CFB Blitz: Conference title takeaways

College Football Blitz recaps the most important developments from the weekend's top games and examines their significance moving forward.

Cignetti's latest miracle: A Big Ten title

In 2025, we live in a society of getting caught up in the moment. That being said, it doesn't feel outrageous to say Indiana might have just won the most impressive conference championship of all-time. Consider the following:

• Their last share of the Big Ten championship was in 1967
• The Hoosiers' last outright Big Ten title came in 1945
• Indiana hadn't beaten Ohio State in 37 years

We officially might be wasting Curt Cignetti's uncanny ability to fix things on something as trivial as college football. Cignetti burst onto the scene with unmatched braggadocio and has done nothing but back it up with an absurd 24-2 record with the Hoosiers. While last year was eye-popping, Indiana was still overmatched in its two games against top-level competition. That is no longer the case, with wins over Oregon and Ohio State now on the resume.

Indiana didn't just hang with the Buckeyes on Saturday, it outgained them on offense and held them to just 58 yards rushing - the lowest total by Ohio State since 2011. The Hoosiers owned the trenches with five sacks and nine tackles for loss on just 56 plays for Ohio State.

It wasn't just a Big Ten title that Indiana clinched, as Fernando Mendoza can likely start writing his Heisman speech for next weekend. The Cal transfer completed 15-of-23 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown, making multiple high-level throws in the second half to secure the win.

Indiana will now enter the CFP as the No. 1 seed and likely avoid a rematch with Ohio State or a matchup with Georgia until the national title game.

Something's up with Ohio State's offense

It wouldn't shock anybody if Indiana and Ohio State matched up again for the national championship. Both are outstanding teams. However, if we are going to be honest about the world famous Ohio State Buckeyes, it's fair to wonder why the offense isn't performing at a higher level.

It's hard not to get starstruck looking at that side of the ball for the Buckeyes. Julian Sayin is likely to be a Heisman finalist. Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate will eventually be first-round picks in the NFL and Bo Jackson is one of the best freshman running backs we've seen at Ohio State. The team ranks 12th in the nation in scoring at 37 points per game.

Dig deeper into the numbers, and it appears the Buckeyes have have been getting fat off the scraps of the Big Ten. Ohio State has played four top-30 defensive units this season in Texas, Washington, Michigan, and Indiana. It's averaging just 18.75 points in those four games. The fact they are 3-1 in those contests speaks to just how dominant the defensive unit is, but raises some questions on offense.

The turning point for the Buckeyes on Saturday came deep in Indiana territory, with two trips going inside the 10-yard line and Ohio State coming away with zero points. One stop on a 4th-down plunge by Sayin and a short field goal miss ended up being the difference.

Ohio State will still be a top-4 seed and receive a bye to the quarterfinals. That should give Ryan Day plenty of time to get the offense in order, as it's likely only elite defensive units the rest of the way.

It's the ACC. Of course it was chaotic

We've basically designated a section in this piece weekly for the ACC's chaotic run through the season, so it's only fitting the conference delivered the wildest finish of the weekend to crown its champ.

First, the matchup bordered on absurd, with the conference's complicated tiebreakers somehow leaving 10-2 Miami on the sideline while 7-5 Duke played for the title.

With the Blue Devils unranked in the latest CFP rankings, that meant an upset win by Manny Diaz's program could possibly see the conference shut out with Sun Belt champ James Madison getting the final spot reserved for the highest-ranked conference title winner. So of course, that's exactly what happened - only it had to go down in classic ACC style with late drama.

A 96-yard drive by Virginia for a game-tying touchdown with 22 seconds left kept the Cavaliers' playoff hopes alive, but an overtime interception eventually sealed the win for Duke's unlikely conference title. Yes, that now means Diaz has won an ACC title before Mario Cristobal - the man who replaced him as head coach at Miami.

Duke now leans on its resume of seven power-conference wins against zero for James Madison in hopes of securing that playoff berth. Whether the committee is willing to overlook the comparison of 5 losses to just one between those two teams will be disclosed Sunday at noon.

Georgia peaking at dangerous time

For the second year in a row, Georgia will head to the College Football Playoff as the SEC champion. While the outcome is similar, the vibe around the Bulldogs this year is vastly different than last year's team. Georgia limped into the CFP quarterfinals versus Notre Dame last year hampered by a litany of injuries, notably to starting quarterback Carson Beck. That meant Gunner Stockton made his first career start versus the Irish, a scenario that eventually led to a loss.

This year, it's Stockton who leads the Bulldogs back to the CFP after exorcising their Alabama demons in emphatic fashion. The SEC title game turned into a bloodbath with Stockton throwing three touchdowns and the defense exposing an overmatched Crimson Tide offense.

