being 7-3; however, the past two weeks, it feels like they’ve flipped a switch. The offense still isn’t running the ball super well, but Gunner Stockton is playing the best ball of his career. The defense is also playing its best, as they nullified Arch Manning after he had started to play a little better recently.

For the team in first place in the SEC, Marcel Reed and the Aggies made the largest comeback in Texas A&M history, and he’s starting to get some real Heisman buzz. Reed’s been great, but the only reason the Aggies had to come back was his three turnovers in the first half. You shouldn’t get punished for winning, but you also shouldn’t be rewarded for digging yourself out of the hole you just dug. Mike Elko seems like the right hire for Texas A&M, but he’s massively benefiting from the most manageable SEC schedule possible. It feels like they’ll be in a prime position to get exposed in the playoffs.

The back end of the SEC playoff picture only got more confusing with Oklahoma taking down Alabama. It’ll be interesting to see if the committee puts BYU over Alabama. If they’re able to hop over Bama, would the committee be willing to keep BYU out if they lose the Big 12 championship while Alabama watches their conference championship from home? The playoff discussions will get very testy if Alabama and Oklahoma can both win out.

What won’t be as testy is Ty Simpson’s Heisman case. He put up a decent box score in this one, but it felt like he lost this game for Bama, making the Heisman more of a two-horse race between Julian Sayin and Fernando Mendoza.

Michigan and USC Control Their Own Destiny

It hasn’t always been pretty, but both USC and Michigan are 8-2, and if they win out, they’ll be in the playoffs. Iowa came out this week and punched USC in the mouth. It felt like they might roll over, but they battled back and set themselves up for a massive showdown in Eugene against Oregon. That battle is turning into a de facto playoff game, as Oregon will not have any ranked wins this year if they can’t beat USC. The Trojans will have solid wins and also good losses at Notre Dame and Illinois, but still need that marquee win on the road at Oregon.

On the other hand, Michigan has no good wins, a loss to USC, and an early-season loss at Oklahoma. It’s been pretty ugly all season for Michigan. The defense is not nearly as good as it was last season, and while the offense is better than it was in 2024, they still struggle to move the ball downfield. The injury to Justice Haynes just makes a shaky offense even more questionable. With that being said, if they can pull off another upset over Ohio State, that’s all they will need to make it to the playoffs.

I don’t think USC or Michigan will win either of their big games, but they’ve given themselves the perfect opportunity to make it into the big dance.

Three Teams Have a Playoff Shot in the Big 12

BYU still has a challenging road matchup against Cincy, but without any massive bumps in the road, they’re on a crash course to meet Texas Tech for the Big 12 title. If the Red Raiders win that matchup, it puts the committee in an interesting position.

Both BYU and Utah will be right at the cutline for the last spot in the playoffs. The committee would choose BYU since they won the head-to-head matchup, but could all three of these teams make a case to be in the playoffs? BYU and Texas Tech have the resumes and metrics, but Utah has done a great job of maintaining its presence in the rankings. Devon Dampier has led the Utes to some massive wins against the middle-tier Big 12 teams, but he’s struggled in big games. 

Will those mid-tier wins be enough to power Utah into the playoffs? We’ll have to wait and see.

Notre Dame Punched Its Ticket

After an 0-2 start, Notre Dame never fell out of the rankings. They were never disrespected and potentially even overrated at times. 

Because of an easy back end to the schedule, Notre Dame has battled back and all but clinched a postseason spot. The Irish needed to go 10-0 to re-enter the playoff conversation, and as long as they defeat Syracuse and Stanford, teams with a combined 6-14 record, they’ll find themselves in the playoffs. 

They don’t have any huge wins, but they’ve looked absolutely dominant in their last eight games. They’ve proved that they deserve a seat at the table.