Code Orange

Update 3:38 PM

It’s now 17-9 Vanderbilt over Tennessee at halftime.   Also, Duke and Notre Dame are scoreless after the 1st quarter.

Division III playoffs:

North Central 44, Franklin 42

Finals:

Florida State 24, Maryland 16
Georgia Tech 27, North Carolina 25
Florida 59, Florida Atlantic 20
Tulsa 49, Army 39
Update 3:30 PM

Nevermind about Pittsburgh. They get called for a 15 yard penalty, then throw a pick, and Pitt’s outside chance of winning the Big East is over as Rutgers wins 20-16.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt retakes the lead over Tennessee 14-9.

Update 3:28 PM

Pittsburgh has the ball within the Rutgers 10 with less than a minute to go, down by 4…

Update 3:25 PM

Tennessee goes back up on Vanderbilt 9-7.

I-AA finals:

Harvard ends Yale’s perfect season 37-6.

Division II playoff scores:

Indiana (PA) 45, West Chester 35 (Indiana will play Shepherd next weekend)

Finals:

Connecticut 30, Syracuse 7

Update 3:20 PM

Ohio State defeats Michigan 14-3. Ohio State has now won 4 in a row against the Wolverines.

Division III playoff scores:

Curry 42, Hartwick 21 (Curry will play St. John Fisher)

More Finals:

Illinois 41, Northwestern 22

Update 3:17 PM

Richmond just defeated William & Mary 31-20. That means they and Massachusetts tie for the CAA title. The automatic bid into the I-AA tournament will now be determined by a majority vote of the conference’s athletic directors. Who will they choose? If they want the better team, they’ll probably pick Massachusetts. If they’re nervous at all about Richmond getting a bid as an at-large, however, they may give the auto-bid to the Spiders.

Update 3:14 PM

Michigan just failed on a 4th conversion, which pretty much seals Ohio State’s victory. There is only 3:44 left between Ohio State and a Rose Bowl berth.

Division I-AA finals:

Delaware State 29, Howard 13
Massachusetts 27, Hofstra 5 (UMass clenches a share of the CAA title)

More Division III finals:

Wabash 31, Mount St. Joseph 21 (Wabash will play Case Western)
St. John Fisher 24, Hobart 7
Wesley 45, Hampden-Sydney 17 (Wesley will play Muhlenberg)

Update 3:07 PM

Michigan is running out of time, punting the ball back to Ohio State with less than 7 minutes to go, still 14-3 Buckeyes. Meanwhile, Kentucky is back to within a score of Georgia, 21-13.

Division III finals:

Muhlenberg 31, Salisbury State 21
Case Western 21, Widener 20

Update 3:03 PM

Vanderbilt takes a 7-6 lead on Tennessee.

Meanwhile, in an upset possibility in the Division III playoffs, North Carolina Wesleyan and Washington & Jefferson head into overtime tied at 14.

Finals:

Temple 24, Kent State 14

Update 3:00 PM

Georgia has now widened their lead on Kentucky to 21-13 in the 3rd quarter. Meanwhile, Missouri leads Kansas State 28-18, also in the 3rd quarter.

In another Division III playoff final, College of New Jersey defeats Rensselaer 17-14. College of New Jersey will get the unenviable job of facing Mount Union next weekend.

Update 2:57 PM

New Hampshire trying to worm their way into a I-AA playoff at-large bid, but probably needs help. They made their final case today, defeating Maine 39-14.

Update 2:55 PM

Division II Playoff finals:

Southern Connecticut State 45, Bryant 28. SCSU will play at 11-0 California (PA) next week.

Division III playoff finals:

Mount Union 42, Ithaca 18

Update 2:45 PM

ESPN can’t seem to decide what the score in the Mount Union game is. They had Mount Union with 70 points for a while. Now it’s back to 42. Either way, they’re way ahead.

By the way, Henne is back in the game for Michigan.

Update 2:36 PM

Georgia finally takes the lead on Kentucky 14-10. Meanwhile, Ohio State/Michigan goes into the 4th quarter 14-3.

Update 2:31 PM

BYU can clench the Mountain-West title today with a win over Wyoming and a Utah loss. The Cougars currently lead 7-0.

Update 2:25 PM

It looks like Henne will be coming out when Michigan gets the ball back, but it looks like injuries just attacked Ohio State as well, with Wells appearing to hurt his hamstring.

Update 2:24 PM

Mount Union is showing just why they’re the #1 team in Division III, leading Ithaca 70-18 in their playoff game today in the 4th quarter.

Update 2:19 PM

Michigan finally stops Ohio State in the 2nd half, but Henne stays in the game, despite his poor performance so far.

Update 2:17 PM

Tennessee strikes early against Vanderbilt, going up 6-0 in the first of their last 2 remaining mine fields on their way to the SEC title game.

Update 2:05 PM

Ohio State didn’t wait long. On their first play after the touchdown being called back, Wells runs for a long touchdown anyway, and they go up 14-3 on Michigan.

Update 2:04 PM

Michigan gets the ball to start the 2nd half and promptly goes 3-and-out. Ohio State returns the punt for a touchdown, but it’s brought back due to a blocking in the back penalty.

