College Football Top 11: Week 11

Erik Buchinger -
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1. LSU

I’m not sure what made the committee put Ohio State #1 last week in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, but the Tigers now have four victories better than any of the Buckeyes’ wins including Saturday’s massive game at Alabama. I would imagine the committee jumps LSU to the top spot after coming through with the most impressive win of the college football season. This team is awesome. Joe Burrow is awesome. Coach Eaux is awesome. Ole Miss, Arkansas and Texas A&M are left on the schedule till the SEC title game likely against Georgia.

2. Ohio State

No Chase Young, no problem. Honestly Ohio State could have gone with third stringers in this game and beaten Maryland. Seventy-three points. My goodness. In a show of massive disrespect to Maryland, Ohio State executed a fantastic onside kick situation that kicked ass. A kick hit a streaking receiver down the sideline like it was a pass. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Ohio State has Rutgers next week before Penn State and Michigan. Memphis’s basketball team pulled some awesome lawyer shit to keep their star on the court. Maybe Ohio State can do the same with their star defensive player before the season ends.

3. Georgia

I’m writing this one midway through the second quarter because I am fairly confident Missouri will not come back to win this one with a backup quarterback who don’t look so good. I would have Georgia in my College Football Playoff at this point because of their wins against Notre Dame and Florida. Remember when Georgia lost to South Carolina? What the hell was that? The Bulldogs have a big one at Auburn next Saturday followed by Texas A&M and Georgia Tech.

4. Minnesota

Woah! Minnesota goes from being the worst 8-0 team in the history of organized athletics all the way up to the College Football Playoff? You’re damn right they did. This will surely be the most controversial topic leading up to this week’s rankings, but what the Gophers did to Penn State deserves everybody’s respect. Minnesota’s receivers were unstoppable all game long. A win against the #4 team in college football is a much better win than anybody else remaining in this list has outside of the top three. The Gophers still have road games against Iowa and Northwestern before Wisconsin to close out the season.

5. Penn State

Call me a Big Ten homer, but I’m keeping Penn State in the top 5. The Nittany Lions have two wins against ranked teams unlike anybody else down this list. Combine two ranked victories with a loss that isn’t all that bad, Penn State should be the fifth-ranked team in the country. None of this matters unless they can beat Ohio State in two weeks. They also got Indiana and Rutgers at home. It’s a must-win out situation for Penn State like most of these teams.

6. Baylor

I have not been fair to Baylor all season long, and I’m putting the Bears up at #6 after a triple overtime win on the road at TCU Believe it or not, but Baylor is unbeaten. And believe it or not, it has the best victory over the remaining one-loss teams on this list with a victory at Kansas State. Yes, that’s a better win than anything Clemson, Alabama, Oregon, Utah or Oklahoma have. I feel like that’s a sign college football needs a fixin, but that’s an argument for another day. The 9-0 Bears have Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas remaining.

7. Clemson

Clemson is absolutely dominating every team it plays including NC State on Saturday night. It’s 28-0 in the first quarter as I type this. Am I ranking them at #7 because of their schedule? Absolutely. Is it fair? No probably not, but there has still not been a single ranked team on the Clemson schedule to this point of the season. An undefeated Clemson with an ACC title will obviously find itself in the Playoff, but any loss could be a disaster situation. The Tigers have a couple tricky games with a home matchup with a 7-2 Wake Forest and a road game at South Carolina, which beat Georgia in the first big upset of the year.

8. Alabama

Alabama takes a slide from #5 to #8 in this week’s college football top 11. The Tide are in massive trouble moving forward. Nick Saban will do all he can lobbying, pleading and potentially threatening the committee to put them in the College Football Playoff, but I just don’t see it. Alabama needs at least two losses from LSU to potentially win the SEC West. This loss should be a kill shot in what would be the first time Saban is left out of the Playoff. To close out the year, Alabama has Mississippi State, Western Carolina (what a fun November matchup!) and Auburn.

9. Oregon

Oregon had itself a bye week. Seems like the Ducks lucked out with Willie Taggart heading out of Eugene after one season. Instead, Oregon has Mario Cristobal, who is a elite coach with an elite name. He has Oregon rolling with its only loss coming on opening night against Auburn in a game it probably should have won. The Ducks have a manageable three games left with Arizona, Arizona State and Oregon State.

10. Oklahoma

Oklahoma is up 14-7 as I write this late in the first quarter. If the Sooners find a way to lose to Iowa State at home, I’ll come back in and switch some things up by dropping Oklahoma out of the rankings and bringing in Auburn. Oklahoma is one of five teams in the college football top 11 that has zero wins against ranked teams. Oklahoma still has some good teams on its schedule with Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State to close out the year.

11. Utah

The other Pac-12 team with a shot at the Playoff took the week off as well. I have professed my love for this Utah team many times this season, and this is the team I am cheering for from here on out. Nobody watches the Utes, but this is an entertaining team with entertaining uniforms. Utah has a matchup with an improved UCLA team followed by Arizona and Colorado.

Photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications

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