Carla and Crappy Show: The Rivalry Buffet Edition

It’s the final week of the college football regular season, and you know what that means — it’s rivalry, or, uh wivalwy week. And while of the conference drama has settled down since last weekend, there are still plenty of scenarios — we’re looking at you, Big 12 — to be decided on Friday and Saturday.

 

Week 13? It was utter chaos, and it left Alabama likely out of the playoff picture and cemented Kansas as the scariest 5-6 team in the country. The chaos didn’t catch Carla — whose Nittany Lions escaped Minnesota with the greatest fake punt in the history of college football — or Crappy, whose Bobcats and Buckeyes flew through their penultimate regular season games with flying colors.

 

We begin with the fallout from the weekend, as AJ takes us through the latest CFP rankings — hello, Show Ponies and Sun Devils — before we dip into an expansive look at the title game possibilities across the Group of Five, along with a less-expansive look of what could happen in the Big 12; that was out of necessity, because AJ went went 15 deep and was only scratching the surface. 

 

There were too many fun G5 games to note here, but Crappy will be especially interested in Miami (Ohio) at Bowling Green (noon Friday, ESPNU) and the whole group will be pulling for the Mountaineers as Appalachian State visits Georgia Southern (6 p.m. Saturday, ESPN+).

 

And then we have this week’s slate of big boy games; some of these may look like mismatches on paper, but listen, boys and girls — you know how rivalry games can go.

 

On Friday:

 

Mississippi State at No. 14 Ole Miss (3:30, ABC) The Bulldogs aren’t good, but will the Rebs still be reeling from their upset in Gainesville last week?

 

Georgia Tech at No. 7 Georgia (7:30 p.m., ABC) Georgia is favored in a big way, but Tech has pulled off a couple of big upsets this season — is there one more on the way?

 

On Saturday:

 

Michigan at No. 2 Ohio State (Big Nude, Fox) Will Crappy finally be able to put three years of anguish behind him? The consensus is yes.

 

No. 8 Tennessee at Vanderbilt (noon, ABC) Here’s the sad fact: In spite of it being the home of the Commodores, Nashville is a UT town. Look for Vandy to keep this close, though.

 

No. 15 South Carolina at No. 12 Clemson (noon, ESPN) South Carolina is one of the hottest teams in the country, but can they keep up with a solid-but-unspectacular Clemson team in Death Valley?

 

No. 5 Notre Dame at USC (3:30 p.m., CBS) The Irish have cruised since their baffling loss to Northern Illinois. Can the talented Trojans put together the perfect game they’ll need to beat ND in the coliseum?

 

No. 6 Miami at Syracuse (3:30 p.m., ESPN) While this game does have implications for the ACC title game, it’s on the list pretty much for the 67.5-point AJ Fun Index. Pointsy.

 

Auburn at No. 13 Alabama (3:30 p.m., ABC) Alabama is reeling like they haven’t reeled in maybe decades. But they’ll find a way on Saturday.

 

Purdue at No. 10 Indiana (7 p.m., FS1) The Hoosiers should rebound from the loss in Columbus and beat Purdue to take the Old Oaken Bucket.

 

Washington at No. 1 Oregon (7:30 p.m., NBC) The Huskies beat the Ducks twice in 2023 on the way to the national title game. We’re betting Dan Lanning hasn’t forgotten.

 

No. 3 Texas at No. 20 Texas A&M (7:30 p.m., ABC) Will the Longhorns put to rest the grumbles about its schedule? Or will the Aggies get the home win in this resurrected rivalry?

 

In her parting shots, Carla is sad that 2024 is year without a Land Grant Trophy game but she’s going to dig up no fewer than five screens for the evening slate — along with a big bowl of mashed potatoes. And Crappy reminds us that Carnegie Mellon opens the playoffs on Saturday and has a few more words about Ohio State’s