Week 11 Recap

There were some big upsets in week 11. Four of the top 10 teams lost and two more had close calls. The top 5 stayed the same, but Ohio State faces Michigan State next week. But before we get into next week, let’s look back at week 11.

How I Fared: (2-4 this week, 38-30 overall)

Conference Overviews
SEC: Arkansas went into Death Valley at night and came away with a 31-14 win over the 9th ranked LSU Tigers. This is LSU’s second loss in as many weeks and Leonard Fournette was held to 91 rush yards and a TD. Razorback RB Alex Collins rushed for 141 yards and 2TDs, one of which was 80 yards. Jared Cornelius capped the scoring for the Hogs with a 69-yard rush TD (it was a great play call, LSU didn’t see it coming). LSU scored on their final drive of the 2nd quarter and the opening drive of the 3rd quarter. Malachi Dupre’s TD catch was deflected into his arms by Travin Dural, and I bet that’s exactly how the Mad Hatter drew it up. The Hogs are on a 4-game winning streak and have won 3 SEC road games. Alabama shut down Mississippi State in their 31-6 win. This game was scoreless after the first quarter but the Tide scored 21 in the 2nd quarter to secure the win. Derrick Henry had another big game, rushing for 204 yards and a TD. Henry is no doubt the Heisman frontrunner right now. Florida withstood a late rally to beat South Carolina 24-14. All of South Carolina’s points came in the 4th quarter, but it wasn’t enough. The Gators outgained the Gamecocks 404-201 in offensive yards. Both of these teams are done with their SEC schedule and should win their next games before facing their ACC rivals. Georgia used a big 4th quarter to beat Auburn 20-13. Neither offense was good in this game, but Georgia found some energy at the end to edge the Tigers. Isaiah McKenzie was the spark for UGA, rushing for a TD late in the 3rd and returning a punt 53 yards for a TD in the 4th. After hitting a FG, Auburn was unable to recover the on-side kick. Tennessee beat North Texas 24-0, which really isn’t that great. This North Texas team has been blown out by more than one team and the Vols should have won by a bigger margin. I’m sure this was a case of completely overlooking their competition because of their record. RB Alvin Kamara had a good day, rushing for 127 yards and 2TDs for Tennessee. Vanderbilt used a big first half and their tough defense to get a 21-17 win over Kentucky. Both of these teams can still get to bowl eligibility but it will be hard. Vanderbilt scored all 21 points in the first half. QB Kyle Shurmur threw 2TDs and Oren Burks had a pick 6. The Wildcats turned the ball over 3 times in the first half and also turned the ball over twice on downs. Both defense came to play in the 2nd half, Vanderbilt forced four 3-and-outs and Kentucky forced three. Texas A&M beat Western Carolina 41-17. The Aggies were only up 21-14 at the half, but only allowed 3 point in the second half. Kyler Murray threw 3TDs and 2INTs. Western Carolina tied the game at 14 when they forced a fumble after kicking off and took the fumble in for a score. Missouri got a big program win over BYU in Kansas City 20-16. The Tigers scored twice in the 4th quarter to pull off the upset. BYU scored with a little over 7 minutes remaining, but the teams traded punts before Missouri was able to put a 4-minute drive together to end the game. Missouri needs one more win to become bowl eligible in Gary Pinkel’s final season as the coach. Next Week: MSST at ARK, FAU at 8UF, Citadel at SCAR, 15LSU at 22OM, Idaho at AUB, Charleston Southern at 2BAMA, GASO at UGA, UT at MIZ, A&M at VAN, CHAR at UK

