WEEK 12 WINNERS & LOSERS

WINNERS

• Western Michigan: The Broncos moved to 11- 0 by beating lowly Buffalo, but that was just the capper: Western Michigan began the day playing host to ESPN’s “College GameDay,” providing a spotlight for P. J. Fleck and his team’s push for a New Year’s Six Bowl. Without hyperbole, this was the most memorable day in program history. • Oregon: Beating a ranked Utah team for its fourth win on the year might have saved Mark Helfrich’s job. It also shook up the Pac- 12 race, knocking Utah nearly out of the hunt for the South Division title while giving Oregon some momentum heading into its rivalry game against Oregon State. • Temple: Not enough has been said about the job Matt Rhule has done in a follow- up to last year’s breakthrough. Saturday’s win against Tulane brought the Owls one step closer to another American Athletic Conference East Division crown. That’s pretty impressive given the losses from last year’s team and Temple’s sluggish start in September.

LOSERS

• Texas: The Charlie Strong era likely ended with the Longhorns’ 24- 21 overtime loss to lowly Kansas, which notched its first win against an FBS opponent in more than two years. The postmortem won’t be pretty: UT made no on- field progress during his three seasons, officially bottoming out at a time when most predicted the program would be hitting its stride. Strong will be in high demand come December, but the failures of his tenure at Texas will linger. • Texas Tech: There’s no silver lining to be found in an ugly, lopsided loss to Iowa State. Once a likely bowl participant and under- the- radar spoiler in the Big 12, the Red Raiders will end the year with a losing record. • TCU: A good number of people chose Oklahoma to win the Big 12. The rest picked TCU. While the Sooners head toward another potential conference title, the Horned Frogs must split games against Texas and Kansas State just to play in a bowl.

— Paul Myerberg, USA Today