College football Week 13 recap: Looking ahead to Rivalry Week

The No. 5 team in the CFP rankings entering the weekend lost by 23 points (albeit to the No. 2 team). No. 7 and No. 9 both lost to 5-5 opponents, and No. 7 got blown out. No. 15 and No. 16 lost to 4-6 opponents, and No. 12 nearly lost to a 2-8 foe. No. 14 nearly came back from 21-0 down (and nearly completed the funniest Hail Mary of all time) but didn't.

On the 13th official Saturday of the 2024 season, college football lost its damn mind.

Granted, the two biggest upstart stories of the season, Indiana and Army, took wicked roundhouse rights from two of the best (and meanest) teams in the country, but nothing else really made much sense Saturday. The chaos made some convoluted title races simpler -- for example, by simply staying quiet and beating UMass (while giving up a few too many rushing yards, to be honest), Georgia clinched a spot in the SEC championship game when everyone else stumbled. But other races are almost indecipherable. Case in point: There's an eight-way Big 12 tie still on the table.

It is November's curse that so many messy, chaotic and incredibly important things happen, and instead of basking in them, we must immediately move on and brace for the next round of mess. Week 13's primary job was to set the table for Rivalry Week, which will give us countless games and storylines to track. And because of Thanksgiving, we have less time than normal to prepare.

So let's look back on Week 13 ... by looking forward to Week 14. Here are the 43 most important and relevant rivalry games to follow, 24 of which could have some impact on the CFP. All gas, no brakes. (All times are Eastern.)

Rivalry Week's biggest games

Obviously some games are huge no matter what. The Egg Bowl will always be an irrepressible ball of anger and anxiety even though Mississippi State is 2-9 and Ole Miss' playoff hopes just suffered a nearly mortal blow. Florida vs. Florida State will still feel important even though Florida just clinched bowl eligibility and FSU is incredibly 2-9. Michigan vs. Ohio State, The Game, will feel like the biggest game in the world even though Ohio State is all but certain to make the CFP and Michigan is 6-5.

Some games obviously have larger present-tense consequences than others, however, even if some of them -- like a vital Miami trip to Syracuse -- aren't really rivalry games at all. So let's go category by category, looking at the most vital games of the week in terms of CFP stakes, conference title races and last-minute quests for bowl eligibility.

(Within each category, games are listed chronologically. Rankings are from the current AP poll.)

At-large playoff bids

Mississippi State at No. 16 Ole Miss (Friday, 3:30 p.m., ABC) -- SP+ win probability: Ole Miss, 99%

Georgia Tech at No. 6 Georgia (Friday, 7:30 p.m., ABC) -- SP+ win probability: Georgia, 95%

No. 8 Tennessee at Vanderbilt (Saturday, noon, ABC) -- SP+ win probability: Tennessee, 86%

No. 14 South Carolina at No. 12 Clemson (Saturday, noon, ESPN) -- SP+ win probability: Clemson, 52%

No. 7 Miami at Syracuse (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., ESPN) -- SP+ win probability: Miami, 87%

No. 5 Notre Dame at USC (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., CBS) -- SP+ win probability: Notre Dame, 74%

California at No. 9 SMU (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., ESPN2) -- SP+ win probability: SMU, 80%

Auburn at No. 13 Alabama (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., ABC) -- SP+ win probability: Bama, 84%

No. 10 Indiana at Purdue (Saturday, 7 p.m., FS1) -- SP+ win probability: Indiana, 99%

We won't know the official CFP rankings until Tuesday night, but it's safe to say that a loss for any of these teams (except Georgia and maybe Notre Dame) would be an absolute catastrophe.

In the spirit of the Chaos Superfecta from my Friday preview columns, I should note that, even if you take out the coin-toss game between Clemson and South Carolina, SP+ says there is only a 35% chance that the other eight contenders above all win. And after a week in which seven of the top 20 teams fell and the CFP race was almost completely redefined, I think we all know that you're not safe until you actually reach the finish line.

