College football Week 11 roundup with the 5 things that matter, winners and losers, overrated and underrated parts of the weekend, and what it all means.
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College Football Week 11 Roundup
Rankings AP | Coaches | CFN 1-127 Rankings
CFP Top 25 Prediction | Week 11 Early Lines
Bowl Projections | Week 11 Scoreboard
20 Most Important College Football Thoughts Ever
10 Best Games of the Weekend, Highlights
5. Winners & Losers From Week 11
– Big Ten showdowns coming: One Really Big Thing
– All the missed games: Most Overrated Thing
– Miami 25, Virginia Tech 24: Most Underrated Thing
– We got through the week: What It All Means, Week 11
Winner: QB Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati
He’s not in the Heisman race, but he’s becoming the most important player America still doesn’t know about. He might throw a few too many interceptions – six on the year, with three coming in one game – but he’s hitting 67% of his throws, came up with 327 yards and three scores in the win over East Carolina, and he led the team with 75 rushing yards and a score.
That’s coming off a 103-yard, three-touchdown rushing day against Houston, and a few games removed from a 179-yard, three-touchdown rushing outing against SMU.
Loser: South Carolina
The program let go of head coach Will Muschamp after the defense got touched in a 59-42 loss to Ole Miss. This was building, but it’s a bad three-week stretch that ended it. Just when it seemed like this was going to be an interesting year – with a few close early losses and wins over Vanderbilt and Auburn – the Gamecocks lost to LSU, Texas A&M and Ole Miss by a combined score of 159-69.
Winner: Wisconsin time of possession
With its running game, deliberate style, and defense that’s able to get off the field in a hurry, Wisconsin lives on controlling games – it led the nation in time of possession last year, owning the ball for 35:37 per game. It’s only been a two-game sample size, but this is ridiculous, even for the Badgers.
After playing Illinois and Michigan, Wisconsin’s average time of possession is 41:52 per game. Toledo is second in the nation at 38:43, and out of all the teams that played two or more games, no one else is above 35:33.
Loser: The Utah teams
There’s only one FCS team that didn’t cancel the season outright that has yet to play this season – the Utah Utes. Now, without any warm-up games, they get USC this weekend. And then there’s Utah State, who’s 0-4, lost the four games by a combined 149-45, fired head coach Gary Andersen, and now lost starting quarterback Jason Shelley, who was dismissed for violating team rules.
Winner: Indiana Hoosiers
4-0. When was the last time the Indiana Hoosiers were 4-0 playing college football? 1990, and then they tied Ohio State a week later. They get the Buckeyes this week, so … when was the last time they started 5-0? 1967. When was the last time they beat Ohio State? 1988, going 0-26-1 since then.
How about before that? 1951, going 1-55-2 against the Buckeyes since then. Now they get their chance to do something special this weekend in Columbus. On the flip side …
Loser: Penn State Nittany Lions
The last time Penn State started a season 0-4 was back in 2001. The team trend things around to go 5-2 the rest of the way. This week the Nittany Lions host Iowa, so … when was the last time Penn State started 0-5?
Never.
Lose to Iowa, and since 1889, this would be the worst start in the history of Penn State football.
To keep this all going …
Winner: San Jose State Spartans
With a win over UNLV last weekend and a trip to Fresno State coming up, when was the last time the San Jose State program started a season 5-0?
Never.
There were some great starts to the seasons in the early 1980s, and the 1955 team started 4-0 before losing to Pacific, but a win over the Bulldogs would mark the greatest start to any season of San Jose State football since 1950.
Loser: Florida State Seminoles
The 2013 Seminoles won the national championship with one of the most dominant seasons in college football history, and followed it up with a trip to the Rose Bowl in the first ever College Football Playoff game. As recently as 2016, it was 10-3 and off to an Orange Bowl win over Michigan. This year it’s 2-6 with Clemson, Virginia, and at Duke to close.
1975. That was the last time the program started 2-7.
– Big Ten showdowns coming: One Really Big Thing
– All the missed games: Most Overrated Thing
– Miami 25, Virginia Tech 24: Most Underrated Thing
– We got through the week: What It All Means, Week 11
NEXT: The really big thing was …
4. The Really Big Thing Was …
Wisconsin, Indiana, and Northwestern all won.
Those three didn’t just win their respective Big Ten games, but they did it on the road. And now, because those three got through to this point in the season without a blemish on the record, the Big Ten season is set up for what amounts to a Division Championship Saturday in the conference.
Yeah, it’s still possible for other teams to win out, or for Wisconsin to miss another game if there’s a relapse of coronavirus issues, or for a number of other things to take place, but for all intents and purposes, this is it. It’s going go be November 21st, the Big Ten divisions will almost certainly be settled.
Minnesota and Illinois are awful, Nebraska is questionable, and Iowa already has two conference losses. Northwestern is a 1.5 games up on Purdue after going to West Lafayette and winning 27-20, surviving despite giving up points in the second half for the first time all season.
Later on Saturday, Wisconsin had to go to Michigan and fight through the absence of several key players, little to no real practice time, and worries about whether or not some of the affected players like QB Graham Mertz would be able to produce.
Michigan didn’t get off the bus, Wisconsin ran the jet sweep a gajillion times, and it all turned into a 49-11 win that wasn’t even that close. Now the Badgers have to go to Evanston this week with the winner – at the very least – taking a stranglehold on the West.
Ohio State’s game with Maryland was canceled, but that was on Maryland’s side.
Penn State’s season got hit by a truck, Rutgers is Rutgers, Maryland – as improved as it is – is Maryland, Michigan State is meh, and Michigan wishes it could be as good as meh. Going into this weekend, all that stood between Indiana and a chance to play for something massive was a win at Michigan State.
