If you’re a regular to these musings–and at least by one account that would mean a little more than a dozen of you–you’d know that as I’ve done my best to keep this platform somewhat focused on what is unquestionably the most popular sport of all beyond a certain person’s exceptionally limited and often violently defended limited range of interest. So you’d have a point that if the clickbait above seems familiar I’ve probably tried to previously apply such a description to at least a couple of the previous 14 college football weekends this year.
But this one actually seems to have earned that plaudit if for no other reason that longevity. The majority of those before this were essentially limited to events of Saturday; on occasion, Friday and/or Thursday. Because of the intense and ever-growing demand for content on Black Friday and the vacillations of a certain sought-after leader, this one has extended straight into Sunday.
The games themselves were dramatic enough, and they had every reason to be so given the fact that so many of them involved longtime established rivals connected by history and geography. Most of them delivered on their promises for something memorable, especially the ones that had something at stake.
We started with an upset of sorts on Friday evening that the hometown AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN’s Danny Davis excitedly reported on:
And now the Longhorns must wait. The Texas football team rallied from a halftime deficit on Friday in a 27-17 win over Texas A&M at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Texas quarterback Arch Manning accounted for two touchdowns in the victory, which spoiled Texas A&M’s bid for a perfect regular season. Friday’s win was UT’s third over an opponent ranked among the top-10 teams in the Associated Press poll. Texas bested then-No. 6 Oklahoma last month and beat then-No. 10 Oklahoma on Nov. 1. Texas A&M (11-1, 7-1) was ranked third by the College Football Playoff committee, AP and coaches this week.
And it continued all day yesterday, beginning with what at one time would have been the lead story for several weeks in this space when we had an obsessed manchild with an unhealthy attachment to a certain scarlet-and-grey clad team as a “reporter”. Since he’s long gone, we were forced this time around to turn to an actual professional, THE ATHLETIC’s Cameron Teague Robinson, for the recap:
It had been 2,191 days since the last rivalry win. The 2020 game was canceled, and each season since 2021 had brought increasing disappointment. So, at long last Saturday, with the emotions fresh from No. 1 Ohio State’s 27-9 win over No. 15 Michigan, (Coach Ryan) Day sat down, took a deep breath and … held everything he’d been wanting to say back. I think the best thing to do is win with humility, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Day said. “I think that speaks to our program. It speaks to what it means to be a Buckeye. We wanted to take this rivalry game back this year, and the way our guys played spoke to that.”
Later in the day, the Battle For Tennessee unfolded pretty much as expected–at least in this otherwise atypical year. Robinson’s colleague Joe Rexrode explainedL
Vanderbilt remains alive for a spot in the College Football Playoff, and quarterback Diego Pavia might be more than just alive in the Heisman Trophy race after leading the No. 14 Commodores to a 45-24 rout over No. 19 Tennessee on Saturday at Neyland Stadium. Pavia threw for 268 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 165 yards and a score to deliver the first 10-win season in Vanderbilt history. The Commodores (10-2, 6-2 SEC) need help ahead of them and hadn’t gotten much as of kickoff on their rival’s field — Texas’ upset of Texas A&M made things tougher — but also now have their best win of the season against a hard-luck Vols team (8-4, 4-4) that previously lost home heartbreakers to Georgia and Oklahoma.
And as midnight East Coast Time drew nigh, what at one point loomed to be a dose of melatonin reached an unlikely and actually significant climax–at least, that’s what SEC FOOTBALL’s Spencer Davis would hope you conclude:
Alabama gutted out a 27-20 win over Auburn in the Iron Bowl on Saturday night, sending the Crimson Tide to the SEC Championship Game. Alabama jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first half, but the Tigers gradually worked their way back into the game. They were able to tie things up in the second half before Alabama took the lead on a gutsy 4th-and-2 call by coach Kalen DeBoer. Auburn had a chance to tie the game on its ensuing possession, but Cam Coleman lost a fumble to give the Tide the ball back with under a minute to go. Alabama was able to bleed out the clock from there. Alabama stretched its Iron Bowl winning streak to 6 while clinching a spot in the SEC Championship and improving its national championship odds.
So yeah, the SEC was arguably the biggest newsmaker on both Friday and Saturday. And at least as this is being typed (and we did wait as long as possible awaiting a breaking news alert), they’re still dominating headlines. The omnipresent authors of THE ATHLETIC’s UNTIL SATURDAY Jason Kirk, Alex Kirschner and Sam Settleman teed this up as much as possible:
Lane Kiffin still has not announced whether he’ll stay at Ole Miss or leave for LSU. Yesterday was supposed to be the decision day, but after every other CFB broadcast all day long cut away for endless shots of ESPN’s Marty Smith standing in front of a wall at the Rebels’ facility, the only news is that Ole Miss has a team meeting scheduled for 9 a.m. CT (which is probably not a good sign for Oxford keeping him, if Oxford even wants him at this point).
But as a service to you few loyal readers, we actually clicked before sending as instructed by the triumeverate and can at least provide you with this:
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is expected to accept the LSU job today, a source close to the coach told The 
Athletic’s Bruce Feldman. Ole Miss was set to hold a team meeting at 10 a.m. ET Sunday, a source briefed on the situation told Feldman, but the meeting’s reported start time has since been moved to 2 p.m. ET. The coach’s decision between staying at a College Football Playoff-bound team he helped build or leaving for one of its rivals dominated the headlines of the regular season’s final weekend and loomed into Sunday. LSU has offered Kiffin a seven-year contract in the neighborhood of $100 million. Kiffin’s Rebels won the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State on Friday, 38-19, and are a near-lock to make the College Football Playoff.
Which, if nothing else, means that Ole Miss now has far bigger rivals to worry about than merely their neighbors from Starkville. For one, the team that will give them their first taste of true championship stakes in their history. And, moving forward, those greedy bastards from Baton Rouge led by their syncophant de-facto atheltic director, Louisiana governor Jeff Landry. 
We may have gotten darn good football storylines over three consecutive days this year. But I for one cannot wait until next fall, when at a yet-undetermined date the Bayou Bengals will visit Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, with a certain familiar face likely at the front of the line. If the schedule-makers are smart, they’ll figure out a way to relocate the Egg Bowl and move this battle into Rivalry Weekend. Old rivals are one thing, but new ones–hoo whee.
Courage,,,