College Football - Week 11

Quite a bit of movement around the top 25 this week thanks to a slate of upsets. A lot of close games though. Let's look at the week that was.

What We Learned

Texas A&M went into Tuscaloosa and defeated the #1 team in the country. This was the team people thought could beat the Jacksonville Jaguars...turns out they couldn't even handle the 3rd-biggest school in Texas. The freshman quarterback came in and cut up the Alabama secondary. The Tide's lack of a pass rush was never so apparent. Similiar to Bama's loss to Utah in the Sugar Bowl in 2008, they let A&M get ahead in the first quarter almost as if they weren't prepared. Utah scored enough points that game to not have to score again, though they did. If Bama plays in the NC and is in the game after the first quarter, they'll probably be okay. But that's becoming a big 'if.'

Michigan needed a late comeback to hold off Northwestern at home. Granted the Wildcats have been slowly getting better over the past few years, but good enough to push Michigan around at home?

I was high on Syracuse at the beginning of the year but it seemed like they just couldn't hit their stride. It finally happened. They took out an undefeated Louisville team which made college football fans across the country happy since now they won't have to fend off an argument about why undefeated Louisville deserves a chance in the title game. They don't.

Florida needs to find a way to throw the football. LA-Lafayette is not a team that should be slowing them down. They showed that Georgia is a little more deserving of that spot in the SEC championship game.

Notre Dame would be a horrible choice to put in the NC game. Barely outlasting Boston College isn't very impressive.


Games to Look Forward To

Northwestern at Michigan State... N'Western has had a pretty good year so far. Michigan State is on the verge of becoming bowl eligble. The Spartans have had a long, disappointing year. Expect them to come out a littler hungrier than Northwestern and squeeze out a victory.

USC at UCLA... The winner of this game will get a shot in the Pac-12 championship game against Oregon.

Texas Tech at Oklahoma State... Should be a fun shootout to watch.

Ohio State at Wisconsin... OSU is coming off a bye week while Wisconsin is coming off a dominant performance against Indiana. Since this game is being played at Camp Randall, the Badgers will probably get the nod. I think the bye week will have allowed a lot of the banged-up Buckeyes to heal and come back strong. As long as their offense can contain Ball and slow down that run game, Ohio State may go into their rivalry game with a chance at perfection this season.

Utah State at La Tech... Who saw this one coming?! These two are playing for essentially the WAC championship. It would be a great story to see the Aggies pull it out. It'll be tough.

Stanford at Oregon... This is where Oregon's strength of schedule will start to build, propelling them over K-State if both remain undefeated. Oregon may struggle a little this game, but they'll grab the victory and run with it (literally). Huge rushing output in this game for the Ducks.

My Big 5 Picks

Went 3-2 last week. Da da da! 39-16, 71%...not too shabby. Here's what will make it even better:

1. Ohio State beats Wisconsin
2. USC beats UCLA
3. Oregon beats Stanford
4. Michigan State upsets Northwestern
5. La Tech beats Utah State

It's hard for me to pick upsets a week after a bunch of them happened, so I'm sticking with the favorites in these close games except MSU. Go Buckeyes!!