College Football Watch Guide - Week 11

No preamble this week, let’s jump right into the games, now 100% political ad-free!

After a few days of MACtion, get ready for AACtion and SUNBELT...action. Sorry Sun Belt, you’re going to need a new name before you can claim the weekday crown. Tulsa @ Memphis and Georgia Southern @ Louisiana are served up Thursday night.

Friday night gives us more AACtion as well an appearance of a top 10 team with Colorado @ #8 USC. Things have been a little dicey for the Trojans of late, with their games being more of a challenge than what many expected. Their remaining in the top 10 in the CFP rankings is a little head scratching considering they’re ahead of a team like Alabama. Now the Tide aren’t perfect, but I have a hard time believing USC is the better team. Regardless, the Trojans are facing one of college football worst teams in the Buffaloes.

Saturday is jam packed full of games, just the way I like it.

Indiana @ #2 Ohio State - The poor Buckeyes just can’t quite break into that number one spot. If it’s not Georgia they’re chasing, it’s Alabama. If it’s not Alabama, it’s Tennessee. If it’s not Tennessee, it’s Georgia again. Northwestern put up much more of a fight against Ohio State last week than anyone expected. Meanwhile, Georgia’s dominant win over the Volunteers allowed them to leapfrog back into the top spot. Those Vols are now on the outside of the top 4, and will start clawing back Saturday morning with Missouri @ #5 Tennessee.

#7 LSU @ Arkansas - The Tigers provided one hell of a game against Alabama last weekend. Make all the jokes you want about Brian Kelly and “family” and his ridiculous faux Louisiana accent — or would it be a “feaux” accent? — but that call to go for two took serious guts, and was absolutely correct. The SEC West looks to be theirs to lose, but they’ll still have to beat the Razorbacks this weekend and Texas A&M on the 26th.

Outside of those big matches, there are plenty of other morning games of note. #20 Notre Dame @ Navy is a big rivalry for the Irish and Midshipmen, and Purdue @ #21 Illinois will have a big impact on the B1G West division race. More on that in a bit.

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Back to SEC, because everything college football inevitably bends towards it, #9 Alabama @ #11 Ole Miss should be great entertainment. It’s safe to say a two-loss is a disappointment in Tuscaloosa, but the Tide are in danger of dropping two in a row if they’re not up for the Rebels. Hoping this one is as fun to watch as last week’s upset.

Here’s one we all saw coming at the beginning of the year: #22 UCF @ #17 Tulane. UCF being ranked isn’t that big of a surprise, but how many of you expected to see Tulane at #17? The Green Wave are 8-1 and unbeaten in the AAC. Outside of an early season game at Kansas State (which the Wave won) this will be their toughest game left.

Naturally, we have to include Wisconsin @ Iowa on here. With both the Badgers’ and Hawkeyes’ mini-turnarounds the last few weeks this game suddenly become a bit more interesting. Add in the Illinois loss last week and it’s become very interesting. While both teams need the Illini to lose at least one more, both teams need to win this game to stay alive in the division race.

Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports

Saturday night we get the rest of the big games and the biggest is #4 TCU @ #18 Texas. The Horned Frogs finally broke into the CFP’s top four after an unbeaten season so far, but they’ll need to remain in top shape going to Austin to face the Longhorns. Texas is one of those teams that can disappoint you at any time, but can also surprise you at any time. TCU hasn’t scored less than 34 points this year, and Texas hasn’t given up more than that amount. Texas has also shown they can light up the scoreboard as well.

#25 Washington @ #6 Oregon is another rivalry game that deserves your attention. It may not get as much spotlight as other rivalries, as with much of west coast football, but keep your eyes on this one. Oregon’s surprise resurgence after their loss to Georgia in week 1 shows no signs of slowing down, and Washington’s season has been somewhat disappointing. But as you know, rivalry games play by their own set of rules and if the Huskies are on their game I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Duck’s drop their second of the year.

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

#1 Georgia @ Mississippi State, #19 Kansas State @ Baylor, and Stanford @ #13 Utah are other ranked games of note in the evening, but all will likely be one-sided affairs. If you want something more competitive I’m looking towards Kansas @ Texas Tech and #23 Florida State @ Syracuse. But with this being college football I could also be dead wrong and all of these result in upsets, which I’m 100% hoping for.

Enjoy the respite from political ads this weekend, because in all likelihood we’ll see ones for 2024 start to air by Thanksgiving.