Winners and losers from Week 13 of college football

Southern California could have easily let its season slip away after midseason departure of Steve Sarkisian.

In stepped interim coach Clay Helton to keep the team focused on the goal of winning the Pac-12.

An impressive 40-21 win against UCLA on Saturday gave the Trojans five wins in their six conference games under Helton and handed them the Pac-12 South division title. The victory also stopped the alarming run of three consecutive losses to the Bruins since Jim Mora became coach in 2012.

USC will get a rematch with Stanford in the Pac-12 title game next week. The Cardinal beat USC 41-31 on Sept. 19, a game that occurred before Helton took over.

A win against the Cardinal would earn the Trojans an unlikely trip to the Rose Bowl and could encourage the school to keep Helton on the job after this season.

Other winners and losers this week:

Winners

Virginia Tech: Frank Beamer’s career will fittingly end in a bowl game. The Hokies trailed by seven twice in the fourth quarter at Virginia, but rallied to take the lead on Joey Slye’s late field goal. The defense then delivered with an interception to secure the program’s 23rd consecutive appearance in the postseason. It also means Beamer leaves Blacksburg with 12 wins in a row against the Cavaliers.

Texas Tech: There were rumblings of dissatisfaction with Red Raiders coach Kliff Kingsbury entering the season. Not anymore after Tech capped a 7-5 season with its first defeat of Texas in Austin since 1997. Kingsbury even added a little fuel to the rivalry when, while appearing to run out the clock, he called a trick play to wide receiver Jakeem Grant for a touchdown. Just imagine how much better things might be next year if the Red Raiders can fix their defensive issues.

Indiana: There aren’t many better ways for the Hoosiers to end their eight–year bowl drought than by winning convincingly at rival Purdue. In addition to securing a trip to the postseason, this is a major sign of progress for Kevin Wilson in his fifth season as coach. He clearly has the program pointed in the right direction as evidenced by narrow losses to Ohio State and Michigan earlier this season.

Losers

Ohio State: A lot went right Saturday for the Buckeyes. Urban Meyer convincingly won his first matchup with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. The Ohio State seniors completed a rare four-game sweep of the Wolverines. Ezekiel Elliott ran for 214 of the 369 yards the Buckeyes piled up on the ground after being shut down last week by Michigan State. Yet what was unthinkable at the start of the year is now likely: Ohio State is going to miss the College Football Playoff. Michigan State’s defeat of Penn State ended any chance of a Big Ten title for the Buckeyes, and the Playoff shutout is almost certain unless some craziness occurs on the final weekend of the season.

It wasn't too little, but it was too late for Ohio State

Notre Dame: All season long, the Irish have been undermanned due to injuries, yet they fought through each of them. DeShone Kizer's run put them ahead of Stanford by one with 30 seconds left. A win would have completed an amazing 11-1 season and left Notre Dame squarely in the playoff mix. However, a penalty and long pass put the Cardinal in position to kick a game-winning field goal and end Notre Dame's title dreams. Finishing 10-2 and with a Big Six bowl is still an amazing accomplishment for the Irish when you consider its two losses came to Clemson and Stanford on the road by a combined three points. But that's hard to appreciate right now.

Kentucky: It looked so promising for the Wildcats after the first 30 minutes against Louisville. They led 24-7 at home and just needed to hold on to secure their first bowl berth in the Mark Stoops era. Then things fell apart. The Kentucky offense went nowhere, while the Cardinals responded with 31 unanswered points. Stoops has brought much optimism and strong recruiting since his arrival in 2013. But he missed an opportunity to break through on the field with a bowl bid.

SMU: The first season for Chad Morris was always going to be difficult with a program that bottomed out last year. But the lasting impression of the 2-10 campaign will be a 63-0 loss to Memphis in which the Mustangs trailed by 56 points at halftime. There’s a lot of work to do for Morris, who left a comfortable job as offensive coordinator at Clemson to rebuild a program with lots of potential.

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