With five games to go in the regular season, Garrett’s well surpassed his best career single-season sack mark. His previous best was 16.0 sacks in 2021 and 2022; he matched that in 11 games this season.

His career-high mark is now well behind him. The next target is the NFL’s single-season sack record.

Garrett and the Cleveland Browns’ stout defense host the 1-11 Tennessee Titans in Week 14. Tennessee’s offensive line has given up more sacks (48) than any other team in the league this season; it’d be hard to find a better matchup for Garrett to tee off in once again.

The former No. 1 overall pick powers a defense that leads the league in ESPN’s pass rush and run stop win rates. Sunday afternoon in Cleveland could be a historic one. Garrett’s had more than one sack in five of the Browns’ 12 games this season.

Could he break the single-season sack record this weekend? Here’s how many he needs and how likely he is to get it.

How many sacks does Myles Garrett need to break the record?

Garrett sits at 19.0 sacks this season entering Week 14. The current record is 22.5 sacks held by two players: T.J. Watt, who hit that mark in 2021, and Michael Strahan, who reached it in 2001.

Garrett needs 3.5 sacks to equal Watt and Strahan’s record. Considering his current pace, that feels like an eventuality. He’s had more sacks than that in two games alone this year and could break it by averaging less than a sack per game for the rest of the regular season.

Can Myles Garrett break the sack record against Tennessee?

Tennessee is allowing an average of four sacks per game this year to opposing defenses. If Garrett gets that many by himself, he’d break the sack record.

Tennessee’s divisional foe, Houston, may be a good matchup to study for this case. The Texans’ pass rushing duo of Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. is the scariest tandem in the league. In two games against Houston, Tennessee gave up six sacks.

Garrett will need to have another special day in a season full of them to get the sack record against Tennessee. But it is absolutely a possibility for the four-time All-Pro.

INDIANAPOLIS — The noise is exhausting. A mudslide into the deep, dark depths of strength of schedule and head-to-head feeding the daily disarray.

Now breathe, if just long enough to enjoy the college football story of the century.

‘It’s like a dream, a wonderful dream,’ said Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

That keeps getting better ― and isn’t ending any time soon.

Take a break from complaining about the College Football Playoff. Forget about Notre Dame and Miami and Alabama and every other blueblood trying to justify CFP flaws.   

It sounds utterly preposterous to even say it.

“For any of those Indiana doubters out there,” said Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones, “this was the last thing that needed to be proven.”

And wouldn’t you know it, in the biggest moment of this two-year metamorphosis, the No. 2 Hoosiers left no doubt with a punishing 13-10 victory over defending national champion and No. 1 Ohio State in Saturday night’s Big Ten championship game.

A win so complete and so program-defining, the enormity of the moment will reverberate throughout the sport. It wasn’t just the win, but how it underscored the unthinkable reality that the worst program in the history of the sport has completely changed course in a matter of two seasons. 

Indiana hadn’t beaten Ohio State since 1988 — a span of 32 straight games without a win (one game was a tie) — and then did so with everything on the line: an unbeaten regular season, the conference championship, the No. 1 seed in the CFP, and the Heisman Trophy.

And one more thing: Indiana will play in the Rose Bowl — after a first round bye — in the quarterfinals of the CFP. The Hoosiers haven’t experienced the ‘Granddaddy’ since 1968, when O.J. Simpson led USC to a 14-3 win. 

That’s how long this program has been in the college football hinterlands, how long Indiana football has been an opportunity for students to party in a half-empty stadium and alums to pass the time before basketball season.

“It’s another step we needed to take as a program,” said Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, and wouldn’t you know it, the architect of this improbable turnaround isn’t done yet. 

The coach who sat at his introductory press conference in 2024 and declared, ‘I win, Google me,’ who spent his first season at IU saying the outlandish and outrageous because the program needed traction, who has won 24 of his first 26 games and continues to set school records with every game played, knows there’s more on the horizon. 

The quarterfinals in the Rose Bowl. The semifinals in the Fiesta Bowl. The national championship game in Miami. 

The national flipping championship game. My god, what world are we living in? 

A world where Indiana has the best quarterback in college football, where Mendoza left Cal and had offers from Georgia and Miami. And chose Cignetti and the Hoosiers.

“Because he wins, and because he would make me a better player,” Mendoza said. 

That was Mendoza throwing a perfect back shoulder 50-50 ball to Elijah Sarratt for IU’s only touchdown and the eventual game-winning points, and a dime of a deep ball to Charlie Becker in the fourth quarter to effectively seal the victory.

“I looked up, and it was there,” Becker said. “An unreal throw.”

It’s a world where the best defense in college football is in Bloomington. Holy Bobby Knight, defense at Indiana. 

Long ago, Hoosiers coach Lee Corso called a timeout against Ohio State in the first quarter of a game while leading 7-0. Told the team to get on the field so they could take a team picture. 

Then lost the game 49-7.

This time around, Indiana held Ohio State’s high-powered offense — which boasts not one, but two Heisman candidates in quarterback Julian Sayin and wide receiver Jeremiah Smith — to 322 yards. The defense had five sacks, nine tackles for loss and an interception, and harassed Sayin all night.

Indiana has given up 60 points in its last six games, and gave up 55 points in the four biggest games of the season (Illinois, Iowa, Oregon, Ohio State). 

“We tell each other all the time, if they don’t score, we win,” said IU linebacker Rolijah Hardy, who knocked away a fourth down pass in the Indiana end zone late in the fourth quarter with the Hoosiers protecting a precarious three-point lead. “They weren’t scoring there. No way.”

It’s a world where Cignetti arrived at Indiana, and knew the roster had to be turned over. He didn’t brag about bringing Gucci, he just brought a core of players who previously turned around James Madison — then added more from the transfer portal.

He won 11 games in 2024, and got the largest alumni base in the nation (800,000-plus strong) engaged and invested, and suddenly the NIL money started flowing. And the next thing you know, Indiana has an elite quarterback. 

Then it beats Illinois by 53, gets a major road win at Oregon and sets up the biggest game in school history by routing rival Purdue by 53 points. Moments after that game last week, Cignetti walked into the cramped locker room at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana, and said they made too many mistakes. 

You’re not getting away with playing like that the rest of the way.      

“Coach Cig preaches to us over and over, just be the best version of yourself,” said IU linebacker Aiden Fisher. “That’s why this team rises to the occasion in big situations.”

Long after the celebration in front of a packed house at Lucas Oil Stadium, after Indiana won its first Big Ten championship in nearly 60 years, John Mellencamp’s ‘Small Town’ blared throughout the place. 

“I’ve seen it all in a small town, had myself a ball in a small town…”  

Mendoza ran off the stage in the middle of the field, and eventually found his way to the bowels of the stadium outside the Indiana locker room. There a large but quaint crowd of 20 or so Mendozas who made the trip from Miami, celebrated like they never have. 

There, in the middle of the celebration in a wheelchair, was Mendoza’s mother, Elsa, who is battling multiple sclerosis. Fernando Mendoza leaned in, his bloody arms wrapped around his mother, and whispered in her ear. 

They hugged and cried and smiled and laughed. 

Elsa watched her son take a big hit on the game’s first play, and lay motionless on the turf for 20 seconds before slowly walking off the field. He came back one play later, and directed the greatest win for the worst program in college football no more.

“The community in Bloomington, how long they’ve waited for this,” Mendoza said. “My Mom and my family making the long trip from Miami. It just meant the world to me.”

The story of the century. 

And it’s not over yet. 

Alabama’s loss opens a possible at-large playoff spot for Miami, depending on the selection committee’s decision.
Texas Tech secured a top-four seed and a first-round bye after beating BYU for its first Big 12 title.
Tulane is set to receive the Group of Five’s guaranteed playoff berth after winning the American Athletic Conference.

No. 10 Alabama never sniffed No. 3 Georgia in a 28-7 SEC championship game loss that could drop the Crimson Tide out of the College Football Playoff on the last day of the regular season.

That they rose one spot in the penultimate playoff rankings, swapping spots with No. 9 Notre Dame, suggested the Tide had the wiggle room to lose to Georgia and still make the tournament.

Part of that optimism stemmed from Alabama’s head-to-head win in late September. But there was a window of opportunity for Miami, ranked No. 12 in the playoff, that hinged on Alabama getting demonstrably outplayed by Georgia — and that’s exactly what happened.

