A restless night at TCU

Confetti from a college football weekend.

Kansas State 31, TCU 28 (OT)

— The intelligentsia believes TCU (12-1) is still in the College Football Playoff despite this Big 12 Championship loss, but Alabama’s Nick Saban is campaigning for his 2-loss team, and nobody in purple rested easy Saturday night in anticipation of Sunday’s final bracket.

— TCU quarterback Max Duggan (pictured) probably clinched a spot in the Heisman Trophy finals as he played himself into exhaustion in the fourth quarter. Down 28-17 with 11:23 to go, Duggan took TCU on a field goal drive and then ran for 15, 13, 19 and 40 yards on his way to an eight-yard TD and a 2-point conversion pass to Jared Wiley with 1:51 left. But in overtime Duggan didn’t get the ball on third and fourth down plays at the Wildcats’ goal line, and TCU came up empty, allowing K-State to win it with a field goal.

— Kansas State goes to the Sugar Bowl on the strength of Deuce Vaughns’ 130 yards rushng, including a 44-yard touchdown. K-State was 10-3, proving again that teams need to hire the right coach, like Chris Kleiman, who went 69-6 at North Dakota State, instead of worrying about winning the press conference. But in Athlon’s preseason magazine, the Wildcats were picked fifth in the Big 12 with a projected 8-4 record, and TCU was picked eighth at 6-6.

Georgia 50, TCU 30

— Unlikely plays fueled the Bulldogs, like Chris Smith’s 96-yard return of a blocked field goal after everyone else forgot about the ball, and an interception that ricocheted off an LSU receiver’s head. Georgia accepted them both and parlayed them into its first SEC title in five years.

— This is not the same team that won last year’s national championship. The defense is still salty, but Georgia’s identity is a powerful offense run by Stetson Bennett, who threw touchdowns to four different receivers. Tight ends Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington were in that group as LSU, like everyone else, lacked the ability to match up.

— Georgia did get burned by Garrett Nussmeier, LSU’s backup quarterback who came out firing and threw for 294 yards and two touchdowns. The Tigers were inconsistent but promising in Brian Kelly’s first season, finishing 9-4 with wins over Alabama and Ole Miss and a loss to Texas A&M.

Michigan 43, Purdue 22

— For the second consecutive year Michigan put aside the post-Ohio State high and won a Big 10 championship. But it only led Purdue 14-13 at the half and 28-19 when it punted with 10:02 left. Will Johnson got his second interception two plays later and Michigan rolled from there.

— Although running back Blake Corum is out for the year, Donovan Edwards keeps easing the pain with big plays. He ran for 185 yards with a 60-yard touchdown in this one. Last week against the Buckeyes he rumbled for 216 yards and TDs of 75 and 85 yards.

— Michigan was safely in the CFP fold even with a loss, but Ohio State’s assumed replacement of USC spices up things. If the Buckeyes pass TCU for the No. 3 spot, the semifinals will feature a Michigan-Ohio State rematch.

Jackson State 43, Southern 24

— Shedeur Sanders lit up Southern with 30 for 43 passing, 320 yards and four touchdowns. The Tigers (12-0) had five takeaways and won their second consecutive SWAC championship.

— As expected, coach Deion Sanders (pictured) accepted the Colorado job after the game, which means his son Shedeur probably zooms to the top of the Buffaloes’ depth chart. You can’t say Sanders dodges a challenge. CU was probably the worst power conference team in the FBS last year, never scoring more than 21 points and going 1-11.

— “Coach Prime” had a rich pipeline of transfers at Jackson State, and Colorado can anticipate the same. His defensive coordinator was Dennis Thurman, the former USC All-American who was Sanders’ position coach in Baltimore. Tight ends coach Tim Brewster once was the U. of Minnesota’s head coach. Jackson State had 54 touchdowns this year and allowed 13, and its average home crowd was 43,543.

Tulane 45, UCF 28

— The Green Wave finished off a 11-2 season with an emphatic win in the American Conference championship game and appears to be on course to play USC in the Cotton Bowl. It would be Tulane’s first New Year’s Day bowl appearance since 1939, when it lost the Sugar Bowl to Texas A&M, 14-13. That year, Tulane shared the SEC title with Tennessee and Georgia Tech.

— Tulane’s big plays have been a constant, and Michael Pratt threw touchdown passes of 43, 73 and 60 yards. Tyjae Spears also ran for a 60-yard score and 199 yards all told.

— Tulane is 11-2, and only last season it was 2-10 and forced to spend a month in Birmingham, Ala. because of Hurricane Ida’s aftereffects. Among Tulane’s notable wins this year was a 17-10 road upset of Big 12 champ Kansas State, and a 27-24 win that broke Cincinnati’s 32-game home win streak.

Troy 45, Coastal Carolina 26

— The champions of the most entertaining conference in the nation are the Troy Trojans, 11-2, who romped in the Sun Belt championship game. It was their 10th consecutive win after losing to Appalachian State on a Hail Mary.

— Linebacker Carlton Martial extended his major-college record for career tackles, which he set with his 546th stop against Northwestern Louisiana on Nov. 12. Martial is 5-foot-9 and 210 and didn’t have an FBS scholarship offer when he came out of Mobile, Ala. He walked on at Troy.

— The Trojans had won only five games in each of the past three years but made this leap with first-year coach Jon Sumrall, off the Kentucky staff. Troy’s only other loss was 28-10 to Ole Miss in the season opener. In beating Coastal Carolina, Gunnar Watson threw touchdown passes of 65, 67 and 36 yards, and Troy had a yardage edge of 316-22 at one point.