Meyer focuses on main event
INDIANAPOLIS — Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer arrived Friday in Indianapolis with one goal: to head home with another Big Ten championship trophy. He treated everything else as a sideshow. Meyer ignored speculation about his career’s future and deflected talk about what his sixth-ranked Buckeyes would need to have happen for them to earn a spot in the fourteam College Football Playoff. Instead, Meyer stuck to the same message he has relayed to his team all week: Just focus on football.
“We wanted to be hard on them, be fresh and be mentally prepared, and I think we’re there,” Meyer said. “I like where we’re at.”
Ohio State (11-1) takes on No. 21 Northwestern (8-4) tonight at 8 Eastern at Lucas Oil Stadium. Being back in Indy for another shot at the league title and yet another possible playoff berth should be a relief in itself.
Seven weeks ago, the Buckeyes’ championship hopes nearly vanished with an embarrassing 49-20 loss at Purdue. But Ohio State rebounded by hanging on against Nebraska, walloping then-No. 18 Michigan State and outlasting Maryland in overtime before moving back into playoff contention with an impressive 62-39 East Division-clinching victory over Michigan, which was fourth in the playoff rankings at the time.
Since then, Meyer has dealt with all sorts of chatter and speculation, ranging from potential playoff scenarios to reports about his future at Ohio State.
“Uh, no comment on that,” Meyer said when asked Friday about a report that next season would be his last with the program.
Northwestern, meanwhile, continues to embrace playing the role of underdog.
Few expected the Wildcats to dethrone Wisconsin in the West Division, especially after losses to Duke, Akron and Michigan in successive weeks in September. But their only other stumble came against Notre Dame, undefeated and another playoff hopeful, and now it appears Northwestern is one win away from reaching its first Rose Bowl since current coach Pat Fitzgerald was a Wildcats player in 1995.
Red River rematch
ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas players celebrated on the field at the state fair, flashing “Hook ’Em Horns” signs and posing for pictures with the “Golden Hat” trophy that goes to the winner of their annual Red River Showdown with Oklahoma.
Soon after leaving the field, though, the victorious Longhorns were already thinking about the possibility of another meeting this season against the Sooners — for a different trophy in a different location.
“Absolutely. It was one of the first things we said after we got back to the locker room,” Texas tight end Andrew Beck said. “Some of the senior guys who walked in front of the team said be smart with what you say because we’re going to see those guys again.”
Eight weeks after Texas won 48-45, they do meet again. Fifth-ranked Oklahoma (11-1) faces the ninth-ranked Longhorns (9-3) at noon Eastern today in the Big 12 title game.
For the Sooners, this unusual rematch is about more than avenging their only loss. They can become the first Power Five team since Florida in the mid-1990s to win four consecutive outright conference championships, and a win could get them into the College Football Playoff for the third time.
“There’s always a lot riding on this game when you play it in October, no question about it, but there’s a lot of season left,” Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said. “This one, I think, I’m sure it’s going to be heated. But I think it would have been heated no matter who the two teams were in there, just because of what you’re playing for.”
This is only the third time in the series that started in 1900 that the bitter border state rivalry will be played twice in the same season. The last time was 115 years ago. Every game in the series since 1929 has been played near the midway at the State Fair of Texas.
This one will be about 20 miles away at AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and the Cotton Bowl, which will be one of the CFP’s national semifinals on Dec. 29. That means the Sooners could play there again if they make the four-team field — but winning today is the first priority.
Panthers want respect
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — George Aston has felt the slights throughout his career. That’s why he’s not surprised so few give his Pittsburgh Panthers any chance to topple second-ranked Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, set to kick off at 8 tonight.
“We know nobody really respects us or gives us any credit even when we have a great game,” the senior fullback said of the ACC Coastal Division champions. “Even after we win, they’ll probably still find a way to discredit us or (say) Clemson had a bad game.”
Aston and the Panthers (7-5) might be the only ones who believe there’s a chance to upset the surging ACC Atlantic Division winners. The Tigers (12-0), who have won the past three conference championships, enter with the league’s top scoring offense and a defense that’s No. 1 in the ACC in keeping opponents from scoring.
Clemson tailback Travis Etienne, the ACC’s leader with 1,307 yards and 19 touchdowns, was named league player of the year. The Tigers’ experienced and heralded defensive front of ends Austin Bryant and Clelin Ferrell plus tackles Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins have locked down the line of scrimmage for a unit that has allowed an average of less than 85 rushing yards a game.
Clemson also has a huge edge in big-game experience. The Tigers have advanced to the four-team playoff the past three years and won the 2016 season’s national championship. They have gone 46-2 the past four regular seasons, but one of those losses was a 43-42 stunner at the hands of unranked Pitt two years ago.
Rivals meet again
ORLANDO, Fla. — There are no shortcuts in Central Florida’s quest for perfection.
The seventh-ranked Knights (11-0) are one victory away from their second straight American Athletic Conference championship, a likely New Year’s Six bowl bid and bolstering their argument they are deserving of consideration for a berth in the four-team playoff. (They’re eighth in the current CFP rankings.)
None of that is possible, though, without beating visiting Memphis (8-4) in the AAC title game this afternoon at 4.
“Really, we still don’t focus on that. We’ve had 11 months of work that have led us to this opportunity (to) win a conference championship,” first-year Knights coach Josh Heupel said. “We don’t have to do anything out of the ordinary, but we do have to have a heightened sense of urgency and have great attention to detail because we’re playing a great opponent. I expect a great ballgame, one that will come down to the end, and we have to compete for 60 minutes.”
There are plenty of reasons for Heupel to feel that way — beginning with his team playing without injured quarterback McKenzie Milton, the two-time AAC offensive player of the year.
This will be the fourth time the Knights and Tigers have faced each other in two seasons. And even with Milton in the lineup, the past two matchups — Central Florida’s 62-55 double-overtime victory in last year’s conference title game, and the Knights’ 31-30 comeback win at Memphis in October — are among the closest calls Central Florida has had during a nation-leading active winning streak that is now at 24 games.
“We’ve had a couple of extraordinary games in these last couple years. But at critical times we’ve made mistakes and they’ve made some plays that have been the difference,” Memphis coach Mike Norvell said. “We can’t do things that hurt ourselves.”