The 2022 college football regular season has concluded, and the conference championship lineups are set. In light of these developments, let’s take a look at whose stock is rising and whose is falling heading into the postseason.
Sunday Stock Exchange | College Football Week 13
Stock Up: Michigan Wolverines
Everything led up to The Game — the 11-0 showdown between Michigan and Ohio State, both at the top of the Big Ten East. The Buckeyes were largely the favorites heading into this contest, but the Wolverines shocked the nation with a 45-23 victory in Columbus, scoring 21 in the final quarter.
Now, after many penciled in the Buckeyes for the Big Ten Championship and the eventual CFB Playoff spot, it’s instead Michigan who will take that path forward. There are many players to thank — among them J.J. McCarthy, Donovan Edwards, Cornelius Johnson, and Olusegun Oluwatimi — but the most credit ultimately goes to Jim Harbaugh, who’s poised to hit the playoffs for a second consecutive year with a win over Purdue.
Stock Down: Ohio State Buckeyes
The loss alone wasn’t the most demoralizing thing for the Buckeyes on Saturday. Just as deflating was the way in which Ohio State dwindled under the midday lights.
Ohio State entered the half with a lead, but things quickly got out of control in the second half. And when the Buckeyes started to fall behind, there wasn’t a distinct urgency from Ryan Day to take calculated risks and get the momentum back.
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This isn’t a reason to doubt Day’s status as the Buckeyes’ football coach. And OSU’s playoff hopes aren’t completely dashed, as a TCU or USC loss next weekend could change things. But this was an incredibly underwhelming conclusion for a team with incredibly high expectations. And with C.J. Stroud set to leave, Ohio State will have some recalibrating to do in 2023.
Stock Up: Purdue Boilermakers
Someone had to win the Big Ten West. While the odds are low that this team will beat Michigan in the Big Ten title game, credit still has to be given to the Purdue Boilermakers for getting the job done down the stretch.
A few weeks ago, Purdue was 5-4 and reeling after a 24-3 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes. With a tough game against Illinois on deck, that could have been the breaking point for the Boilermakers, but Jeff Brohm didn’t let it happen.
Instead, Purdue responded with a statement win over the Fighting Illini, and then took care of business against Northwestern and Indiana in the ensuing final weeks. It took some luck, but you always need a little bit of that in college football. Purdue took advantage of it, and now they’re in the Big Ten Championship.
Stock Down: LSU Tigers
For weeks in the lead-up to the conference championship slate, we talked about the playoff avenue that remained open for the LSU Tigers. Winning out against UAB, Arkansas, and Texas A&M seemed to be the easy part. The hard part, meanwhile, was upsetting Georgia in the conference championship game.
But in a surprising twist, the Tigers weren’t even able to complete the first step. They lost 38-23 to the now 5-7 Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday, dropping to 9-3 on the year. Playing to keep their playoff hopes alive, LSU squandered their chances against a team with very little to play for.
LSU was already locked into the SEC Championship Game. But after this ugly loss, even a surprise win against Georgia likely won’t be enough to ingratiate LSU with the committee. With those playoff hopes officially dashed, this SEC title opportunity suddenly has much less potential payoff.
Stock Down: Oregon Ducks
Oregon was in the Pac-12 Championship Game with a win against Oregon State. And in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Ducks were going to get away with this one easily. They were up 31-10 late in the third, and up 34-17 with less than 15 minutes to go. But by the final whistle, Oregon was behind 38-34.
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It was an epic collapse that was almost entirely the Ducks’ doing — a colossal meltdown featuring turnovers, a lack of discipline, and an ultimate unraveling in the final minutes. Dan Lanning’s first year in Eugene was a success overall, but this last loss — a loss that eliminated Oregon from the title game — will leave a sour taste for a while.
Stock Up: Florida State Seminoles
Only a select few teams will be celebrating conference championship berths this week, but there are other things to celebrate. The Florida State Seminoles are one team that has a lot to look forward to, despite not owning a place in the ACC title game.
Mike Norvell’s third regular season at FSU has concluded, and the strong 9-3 campaign has many looking toward the future with a tinge of optimism. Norvell ended the year on a high note, besting in-state rival Florida — a team led by future first-round NFL draft pick Anthony Richardson.
It wasn’t quite Florida State’s time to unseat Clemson or North Carolina this year. But a change in the pecking order could come eventually. If it does, 2022 will be looked at as the springboard that made it happen.
Stock Up: South Carolina Gamecocks
No college football team ended the 2022 regular season on a stronger note than Shane Beamer’s South Carolina Gamecocks. South Carolina was already bowl-eligible by Week 11, but they decided to take things a step further and up their national standing with two consecutive top-10 victories against Tennessee and Clemson.
In those two wins, South Carolina scored a combined 94 points. Spencer Rattler threw for almost 800 total yards, and the team as a whole looked more energized and confident against top-tier competition.
The Gamecocks will undoubtedly have a chance to compound their momentum with a bowl-game win. And depending on who returns in 2023, it could be a team worth keeping an eye on in the SEC East.