Week 11 had no effect on the top end of the rankings as the AP top 11 all won admittedly with varying degrees of ease. UCF continued their unbeaten run and barring a disaster should be playing in a nice Bowl game again this year. With the top 4 all winning easily though they have no real hope of making it into the playoffs due to their relatively weak schedule. However, the other top 10 teams are all waiting to pounce on any slip-up and both Georgia and Ohio State had nice wins which will have piqued the Committee’s interest.
The only real surprises were Kentucky getting a beating by Tenessee and NC State slipping up at home to Wake Forest – although the Deamon Deacons are probably better than their record would suggest with 4 of their 5 losses coming against ranked opponents.
AP Top 25 results
1 Alabama – Beat Miss State 24-0, Second consecutive shutout against a Ranked SEC team!
2 Clemson – Won 27-7 at Boston College
3 Notre Dame – Beat Florida State 42-13
4 Michigan -Won 42-7 at Rutgers
5 Georgia – Beat Auburn 27-10
6 Oklahoma – Beat Oklahoma State 48-47
7 West Virginia – Beat TCU 47-10
8 Ohio State – Won 26-6 at Michigan State
9 LSU – won 24-17 at Arkansas
10 Washington State – won 31-7 at Colorado
11 UCF – Beat navy 34-24 That’s 22 wins in a row
12 Kentucky – Lost 24-7 at Tenessee
13 Syracuse – Beat Louisville 54-23
14 Utah State – Beat San Jose State 62-24
15 Texas – Beat Texas Tech 41-34
16 Fresno State – Lost 24-17 at Boise
17 Boston College – Lost at home to Clemson
18 Mississippi State Lost at Alabama
19 Florida – Beat South Carolina 35-31
20 Washington – Didn’t play
21 Penn State – Beat Wisconsin 22-10
22 NC State – lost 27-23 at home to Wake Forest
23 Iowa State – Beat Baylor 28-14
24 Michigan State Lost at home to Ohio State
25 Cincinnati -beat South Florida 35-23
Racking them up
Six teams managed 50 plus points this week with SMU and Utah State taking top honours with 62 each.
Is it Basketball?
The only real contender here was Temple v Houston which ended 59-49. Temple led from the get go and 3 Houston fumbles added to the drama. Huston looked like UCF’s main challengers for the at-large spot a few games ago but two losses in a row have probably put pay to that. Amazingly though they have still managed to score at least 31 points in every game this season
Game of the day
Oklahoma’s narrow win over local rivals Oklahoma state had it all lead changes comebacks and decided by a missed 2 point conversion attempt in the last minute. Did I mention 1342 yards net offense and 850 yards passing? OKSU’s Taylor Cornelius had more passing yards that there was in the whole Southern Miss v UAB game – and that one went into overtime!
Performance of the day
Got to be Washington States easy win at Colorado – the same Colorado who started 5-0 and have lost ever since. Still, this was a pressure game and Gardner Minshew stepped up again enhancing his Heisman credentials. The Cougars are the surprise team of the year (although we did have them at 18 in our preseason rankings)
