The Big 12 ended up with the best bowl record among the Power Five, but where do they stand among every FBS conference?
The 2021 college football season is nearly complete with the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs set to compete for the College Football Playoff championship to be crowned the national champion following a wild season of college football.
Though there were a host of bowl games that didn’t factor into the national title discussion, there were quite a few entertaining games. For the Big 12, the conference finished with the best record in the Power Five and went 3-0 against the SEC.
With the 2021 season set to reach its conclusion, let’s take a look at how each conference in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) fared during the 2021 bowl season.
Rank these jobs from best to worst and give us a reason why…
It’s already been a busy off-season of coaching changes in college football and we’re still two weeks from the regular season actually drawing to a close. With Justin Fuente’s announced firing from Virginia Tech there have now already been 12 head college football coaches fired since the season began.
Some are staying on to finish the year while others technically resigned, but the the fact remains there will be at least 12 different head coaches in college football’s FBS when the 2022 season begins late next summer.
Here at Fighting Irish Wire we’re certainly not expecting Brian Kelly to be exiting anytime soon, even if Kirk Herbstreit has him on a plane to Southern California, but we certainly would be curious about a Kelly assistant getting a chance at a head coaching job.
Below is our tracker of all FBS coaching changes that will be updated through the fall and into the early parts of 2022.
How have your expectations for 2021 changed after this weekend?
Notre Dame moved to 4-0 on the year behind a 31-0 run to close the game against Wisconsin on Saturday. Next up for the Irish is the only unbeaten team remaining on their schedule, the Cincinnati Bearcats.
How did all of Notre Dame’s 2021 opponents fare this weekend?
Check it out below as a few bounced back while others suffered difficult setbacks.
Penn State’s all-time records vs each FBS conference’s current membership
Penn State is among college football’s all-time winningest programs and is the most recent member of the 900-win club. Sprinkled throughout Penn State’s 9-2 all-time wins entering the 2021 season are victories against nearly every FBS program with a few notable exceptions.
We have taken a look at Penn State’s all-time records against each current FBS program, categorized by conference. But if you were curious what Penn State’s all-time cumulative record is against each FBS conference’s entire membership, look no further!
To keep in line with our previous breakdowns, all of which are linked below for each conference, this listicle is calculated using each conference’s current membership and not what conference a school played in previous meetings. For example, all games Penn State has played against Rutgers, Maryland, and Nebraska are included in Penn State’s all-time record against Big Ten schools.
As always, this listicle will be updated accordingly.
Sept. 4 at Auburn L
Sept. 11 Temple L
Sept. 18 Bryant W
Sept. 25 at Ohio State L
Oct. 2 Ohio L
Oct. 9 at Bowling Green W
Oct. 16 at Miami University L
Oct. 23 Buffalo L
Oct. 30 OPEN DATE
Nov. 2 Ball State L
Nov. 9 at Western Michigan L
Nov. 20 Kent State L
Nov. 27 at Toledo L Akron 2021 Preview
Sept. 4 at Tennessee L
Sept. 11 South Alabama L
Sept. 18 Murray State W
Sept. 25 at Minnesota L
Oct. 2 at Kent State L
Oct. 9 Akron L
Oct. 16 at Northern Illinois L
Oct. 23 Eastern Michigan W
Oct. 30 at Buffalo L
Nov. 6 OPEN DATE
Nov. 10 Toledo L
Nov. 16 at Miami University L
Nov. 26 Ohio L Bowling Green 2021 Preview
Sept. 2 Wagner W
Sept. 11 at Nebraska L
Sept. 18 Coastal Carolina L
Sept. 25 at Old Dominion W
Oct. 2 Western Michigan W
Oct. 9 at Kent State L
Oct. 16 Ohio L
Oct. 23 at Akron W
Oct. 30 Bowling Green W
Nov. 6 OPEN DATE
Nov. 9 at Miami University L
Nov. 17 Northern Illinois W
Nov. 23 at Ball State L Buffalo 2021 Preview
Sept. 4 at Texas A&M L
Sept. 11 VMI W
Sept. 18 at Iowa L
Sept. 25 at Maryland L
Oct. 2 Bowling Green W
Oct. 9 Buffalo W
Oct. 16 at Western Michigan L
Oct. 23 at Ohio L
Oct. 30 OPEN DATE
Nov. 3 Northern Illinois W
Nov. 10 at Central Michigan L
Nov. 20 at Akron W
Nov. 27 Miami University W Kent State 2021 Preview
Sept. 4 at Cincinnati L
Sept. 11 at Minnesota L
Sept. 18 LIU W
Sept. 25 at Army L
Oct. 2 Central Michigan W
Oct. 9 Eastern Michigan W
Oct. 16 Akron W
Oct. 23 at Ball State L
Oct. 30 OPEN DATE
Nov. 2 at Ohio L
Nov. 9 Buffalo W
Nov. 16 Bowling Green W
Nov. 27 at Kent State L Miami 2021 Preview
Sept. 4 Syracuse L
Sept. 11 Duquesne W
Sept. 18 at Louisiana L
Sept. 25 at Northwestern L
Oct. 2 at Akron W
Oct. 9 Central Michigan W
Oct. 16 at Buffalo L
Oct. 23 Kent State W
Oct. 30 OPEN DATE
Nov. 2 Miami University W
Nov. 9 at Eastern Michigan L
Nov. 16 Toledo L
Nov. 26 at Bowling Green W Ohio 2021 Preview
2021 Preseason CFN MAC Offensive Player of the Year
QB Dustin Crum, Sr. Kent State
Really? The Kent State starting quarterback is getting interest from the NFL world? Yup, and that’s because 6-3, 207-pound guys who can run a fast-paced offense and can move work at the next level.