Per the Allstate Playoff Predictor, four teams saw their playoff odds fall by at least 14 percentage points: Ole Miss (down 56.3), Alabama (down 33.7), Colorado (down 30.2) and BYU (down 14.0). I'm not sure I believe that Ole Miss' odds are really down to 6.2%, but the Rebels obviously need a lot of help to catch back up. And anyone who loses in Week 14 won't have much time to get any help.

Group of 5 playoff bid

Oregon State at No. 11 Boise State (Friday, noon, Fox) -- SP+ win probability: BSU, 93%

No. 23 Memphis at No. 18 Tulane (Thursday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN) -- SP+ win probability: Tulane, 66%

UTSA at No. 22 Army (Saturday, noon, CBSSN) -- SP+ win probability: Army, 79%

Boise State's wobbly win at Wyoming on Saturday night, in which Ashton Jeanty was hampered by an injury that kept him out of the game for a bit, was a solid reminder that the Broncos aren't in the playoff just yet. They're at the front of the line, though. If they slip up either to Oregon State on Friday or in the MWC championship game, Tulane is ready to pounce ... at least, if the Green Wave can survive Memphis and Army. If both favorites fall, then it seems Army and UNLV might both still have a shot.

It will be interesting to see how far Army falls in Tuesday night's rankings. The Black Knights got roughed up by an angry Notre Dame team Saturday in the Bronx and will have to beat both a smoking-hot UTSA -- the Roadrunners have scored at least 44 points in four straight and have charged from 2-4 to 6-5 -- and a Tulane team that has lost to only Kansas State and Oklahoma. The Black Knights will need to prove serious upside to win both of those games, but if they do, and Boise State falls, I think they'll have proved themselves enough to snag a bid.

 SEC

No. 3 Texas at No. 19 Texas A&M (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., ABC) -- SP+ win probability: Texas, 64%

Georgia was in the clubhouse at 6-2 in SEC play but needed a pretty unlikely set of results to clinch a spot in the SEC title game. I mean, there's no way that Alabama was going to lose to Oklahoma, right? Au contraire! Bama and Ole Miss both fell to 4-3 in the league standings, and with the Dawgs set up perfectly to win tiebreakers against either Texas (if the Longhorns lose to A&M) or Tennessee (if the Vols beat Vanderbilt), that was that. Georgia is in and will play the winner of Texas and Texas A&M.

Obviously the Aggies will need to rebound after a frustrating loss to Auburn on the Plains, but it's fair to assume they'll be able to move past that and focus on the matter at hand. This is a flawed but physical team -- basically a more well-rounded version of the Kentucky team that frustrated Texas on Saturday but didn't have enough offensive firepower to take advantage. The first Horns-Aggies game in 13 years is going to be an absolute brawl.

The SEC championship bid, by the way, indirectly gives Georgia a mulligan of sorts. If the Dawgs slip up to Georgia Tech over the weekend, they could theoretically fall out of a playoff spot, but if they beat Texas or A&M the next week, they're right back in. (They probably won't lose to Tech, of course, but if you watched UMass rush for 226 yards against UGA on Saturday, you at least had a brief vision of Tech's burly run game finding success and dictating the clock.)

 Big 12

Oklahoma State at Colorado (Friday, noon, ABC) -- SP+ win probability: Colorado, 82%

West Virginia at Texas Tech (Saturday, noon, FS1) -- SP+ win probability: Texas Tech, 51%

Kansas at Baylor (Saturday, noon, ESPN2) -- SP+ win probability: Baylor, 59%

No. 15 Arizona State at Arizona (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., Fox) -- SP+ win probability: ASU, 66%

TCU at Cincinnati (Saturday, 6 p.m., ESPN+) -- SP+ win probability: TCU 64%

Kansas State at No. 17 Iowa State (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Fox) -- SP+ win probability: K-State, 51%

Houston at No. 20 BYU (Saturday, 10:15 p.m., ESPN) -- SP+ win probability: BYU, 94%

At this exact moment, we've got four 6-2 teams in Big 12 play (Arizona State, BYU, Colorado and Iowa State) and five 5-3 teams (Baylor, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia). An official Big 12 release Sunday proclaimed that all nine could still reach the Big 12 championship game. If all the projected favorites win, we get Arizona State-BYU in the Big 12 championship game. If the four 6-2 teams all win to finish 7-2, we get Arizona State vs. Iowa State. But let's think even bigger.

