\n Welcome to This Week in Our Dumb Beautiful Sport, a weekly look at the chaos that reigns over the most perfectly imperfect world of college football. <\/p>\n
\n\tIt’s crunch time in college football, and several flawed teams on the playoff bubble are waiting to see if their mistakes will ever catch up to them.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\tALABAMA DEALS WITH REALITY AS A MERE MORTAL<\/p>\n
\n\tLife is pretty good when you’re allowed to play for national championships without winning your division. From the 2007 season when Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa through the 2017 season, Alabama had more national championships in years\u00a0when it didn’t even win the SEC West (two) than any other school won period in those same 11 seasons\u00a0(one, or zero).\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tBut now Saban is gone, the transfer portal and NIL are here, and Alabama has won just one national championship since 2017. The Tide missed the College Football Playoff last season and then opened this year with a 14-point loss to a Florida State team that turned out to be just as bad as everyone thought it would before the season. Since then, they’ve gotten it together well enough to all but ensure they won’t miss the playoff twice in a row.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tHowever, they are certainly not without flaws, which I imagine is an adjustment to anyone in their fan base who doesn’t remember the early 2000s. I could not believe how bad they looked against an embarrassing LSU team, for example. They also squeaked out a win against a self-sabotaging South Carolina team and had to sweat out a 27-24 win against Missouri.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd now it turns out the black hoodie of death<\/a> is just a regular ol’ sweatshirt and not some magical force field protecting against Alabama’s inability to run the ball. The Crimson Tide played with fire too often in\u00a0a 23-21 loss to Oklahoma, and while they’re still comfortably in the playoff at this point their margin for error is all but gone.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tIn exactly 14 days, Kalen DeBoer is going to feel more pressure on a football field than he’s ever felt in his life.\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Kevin Scarbinsky (@KevinScarbinsky) November 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \tTEXAS A&M KEEPS GETTING AWAY WITH IT<\/p>\n \n\tAre we sure Texas A&M is good? That’s of course a stupid thing to ask about a 10-0 team that is clearly headed for a first-round CFP bye, but stupid questions are our specialty here. The Aggies won 16-10 against Auburn and 45-42 against Arkansas before pulling their greatest escape yet\u00a0— a 31-30 win against South Carolina after trailing 30-3 at halftime.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tThere will be a second half pic.twitter.com\/xgClckfsS8<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tCredit to the Aggies for beating the teams they play — and it’s only fair to mention one of those teams is Notre Dame, even though I think the Irish are also wildly overrated — but it would be nice for them to have to show a little more than this before we just hand them a first-round bye.\n<\/p>\n \n\tHere is a list of SEC teams Texas A&M does not play this season and their current AP Top 25 rank: No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 10 Alabama, No. 12 Vanderbilt, No. 20 Tennessee. Put another way, the Venn diagram of good SEC teams and SEC teams Texas A&M has not played is basically one\u00a0circle. They did play No. 23 Missouri and still have to play No. 17 Texas, but Missouri plays Oklahoma next week and likely won’t be ranked by the end of the season and the only way Texas will be ranked is if the Aggies lose to them. So they’ll likely finish the regular season 12-0 with zero wins against of the six or so conference opponents ranked in the top 25.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tAnd because the gifts will never stop coming for them, Texas A&M will likely get to play a flawed Alabama team rather than Georgia or Ole Miss in the SEC Championship. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tOHIO STATE WINS NO. 1,000<\/p>\n \n\tOhio State won its\u00a01,000th football game<\/a> on Saturday, just the second college football team to do so. The official NCAA list currently has the Buckeyes 12 games short of the mark, but I have working eyes and saw them score more points than the other team 12 times in 2010. You can’t vacate memories.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tJEREMIAH SMITH ONLY NEEDS ONE HAND<\/p>\n :NBC@OhioStateFB<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/NPs9bCm7s2<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \tMICHIGAN KEEPS GETTING AWAY WITH IT<\/p>\n \n\tMichigan, a team that has lost to the only two decent teams it has played, has recently started flirting with the idea of losing to the non-decent teams as well. The 30-27 win against Nebraska was perhaps a warning sign. Michigan’s\u00a0last three games have included the following wins: 31-20 over Michigan State, 21-16 vs. Purdue, and this week’s 24-22 win against Northwestern at Wrigley Field that included five Wolverines turnovers.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tBRYCE UNDERWOOD IS PICKED OFF@NUFBFamily<\/a> does it again! pic.twitter.com\/eYmYsjJNGH<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t“In\u00a0college football, in the Big Ten, it is hard to win,” UM coach Sherrone Moore said<\/a>.\u00a0“Every week it\u2019s a battle. So, you know, you can\u2019t have five turnovers a week. That\u2019s not going to help you win. So we got to clean that up.”\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe Wolverines don’t play No. 2 Indiana or No. 6 Oregon, but there is one team remaining on the schedule that I assume would love to put the final nail in their coffin.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tGEORGIA CONTINUES TO OWN TEXAS<\/p>\n \n\tKirby Smart can’t beat Alabama, so it’s only fair that he gets a coach who can’t beat him. Enter Steve Sarkisian and Texas, who have now lost to Smart and Georgia by the following scores over the past two seasons: 30-15, 22-19, and 35-10.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tGEORGIA RECOVERS THE ONSIDE KICK pic.twitter.com\/dQCcAcRXdi<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 ESPN (@espn) November 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tSmart even called the first onside kick of his nine-year Georgia tenure on Saturday, and the Bulldogs recovered it with ease.