Georgia's biggest issue earlier this season was an anemic pass-rush that was getting absolutely zero pressure on the quarterback. That was evident in the first matchup with Alabama, with the Bulldogs posting just one sack in the loss. They had three sacks and four quarterback hurries Saturday, clearly affecting Simpson and making him misfire on numerous occasions to open receivers.

The bracket will show Georgia in the same place as last year - a first-round bye into the CFP quarterfinals. However, Saturday showed us it's a very different Bulldogs team waiting for their opponent and one that should be considered among the top threats for the national title.

Alabama made it a long night for CFP committee

It's not easy and it's not fun, but part of life is that sometimes we need to have hard conversations. The College Football Playoff committee is going to need to have one of those about Alabama's place in the 12-team field.

The committee's decision - some would argue a non-sensical one - to move the Crimson Tide to No. 9 in the rankings Tuesday sure made it seem like a place in the playoff was guaranteed regardless of how the SEC title game went. Really, all Kalen DeBoer's outfit needed to do was avoid a truly embarrassing blowout to the Bulldogs.

Welp, so much for that.

Not even the Sun Bowl should want the version of Alabama we saw versus Georgia. How bad was the offensive performance? You - yes, you reading this at home - had more rushing yards than Alabama on Saturday. The Crimson Tide finished with minus-3 yards on the ground, the lowest total for the program since 1968. The offense ran a total of three plays in the Bulldogs' half through three quarters, and needed a 15-yard personal foul penalty on the defense to extend the only scoring drive of the game.

It took Ty Simpson 39 passing attempts to top the 200-yard mark through the air, as the first-year starter looked like a completely different person than the quarterback who ended Georgia's 33-game home winning streak earlier this year.

Simpson and the offense has gotten significantly worse as the season has progressed. Despite a loaded receiver room, Simpson has struggled mightily to stretch the field in recent weeks. He's averaging just 4.5 yards per attempt in the last two games, and only 167 yards through the air. With the dismal running game Alabama has displayed all season, Simpson needs to shine for the offense to get anything cooking. That simply hasn't happened recently.

The loss means two of Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, and BYU will now miss the 12-team field. The Crimson Tide can still lean on the fact they beat Georgia on the road earlier this season. That likely still gets them in the field, but it's certainly going to be a nervous Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.

Texas Tech's defense can win the CFP

Texas Tech poses a legit threat to win the College Football Playoff thanks to an elite defense that might just be the best in the nation that isn't wearing Ohio State uniforms.

Look, it's been awkward for all of us trying to get comfortable with the Red Raiders being a team led by an astounding defense. The Big 12 program has lit up scoreboards for the past 25 years with the trio of Patrick Mahomes, Graham Harrell, and Kliff Kingsbury combining for an absurd 39,474 passing yards. However, Joey McGuire's Texas Tech is a completely different program, a smashmouth team that squeezes the life out of any offense in its path.

BYU has now played the Red Raiders twice this season, scoring a combined 14 points over eight quarters. The Cougars opened Saturday strong with a 90-yard drive for a touchdown, but they barely hit that total for the remainder of the contest, putting up 110 the rest of the way.

Texas Tech's defense doesn't just suffocate the opposition; it swarms to the ball and is a turnover-forcing factory. BYU had eight possessions in Saturday's second half, punting twice and seeing the other six end in a takeaway or a turnover on downs.

You'll see plenty of attention given to how much the Red Raiders spent on their roster in the offseason, bringing in high-profile transfers and some top recruits to Lubbock. While the spending is notable, Texas Tech allocated that money incredibly wisely, with virtually every addition paying off in a big way. Splashing the cash is easy, but doing so with purpose is what separates great from good.

The Red Raiders are clearly the former and should terrify any team unfortunate enough to draw them in the playoffs.

We're good without BYU in the playoff

BYU's complete season resume is pretty incredible, considering its starting signal-caller, Bear Bachmeier, wasn't even on campus until May. The Cougars initially expected to start Jake Retzlaff again, but his departure in mid-July left the program scrambling at quarterback. Bachmeier eventually won the job and became the first true-freshman passer to start the season opener in BYU history.

Although LJ Martin's impressive rushing campaign, paired with one of the Big 12's best defensive units, powered the Cougars' 11-2 record, Bachmeier is certainly a star in the making in Provo.

Now that we've praised BYU, it's time to be real: this team shouldn't receive an at-large playoff berth. Over eight quarters against Texas Tech, the Cougars have shown that they're clearly a step below a top-level squad. The combined scoreline of 63-14 is somehow flattering to BYU, with the Red Raiders' failing red-zone offense putting plenty of field goals on the board instead of touchdowns.

There's precedent for a program in a power conference losing its title game yet still getting an at-large berth, as with SMU last season. However, the Mustangs lost on a late field goal in the championship, not in a 27-point blowout that was uncompetitive for the entire second half. We're betting that will influence the committee to keep BYU out of the field.