Big 10: Ohio State got JT Barrett back from suspension and got a 28-3 road win over Illinois. Barrett threw a TD and rushed for another while Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 181 yards and 2 scores. Iowa squeaked by Minnesota 40-35. LeShun Daniels Jr. rushed for 195 yards and 3TDs and QB CJ Beathard rushed for 2 more. The difference in the score was Iowa kicker Marshall Koehn’s 2FGs. Minnesota scored with 1:16 left, but were unable to recover the on-side kick. Michigan State took down Maryland 24-7, but QB Connor Cook didn’t play in the second half because of a shoulder injury. Maryland turned the ball over 5 times in this game. Riley Bullough had a pick 6 late in the 2nd quarter to break the 7-7 tie. Indiana gave Michigan all they could handle and came very close to pulling the major upset. The Wolverines left with a 48-41 2OT win. Jake Ruddock threw for 440 yards, 6TDs and an INT. WR Jehu Chesson caught 10 passes for 207 yards and 4TDs including the one that sent the game to OT as time expired. Indiana’s (formerly UAB’s) RB Jordan Howard carried the ball 35 times for 238 yards and 2TDs and caught a TD. Mitchell Paige returned a punt for a TD and kicker Griffin Oakes was 4/4 on FGs. Michigan had a 21-9 lead until 49 seconds left in the second quarter. Indiana’s 4th down TD pass in the second OT was broken up to give Michigan the win. Northwestern beat Purdue 21-14 to get another not great win. Justin Jackson rushed for 116 yards and a TD and Warren Long rushed for 2 more. The Wildcats turned the ball over 3 times and needed to score with just 4:37 left to take the lead. Nebraska went to Piscataway and beat Rutgers 31-14. Tommy Armstrong Jr. threw 3TDs and 3INTs. Rutgers got WR Leonte Carroo back, but he wasn’t able to provide a big enough spark for the Scarlet Knights. Next Week: RUT at Army, PUR at 5Iowa, IND at MD, ILL at MINN, 12MICH at PSU, 20NW at 25WIS, 9MSU at 3OSU

Pac 12: USC overcame a 17-3 halftime deficit to beat Colorado 27-24. Cody Kessler threw 3TDs in the win. Colorado lost QB Sefo Liufau early to a broken foot and his backup came in and threw 2TDs. USC blocked a Buff’s FG attempt and ran it back to he Colorado 36-yard line early in the 4th quarter and that would turn out to be the difference in the game. Oregon held off a late rally to beat Stanford 38-36 and possibly killed the Pac 12’s chances to get to the playoffs. Stanford kicked a FG as time expired to take a 23-21 lead into halftime. Oregon scored twice in the 3rd quarter and kicked a 31-yard FG in the 4th to get just enough to come out ahead. Stanford scored with 10 seconds left but failed to convert the two-point try and couldn’t recover the on-side kick. Each QB threw 2TDs, Christian McCaffrey rushed for 147 yards and a TD and Royce Freeman rushed for 105 yards and a score. Arizona upset 10th ranked Utah in 2OT 37-30. Travis Wilson threw 2TDs and Devontae Booker rushed for 145 yards and a score. Anu Solomon threw 2TDs and rushed for another. The game-winning TD pass came from Jerrard Randall. Arizona is now bowl eligible. Washington State scored with 3 seconds left to beat UCLA 31-27 on the road. The game-winning drive went 75 yards in 7 plays in 1:06 and ended with a 21-yard pass from Luke Falk to Gabe Marks. UCLA QB Josh Rosen was 33/57 for 340 yards but didn’t throw a TD. He did rush 37 yards for the go-ahead TD with 1:09 left. Kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn was 4/4 on FGs to help his team. Arizona State started slow against Washington but came back to win 27-17. Washington had a 17-3 lead at halftime, but was shut out in the final 30 minutes. Husky QB Jake Browning threw for 405 yards, a TD and 3INTs. ASU RB Kalen Ballage rushed for 92 yards and 2TDs. The Sun Devils scored 17 points in the 4th quarter to secure the win. The Huskies’ last four drives ended in turnovers. California beat Oregon State 54-24 for their first win since October 3rd. Jared Goff threw for 453 yards and 6TDs for the Golden Bears. Nick Mitchell threw 2TDs and rushed for another for the Beavers. Cal racked up 760 total yards in this game. Next Week: ARI at ASU, 24USC at 23ORE, UCLA at 13Utah, WASH at ORST, CAL at 11STAN, COLO at WSU