No problem. 24-0, QB Michael Penix was good, the defense was better, and now your 2020 Indiana Hoosiers have the Big Ten East right there for the taking this weekend when they travel to Ohio State.
– Week 11 Winners & Losers
– All the missed games: Most Overrated Thing
– Miami 25, Virginia Tech 24: Most Underrated Thing
– We got through the week: What It All Means, Week 11
NEXT: The most overrated thing was …
3. The Most Overrated Thing Was …
All of the canceled and postponed games.
No, there’s no being flippant in any way about this – there’s absolutely nothing overrated about the coronavirus and the nightmare we’re all going through.
However – with the always-present begging of forgiveness for any and all football analysis during a time of such pain and suffering – it didn’t really matter that much that so many college football games weren’t able to go.
As last week went on, and with game after game after game being canceled or postponed, it seemed like the end of the college football season was right around the corner.
But it didn’t happen, at least not yet.
15 games weren’t able to be played, the SEC was hammered particularly hard, and five ranked teams weren’t able to go, and …
The college football season rolled on.
That partly shows how far LSU has fallen that its date with Alabama was postponed and it doesn’t make much of a difference, but when it comes to the standings and the fight for the College Football Playoff, the only missed game that might end up being an issue was Texas A&M’s game at Tennessee.
The Aggies need every win they can get – even if the Vols are struggling – and they need every style point as they push to finish with just one loss coming to Alabama on the road.
But the rest of the college football Saturday was played, with several interesting games – particularly in the Pac-12 – and it all closed out with Cal and UCLA showing that it really is as easy as getting on a plane to go play football in an anyone, anywhere, anytime sort of way.
– Week 11 Winners & Losers
– Big Ten showdowns coming: One Really Big Thing
– Miami 25, Virginia Tech 24: Most Underrated Thing
– We got through the week: What It All Means, Week 11
NEXT: The most underrated thing was …
2. The Most Underrated Thing Was …
Miami 25, Virginia Tech 24.
It was one of the early games, it was a bit off the TV radar, and it didn’t get a whole lot of national attention with The Masters, the Big Ten, and a whole slew of other things going on, but the College Football Playoff chase needed this Miami win, the ACC needed this Miami win, and the pollsters really needed this Miami win.
Because still-unbeaten Liberty beat Virginia Tech in Blacksburg two weeks ago, and having already beaten Syracuse at Syracuse, a Hokie win over the Canes would – at least theoretically – meant that the Flames would have to be ranked over everyone in the ACC but Clemson and Notre Dame.
But more importantly, Miami’s win keeps it deep in the hunt of the ACC and CFP title chases. This might be a squishy-soft 7-1 team, and it doesn’t have to play Notre Dame, but its one loss is a no-shame-there blasting at Clemson, and it still gets tough games against Wake Forest and North Carolina to pump up the resumé.
Get through the next three games unbeaten, and then things get interesting.
If Notre Dame and Clemson win out, then they’re playing each other in the ACC Championship. If Clemson were to lose again, though, like at Virginia Tech in the regular season finale, then Miami would be in by winning out.
Or – and this is the more likely scenario for the playoff discussion – Miami finishes the regular season 10-1 – and then it all comes down to how the ACC Championship goes.
Or, if Notre Dame loses once in the final few games – it still has to go to Wake Forest and UNC – and if Clemson wins the ACC Championship and hands the Irish a second loss, Miami could be knocking on that CFP door.
None of that would be in play if D’Eriq King and company didn’t pull out a thriller against the Hokies.
– Week 11 Winners & Losers
– Big Ten showdowns coming: One Really Big Thing
– All the missed games: Most Overrated Thing
– We got through the week: What It All Means, Week 11
NEXT: What It All Means: Week 11
1. What It All Means: Week 11
Nothing really changed this week, even though it seemed like everything was about to crash.
Because so many ranked teams didn’t play, and because so many of the bigger games ended up going to the favorites, this was more of a hold-serve weekend than any sort of Shakeup Saturday thing.
Did Boston College relive past magic with a win over Notre Dame? No.
Did Penn State and Michigan say “just kidding” and start to be good at college football again? No.
Did Cincinnati, Marshall or Liberty have any problems? No.
Did USC or Oregon – as shaky as they might have been – lose and screw up any Pac-12 dreams of being in the CFP discussion? No.
Did Florida have any issues with Arkansas? No.
Did anyone in either of the top 25 polls lose? Yeah, but SMU – who dropped a thriller to Tulsa – really wasn’t the 19th best team in college football, and Army was No. 25 in the Coaches Poll in a just-because-it-was-6-1 sort of way before losing to Tulane.
Rankings AP | Coaches | CFN 1-127 Rankings
CFP Top 25 Prediction | Week 11 Early Lines
Bowl Projections | Week 11 Scoreboard
20 Most Important College Football Thoughts Ever
10 Best Games of the Weekend, Highlights
Again, a whole bunch of ranked teams didn’t go, but all of the shuffling in the rankings was merely for something to do – and that’s okay.
It really was a scary, awful week for college football after so many scary, awful weeks for the real world. Despite the missed games not really mattering in the overall scheme of the college football rankings and season, yeah, it did make a difference that so many big games that so many people were looking forward to didn’t happen.
So this wasn’t any sort of an epic Saturday full of classics – that’s going to come soon, because it always does.
If college football is still able to be played, we’re in for an insane next six weeks
– Week 11 Winners & Losers
– Big Ten showdowns coming: One Really Big Thing
– All the missed games: Most Overrated Thing
– Miami 25, Virginia Tech 24: Most Underrated Thing
