College football’s rivalry week certainly lived up to the hype this year. There was a brawl in the end zone between two teams, a massive upset that derailed two program’s chances to get into the College Football Playoffs, and the longest overtime contest in collegiate history.
North Carolina and North Carolina State are bitter rivals, but that usually applies to basketball season. Not on Saturday. The two programs slugged it out to a tie, then the Wolfpack scored a touchdown in overtime to win.
Immediately after the score, a fight erupted in the end zone that involved several players.
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What was bizarre about the melee was Tar Heels coach Larry Fedora’s explanation of it afterward.
“There was no fight. Not to my knowledge,” Fedora said.
When pressed by a reporter about what happened, Fedora said: “Their team was celebrating and our team was celebrating.” When asked what his team was celebrating, Fedora then said: “My team wasn’t celebrating. Their team was celebrating in our end zone, but there wasn’t any fight.”
Urban Meyer Delivers as Underdog
It is not a wise decision for gamblers to not back Urban Meyer when he is an underdog. Granted it doesn’t happen very often for his Ohio State football team, but when it does, he delivers.
Saturday the Buckeyes were getting 4.5 points against rival Michigan. They stomped on the No. 4 Wolverines, 62-39. It is the fourth loss to the Buckeyes for Jim Harbaugh, and it knocked them out of contention to get into the College Football Playoffs.
It is also the seventh time OSU has been an underdog while Meyer has been the coach, and the team has won every time.
Washington State Out of CFP
When Washington State lost to rival Washington, 28-15 on Saturday in Pullman, The Pac 12 lost its only chance to get in the College Football Playoffs.
The Cougars were favored by three points, but couldn’t tame the Huskies. It was only the second time all year the team didn’t cover the spread.
Now not only is WSU out of the CFP, they failed to make the conference championship. Washington will play Utah on Friday, and are 4.5-point picks to win.
Easiest Bet of the Year
It didn’t take long for bettors who had the over on the LSU-Texas A&M game to claim victory. The line was set at 45.5 and was reached early in the fourth quarter when the Tigers’ Michael Divinity Jr. returned a fumble 58 yards for to tie the game, 24-24.
But in a case of complete overkill, the two teams played seven overtimes and scored and additional 84 points, in the 74-72 victory for the Aggies
LSU, who was getting three points, did cover the spread for the sixth time this season.
Bad Beat of the Week
Southern Missouri had a 39-0 shutout over University of Texas El Paso and the over/under at 45 points late in the game. UTEP got the ball back with 27 seconds remaining at their own 42-yard line.
The Miners hadn’t scored all day so the under backers had to be feeling pretty good. That is until quarterback Brandon Jones started marching UTEP down the field. Jones threw a 17-yard strike to Tre’Shon Wolf to get to the Southern Missouri 41.
Then with seven seconds remaining Jones completed a 41-yard touchdown pass to Erik Brown to ruin the under cards that had held for 59 minutes and 53 seconds.