Big 12: Oklahoma went to Baylor and got a big 44-34 win. Baker Mayfield threw 3TDs and rushed for another and Samaje Perine rushed for 166 yards and 2 scores. Sterling Shepard had 177 receiving yards and 2TDs. Baylor QB Jarrett Stidham threw 2TDs and 2INTs and Devin Chafin rushed for 3TDs on just 49 yards. Baylor got within 3 points early in the 4th quarter, but gave up a long TD drive by OU and then Stidham threw an INT on the next offensive play. Oklahoma had the ball for the final 4:35 to seal the upset. Iowa State almost pulled off another huge upset over the Cowboys, but fell just short, losing 31-35. Oklahoma State scored the final 14 points of the game to get the win. JW Walsh threw a TD and rushed for two more for OKST. Iowa had a 24-14 lead at halftime but were only able to score 7 points in the second half. The Cyclones forced a 3-and-out with 1:44 left, but Jordan Sterns picked off Joel Lanning to seal the Cowboy comeback. TCU held off upset-minded Kansas to win 23-17. The Horned Frogs lost QB Trevone Boykin early but were able to survive. The score was tied at 10 at halftime, but TCU scored 13 unanswered points to just put the game out of reach. Kansas scored halfway through the 4th quarter, but was unable to get their offense moving on their final 3 drives. West Virginia handed Texas their 6th loss of the season with a 38-20 win. Skyler Howard was 10/12 for 122 yards and 2TDs and also rushed for a TD. The Longhorns cut the lead to 4 points midway through the 3rd quarter, but WVU scored 10 unanswered to get out of reach. Texas Tech got their 6th win by beating Kansas State 59-44. The Red Raiders scored 28 in the first quarter to help secure their win. Patrick Mahomes threw 3TDs and rushed for another and RB DeAndre Washington rushed for 248 yards and 3 more scores. Kansas State QB Joe Hubener threw 2TDs and rushed for 3 more despite only rushing for a net of 9 yards. KSU got within 8 points with 3:38 remaining, but Texas Tech answered with a TD and then picked off KSU to seal the win. Next Week: WVU at KU, ISU at KSU, 10BAY at 6OKST, 18TCU at 7OU

ACC: Virginia Tech kept their bowl hopes alive by beating Georgia Tech 23-21. This loss will probably end Georgia Tech’s streak of 18 straight bowl games. The Yellow Jackets started strong with a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, but the Hokies came back and scored 14 of their own to tie it before the half. GT picked off Michael Brewer early in the 3rd quarter and ran it back for a TD, but that was their only score of the second half. They turned the ball over 3 times in the game and had fumbles on back-to-back offensive plays in the 4th quarter. Georgia Tech got into field goal range, but a dumb unsportsmanlike penalty and a big sack pushed them back into their own territory and Justin Thomas’s pass on 4th and 27 fell incomplete. This was Frank Beamer’s first game since announcing he will retire after this season, and with one more win, the Hokies will be eligible for their 23rd straight bowl. Top-ranked Clemson took care of business at the Carrier Dome and beat Syracuse 37-27. The Tigers started off fast, taking a 14-0 lead in the first two minutes. The ‘Cuse answered with two scores of their own to tie it, but went into halftime trailing 17-31. The Orange were unable to overcome this deficit. Deshaun Watson threw for 368 yards, 2TDs and also rushed for 105 yards and a score. Clemson tuned the ball over 3 times, but outgained Syracuse 570-322 in yards. Wake Forest went on the road to play Notre Dame and lost 7-28. The lone TD for the Demon Deacons came on a rush by QB John Wolford. Wake Forest outgained the Irish, WF had 1st and goal on three different drives and came away with only one TD. North Carolina State seemed to be poised to upset Florida State, but ended up losing 17-34. The Wolf Pack had a 17-7 lead after the first quarter but were shut out the rest of the game. Sean Maguire replaced Everett Golson at QB for FSU. Maguire threw 2TDs and Dalvin Cook broke Florida State’s single-season rushing record and rushed for 138 yards and 2TDs. The Seminoles overcame turning the ball over 5 times. North Carolina had another dominant performance, this time beating Miami 59-21. Marquise Williams threw a TD and rushed for 101 yards and 3TDs. The Tar Heels rushed for 6 total TDs as a team. Miami was shut out in the first half of this game. Pittsburgh went into halftime tied at 10 with Duke but came out strong in the third quarter to win 31-13. QB Nathan Peterman threw 3TDs for the Panthers. Duke QB Thomas Sirk didn’t play in this game. Louisville edged Virginia 38-31 to get to 6 wins. Virginia QB Matt Johns threw 4TDs in this game. Brandon Radcliff rushed for 146 yards and 2TDs for the Cardinals, including the TD that put the game out of reach for the Cavaliers. Virginia scored with 1:16 left, but couldn’t recover the on-side kick. Next Week: 17UNC at VT, SYR at NCST, GT at MIA, Chattanooga at 14FSU, WF at 1CLEM, Duke at UVA, LOU at PITT, BC at 4ND

