Chaos ruled Week 11 of college football, as eight ranked teams lost and nine more won by 10 points or fewer. It was an especially rough week for teams with Tigers as mascots: Both Memphis and No. 17 LSU lost to lower-ranked teams, while No. 1 Clemson survived a scare from 3-7 Syracuse, which it fended off by just 10 points.
Several College Football Playoff contenders stumbled Saturday, the most high-profile of which was then-No. 4 Baylor. The Bears were on the outside looking in in the first two CFP rankings, but with their final three games coming against top-15 teams, they were in full control of their own destiny. They were absolutely shredded by No. 7 Oklahoma, which recorded its first win against any team worth mentioning this season.
Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield and running back Samaje Perine combined for 518 yards and six touchdowns, more than the entire Baylor team combined. While the game likely shot down any playoff hopes for the Bears, it had an equal but opposite effect on the Sooners. They launched themselves firmly into the playoff conversation after falling to No. 19 less than a month ago. They’ll be favored in both of their upcoming matchups against No. 11 TCU and No. 4 Oklahoma State and will be hard to ignore should they win out.
LSU’s playoff aspirations were likely smothered two weeks ago, much like the player formerly known as Leonard Fournette, by No. 3 Alabama’s stifling defense. But just to be sure, the Tigers allowed Arkansas to almost literally walk right by them, as the Razorbacks averaged 7.5 yards on 40 carries en route to a 31-14 win. It feels like ages ago that LSU was ranked No. 2 in the CFP rankings and Fournette’s Heisman competitors could barely see him.
With No. 15 Stanford and No. 17 Utah both falling to unranked teams in Oregon and Arizona, the Pac-12 has been effectively eliminated from playoff contention. Both the Cardinal and the Utes have looked like playoff teams at some point in the year, but their inability to string together consistent performances proved costly.
Unfortunately for college football fans everywhere, Alabama once again dominated a ranked team and looked like the best team in the country for the second straight week. A 31-6 slugging of then-No. 20 Mississippi State has solidified the Crimson Tide’s place in the College Football Playoffs, and it would take a miracle for them to not make it to the SEC Championship Game. They will, however, have a matchup of titans in that game against No. 8 Florida, which should have serious playoff implications.
One of the more impressive teams of the second half of the season has been No. 12 North Carolina. While the Tar Heels suffered an ugly loss to South Carolina in their season opener, they’ve followed it up by reeling off nine straight wins, averaging 45.2 points per game since the loss. They have a dearth of quality wins and, while they likely don’t have a shot at making the playoff, they do have a fun opportunity to play spoiler against Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.
No. 6 Iowa continued its undefeated season with a 40-35 scraping-by of Minnesota. All the Hawkeyes need to do to earn a shot at a Big Ten title is beat lowly Purdue Saturday, a program that has just two conference wins in the last three years. They’ll probably need to upset No. 2 Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game in order to make the playoff, but they’ve proven that they belong in the same league as the college football elites.
It seems like Clemson, Ohio State and Alabama have their spots in the playoff all but locked up, but the final spot is wide open. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 6 Iowa are all vying for the chance to play the best team in the country in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
