Week 13 of the college football season was not only the last regular season week but also the week in which most teams played their most bitter rivals.

Several upsets occurred, several anticipated blowouts were close and several matches that were anticipated to be close ended up being blowouts. 

In a highly ranked and highly-anticipated matchup between two of three undefeated teams left, Michigan and Ohio State opened up play in the early morning hours. The No. 3 and No. 2 ranked teams looked to be just as competitive as either of the college football playoff games.

Sadly for the Wolverines, they played with a limited Blake Corum as he was dealing with injuries and was held to only two carries in the rivalry game.  

Despite the expectations and the Buckeyes playing in front of their home crowd, their offense was lost at halftime. Going into the half, Ohio State held a 20-17 lead before getting outscored 28-3 in the second half to end up with a lopsided final score. 

It was the second straight win for the Wolverines and head coach Jim Harbaugh has taken his team to what is nearly guaranteed to be a second-straight college football playoff appearance. 

“Couldn’t be more proud. This team was focused and determined and we have a locker room of heroes,” Harbaugh said. 

Ohio State was not the only team to pull a Houdini-esque disappearing act in the second half of their game. In one of the final games of rivalry week, Washington State suffered the same fate. 

After finally breaking a losing streak in the Apple Cup in 2021, University of Washington was once again favored to take the trophy back to Seattle in 2022. From the jump, it was an offensive shootout as the score at half was 28-27 in favor of the Huskies. 

Despite the close score, the second half started with a 75-yard touchdown for UW and they never looked back. The Huskies outscored WSU 23-6 in the final 30 minutes to win the highest-scoring Apple Cup. 

“I thought we played really well all season. I am not going to let one performance sour what I feel like what we’ve accomplished over 12 games,” WSU head coach Jake Dickert said. 

All Pac-12 fans were watching as the game had implications for who would be facing USC in the championship game. If UW were to win, Utah was in and if WSU won, Oregon was in. 

The reason that it came down to the wire was a comeback from earlier in the day. 

Oregon and Oregon State played in their rivalry game and the Ducks held a late lead. In the fourth quarter, UO was up 34-17, but the Beavers were not done putting up a fight. 

In the final 14 minutes and 57 seconds of play, OSU put up 21 unanswered points to pull off the massive upset and maintain bragging rights for 365 days.

Another upset was Tulane and Cincinnati. It was less of an upset due to the Bearcats being heavily favored and rather an upset based on the field the game was played on. 

Entering Friday, the Bearcats held a 32-game win streak on their home turf and had one of the most dominant home stretches dating back to 2017. 

The Green Wave held back no punches and came out victorious 27-24. The defense held Cincinnati quarterback Evan Prater to just 10/26, passing for 102 yards and an interception. They were dominant and the offense did enough to come out on top in the end. 

Two massive upsets held potentially solidified the four teams that will be in the college football playoff. While being on the outside looking in, losses on Saturday effectively ended the seasons of two Tiger teams.

LSU fell against unranked Texas A&M and Clemson to South Carolina. Clemson held an early lead before losing steam and LSU was never truly a threat to come back against the Aggies.

With these two losses, the college football playoff is effectively set. 

Georgia and Michigan are in, no matter what happens in their conference championship games. The final two spots are guaranteed to go to TCU and USC if they win and if either team happens to lose, it will go to a one-loss Ohio State team.

The 2022 college football season has been extraordinarily exciting, but with only a few games left for each team, it is just a month away from ending.