Independents: Notre Dame handled Wake Forest in a 28-7 win. DeShone Kizer rushed for 2TDs and Josh Adams rushed for 141 yards and a score. Andrew Trumbetti also had a pick 6 for the Fighting Irish. Wake Forest had a lot of missed opportunities in this game. Army fought all the way back from a 7-28 deficit, but Tulane hit a FG as time expired to edge Army 34-31. QB Ahmad Bradshaw threw 2TDs and rushed for another for the Black Knights. Kenneth Brinson returned a blocked punt for a TD as well. BYU gave up 14 points in the 4th quarter and lost to Missouri 16-20 in Kansas City. Tanner Mangum threw a TD halfway through the 4th quarter, but the Cougars were unable to move the ball on their next drive and Missouri had the ball for the final 4:02. Next Week: RUT at Army, FRES at BYU, BC at 4ND

American: Navy dismantled SMU in a 55-14 rout. QB Keenan Reynolds was the star of this game, throwing a TD and rushing for 137 yards and 4TDs. He now has the most career rushing TDs (81), beating Wisconsin’s Montee Ball’s record of 77. With just 3 more TDs, Reynolds will have the record for career TDs. Houston mounted a huge 4th quarter comeback to beat Memphis 35-34. (Houston did the same thing to Pittsburgh in their bowl last season where they also won 35-34.) Kyle Postma came in to replace an injured Greg Ward Jr. and threw a TD and rushed for the game winner to complete a 21-point 4th quarter. Memphis QB Paxton Lynch threw 2TDs. Memphis turned the ball over on back-to-back drives in the 4th quarter. USF took down Temple 44-23. QB Quinton Flowers threw for 230 yards and 2TDs and rushed for a TD. RB Marlon Mack rushed for 230 yards and 2TDs and also caught a TD. The Bulls put up 24 points in the 2nd quarter to ensure their win. Tulane kicked a FG as time expired to beat Army 34-31. QB Tanner Lee threw for 252 yards and 2TDs for the Green Wave. The MVP was kicker Andrew DiRocco who hit both of his FGs. Parry Nickerson returned an Army fumble 48 yards for a score as well. Tulane had a 28-7 lead with 3:35 left in the first half. Cincinnati beat Tulsa 49-38 to become bowl eligible. Gunner Kiel threw for almost 400 yards and 2TDs and RB Mike Boone rushed for 137 yards and 3 scores. Dane Evans threw for 375 yards and 2TDs and Ramadi Warren rushed for 139 yards and 2TDs. The Bearcats overcame 3 turnovers in their win. Next Week: ECU at UCF (Thurs), CIN at USF (Fri), 21MEM at TEM, 19HOU at UConn, 16Navy at TULS, TUL at SMU