Now the selection committee could be forced to make an incredibly difficult decision for the last at-large spot between Alabama and Miami.

There was last-minute chaos in the ACC, where five-loss Duke beat No. 16 Virginia 27-20 in overtime. Now that James Madison has completed a one-loss regular season with a Sun Belt crown, a Duke win could result in the ACC being left out of the 12-team field should Miami lose the at-large debate with the Crimson Tide.

And a heavyweight battle in the Big Ten ended with No. 2 Indiana beating No. 1 Ohio State 13-10 to secure the top overall seed in the playoff.

With just those two games left in the regular season, here are the winners and losers from conference championship weekend:

Winners

Indiana

Claiming the program’s first Big Ten title since 1967 meant beating the No. 1 team in the country, answering the question used to dismiss the Hoosiers for the past two years: Who have they played? Unlike last season, Indiana will surge into the playoff as one of the top contenders for the national championship and an intimidating matchup for any possible opponent. They’ll also be No. 1 in the US LBM Coaches Poll for the first time. At this point, there’s really nothing left to be said about the work Curt Cignetti has done transforming one of the weakest programs in the Power Four into a powerhouse. Meanwhile, quarterback Fernando Mendoza should have a firm hold on the Heisman Trophy after throwing for 222 yards and a score.

Duke

Winning the program’s first outright ACC championship since 1962 is cause for major celebration. An up-and-down ride to Saturday night included several impressive wins but even more impressive losses, to teams such as Tulane, Illinois, Georgia Tech and even Virginia less a month ago. There was always a feeling the Blue Devils were outperforming their record even as teams such as the Cavaliers, SMU and others drew far more national attention. But this memorable day for Duke is bad news for the ACC, as we’ll discuss.

Georgia

Georgia won the SEC for the second year in a row and looks like the league’s best shot at the national championship. Continuing a trend that began more than a month ago, the Bulldogs’ defense clamped down on the Crimson Tide and helped carry the load for an offense that failed to crack 300 yards for the second game in a row. Georgia will be the No. 2 seed in the final playoff rankings regardless of what happens in the Big Ten.

Miami and Notre Dame

That the debate for the last at-large spot should come down to Alabama and Miami is good news for Notre Dame, which is able to avoid having the loss to the Hurricanes relitigated on Selection Sunday. Miami lost twice, to Louisville and SMU, and fell short of the ACC championship game. But the Hurricanes’ case would be bolstered by a Duke win against Virginia, since they’d be the best contender from the ACC. While it’s possible, the committee will be wary of leaving out a Power Four league altogether; that’s where Miami could come into play.

Texas Tech

Beating BYU 34-7 for its first Big 12 title locks Texas Tech into one of the top four seeds and a bye through the opening round. There’s a chance the Red Raiders could earn the No. 3 seed based on what happens in the Big Ten championship game; should Indiana win, Ohio State is likely to drop two spots at most, which would keep the Red Raiders in the No. 4 spot. Looking back at the regular season, Tech has been easily one of the most dominant teams in the Power Four, losing just once — how this team lost to Arizona State is still a mystery — and beating every other opponent by at least 22 points. The Raiders beat BYU in two games by a combined 63-14 score.

Tulane

The No. 21 Green Wave beat No. 20 North Texas 34-21 on Friday night thanks to a plus-five turnover margin that yielded two defensive touchdowns and left a short field for two additional scores. That helped aid a furious 17-point second quarter capped by a short touchdown run by quarterback Jake Retzlaff as time expired in the first half. Keeping possession for over 35 minutes was huge: North Texas was sloppy but still averaged 6.1 yards per play, the most Tulane’s defense had allowed in almost a month. With the win, the Green Wave will earn the Group of Five’s one guaranteed playoff berth as either the No. 11 or No. 12 seed, depending on what happens in the ACC.

James Madison

James Madison will be in position to earn an unexpected playoff berth by taking care of Troy 31-14 on Friday night to finish an unbeaten romp through the Sun Belt. The Dukes have 12 wins to the Blue Devils’ eight and just one loss, but that loss did come to Louisville. In addition, Duke has seven Power Four wins while JMU has zero. Still, the one huge factor in the Dukes’ corner is the most recent playoff rankings. JMU was No. 25 and Duke was unranked. Does beating Virginia give the Blue Devils the boost to go from unranked with five losses to No. 24 or higher in the final rankings?