If Iowa State loses to Kansas State, Colorado loses to Oklahoma State, Arizona State loses to Arizona, BYU loses to Houston, TCU beats Cincinnati and Baylor beats Kansas, we'll have an eight-way tie for first. If I understand the tiebreakers correctly, that will give us either Baylor vs. Kansas State (if West Virginia beats Texas Tech) or Baylor vs. Texas Tech (if Tech beats WVU). SP+ says there's only a 0.1% chance of this happening, but don't listen to SP+. SP+ is a hater. Follow your dreams.

 ACC

We've already got Miami at Syracuse listed above in the at-large section. The ACC race basically comes down to that one. SMU clinched a spot in Charlotte and will play Miami if the Hurricanes win (87% chance) or Clemson if Syracuse pulls the upset (13%). Considering what it would do to both Miami's playoff and ACC hopes, a Syracuse win would probably be the single most impactful upset of the week.

 Big Ten

Michigan at No. 2 Ohio State (Saturday, noon, Fox) -- SP+ win probability: Ohio State, 94%

Maryland at No. 4 Penn State (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., BTN) -- SP+ win probability: PSU, 97%

Washington at No. 1 Oregon (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., NBC) -- SP+ win probability: Oregon, 94%

We've just about clinched an Oregon-Ohio State rematch in Indianapolis. And honestly, Oregon has probably clinched more than that. The Ducks are in the title game no matter what, and honestly, even with an upset loss to Washington and a loss to Ohio State in Indianapolis (odds of both results happening: about 3%, per SP+), they're still probably in the field unless blowouts are involved.

The non-Oregon pecking order is clear: If Ohio State beats Michigan and/or Penn State falls to a flagging Maryland, the Buckeyes are in. (Their odds are about 97%.) If Ohio State falls and Penn State wins, the Nittany Lions are in. And if both teams somehow lose and Indiana beats an atrocious Purdue, the Hoosiers somehow sneak in. But it's clear what the odds favor.

Group of 5 title races

MAC: Kent State at Buffalo (Tuesday, 7 p.m., ESPN+) -- SP+ win probability: Buffalo, 96%

MAC: Miami (Ohio) at Bowling Green (Friday, noon, ESPNU) -- SP+ win probability: BGSU, 61%

MAC: Ball State at Ohio (Friday, noon, CBSSN) -- SP+ win probability: Ohio, 90%

MWC: Utah State at Colorado State (Friday, 3:30 p.m., FS1) -- SP+ win probability: CSU, 73%

Sun Belt: Texas State at South Alabama (Friday, 3:30 p.m., ESPN+) -- SP+ win probability: USA, 53%

CUSA: Liberty at Sam Houston (Friday, 3:30 p.m., CBSSN) -- SP+ win probability: Liberty, 70%

Sun Belt: Louisiana at ULM (Saturday, noon, ESPNU) -- SP+ win probability: Louisiana, 92%

CUSA: Jacksonville State at WKU (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., CBSSN) -- SP+ win probability: WKU, 61%

Sun Belt: App State at Georgia Southern (Saturday, 6 p.m., ESPN+) -- SP+ win probability: GS, 65%

MWC: Nevada at No. 21 UNLV (Saturday, 8 p.m., CBSSN) -- SP+ win probability: UNLV, 95%

Sun Belt: Marshall at James Madison (Saturday, 8 p.m., ESPNU) -- SP+ win probability: JMU, 74%

The AAC championship game is set: Army will play Tulane, and either this coming week's results or Tuesday night's CFP rankings will tell us who is hosting the game. But that pairing is the only thing set at the moment in the G5 universe.

