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The 12-team College Football Playoff is great. More teams have more to play for as the regular season comes to an end, which adds an extra air of importance to games and plenty of intrigue to the final month.

But, at least this year, we already know how the story will end before the games are played. No. 1 Ohio State and No. 3 Texas A&M are blazing a path to the College Football Playoff National Championship. 

Those two teams are, clearly, heads and shoulders above the rest of the field. No. 2 Indiana isn't too far behind, but the Hoosiers lost some mystique Saturday when they struggled against one of the worst Penn State teams of the past 15 years. 

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes won their sixth straight game by at least 18 points with Saturday's dismantling of Purdue. The Aggies earned a second consecutive double-digit road win by dispatching No. 22 Missouri 38-17. 

Ohio State and Texas A&M haven't just avoided falling victim to a chaotic 2025 season -- they've thrived. They're both complete teams with elite quarterback play, deep wide receiver rooms and defenses that are stifling opponents. 

It will be fun to see them face off for all the marbles in on Jan. 19. 

Oregon is a paper tiger 

Barring an unexpected late-season meltdown, Oregon is going to make the College Football Playoff. The Ducks will likely be favored in each of their remaining games and they should navigate the rest of their schedule with ease, except for maybe the Nov. 22 showdown against old Pac-12 foe No. 19 USC. 

But that won't be enough to get them to the Big Ten Championship Game and their 2025 playoff journey will be brief, just as it was a year ago. Oregon will be exposed when it has to match up against one of the 12 best teams in the nation. 

The Ducks don't have the best résumé thus far. Their admittedly gritty win on the road against No. 20 Iowa Saturday was their first triumph against a ranked team all season. Outside of Week 11's result, their Power Four wins have come versus teams with a combined 19-36 record. 

They lost by 10 at home against No. 2 Indiana. While the road triumph against Iowa looks good on paper, there's an argument to be made that the Hawkeyes shouldn't have been ranked; their own record leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to quality of wins. 

Oregon has done nothing to show that it will compete well on a national stage. 

Pump the brakes on Fernando Mendoza 

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza has had a great year. He's the catalyst behind Indiana's second consecutive 10-0 start and he's likely played his way into the early first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. He has the tools to be a successful professional quarterback. 

But many were quick to declare, moments after he led the Hoosiers on a game-winning 80-yard drive in Saturday's thrilling 27-24 victory over Penn State, that Mendoza locked down the Heisman Trophy. Pundits are already dubbing that very possession as his "Heisman moment." 

It was an impressive series of plays. He stood tall in the pocket while taking some big hits from Penn State's defensive front and delivered catchable balls to his wide receivers, including a decisive throw to wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. 

Cooper deserves more of the credit by defying all known laws of physics to make one of the most absurd catches you will ever see. 

People were also quick to forget that it was a bad Mendoza interception, not 10 minutes before that final drive began, that gifted Penn State good field position and an eventual 24-20 lead for the Nittany Lions with 6:27 left to play in the fourth quarter. 

Mendoza might not even be the best quarterback in the Big Ten. Ohio State's Julian Sayin is making a serious push for that title. It's disingenuous to completely discount everything Mendoza has accomplished this season -- he certainly belongs in the Heisman conversation -- but to crown him the winner right now is jumping the gun. 

Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez should be a Heisman finalist 

Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, on the other hand, should have more Heisman attention. The Red Raiders are certainly trying to manufacture some buzz and even former Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes added his voice to the campaign. 

Rodriguez is the heartbeat of a Texas Tech defense that ranks among the nation's best for a team likely on their way to Big 12 Championship Game and College Football Playoff appearances. He did it all in a huge Week 11 win against No. 7 BYU, as he notched 14 tackles, one tackle for loss, a fumble recovery and a very athletic interception. 

After said interception, he hit the Heisman pose. 

Defensive players are often undervalued when it comes to college football's top individual award. Only two defenders -- Travis Hunter and Charles Woodson -- have ever won it and even they (especially Hunter) had offensive accomplishments to tout on their journey to New York City. 

Rodriguez only stars on defense, but he does so at a high enough level to garner significant national recognition. The BYU win was his fifth game with at least 10 tackles. He's up to 91 total tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, seven forced fumbles, three interceptions and five pass breakups. 

This seems like the perfect year to give a standout defender his much-deserved flowers. 

Joe Fagnano is the best player you've never heard of 

Joe Fagnano has been nails for UConn this season. The Huskies improved to 7-3 with their Week 11 upset of Duke -- handing coach Jim Mora his third win against the ACC since the start of the 2024 campaign -- and are on track to have one of their best seasons since the turn of the century behind the arm of Fagnano. 

He torched the Blue Devils with 311 yards -- his fourth 300-yard passing performance in the past five games -- and three touchdowns through the air. Saturday marked his fifth straight game with at least three touchdowns passing. He also threw his 383rd consecutive pass without an interception, which is the second-longest such streak in FBS history. He's got 61 more attempts to go to pass former Louisiana Tech signal caller Colby Cameron for the record. 

Fagnano now ranks top-five nationally with 2,640 yards and 25 touchdowns passing. He's certainly worth checking out at some point over the last month.