Kennesaw State

Kennesaw State beat Jacksonville State 19-15 on Friday night to take home the Conference USA championship and complete an eight-win jump from last season in coach Jerry Mack’s debut. The former Championship Subdivision power hit a speed bump in the transition to the Bowl Subdivision but is back on track under the former Tennessee assistant. Ahead 12-0 early in the fourth quarter, the Owls dropped behind 15-12 before going 75 yards on 11 plays and scoring the game-winning touchdown with 51 seconds to play.

Western Michigan

Western topped Miami (Ohio) 23-13 to capture the program’s first MAC championship since 2016 and fourth overall. The Broncos dropped three in a row out of the gate to Michigan State, North Texas and Illinois but have lost just once since, to the RedHawks in late October. Along the way, WMU beat every other MAC opponent to finish the regular season with a winning record in conference play.

Losers

The ACC

This is the most embarrassing moment for a conference in the expanded playoff era, certainly, and maybe the worst final day of the regular season for any of the current Power Four leagues in years. Because Duke won the ACC, the conference may be shut out of a playoff that is designed to avoid situations exactly like this. Basically, the playoff says the five highest-rated conference champions get automatic bids because, hey, what are the odds that one of the Power Four doesn’t grab one of those spots, right? And even if one of these leagues has an off year and falls behind, say, the American, there’s a one-spot safety net. This year, the ACC champion might’ve plummeted into sixth place among all conferences — we won’t know until the final rankings. While Duke might lose the comparison to James Madison, the good news is that Miami might save the day for the ACC. If not, tomorrow is going to be even more humiliating.

Alabama

Down 14-0 at halftime, the Tide fell behind 21-0 after three quarters and didn’t score until a Ty Simpson touchdown pass a few minutes into the fourth. Overall, Alabama gained 209 yards, had -3 yards rushing and committed one turnover, not counting a blocked punt that led to Georgia’s first score and failed two fourth-down conversions. But sloppy and ineffective play has been the story for Alabama since early November. After beating No. 24 Tennessee comfortably, the Tide barely beat South Carolina, was pedestrian against LSU, lost to No. 8 Oklahoma and needed a late score to win the Iron Bowl. Truthfully, this hasn’t looked like a playoff team for about a month. Combine an uncompetitive loss on Saturday with a sluggish home stretch to the regular season and you have the ingredients to get left out of the playoff.

Brigham Young

BYU was in the playoff with a win but will have no shot at an-at large bid with the loss. That’s a disappointing way to end another banner season for a program clearly on a rocketing trajectory under coach Kalani Sitake, who recently rebuffed overtures from Penn State in favor of a contract extension. There are good building blocks for next season on the roster and reason to think the Cougars will again be in the mix for the playoff. But this year’s team twice ran into the Texas Tech buzzsaw.

Ohio State

Not winning the Big Ten stinks, sure, but that didn’t stop the Buckeyes last year. Ohio State will drop to No. 3 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and probably finish No. 3 in the playoff rankings, too, though Texas Tech could rise and dump OSU to No. 4. In that case, the Buckeyes would still get a bye through the opening round and then face the winner of the No. 5 and No. 12 matchup before potentially drawing a rematch with the Hoosiers in the national semifinals.

North Texas

Two painful gut punches in one: First, the loss to Tulane costs North Texas a playoff trip, and two, the loss also marks the final game for Oklahoma State-bound coach Eric Morris. The Mean Green moved quickly to hire his successor in former West Virginia coach Neal Brown; that’s a strong hire and should keep North Texas as a factor in the American. But this was a special season, and special seasons don’t come around very often.

UNLV

For the third year in a row under two different coaches, UNLV reached the Mountain West championship game but came up short to Boise State. This year’s 38-21 loss was basically done at halftime and the Broncos holding a 28-14 lead, though they didn’t put the game away until a short touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. This was still a strong year for new coach Dan Mullen.

