Notre Dame is up, and the SEC is down? Plus a College Football Playoff prediction

Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈 | This is The Athletic’s college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox.

While you were sleeping, USC beat UCLA 19-13 to become bowl-eligible. Here’s what else you need to know from college football on Saturday.

Trending After Week 13

Is the SEC bad?

📈 Special teams. Indiana looked like it was going to be competitive, forcing a three-and-out on Ohio State’s first possession and scoring on its opening drive. But as it turned out, a flurry of special teams miscues ended up defining the Hoosiers’ 38-15 loss, which included a muffed punt snap that handed OSU the ball at the IU 7-yard line and giving up a 79-yard punt return TD to OSU’s Caleb Downs. IU’s mistakes set the tone for the rest of the day on special teams. Minnesota kept things close in a one-point loss to Penn State by blocking a Nittany Lions extra-point attempt and returning it for two points. And before Miami ran away with a 42-12 win against Wake Forest, Demond Claiborne returned a punt for 100 yards and a Demon Deacons score.

Check out Downs’ dynamic return:

📉 The SEC. Three ranked SEC teams (two of which were projected in last week’s 12-team CFP field) lost to unranked teams yesterday. Each loss came in particularly devastating fashion to opponents that entered the game at or below .500 — No. 9 Ole Miss trailed the entire second half against Florida in a 24-17 loss; No. 7 Alabama recorded its lowest-scoring output since 2004 in a 24-3 loss to Oklahoma; and No. 15 Texas A&M lost 43-41 in four overtimes to an Auburn team that entered with one conference win. It brings into question if anyone in the SEC is truly elite OR if the conference is crowded with a bunch of above-average contenders.

📈 Big 12 chaos. There’s a four-way tie at the top of the Big 12 as BYU, Arizona State, Colorado and Iowa State are each 6-2 in the conference. No. 16 Colorado lost 37-21 to Kansas as the 5-6 Jayhawks recorded their third straight win against a ranked team. No. 21 Arizona State beat BYU 28-23 to hand the Cougars their second straight loss, and Iowa State survived 31-28 against Utah. If each team wins and the tie remains after next week, Arizona State would face Iowa State for the conference title in Arlington for what looks like it will be the conference’s only CFP bid.

📉 Anyone who plays Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have the best point differential in the FBS (+301) and have outscored their last nine opponents 399-92. That dominance was on display again on Saturday as Notre Dame handed No. 18 Army its first loss in a 49-14 result.

📈 Clock fun. No. 21 Arizona State’s fans rushed the field when they thought the Sun Devils secured a win against No. 14 BYU … but an official review concluded there was one second remaining, which resulted in a 13-minute delay as fans filed back to their seats. But that was far from the longest game on Saturday. Texas A&M’s four-OT loss lasted four hours and 10 minutes.

Week 13 Playoff Projection

Two-bid ACC, welcome Arizona State!

Here’s how the Playoff bracket should look on Tuesday (the committee is listening, right?):

ACC: SMU clinched a spot in the league championship game by blowing out Virginia 33-7. The committee likely will keep Miami ranked ahead of the Mustangs after the Canes’ 42-14 win against Wake Forest (a ranking I still disagree with). Miami will play for the championship if it beats Syracuse next week. If it loses, Clemson will play SMU for the conference title. The ACC has a more realistic chance for two Playoff teams as it can consider itself a beneficiary of the SEC’s madness.

Big Ten: The biggest question in the Big Ten is how far Indiana will fall after its loss to Ohio State (which will play Oregon in the conference championship if it beats Michigan next week). Coach Curt Cignetti thinks his team is still Playoff-worthy, and I agree. A road loss to the No. 2 team in the country shouldn’t knock the Hoosiers out of contention but probably will take them out of the picture for hosting a game in Bloomington. (And the Hoosiers should be helped by some of the chaos in the SEC.)

Big 12: Arizona State looks best positioned to make the Big 12 title game so long as it holds off 4-7 Arizona next week. The Sun Devils are hitting their stride at just the right time. They controlled the entire game against BYU as RB Cam Skattebo scored a season-high three TDs. They have a win against Kansas, which has played spoiler lately. ASU should make a big move and be the highest-ranked in the Big 12 this week.

SEC: Every SEC team besides Texas, Georgia and Tennessee has at least three losses, and it’s hard to justify a Playoff bid for any of those, which means the SEC may be down to three representatives in the Playoff field. Georgia clinched a spot in the conference title game on Saturday and will play either Texas or Texas A&M, which will renew their rivalry next week with a trip to Atlanta on the line. You could call Tennessee the biggest winner from the conference on Saturday as it was helped off the bubble by losses by Alabama and Ole Miss.

Group of 5: Boise State held off Wyoming 17-13 as Ashton Jeanty became the first 2,000-yard rusher in the FBS since 2019. The Broncos secured a spot in the Mountain West title game with the win and should remain in position to earn a first-round bye with the Big 12 looking just as inconsistent now as it did last week.

Check out Austin Mock’s latest Playoff projections here.

Quick Snaps

Kalen DeBoer’s bad night and Indiana’s silver lining highlight a wild Saturday. Stewart Mandel on that and more in his Final Thoughts from Week 13.

What else did we learn from the weekend? Ralph Russo on what he saw from Week 13.

Nebraska snapped a seven-year bowl drought — the longest in the Power 4 — with a 44-25 win against Wisconsin.

Rutgers extended a 15-year losing streak to AP-ranked foes after Illinois scored on fourth down in the game’s final seconds.

You can buy tickets to every college football game here.

For streaming info on Fubo, click here.

📫 Love Until Saturday? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters.

(Top photo Kalen DeBoer: Brian Bahr / Getty Images)