Update 2:01 PM

Georgia finally gets on the board, but the Bulldogs still trail Kentucky 10-7.

Update 1:45 PM

Missouri and Florida put up more scores as Missouri retakes the lead 21-15 and Florida expands their lead to 35-20 at halftime.

Update 1:38 PM

Michigan misses a 48-yard field goal short to end the first half, and Ohio State leads 7-3 at halftime.

Update 1:37 PM

Perhaps Missouri is looking ahead. Kansas State now takes the lead on the Tigers 15-14. The Wildcat kicker has now missed 2 extra points (it was only 15-9 before, not 15-10 apparently).

Update 1:35 PM

Ohio State’s attempt to go down the field to score suddenly went horribly wrong as Michigan intercepts the ball and returns it inside the Ohio State 40. Michigan has no time outs, however, with only about 20 seconds to go.

Update 1:33 PM

Rutgers takes the lead on Pittsburgh 17-10. Meanwhile, Florida Atlantic scores again, and once again puts themselves within one score of Florida, as the score in that game is now Florida 28, Florida Atlantic 20 near halftime.

Also, Ohio State is driving, trying to score before halftime.

Update 1:29 PM

Michigan can’t do anything with their good field position as the two teams are now a combined 6 for 17 on 3rd down today.

Update 1:27 PM

Michigan pins Ohio State inside the 5 with punt, and Ohio State can’t get out of the shadow of their own end zone, returning the ball to Michigan at mid-field.

Update 1:26 PM

Florida adds some padding to their lead over Florida Atlantic, going up 28-13. Tebow becomes the first player in I-A history to score 20 rushing and 20 passing touchdowns in one season.

Meanwhile, Missouri just can’t shake Kansas State, leading only 14-10. In that game, Jeremy Maclin has set a record for most all-purpose yards by a freshman in Division I-A.

Update 1:15 PM

All of a sudden Florida Atlantic is within a score of Florida after kicking another field goal and closing the score to 21-13.

Update 1:08 PM

Michigan picks up a big 3rd down to keep their drive alive.

Meanwhile, Florida State is destroying Maryland 21-3 in the 2nd quarter. Also, the Florida/Florida Atlantic game, which is supposed to be a blowout, is looking vaguely like a game now, with the Owls now back to within 21-10 of the Gators.

Meanwhile, even if Yale could go to the I-AA playoffs, they might have blown their chance today, as Harvard is now routing them 27-0.

Update 12:59 PM

Ohio State moves down the field and responds to Michigan and goes up 7-3.

Meanwhile, perhaps it was too early to call the Southern Connecticut State game, as Bryant suddenly closes the score back down to 21-20.

Update 12:56 PM

Kentucky is trying to spoil Georgia’s hopes for an SEC East title, and they go up 7-0 on the Bulldogs.

Update 12:51 PM

Missouri making sure they aren’t looking ahead toward their big game with Kansas, goes up on the other Kansas team 7-0.

Update 12:48 PM

I actually just realized this - before I said Illinois was trying to clench 3rd in the Big Ten by beating Northwestern. Actually, if they win and Michigan beats Ohio State, Illinois would actually finish 2nd in the conference. But I wouldn’t expect the Illini to get a bid to the Capital One Bowl ahead of Ohio State in that case, though.

Update 12:44 PM

Pittsburgh takes a 10-3 lead on Rutgers to try to keep their outside shot at the Big East title alive.

Update 12:40 PM

Michigan is able to drive down the field on their 2nd drive, but stalls before the endzone, and the Wolverines kicks a field goal to take a 3-0 on Ohio State.

Update 12:37 PM

It looks like some Division III playoff games are going to be decided rather early. Curry now leads Hartwick 28-0 in the 1st quarter while Southern Connecticut State leads Bryant 21-7, nearing the 2nd of the 1st quarter.

Update 12:30 PM

After getting an initial first down, a fumbled snap and falling down while backing up to pass quickly ends Ohio State’s drive.

Also in score update, Richmond leads William & Mary 7-0.

In the Division II Playoffs, Southern Connecticut State leads Bryant 14-7 and West Chester leads Indiana (PA) 7-0.

Meanwhile, in the Division III playoffs, Curry leads Hartwick 14-0, Mount St. Joseph and Wabash are tied at 7, North Central leads Franklin 14-7, and Muhlenberg leads Salisbury State 7-0.

Update 12:23 PM

Michigan gets the ball, then goes 3 and out, so Ohio State wins the field position battle in the first pair of drives.

Update 12:21 PM

A questionable non-interference call leads to an Ohio State punt on their opening drive.

Update 12: 19 PM

Here are some score update, all in the 1st Quarter:

Illinois 7, Northwestern 0
Connecticut 7, Syracuse 0
Massachusetts 7, Hofstra 0
Harvard 7, Yale 0

12:06 PM

Obviously the big game early is Ohio State vs. Michigan, but there is also Pittsburgh vs. Rutgers (which still has Big East championship implications), Illinois vs. Northwestern, where the Illini are hoping to clench 3rd in the conference, Kentucky at Georgia, and Missouri at Kansas State.

We also get some I-AA matchups and some Division II and III playoff games starting.