Duke won the ACC championship with an 8-5 record.
Despite winning a Power Four conference championship, Duke doesn’t look like it will make the playoff due to its weak resume.
With Duke’s win, all signs point to James Madison getting a spot in the College Football Playoff field.

Bring on the College Football Playoff chaos.

Get ready for even more drama to determine who will make the 12-team field with five-loss Duke upsetting No. 16 Virginia 27-20 in overtime of the ACC championship game.

There was plenty of confusion when the regular season was over and the ACC tiebreakers determined the Blue Devils qualified for the conference championship. Even though they had non-conference losses to Illinois, Tulane and Connecticut, they were one of five teams that went 6-2 in conference play and the tiebreakers went in their favor.

It wasn’t crazy to say it felt undeserved, especially since Duke would play a Virginia team that three weeks prior, routed the Blue Devils at their own stadium.

But it was far from the same story. Duke used 15 plays and nearly 10 minutes to march down the field on its opening drive for a touchdown. Virginia scored a touchdown early in the second quarter, and Duke responded with another touchdown to take a 14-7 lead at halftime.

After both teams traded field goals in the third quarter, Duke’s defense got a key interception in Virginia’s territory with seven minutes left. The Blue Devils were able to kick a field goal to make it a two-score game, but the Cavaliers came back and tied it in the final minute to force overtime.

Duke opened overtime with the ball and on a 4th-and-goal, quarterback Darian Mensah found Jeremiah Hasley for the score. On Virginia’s first play of extra time, a trick play turned disastrous as Duke’s Luke Mergott intercepted Chandler Morris’ pass to end the game.

Can Duke make CFP after winning ACC championship

With its first outright ACC title since 1962, Duke is the conference champion of a Power Four conference, which in a usual season would be guarantee to make the playoff.

But there’s nothing guaranteed for Duke to be in the field, and it doesn’t look like the Blue Devils will be making it for the first time in school history.

Heading into Saturday, Dec. 6, Duke had a 0% chance of making the playoff, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.

Simply put, Duke being a five-loss team greatly hurts its chances. A five-loss team has never made the field, and Duke’s resume is far from ideal, with two losses to Group of Five teams. The win over Virginia in the ACC title game was its first ranked win on the season.

Duke’s win actually benefits No. 19 James Madison, which looks like it will be in the playoff as the Sun Belt champion. The Dukes − not Duke − are No. 25 in the College Football Playoff rankings, and the field is determined by the five highest-ranked conference champions and seven at-large teams. 

Duke was not ranked in the US LBM Coaches Poll or the College Football Playoff rankings going into conference championship weekend. By the end of day, the current five highest ranked conference champions are:

No. 2 Indiana (Big Ten)
No. 3 Georgia (SEC)
No. 4 Texas Tech (ACC)
No. 20 Tulane (American)
No. 25 James Madison (Sun Belt)

The committee would have to not only have to rank Duke, but put it ahead of a James Madison team that won a conference title. It seems highly unlikely, so James Madison are expected to get the spot as the fifth and final automatic bid. Even if Duke gets in the rankings, it won’t be near the at-large conversation.

It will be a disaster for the ACC. It especially hurts when Miami started the weekend at No. 12 in the CFP and faces a slim chance of getting in as an at-large spot. If the Hurricanes don’t get in, the ACC will be a Power Four conference that fails to get any team in the playoff.

Duke can try to prove why it should be in, but it’s looking like it won’t hear it’s name called in the bracket reveal.

The No. 1-ranked UConn women’s basketball team welcomes back a legend as it returns home to face DePaul on Sunday, Dec. 7, at Gampel Pavilion.

Huskies great Sue Bird will be the third player in program history to have her jersey (No. 10) retired. She joins Rebecca Lobo (No. 50) and Swin Cash (No. 32). Bird, who won two national titles at UConn, remains the school record holder in 3-point field goal percentage (45.9) and free throw percentage (89.2).

“It should be a really fun day,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “I talked to the players about it, that it’s not often that you get to be a part of something like this. I know I’m excited about it, and hopefully they are as well.”

Bird has spent most of 2025 being honored. First, she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in June. Then, the Storm unveiled a statue of Bird in front of Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle in August. Finally, she was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in September. 

What time is UConn vs. DePaul?

