One of the best games of last weekend was put together at the last minute with BYU traveling to face the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. Both teams entered the contest at 9-0, and 'College GameDay' was there. The game lived up to the short-notice, high-profile billing, and the Chanticleers won, 22-17.
Coastal Carolina moved up to No. 12 in this week's Newsweek Top 20, and BYU slipped to No. 15. Coastal Carolina trails only Cincinnati for the best-ranked team in the Group of Five conferences. The top team from the Group of Five gets an invitation to play in one of the New Year's Six bowl games. Cincinnati travels to play a tough Tulsa squad this weekend.
The top six teams won again on Saturday, all of them looked very impressive and all of them did it on the road except Notre Dame. Alabama crushed LSU, 55-17, and Notre Dame manhandled Syracuse, 45-21. Clemson stomped Virginia Tech (45-10), Ohio State beat Michigan State (52-12), Texas A&M beat Auburn (31-20) and Florida beat Tennessee (31-19).
Four teams lost and fell out of the top 20, and four new teams entered. The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns enter the rankings at No. 17, followed by No. 18 Tulsa, No. 19 Texas and No. 20 North Carolina.
Marshall, Oklahoma State, Oregon and Wisconsin fell from the rankings.
That said, here is the Newsweek Top 20 for Week 15
1 | Alabama | 9-0 | Sat. at Arkansas |
2 | Notre Dame | 10-0 | Dec. 19 vs #4 Clemson |
3 | Ohio State | 5-0 | Sat. vs Michigan |
4 | Clemson | 9-1 | Dec. 19 vs #2 Notre Dame |
5 | Texas A&M | 7-1 | Sat. vs Ole Miss |
6 | Florida | 8-1 | Sat. vs LSU |
7 | Cincinnati | 8-0 | Sat. at No. 18 Tulsa |
8 | Iowa State | 8-2 | Dec. 19 vs #11 Oklahoma |
9 | Indiana | 6-1 | Sat. vs Purdue |
10 | Miami (Fla.) | 8-1 | Sat. vs No. 20 North Carolina |
11 | Oklahoma | 7-2 | Dec. 19 vs #8 Iowa State |
12 | Coastal Carolina | 10-0 | Sat. at Troy |
13 | Georgia | 6-2 | Sat. at Missouri |
14 | USC | 3-0 | Dec. 6 vs Wasington State |
15 | BYU | 9-1 | Sat. vs San Diego State |
16 | Northwestern | 5-1 | Sat. vs Illinois |
17 | Louisiana | 9-1 | Dec. 19 at #12 Coastal Carolina |
18 | Tulsa | 6-1 | Sat. vs #7 Cincinnati |
19 | Texas | 6-3 | Sat. at Kansas |
20 | North Carolina | 7-3 | Sat. at No. 10 Miami |
Dropped Out: No. 17 Marshall, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Oregon, No. 20 Wisconsin
Heisman Frontrunners
Here are the Newsweek Heisman rankings after Week 14 of the season.
- Kyle Trask, QB, Florida
- Mac Jones, QB, Alabama
- DaVonta Smith, WR, Alabama
- Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson
- Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State
- Kyle Pitts, TE, Florida
- Najee Harris, RB, Alabama
- Zach Wilson, QB, BYU
College Football Playoff Prediction
- Alabama
- Notre Dame
- Ohio State
- Clemson
Games to Watch This Week (Times ET)
All games subject to cancel or postpone, and games could change during the week
Friday, December 11
Arizona State at Arizona
Utah at Colorado
Nevada at San Jose State
Saturday, December 12
LSU at Florida
Cincinnati at Tulsa
Oklahoma at West Virginia
Purdue at Indiana
Illinois at Northwestern
Wisconsin at Iowa
USC at UCLA
Michigan State at Penn State
Georgia at Missouri
Ole Miss at Texas A&M
Tennessee at Vanderbilt
Alabama at Arkansas
Michigan at Ohio State
Akron at Buffalo
Coastal Carolina at Troy
North Carolina at Miami
Navy at Army
Oklahoma State at Baylor
Louisiana Tech at TCU
Virginia at Virginia Tech
San Diego State at BYU
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Scott McDonald is a Newsweek deputy night editor based in Cape Coral, Florida. His focus is assigning and writing stories ... Read more
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