College Football Week 15: Winners & Losers
This year's college football season is drawing to a close and with the College Football Playoff selection committee announcing the four competing teams on Sunday, football fans and enthusiasts are looking back at Week 15's winners and losers.
The Oregon Ducks were one of the big winners of the week thanks to quarterback Marcus Mariota, who had 313 passing yards and five touchdowns, and the team's strong defense strategy that put Arizona Wildcats at a total of only 224 yards. The final score came out at 51-13.
The Central Florida Knights pulled off a Hail Mary strategy against the East Carolina Pirates, with quarterback Justin Holman throwing 51 yards down to Breshad Perriman in what became the game-winning score at 32-30 for the Knights.
The SMU Mustangs finally broke their 13-game losing streak, thanks to a 27-20 win over the UConn Huskies, while the TCU Horned Frogs quarterback Trevone Boykin managed 460 yards passing, four passing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown.
Quarterback Blake Sims and wide receiver Amari Cooper of the Alabama Crimson Tide also played to impress, winning 42-13 against the Missouri Tigers.
At the other end of the spectrum are those who ended up with a mishap or two that lost the game.
The Arizona Wildcats yielded to the strong defense of the Oregon Ducks, which took away their chance to get a spot at one of New Year's Six Bowls. They were not even able to score until the third quarter, though they did hold a record of 10-3 for the season, the best in their team's history.
The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs found six members of their team initially unable to play due to academic ineligibility. However, they played on and while managing to take a seven-point lead, the Marshall Thundering Herd managed to shoulder through with a touchdown and were able to intercept Bulldogs quarterback Cody Sokol to steal the win at 23-26.
The Baylor Bears managed to beat out the Kansas State Wildcats at 38-27 and were looking to jump up to No. 6 in the rankings. However, no upset or blowout came around to open up a slot, and Baylor officially lost their chance.