The UConn Huskies return to Gampel Pavilion to host the DePaul Blue Demons at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 7, in Storrs, Connecticut.

UConn vs. DePaul: TV, streaming

Date: Sunday, Dec. 7
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Connecticut)
TV: FS1
Stream: Fubo

The Cleveland Browns aren’t backing out of one of the worst trades of the last decade.

Despite missing the 2025 NFL season due to injury, the Browns are not planning to move on from quarterback Deshaun Watson in 2026, per multiple reports. The former first-round pick hasn’t suited up for the Browns since Week 7 of the 2024 season, in a 21-14 loss to divisional foe Cincinnati.

Cleveland opened Watson’s 21-day practice window this week, more than a full year after the quarterback first ruptured his right Achilles tendon against the Bengals.

‘His focus, my focus is obviously getting him back to playing football, practicing football, which he hasn’t done in over a year. Good next step for him,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said during his press conference Wednesday.

The Browns may have opened Watson’s window to get a better idea of where he is in his recovery from multiple ruptures to that Achilles tendon, a person familiar with Watson’s situation told USA TODAY Sports.

Stefanski didn’t say that this move came with the idea that Watson would play in 2025.

“His focus is putting a helmet on again for the first time, shoulder pads, throwing a football,’ Stefanski said. ‘That’s where the focus is.”

That decision makes the move to keep Watson on the roster clearer. Cleveland’s relied on rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders at quarterback this season after trading away veteran Joe Flacco.

Stefanski praised Watson’s impact on the rookies.

“He’s been so supportive in the meeting room, on the game field with the players,” said Stefanski. “I know he’s excited to get back out there practicing with his teammates.”

Gabriel and Sanders will both likely be on the team next year and could compete with at least Watson for the starting job should the team not draft another quarterback, per reports. The team restructured Watson’s contract last December in a move to spread out the cap hits on his current deal. Keeping him on the roster even if he doesn’t start would be more prudent as cutting him before June 1, 2026 would incur a $130 million dead cap hit.

Watson has appeared in 19 games for the Browns and has gone 9-10 as a starter. His career has been marked by more than two dozen lawsuits and an 11-game suspension from the NFL due to behavior at Houston-area massage parlors while playing for the Texans.

Georgia just put the Big Ten on notice. It’s coming for the trophy.
Alabama faces nervous playoff selection day. Georgia heads for CFP bye.
Gunner Stockton wins SEC Championship MVP with steady showing.

ATLANTA – Raylen Wilson smiled like winners do.

The Georgia linebacker had just pulled himself away from the locker room, where the Bulldogs celebrated their third SEC championship in the past four seasons with a 28-7 incineration of Alabama.

We’ll rely on Wilson to be our eyes and ears. What was it like inside that Georgia locker room?

“It’s lit in that locker room right now,” Wilson said, with a grin that told the story of this night.

Georgia’s on fire.

Georgia quiets ‘naysayers’ with thumping of Alabama

Kirby Smart spoke afterward of the “naysayers,” because Georgia’s coach never misses an opportunity to remind anyone who’ll listen that his Bulldogs swim against a current of doubters.

That rally cry rings true this year, though. Smart didn’t need to invent naysayers. They existed.

Georgia looked vulnerable while surviving in overtime at Tennessee in September. It looked more middling than menacing in a loss to Alabama two weeks later. Its defense looked helpless, even in victory, against Mississippi in October.

National championships aren’t played on Halloween. Teams are allowed to get better. This one has.

“It’s a special group,” said Cole Speer, whose blocked punt set up Georgia’s first touchdown. “This group stays together, sticks together.”

Talk about an all-three-phases statement.

Let’s just call it straight: This was a boot stomping and a total repudiation of Alabama.

Alabama heads for a nerve-racking selection day. The Tide worsened their positioning. Georgia heads for a first-round playoff bye.

I can’t tell you what the betting spread would be if Georgia stepped onto the field to face Ohio State or Indiana or Texas Tech, but I’ll tell you this: I saw four teams on conference championship weekend that looked like they could win a national championship. Georgia is one of them.

Kirby Smart’s defense had Alabama in a vise

Get a load of this: Alabama finished with negative-three rushing yards.

Negative. Three.