In Conference USA, Jacksonville State has clinched a spot with a 7-0 start, and Liberty has the upper hand in joining the Gamecocks thanks to Saturday's 38-21 win over Western Kentucky. The Flames took the lead late in the second quarter and never relinquished it. But if they lose at Sam Houston this coming Friday afternoon, the spot could still end up with either WKU (if the Hilltoppers beat Jax State) or Sam Houston.

In the Mountain West, Boise State is in and will probably face UNLV, but Colorado State still has a shot with a win and a UNLV upset loss. SP+ says there's only about a 4% chance of that happening, however.

Marshall leads Georgia Southern by a game in the Sun Belt East but lost to the Eagles by one point in Week 7 and must either beat a frustrating (and frustrated) James Madison team on the road or have Southern lose to Appalachian State to clinch. SP+ says Marshall still has only a 52% chance of getting there. Louisiana and South Alabama have the same circumstances -- UL leads by a game but lost head-to-head -- but the Ragin' Cajuns' odds of beating fading Louisiana-Monroe are good enough that they have a 96% shot at the West title.

In the MAC, Bowling Green, Miami and Ohio are all 6-1, and Buffalo (5-2) still has a puncher's chance. Friday's Miami-BGSU game is a win-and-you're-in affair, but if Ohio gets upset by Ball State (unlikely), the MAC could get messy.

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Bowl eligibility

By my count, we've got 15 teams that are currently 5-6 and attempting to play their way into postseason eligibility Friday and Saturday. Four of them play each other.

5-6 Eastern Michigan at 5-6 Western Michigan (Saturday, 1:30 p.m., ESPN+) -- SP+ win probability: WMU, 59%

5-6 Virginia at 5-6 Virginia Tech (Saturday, 8 p.m., ACCN) -- SP+ win probability: Tech, 84%

At the start of November's round of MACtion, Western Michigan was unbeaten in MAC play. But the Broncos weren't built for the MACtion life, losing all three of their midweek games. Now they need to take down a fading EMU just to get to 6-6.

Virginia Tech, meanwhile, is still 31st in SP+ because of how good the Hokies looked in October, but they're 0-3 in November with three losses by a combined 20 points. They've had to play three different quarterbacks because of injury and nearly upset Duke on Saturday night with freshman William Watson III playing most of the game. This is a solid team, but injuries have derailed its plans.

We've got 11 other teams trying to hunt down a sixth win. We've already mentioned Oregon State (at Boise State), Louisiana-Monroe (vs. Louisiana) and Auburn (at Alabama) above. Here are the other eight:

Minnesota at 5-6 Wisconsin (Friday, noon, CBS) -- SP+ win probability: Minnesota, 55%

5-6 Kansas at Baylor (Saturday, noon, ESPN2) -- SP+ win probability: Baylor, 59%

5-6 North Texas at Temple (Saturday, noon, ESPN+) -- SP+ win probability: UNT, 80%

5-6 Coastal Carolina at Georgia State (Saturday, 2 p.m., ESPN+) -- SP+ win probability: Coastal, 71%

5-6 NC State at North Carolina (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., ACCN) -- SP+ win probability: UNC, 66%

Rutgers at 5-6 Michigan State (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., FS1) -- SP+ win probability: Rutgers, 60%

TCU at 5-6 Cincinnati (Saturday, 6 p.m., ESPN+) -- SP+ win probability: TCU, 64%

5-6 New Mexico at Hawai'i (Saturday, 11 p.m., Team1 App) -- SP+ win probability: Hawai'i, 61%

After everything Kansas has done in a perfect November, the Jayhawks, once 2-6, now have to go to Waco to face the Big 12's other smoking-hot team, Baylor. KU could beat three straight ranked opponents in November and still finish 5-7. Wild.

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The five most surprising results

Here are the five results that were furthest away from their respective SP+ projections. Call them either surprises or bad projections, I guess.

Oklahoma 24, Alabama 3 (projection: Bama by 16.0). I was honestly talking myself into Oklahoma's defense being able to disrupt Jalen Milroe and the Bama offense, force some turnovers, ugly the game up and give itself a fighting chance at an upset. But I never saw "OU rushes for 260 yards, allows 234 total yards and rolls by three touchdowns" coming. Goodness, what a surprising game.

