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
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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 …