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Ohio State and Baylor were two teams that went into Week 14 needing these so called “style points” to boost their playoff hopes—both won—so what’s the specific criteria…
At six and five, the college football playoff obviously quarantined Florida weeks ago, but the way the Gators lost to in-state rival Florida State must’ve picked up some serious “style points”. Jameis Winston tossed four interceptions, a career high for a game, and he only threw for 125 yards. A competent offence would’ve given out-going Head Coach Will Muschamp the last laugh, but the Gators were only interested in field goals, two of which were missed in the latter half of the contest – that won’t win you ball games when Delvin Cook is on the other sideline and he was cookin’ ; scootin’ for 144 yards on 24 carries. No touchdowns, but his performance sealed the game.
On the other hand, Winston’s performance was somehow marginally worse than freshman quarterback Treon Harris’ (that shouldn’t have been possible). The aforementioned Harris was 13 of 32 (40.6%) for 169 yards. He went 0 for 6 on the final drive of the game. He should avoid carnival games at all costs.
If you’ve ever seen the 2005 film Miracle, that’s what it would’ve been like had Harris led the Gators to victory. The relieved faces on the Soviet Union players; that’s what Florida State would’ve looked like. Somewhere Rudy would have been quietly chanting: “Harris… Harris”, for the 5-11 quarterback from Miami.
That wasn’t the case, but the University of Florida should be awarded “style points” for the way they did everything possible to not win: picks, missed field goals, going away from the read-option, and dumb penalties, especially from Latroy Pittman. #cmonman
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Mississippi State was doomed to lose the Egg Bowl: the home team had won the last three meetings. But man, those uniforms… the gold numbers and shoes were #stylepoints.
It truly was a day for the running back. Ole Miss back, Jaylen Walton, went for 148 yard on 14 carries. That’s 10.6 y/c, not to mention styling on the way to the end zone for a 91-yard TD run. The 31-17 scoreline in favour of Ole Miss is generous considering they were 4 for 14 on 3rd down. Miss St wasn’t any better, but when the committee drops them out of contention for the playoff, the Bulldogs deserve to retain some water for their rivalry week uniforms.
The Oregon Ducks are no stranger to style points. In fact, they invented them. Not only did they take care of business against Oregon State, winning 47-19, they did so whilst sporting D2: Mighty Ducks-esque uniforms. They, like Georgia Tech ruined Senior Night Between the Hedges. That has to count for something.
Takeaways: Style points are subjective. According to Criminal Minds, an “X” amount of stab wounds makes it personal; make it personal.
Wisconsin is going to beat Ohio State in the B1G Championship. So too is Georgia Tech. They’re going to unseat Florida State in the ACC. Finally, 9-2 is not the place to be. TCU needs to make it personal against Baylor.
My say: 1 Alabama; 1) Oregon; 3) TCU; 4) Florida State.
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