Mountain West: Colorado State downed UNLV 49-35. Nick Stevens threw 4TDs for the Rams. Blake Decker threw 2TDs and Kurt Palandech threw a TD and rushed for another. Lexington Thomas rushed for 118 yards and a TD for the Rebels and Kendal Keys caught all 3TDs. It was only a one-score game going into the fourth quarter, but CSU scored twice to secure the win. Air Force beat Utah State 35-28. Neither team could find the end zone in the 4th quarter even though both teams were able to make it inside the redzone. Air Force rushed for 309 yards and 4TDs as a team. USU QB Kent Myers threw 4TDs. Nevada needed to overtime to beat San Jose State 37-34 to get to 6 wins. Both QBs threw 3TDs, but Tyler Stewart’s 3rd came in overtime to win. New Mexico pulled another big upset by beating Boise State 31-24 on the road. RB Jhurell Pressley rushed for 132 yards and a TD to lead the UNM rushing attack that totaled 195 yards and 4 scores. Boise State QB Brett Rypien was 41/75 for 506 yards, 2TDs, and 3INTs. Jeremy McNichols rushed for 128 yards and a TD for the Broncos. UNM was 0-10 on 3rd down in this game. San Diego State routed Wyoming 38-3. Maxwell Smith threw 3TDs and Chase Price rushed for 152 yards and 2 scores with Donnel Pumphrey adding 140 yards on 29 carries. Fresno State went to Hawaii and won 42-14. QB Zack Greenlee threw 6TDs. Hawaii turned the ball over 4 times, twice on 1st and goal. Next Week: AF at BSU (Fri), SDSU at UNLV, FRES at BYU, UNR at USU, CSU at UNM, SJSU at HAW

MAC: The #MACtion started early again this week with two games on Tuesday and 2 more on Wednesday. Ohio shut out Kent State 27-0 behind QB Derrius Vick’s passing and rushing TDs. Kicker Josiah Yazdani was just 2/4 on FGs, but when the defense allows 0 points, it isn’t too big of a deal. The Bobcats outgained Kent State 447-191 in total yards. Ohio is now bowl eligible. Toledo got by Central Michigan 28-23 thanks to Kareem Hunt’s 113 rush yards and 2TDs. Phillip Ely and Cooper Rush each threw for 300+ yards and 2TDs, but Rush threw an INT with 5 seconds remaining to secure the win for the Rockets. Toledo started this game with a 21-0 lead. Northern Illinois used a big first half to beat Buffalo. The Huskies went into halftime with a 28-3 lead, but Buffalo cut it to just 8 two different times in the 4th quarter. Joel Bouagnon rushed for 156 yards and 2 scores and Kenny Golladay had 141 receiving yards and caught both of Ryan Graham’s TD passes. Bull’s QB Joe Licata threw 3INTs in the game. Bowling Green went on the road to face Western Michigan and left with a 41-27 win. Matt Johnson threw 3TDs and RB Travis Greene rushed for 170 yards and 3 scores of his own. Western Michigan tied the game at 27 with just under 11 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, but the Broncos were unable to score again while the Falcons got into the end zone 2 more times. Late in the 4th quarter WMU had 1st and goal from the BG4, but they turned the ball over on downs. Akron held of a late rally from Miami of Ohio to win 37-28. Conor Hundley rushed for 3TDs for the Zips. The Redhawks turned the ball over 4 times that lead to 14 Akron points. Massachusetts went on the road to Eastern Michigan and won 28-17. Marquis young rushed for 18 yards and a TD and Jamal Wilson rushed for 112 and 2TDs. Brogan Roback threw for 260 yards and 2TDs for the Eagles. Next Week: TOL at BG (Tues), BALL at Ohio (Tues), CMU at KENT (Wed), WMU at NIU (Wed), MOH at UMass, BUFF at AKR

