College Football Risers and Fallers After Week 12 - 2024 College Football

The college football season has almost gone as quickly as it came, as we have just two weeks remaining in the regular season. Week 12’s results shook up the playoff race once again, and it’s inevitable that we will see more shakeup over the next two weeks as the regular season closes down.

The noon slate was led by dominant performances from Ohio State, Tulane, and Colorado, while Texas scraped by Arkansas and Cade Klubnik iced the game against Pitt on the road. The midday slate was a snooze until late, when USC outlasted Nebraska, Louisville fell on a last-second field goal, and South Carolina toppled Missouri in one of the most entertaining games of the regular season.

Saturday night closed out with a comeback performance from Boise State, a gritty Arizona State road win over Kansas State, a late game-clinching field goal from Oregon to survive on the road, and by far Carson Beck’s best performance of the season in a must-win game over Tennessee. After the entertaining night slate, the after-dark slate provided with Jalon Daniels and the Kansas Jayhawks taking down sixth-ranked BYU at home. Let’s dig into this week’s stock report.

Stock Up

Travis Hunter, WR/CB, Colorado

Love it or hate it, Colorado’s Travis Hunter is one of the most exciting players in the nation and is now the overwhelming Heisman favorite despite the historic season that Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty is pulling together.

Hunter stuffed the stat sheet in the win over Utah, logging 55 receiving yards, a rushing touchdown, and an interception. His impact has been insurmountable for the Buffaloes, who are in position to play themselves into the playoff. Hunter looks to be a top five pick in the NFL Draft, a potential Heisman winner, and has his team in the hunt for the national title with two weeks remaining in the regular season. His stock can’t get any higher than it is now.

Tulane Green Wave

Don’t look now, but Jon Sumrall has Tulane in prime position in his first year on the job. The Green Wave suffered two early-season losses to Kansas State and Oklahoma, but have not lost a conference game and are now ranked 20th in the nation.

Freshman quarterback Darian Mensah has been a stud, passing for 2,197 yards, 18 touchdowns, and four interceptions so far on the season. He efficiently managed the game in a dominant 35-0 win on the road against Navy. If Boise State falters down the stretch, the Green Wave would be the next Group of  5 team to leap into the playoff discussion.

Bret Bielema, Illinois

In his fourth year on the job, Illinois coach Bret Bielema has taken a team that is typically fighting for bowl eligibility and elevated them to a top 25 team in the nation. The Illini’s latest feat was a 38-16 dominant win over Michigan State, in which quarterback Luke Altmyer threw for 231 yards and two scores. Illinois isn’t in the playoff discussion, but Bielema has this team trending in the right direction.

LaNorris Sellers, QB, South Carolina

The most underrated quarterback in the nation is redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers. Standing six-foot-three, 242-pounds, Sellers has all of the intangibles coupled with the killer mentality we saw on Saturday as he drove his team down the field late against Missouri to win the game.

Sellers went 21-for-30 for 353 yards and five touchdowns while rushing 14 times for 45 yards. He is the next elite quarterback and should command a boatload of NIL money this offseason.v

Stock Down

Louisville Cardinals

Aside from the road win against Clemson, the mantra of Louisville’s entire season has been close but no cigar. The Cardinals had narrowly lost to Notre Dame, SMU, and Miami earlier in the season before dropping this past weekend to a 2-7 Stanford team on a last-second field goal.

Freshman receiver Emmett Mosley V, who had one touchdown on the season and had a previous career-high receiving yardage total of 48 yards, torched the Cardinals for 175 yards and three scores. Now 6-4, the season is wrapped up for Louisville.

Brian Kelly, LSU

Entering Saturday, LSU was a longshot but was still alive to make the SEC title game. After losing in Gainesville, the same can not be said for the now 6-4 Tigers. Brian Kelly’s squad has now dropped three straight games and never really had a chance in the previous two.

He’s nowhere near the hot seat, but Kelly cannot afford to lose either of the last two games. LSU closes the season with Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, both at home.

BYU Cougars

Easily the biggest loser of Saturday’s slate was BYU, who fell from sixth to fourteenth in the CFP rankings after suffering a loss at home to Kansas.

The narrow escapes that the Cougars have gotten away with all season have finally caught up, and the timing could not be worse. They now have to travel to play a surging Arizona State team, which is still alive for the Big 12 title game, on Saturday. BYU controls their own destiny right now, but a loss at Arizona State this weekend could drop them from the Big 12 title game and end their magical season early.

Kansas State Wildcats

One of the most disappointing teams on the season dropped another game at home on Saturday. Kansas State is now 4-3 in Big 12 play and 7-3 on the year. Sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson has shown flashes but ultimately has not lived up to the hype. The Wildcats have two more intriguing games remaining to try to finish the season on a high note: home against Cincinnati and at Iowa State.

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