Phenomenal at the end of the 2019 season as he led the team to comeback wins and a bowl victory, he was brilliant last year hitting 74% of his throws with 12 touchdowns and two picks – to go along with 240 rushing yards and four scores – in just four games. Now he should take the FlashFast style of O to another level.
2021 Preseason CFN MAC Defensive Player of the Year
DE Troy Hairston, Sr. Central Michigan
The MAC is full of big-time pass rushers and excellent defensive linemen who’ll put up big stats and huge plays. The best of the returning lot is a 5-11, 245-pound undersized end and oversized linebacker who’ll once again play in a hybrid role to make a whole lot of big things happen.
He was okay as a junior, but last year he took off with 42 tackles, 5.5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss in just six games. It’s going to keep on rolling on a veteran D.
Penn State has had little problems dealing with #MACTION, but two MAC schools own active winning streaks against the Nittany Lions.
Historically speaking, Penn State has been very good against teams currently residing in the MAC. That should be expected given Penn State’s place in college football history compared to most of the programs in the MAC. But two schools in the MAC will enter the 2021 season with active winning streaks against the Nittany Lions with no future game son the schedule lined up to give Penn State an upcoming chance of breaking those streaks.
The Toledo Rockets are the only non-power conference program in college football to own a 100 percent winning percentage against the Nittany Lions (excluding teams from the Ivy League), putting Toledo in some very elite company with programs like Clemson, Oklahoma, and Florida (and Vanderbilt!).
Penn State’s brief run under former head coach Bill O’Brien got off on the wrong foot with a home loss to the Ohio Bobcats in Beaver Stadium. Ohio is the only other MAC team with an active winning streak against the Nittany Lions. In fact, those are the only two games Penn State has ever lost to a team in the MAC to this day.
Here is a look at how Penn State fares all-time against schools currently in the MAC.
All data referenced is credited to College Football Reference. Rankings referenced are AP Top 25 where available.
Ball State’s win over Western Michigan on Saturday almost wasn’t due to an all-time crazy final play of the contest.
There appeared to be a situation on Saturday that had the Stanford band eating it’s heart out as it was as ridiculous as any final play to a game in college football could ever possibly be.
Western Michigan surrendered 17 straight Ball State points in the fourth quarter and faced a final desperation in hopes of a miracle.
And it appeared they got exactly that on an incredible final play of the game.
CHAOS 🤯
Both teams ran onto the field before the play was ruled dead as Western Michigan attempted a last second TD.
Ball State went on to win the game and division title after the Broncos were penalized for an illegal forward pass. pic.twitter.com/yzjVTBgJ5b
Notre Dame was supposed to open their home schedule of the 2020-21 men’s basketball team Wednesday but the game has been called off.
For the second time this calendar year, a Notre Dame vs. Western Michigan athletic contest has been canceled.
Back in the fall, it was the two football teams as Notre Dame joining the ACC and the MAC at the time canceling their season meant they didn’t end up playing on the gridiron.
Now in men’s basketball, the Broncos won’t be making the bus ride south from Kalamazoo on Wednesday because of a lack of available players due to COVID-19.
Notre Dame announced on Tuesday that there is no current plan to reschedule the game that was supposed to be the home opener for the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame’s game on Friday night against Tennessee has also been canceled leaving the Irish to open the home season this coming Saturday morning against Purdue Fort Wayne.
Notre Dame is 0-1 on the young season after falling at Michigan State on Saturday night.
Western Michigan pulled the old fake spike on Toledo in a MAC game to perfection.
Some plays are worth waiting 20 years to call. Western Michigan’s Tim Lester displayed patience before finally sending in his secret play. The fake-spike worked as the Broncos stunned Toledo, 41-38, in the final seconds of MACtion Wednesday in Kalamazoo.
Setting the scene: Western Michigan trailed 38-28 with 2:54 left. The Broncos scored to draw within four but Thiago Kapps missed the PAT with 45 seconds remaining. That meant Western Michigan still needed a touchdown instead of a field goal to force overtime.
Time for the onside kick. Kapps’ kick is recovered by punter Nick Mihalic.
With the clock stopped momentarily for a first down with 20 seconds left, everything lined up for Lester, who had been awaiting this moment for decades. The final seconds started to tick as Western snapped the ball.
“We have two different plays like that. I’m not going to give you the names of them, but one’s supposed to look like spike it, and it’s pass, and one’s supposed to be a true spike it,” Lester said. “I told them at the beginning of the drive when they came up that I was going to use it and just reminded them of some of the key points, but we run that play every week.
“Like I said, in at least 20 years of coaching, I’ve never called it — I’ve called it one other time, but the D-coordinator called timeout; it was going to work, too. To see them execute that, I was proud of them.”
Watch as Broncos quarterback Kaleby Eleby fakes the spike at the Toledo 9 and finds Jaylen Hall in the end zone, who was open by an entire county.
Western Michigan misses the PAT to take the lead then recovers the onside kick and then fakes the spike for a TD to win the game! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/8dQ3j5ATzx
For those of you who wager on sports, this had to be the mother of all bad beats. The betting line entering the game was Toledo getting 2.5 points. So, if you went to sleep up 38-28, you woke up to find out the Rockets lost by three points after the PAT. Ouch.
The original fake-spike happened Nov. 27, 1994, when Dan Marino found Mark Ingram after baffling the New York Jets.
Marv Albert and Paul Maguire on the call for NBC:
Watch the entire Western Michigan comeback sequence:
