These games feature mostly a bit of history behind them, or just the general classics that no one will remember by the time draft day comes. Then again, history always seems to repeat itself in terms of rivalries; rarely do you see the tides of a rivalry change up until the present day. Looking right at you, Florida State.
Week 7:
Utah vs Arizona St: Arizona State wins 27-19
The game that finally put Arizona State on the map and knocked Utah out of it. Expecting to see Utah dominate and mess up the BIG12 as they did in the Pac-12? They instead get boat-raced by both Arizona and Arizona St within the last three weeks.
Ole Miss vs LSU: LSU wins 29-26(OT)
Remember how we thought that Ole Miss had a good enough shot to make the CFP? Well, not winning the Magnolia Bowl in Louisiana does kind of hurt your chances, especially after seeing the slide LSU has been on ever since Alabama came to town. Oh wait, never mind, they don’t even notice since they’re still tweeting about the SEC being a “different league” than anyone else, says the team who lost to Kentucky.
Purdue vs Illinois, Illinois wins 50-49(OT)
Even after having a disastrous season by the Boilermakers, the one thing they were able to do was capture the Purdue Cannon from the Fighting Illini every year for the past 4 years straight. And in this classic, they seemed to bring back their old selves to try and just regain some pride and take down a heated rival. Unfortunately, Ryan Walters was committing a war crime every week with Purdue, so they can lose an absolute cinema matchup by one point.
Week 8:
Florida St vs Duke: Duke wins 23-16
Up until this year, Florida State had a winning streak of 20 against Duke every time they met. However, there seems to be a time for everything. As they proceed to lose in another heartbreaking fashion to Duke, the Blue Devils finally break the streak once and for all.
Arizona St vs Cincinnati: Cincinnati wins 24-14
And now people immediately wrote off Arizona St. for this one game. Sure, the conference championship was still on the line, but did anyone expect them to make the CFP immediately, let alone have a bye week after this? Especially the season the Bearcats have had ever since? At least they can hang the banner saying, “We beat a CFP Team!”
Kentucky vs Florida: Florida wins 48-20
At this point, the Gators begged to see Billy Napier fired off a cliff, joining all their other failed coaches. But a break in winning a rivalry game against the legendary and great…Kentucky proved itself again another week. DJ Lagway showed off what he’s capable of, and it would take a few more weeks to finally unlock the true potential of an actual good quarterback in his system. As for Kentucky… they’re just here, simply drifting away into being forgotten.