Georgia State 52, Texas State 44 (projection: TXST by 26.5). SP+ had just talked itself into Texas State, bumping the Bobcats into the top 50 a couple of weeks ago. Georgia State, meanwhile, had lost seven in a row to fall to 121st in SP+. So naturally the Fightin' Harry Lyleses went on a 31-0 midgame run to go up big before a late TXST comeback attempt.

Appalachian State 34, James Madison 20 (projection: JMU by 15.2). I'm giving up on having any opinion whatsoever on James Madison again until the offseason. I have talked myself out of and back into the Dukes a record number of times this season.

UAB 40, Rice 14 (projection: Rice by 3.1). UAB has won three games by an average score of 47-13 and lost eight by an average of 43-18. One game has been decided by single digits. One of the most all-or-nothing teams in recent college football history (with more nothings than alls).

Michigan 50, Northwestern 6 (projection: Michigan by 15.2). For about 29 minutes, this game was going about as planned: Michigan led 10-6 in an absolute slog. And then the last 31 minutes happened. Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards had 134 rushing yards in the second half before giving way to the backups; Northwestern had 127 yards, period.

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Who won the Heisman this week?

I am once again awarding the Heisman every single week of the season and doling out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, 9 for second and so on). How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting?

Here is this week's Heisman top 10:

1. Devin Neal, Kansas (37 carries for 207 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 80 receiving yards and a touchdown against Colorado).

2. Travis Hunter, Colorado (8 catches for 125 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 7 tackles and a pass breakup against Kansas).

3. Pat Bryant, Illinois (7 catches for 197 yards and the winning touchdown against Rutgers).

4. Kyle McCord, Syracuse (37-for-47 passing for 470 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus a rushing touchdown against UConn).

5. Cody Simon, Ohio State (10 tackles, 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble against Indiana).

6. Jimmori Robinson, UTSA (7 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, 4 sacks and 3 hurries against Temple).

7. Tahj Brooks, Texas Tech (28 carries for 133 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 65 receiving yards and a touchdown against Oklahoma State).

8. Anthony Hill Jr., Texas (11 tackles, 4 TFLs, 2 sacks and a forced fumble against Kentucky).

9. Braylon Braxton, Marshall (13-for-24 passing for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 148 nonsack rushing yards against Old Dominion).

10. Eli Pancol, Duke (5 catches for 188 yards and 3 touchdowns against Virginia Tech).

I feel like I'm giving in to peer pressure here. For each of the past three weeks, Hunter's Heisman odds have surged: His odds at ESPN BET are up to a frankly shocking -800, equivalent to an 89% chance. That's a healthy rise from last week even though his team got manhandled by Kansas on Saturday, and part of the reason he had seven tackles is because there was so much tackling to do in the secondary.

Hunter is incredible, but it continues to blow my mind that we're evidently just handing him the award despite what Ashton Jeanty (2,164 yards from scrimmage and 28 touchdowns for a potential CFP team) and Cam Ward (3,774 passing yards, 34 touchdowns and a No. 1 QBR ranking for a potential CFP team) have done this season. I know these are just betting odds, and no one has cast their vote yet, but betting odds reflect conventional wisdom in this regard, and it has coalesced far too early.

And yet, here I am, ranking Hunter second for the week. His two touchdowns were both mighty impressive and were about the only thing that kept Colorado in the game for as long as possible. Again: He's incredible. I'm just struggling with the odds.

I in no way struggled with this week's No. 1 ranking, however. Kansas' offense torched a vastly improved Colorado defense, and the main tactic of choice was "Give the ball to Devin Neal and get out of the way." This is Neal's third straight season with at least 1,200 yards from scrimmage -- he's an all-time KU great at this point -- but Saturday was his absolute masterpiece.

Honorable mention:

• Jalon Daniels, Kansas (14-for-21 passing for 189 yards and a touchdown, plus 73 nonsack rushing yards against Colorado).

• Shaun Dolac, Buffalo (9 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 sack and 2 interceptions, including a 60-yard pick-six against Eastern Michigan).