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tTEXAS A&M TROOPER REMOVED FROM GAME<\/p>\n \n\t\tTexas A&M police says it has removed this trooper from his game day assignment following this: pic.twitter.com\/Mmoyf9pcSE<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tTexas A&M’s rough first half against the Gamecocks included this insane moment when a Texas A&M policer officer sought responded to a Nyck Harbor touchdown by intentionally shoulder bumping him and then screaming at him.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe police department later tweeted that the officer had been sent home from the game.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tWe are aware of the incident in the NE tunnel involving a DPS trooper. He has been relieved of his game day assignment.\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Texas A&M Police (@TAMUPolice) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \tBRENT KEY’S POSTGAME INTERVIEW<\/p>\n \n\t\tBrent Key is having a blast after Georgia Tech’s win. #CFB<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/eGSF8KK5dY<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tI’ll say this: for all the jokes about it, Brent Key was about as happy as I’d want my coach to be if I were the fan of a team who almost just lost to 1-9 Boston College.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tLOUISVILLE BLOWS IT AGAINST CLEMSON<\/p>\n \n\t\tNOT EVEN CLOSE pic.twitter.com\/WImcINph1E<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tLook at this. Woof. Do not leave the game in the hands of your backup kicker.\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhat’s amazing is that this is really just scratching the surface of what an eyesore that game was. Clemson fumbled two snaps in a row on the opposing 1-yard line to turn the ball over on downs, Louisville committed about 50 untimely personal fouls, and the Cardinals also missed two field goals and a PAT\u00a0in a 1-point loss.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tMORE GROUP OF FIVE CHAOS<\/p>\n \n\tNavy beat USF and East Carolina beat Memphis, throwing the Group of Five playoff spot into further chaos. Right now, the general consensus seems to be that the American champion (North Texas, Navy, or Tulane) will have an advantage over James Madison. But if the Dukes finish the season with their only loss coming to Louisville, there will at least be some debate there. Further complicating things is Navy’s status as a contender, as the Midshipmen don’t play Army until Dec. 13, a week\u00a0after the CFP field is announced.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tTHIS WEEK IN CFB LINKEDIN<\/p>\n \n\tHere are some quick updates on the coaching carousel:\n<\/p>\n \tFOOTBALL AT FENWAY<\/p>\n \n\t\t#OURAcademy<\/a> #BeatCoastGuard<\/a> @NEWMACsports<\/a> @USMMAFootball<\/a> @USMMA_Alumni<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pVuiYtJiyi<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 USMMA Athletics (@USMMA_Athletics) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tTwo of my favorite memories of my time as an Ohio State beat writer were the 2014 game against Navy in Baltimore and the 2017 game against Army in Ohio Stadium. The service academies are just awesome. Anyways, the Division III equivalent of the Army-Navy game — the Coast Guard Academy vs. the Merchant Marine Academy — was played at Fenway Park on Saturday. It was apparently a banger, too, with the Merchant Marine Academy winning 39-38.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tIf we’re going to use baseball stadiums, let’s use them for big rivalries between schools where it will feel like a big deal instead of opening Wrigley for\u00a0the crime against football that was Northwestern vs. Michigan.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tVALPARAISO’S WILD COMEBACK<\/p>\n \n\t\tBEACONS WIN.#GoValpo<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/EIc2aNjsRO<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Valpo Football (@valpoufootball) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tWe’re really getting into the weeds here but it’s my column and I can talk about Pioneer League football if I want. Especially if this happens.\u00a0FCS team Valparaiso\u00a0trailed Stetson 24-0 in the second half but then scored three touchdowns and got all three 2-point conversions to send the game into overtime. When Stetson scored first to go up by 7, Valparaiso decided to — you guessed it — go for 2. They got it and won the game, finishing 4 for 4 on 2-point conversion attempts.\u00a0If you need a 2-point conversion play, just call Valparaiso.\n<\/p>\n \tPLAY OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n \n\t\tABSOLUTE CINEMA<\/p>\n KIERAN CORR DRILLS A 52-YARD FIELD GOAL TO WIN IT<\/p>\n https:\/\/t.co\/8oOFxoFh06<\/a> \t\u2014 Harvard Football (@HarvardFootball) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThree\u00a0sections in row covering non-FBS teams! I don’t necessarily love giving player of the week to a kicker, but an Ivy League nerd drilling a 52-yarder for the win is good enough for me. Especially because Harvard was losing rather than tied, so the outcome was actually hanging in the balance. Game-winning kicks in tie games where the worst that can happen if you miss\u00a0is overtime (well, unless you’re 2013 Alabama)\u00a0just aren’t the same.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tIDIOT OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n \n\t\tLETS GO!!! pic.twitter.com\/VcutWDvRiV<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 South Carolina Football (@GamecockFB) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t“Like I said, we weren’t surprised,” Shane Beamer said. “Nobody came into the locker room at halftime celebrating, thinking the game was over, thinking that we could just go out there and coast in the second half.”\n<\/p>\n \n\tAbout as bad a quote as it gets when your own school\u00a0posted a video of you celebrating on your way to the locker room at halftime.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \tREF JAIL INMATE OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n \n\t\tFlorida was hit with a personal foul, hands to the face foul.<\/p>\n The referee said it was after the play pic.twitter.com\/42um9n5ire<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Brad Logan (@BradLoganCOTE) November 16, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n
https:\/\/t.co\/hEVv11DZR8<\/a>
https:\/\/t.co\/OtJ5xL5LM1<\/a>#GoCrimson<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/J78Rwq7yKL<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n