Not Charlotte. Not Austin Peay. Not Marshall.

Alabama.

That’s how it’s going for the Tide’s run game. That’s also how it’s going for Georgia’s run defense.

“I feel like (this game) just shows you what Georgia football is all about – defense, running the football and stopping the run,” Wilson said.

Add in a quarterback this team rallies around in Gunner Stockton, and Georgia has gradually developed into a complete team. Did you see Stockton’s touchdown pass to Dillon Bell in the second quarter? That thing had some serious smoke. Big-league stuff.

“We go as he goes,” Bell said of Stockton, the game’s most valuable player, an honor bestowed after Stockton’s three touchdown passes.

Think anyone misses Carson Beck in Georgia? Not a chance.

There’s going to be a lot of chatter in the days that follow about whether the SEC championship is a relic that ought to go on the chopping block. That idea will gain steam if Alabama is left out of the College Football bracket. Smart remains a believer in this game. His players didn’t mind the conquest, or what it signified.

“The SEC is the toughest conference in college football,” Bell said. “Winning that just shows how much hard work you put in from summertime to now.”

Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, who’s played in both the SEC and Big Ten, recently agreed in an interview with David Pollak with the assessment that the SEC is most consistently rugged conference.

The SEC hasn’t produced the nation’s best team the past two seasons, though, raising questions about whether the conference’s dominance is slipping in the NIL era. Will the SEC regain the throne this season? I’m still not convinced it will, but you at least could make that case with some conviction after this Georgia performance.

The naysayers are being replaced by believers.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

Indiana has won its first Big Ten championship since 1967, and first outright conference title since 1945.

Simply put in the words of its quarterback, ‘The Hoosiers are flipping champs.’

After Indiana won the battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2 by taking down Ohio State, 13-10, in the Big Ten title game, quarterback Fernando Mendoza didn’t hold back his emotions on the historic achievement for the program.

‘I want to give all the glory to God. We were never supposed to be in this position, but by the glory of God, the great coaches, great teammates, everyone we have around us, we were able to pull these off. Whoever thought the Hoosiers would be here? But now the Hoosiers are flipping champs,’ a passionate Mendoza said.

When Fox sideline reporter Jenny Taft asked Mendoza why Indiana was the right place for them, he said it’s a process-oriented group all focused on one goal.

‘We’re brothers. We can drag teams into the deep end, because we know that we’re gonna stick together, and we’re the strongest glue ever,’ he said.

Mendoza is no stranger to giving memorable postgame interviews, going back to his days at California. He was also named the Big Ten championship game MVP with 222-yard performance with one touchdown and one interception.

Now, he has Indiana as Big Ten championship and heading into the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 seed, with a Heisman Trophy possibly in his possession.

Duke has won the ACC championship and thrown the College Football Playoff picture into chaos. Its coach believes the Blue Devils should be in the bracket.

By beating Virginia on Saturday, Dec. 6, Duke has opened up the final automatic bid. Typically, it would make sense for the ACC champion to automatically be in, but the Blue Devils present an unusual case. They are 8-5 and weren’t ranked in any poll, including the College Football Playoff rankings, coming into conference championship week.

However, No. 19 James Madison was in the CFP rankings at No. 25 and won the Sun Belt. Therefore, it looks like the Dukes would get in given the criteria for the field is the five highest-ranked conference champions and seven at-large teams. 

Regardless, Duke coach Manny Diaz spent his postgame interview vouching for his team to be in the playoff, seemingly claiming James Madison doesn’t have a resume like the Blue Devils.

‘They don’t have wins like this. They don’t have a win against a team like that. That’s a big-time team right there in Virginia,’ Diaz said on the ESPN broadcast. ‘Seven wins in this conference, seven Power Four wins compared to zero. That’s a playoff team. Darian Mensah may be the best damn quarterback in the country. These guys deserve to be in.’

While James Madison doesn’t have any Power Four wins, with its lone loss coming against Louisville, the Dukes also went 12-1 on the season, and two of Duke’s five losses came against Group of Five teams in Tulane and Connecticut.

The Blue Devils will have to wait for the playoff reveal show at Noon ET on Sunday, Dec. 7 to see if they will be able to play for a national championship.