• Tyler Huff, Jacksonville State (29 nonsack carries for 191 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 54 passing yards against Sam Houston).

• Kevin Jennings, SMU (25-for-33 passing for 323 yards, 2 TDs and an INT, plus a rushing touchdown against Virginia).

• Fernando Mendoza, Cal (25-for-36 passing for 299 yards and 3 TDs, plus 69 nonsack rushing yards against Stanford).

• Behren Morton, Texas Tech (35-for-50 passing for 366 yards, 4 TDs and 1 INT, plus 24 nonsack rushing yards against Oklahoma State).

• Shedeur Sanders, Colorado (23-for-29 passing for 266 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 31 nonsack rushing yards against Kansas).

• Cam Skattebo, Arizona State (28 carries for 147 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 12 receiving yards against BYU).

Through 13 weeks, here are your points leaders:

1. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State (51)
2. Cam Ward, Miami (49)
3. Travis Hunter, Colorado (47)
4. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon (29)
5. Jalen Milroe, Alabama (28)
6. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss (24)
7. Cam Skattebo, Arizona State (20)
T8. Kyle McCord, Syracuse (15)
T8. Miller Moss, USC (15)
T8. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado (15)
T8. Tyler Warren, Penn State (15)

With Jeanty missing part of BSU's win over Wyoming and Ward posting strong but unspectacular stats against Wake Forest, Hunter indeed made up ground on the field. We've got three guys within four points here, and if you want to vote for Hunter, go ahead. But there's just no way we should be giving him the award already (as the betting odds suggest we are). Give Jeanty (now +600 at ESPN BET) and Ward (+1200??) another couple of chances to make their case.

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My 10 (or 15) favorite games of the weekend

Yeah, we're going to have to split this up. Here are my 10 favorite FBS games, followed by a small-school section.

1. Auburn 43, No. 15 Texas A&M 41 (4OT). There are few venues that pop on television more than Jordan-Hare when it has a reason to, and we got the full range of emotions, from early glee (Auburn goes up 21-0 in the first 17 minutes) to the epic anxiety that has shrouded most Auburn home games this season (A&M storms back to take a 31-28 lead) to sheer relief (walk-on kicker Ian Vachon, plucked from the student body not long ago, sends the game to OT with a 29-yard field goal) to the pingpong action of a college overtime and, finally, to the almost obligatory field rush that now seems to follow every exciting win in SEC country. It was basically a four-hour advertisement for college football in all its glory and imperfection.

2. No. 21 Arizona State 28, No. 14 BYU 23. You know I had to enjoy Auburn-A&M if I ranked it ahead of this glorious festival of nonsense. Like Auburn, ASU stormed to an early lead (21-0 after 29 minutes) then watched it slowly vanish. But after a late pick, a premature field rush, a Hail Mary that came achingly close to success and another field rush, the Sun Devils moved into the driver's seat for a Big 12 championship bid.

3. No. 25 Illinois 38, Rutgers 31. It has never been proved that icing a kicker has any negative effect whatsoever. And Greg Schiano's Scarlet Knights lost a game because he tried it. His timeout gave Illinois' Bret Bielema a chance to second-guess his questionable "Let's try a game-winning 58-yard field goal into the wind" decision, and the Illini offense went back out and won the game instead.

Icing the kicker: not even once.

4. Florida 24, No. 9 Ole Miss 17. No one can question Florida's resilience (even if we can perhaps question Jaxson Dart's judgment a bit). Billy Napier began the year on the hot seat and made it even hotter with a dismal Week 1 performance against Miami. But if I had an SEC Coach of the Year vote, I honestly might spend it on Napier.

5. Oregon State 41, Washington State 38. This hasn't been a particularly fun season for OSU, which has had to watch rival Oregon thrive in its new conference while suffering an injury-plagued five-game losing streak to fall to 4-6. But they won the de facto Pac-12 championship by surviving the win probability roller coaster of the week and getting a 55-yard field goal from Everett Hayes with 20 seconds remaining.

