NCAAF College Football Scores - Week 11

NCAAF College Football Scores - Week 11

The top five teams all won. The top four had an easy time of it, but #5 Iowa struggled against 4-6 Minnesota.

It was a bad week for the power teams in the Big 12, which lost its aura of invulnerability. #6 Baylor lost. TCU barely beat a weak 0-10 Kansas squad. Oklahoma State was down 24-7 to a 3-7 team from Iowa State before waking up just enough to win 35-31. Oklahoma was the only shining light, with a 44-34 win over #6 Baylor. The current records still look impressive: Oklahoma State 10-0, Oklahoma 9-1, TCU 9-1, Baylor 8-1. Undefeated Oklahoma State finishes the season against Baylor and Oklahoma. TCU faces the exact same teams in reverse order.

At the bottom of the top ten, ranked teams were swatted down like flies: #6 Baylor lost; #7 Stanford lost to Oregon; #9 LSU got stomped by Arkansas; #10 Utah lost to Arizona in OT. The losses by 6, 7, 9, and 10 provided good news for #11 Florida, which defeated South Carolina, and should move up past at least those four teams. The remaining spots in the top ten will probably be filled by Oklahoma and the two Michigans, although the Wolverines needed OT to defeat Indiana. That means the top ten teams should include both Oklahomas and both Michigans, although none of the four is likely to crack the top five.

Houston somehow remained undefeated despite facing a 34-14 deficit at the beginning of the fourth quarter. You could have gotten some long odds if you wanted to bet on them at that point, but they quickly rattled off three TDs, and almost a fourth (they lost the ball on downs on the Memphis five), all abetted by two key Memphis turnovers. The Memphis fourth quarter possessions looked like this: (1) fumble; (2) interception; (3) three plays for five yards, then a punt; (4) missed field goal.

Baylor's loss means that the top four teams should now be the same group in all of the polls: Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame and Alabama. Sagarin's computer rankings, however, place Oklahoma in the group instead of Notre Dame. Here's how the rest of the year looks for those five teams in order of decreasing difficulty:

* Ohio State has a tough row to hoe against Michigan and Michigan State.

* Oklahoma, as previously noted, must defeat TCU and undefeated Oklahoma State.

* Notre Dame should have no trouble at home against Boston College next week, but they will have to have their act together to win their finale at Stanford.

* Alabama has a presumed laugher against Charleston Southern next week, then finishes at Auburn.

* Clemson is expected to finish undefeated, since they finish off against two 3-7 teams, Wake Forest and South Carolina. The latter game is at South Carolina, and SC is a very tough team despite a 3-7 record, so there is some possibility of an upset and stranger things have happened, but don't get your hopes up if you root for one of the other teams to take Clemson's #1 seed in the official bowl standings. As I see it, the only realistic hope of Clemson losing that #1 is if Ohio State mercilessly crushes the life out of the two Michigans.

Adding to the confusion, Iowa will probably finish the season undefeated because they finish off against Purdue and Nebraska, two teams with losing records. If some of the above teams falter, is it possible that the playoff committee would consider placing current #5 Iowa in the playoff group? It seems they would have to. Talk about a Cinderella story.