The highs and lows from Week 11 of the NCAA college football season
The GIST: College football's behemoths continued to separate themselves from the field on Saturday. Example A? No. 1 Georgia silenced their haters with a 52–17 demolition of No. 13 Ole Miss, arguably their toughest opponent to date. And on other Week 11 gridirons….
No Harbaugh, no problem: No. 2 Michigan secured a 24–15 statement win over No. 12 Penn State without head coach (HC) Jim Harbaugh, whom the Big Ten banned from the sidelines for the rest of the regular season on Friday as punishment for the program’s ongoing sign-stealing saga.
- Michigan's already thrown a Hail Mary to reinstate Harbaugh, so far to no avail. And with their most important season matchup — November 25th’s “The Game” against No. 3 Ohio State — coming up fast, the Wolverines are as defiant as ever.
Other CFP contenders sweat: Things were way too close for comfort for No. 4 Florida State and No. 7 Texas, who logged close wins over intrastate rivals Miami and TCU, respectively. Texas’ dub was especially nerve-wracking, considering the Longhorns nearly fell to Kansas State last week.
- On the West Coast, Pac-12 powerhouses No. 5 Washington and No. 6 Oregon each earned tight dubs over No. 16 Utah and USC, respectively, inching one step closer to a Huskies-Ducks rematch in the Pac-12 Championship. Fingers crossed.
The biggest upsets: No. 24 Oklahoma State were catastrophes on both sides of the ball, ultimately falling 45–3 to UCF and plummeting nine spots in the AP poll. Kansas’ 16–13 loss to Texas Tech was less lopsided, but the heartbreaker did boot Kansas from the Top 25.
Best of the rest: No. 11 Missouri logged a huge 36–7 win over No. 21 Tennessee, improving their standing in the big, bad SEC. And the NCAA’s most surprising team, No. 19 Arizona, keeps rackin’ up dubs — this time, topping much-hyped Colorado with a walk-off field goal.
- And in a dramatic intrastate double-overtime (OT) thriller, No. 22 UNC eked out a 47–45 win over once-hot archrival Duke. Call it another benefit of having an HC who supports women’s sports…
A pair of coaching pink slips: Following Penn State’s aforementioned loss, the team fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. But Texas A&M had the weekend’s most expensive firing, releasing HC Jimbo Fisher after disappointing five and a half seasons — leaving him with a cool $76.8M final paycheck. Jim-bye.