6. No. 4 Penn State 26, Minnesota 25. With a first-ever playoff bid in sight, Penn State damn near pulled an Ole Miss, failing to put away a road game despite a general statistical advantage. But an epic final drive, complete with a 32-yard fake punt and two other fourth-and-1 conversions, allowed the Nittany Lions to salt away the last 5:48 and seal the win.

7. Georgia Tech 30, NC State 29 (Thursday). Thursday night seems like weeks ago, but this one, with two lead changes in the last 90 seconds and a 58-yard Collin Smith field goal try that wasn't off by much, is worth remembering.

8. Cal 24, Stanford 21. Still needing a win to clinch bowl eligibility, Cal promptly handed its main rival a 14-0 lead at home and trailed 21-10 heading into the fourth quarter before a pair of Fernando Mendoza-to-Jonathan Brady touchdowns gave the Bears their first lead with just 2:40 left.

9. Kennesaw State 27, Florida International 26. Kennesaw State has won only two games in its first FBS season, but both were memorable. This one doesn't top the shocking upset of Liberty, but after a 26-7 FIU run turned a 10-point KSU lead into a late deficit, the Owls scored on a 19-yard run by Davis Bryson and a 19-yard field goal by Austin Welch to get back into the win column.

10. No. 22 Iowa State 31, Utah 28. Arizona State and Kansas did ISU huge favors, allowing them to reenter the Big 12 race ... but the Cyclones nearly exited it immediately. A pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns gave Utah a late 28-24 lead until Carson Hansen scored with 1:31 left and Utah's Cole Becker missed a late 54-yard field goal.

And now the top five games from the smaller-school level, which also went wild. We had an amazing finish in a top-five game at the FCS level, a whopping nine of 12 first-round playoff games in Division II were decided by one score (including two overtime games and two 1-pointers), and even in the often blowout-heavy Division III playoffs, five of eight first-round games were one-score affairs. Just an incredible day of college football all around.

1. FCS: No. 4 South Dakota 29, No. 1 North Dakota State 28. The equivalent of Penn State knocking off Oregon the week before the CFP starts. South Dakota dominated early and led 14-0 late in the first half, but NDSU predictably surged back with a 28-3 run. But no worries! Aidan Bouman hit Jack Mertens for a 40-yard score with 3:22 left, then found a shockingly wide open Javion Phelps with 12 seconds remaining for the game winner.

2. Division II: Ashland 40, No. 6 Charleston 38. The biggest playoff upset of the day. A back-and-forth affair went into overdrive late, when touchdowns of 45 and 77 yards gave Ashland a sudden 37-28 lead, but Yves Bosmans' 44-yard touchdown catch gave Charleston a 38-37 advantage with just 1:13 left. But after a botched PAT earlier in the fourth quarter, A.J. Rhodes hit a 37-yard field goal as time expired. Unbeaten Charleston is out.

3. Division II: Minnesota State 20, No. 22 Augustana 19. Trailing 19-10 with less than two minutes left, MSU capped an 88-yard drive with a 33-yard Hayden Ekern-to-Grant Guyett touchdown pass. The odds of a Mavericks win were still dire, however, until Lorenzo Jones recovered the ensuing onside kick. Matthew Jaeger nailed a 34-yard field goal at the buzzer to seal a stunning comeback.

4. Division II: No. 8 Central Oklahoma 38, No. 9 Ouachita Baptist 31 (OT). You might remember Ouachita Baptist from "Favorite Games" appearances such as the huge rivalry win over Harding or a shocking loss to Southern Nazarene, probably the biggest upset of the season. Well, that ended Saturday. Despite charging back from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime, the Tigers couldn't keep Jacob Delso from scoring the go-ahead touchdown in OT, and they couldn't stop the Bronchos from making their seventh sack of the day on fourth down on OBU's OT possession.

5. FCS: Valparaiso 18, Davidson 17. You just aren't going to see a wilder college football ending than this. All Davidson needed to do was get a clean punt off to likely see out a 17-10 win. Yep, that's all they needed to do.

From there, the ending was preordained: Valpo scored as time expired, then got the winning 2-point conversion by a millimeter.