C-USA: North Texas went to Tennessee and got shut out 0-24. The Mean Green only accumulated 199 yards of offense in this game. The North Texas offense only got as far as the Tennessee 45-yard line. Middle Tennessee beat Florida Atlantic 24-17 on the road. Brent Stockstill threw 2TDs and rushed for another and WR Richie James had 198 receiving yards and 2TDs. Florida Atlantice made it all the way to the MTSU 3 and 19 yard lines on their final two drives but couldn’t capitalize. Old Dominion beat UTEP 31-21 thanks to a big second quarter. UTEP’s Mack Leftwich threw 3TDs and 2INTs. David Washington threw for 291 yards and 2 scores for the Monarchs. UTEP only trailed by 2 points at the half. UTSA got their second win of the season by beating Charlotte in OT. The two teams scored a combined 34 points in the third quarter of this game. Charlotte’s Blake Brewer hit a 37-yard FG with 1:11 left to tie the game. UTSA kicker Victor Falcon missed what would’ve been the game-winner as time expired, but made up for it when he hit a 22-yarder in OT to win. Nate Gaines picked off Matt Johnson in the endzone to end Charlotte’s OT possession and set up UTSA to only need a field goal. Marshall crushed FIU 52-0. Chase Litton threw 3TDs and Remi Watson rushed for 2 more for the Thundering Herd. Southern Miss scored 35 in the 2nd quarter on their way to routing Rice 65-10. Nick Mullens threw for 386 yards and 5TDs (all coming in the first half). The Golden Eagles outgained Rice 682-214 in offensive yards. Next Week: UNT at MTSU, FAU at 8UF, WKU at FIU, ODU at USM, LT at UTEP, Rice at UTSA, CHAR at UK

Sun Belt: South Alabama was able to hold off a second half rally from the Ragin’ Cajuns to win 32-25. ULL scored on two big plays in the 4th quarter to take a 25-24 lead, but Xavier Johnson’s second TD of the night but the Jaguars ahead for the rest of the game. ULL threw an INT and turned the ball over on downs on their final two drives. Cody Clements threw a TD to and caught a TD from Gerald Everett. South Alabama outgained ULL 495-313 in yardage. Arkansas State moved to 6-0 in conference play with their 59-21 win over ULM. Fredi Knighten threw 5TDs and rushed for another. ULM QBs threw 4INTs. Earnest Carrington threw a TD and ran for another and Ben Luckett rushed for 149 yards and a TD for the Warhawks. Georgia Southern and Troy were tied after the first quarter, but the Eagles ended up winning 45-10. Georgia Southern rushed for 325 yards and 4TDs as a team. The Trojans turned the ball over 3 times. Georgia State used a big first half to beat Texas State 41-19. Nick Arbuckle threw for 471 yards and 4TDs for the Panthers but also threw 2INTs. Appalachian State went on the road and beat Idaho 47-20. Mountaineer QB Taylor Lamb threw 3TDs and RB Jalin Moore rushed for 244 yards. Vandal QB Matt Linehan threw for 243 yards and 2 scores. Appalachian State rushed for 401 yards and Idaho only rushed for 56. Next Week: ULM at TXST (Thurs), USA at GAST, Idaho at AUB, NMSU at ULL, GASO at UGA

Top 25
1Clemson 37 Syracuse 27
2Alabama 31 17Mississippi State 6
3Ohio State 28 Illinois 3
4Notre Dame 28 Wake Forest 7
5Iowa 40 Minnesota 35
12Oklahoma 44 6Baylor 34
Oregon 38 7Stanford 36
8Oklahoma State 35 Iowa State 31
Arkansas 31 9LSU 14
Arizona 37 10Utah 30 2OT
11Florida 24 South Carolina 14
13Michigan State 24 Maryland 7
14Michigan 48 Indiana 41 2OT
15TCU 23 Kansas 17
16Florida State 34 NC State 17
18Northwestern 21 Purdue 14
Washington State 31 19UCLA 27
20Navy 55 SMU 14
24Houston 35 21Memphis 34
South Florida 44 22Temple 23
23North Carolina 59 Miami(FL) 21
25Wisconsin BYE

Stats and Scores from ESPN.com