College football top 11: Week 4

Erik Buchinger -

1. Auburn

Auburn uglied its way to a win at Texas A&M on Saturday. Bo Nix threw for exactly 100 yards, and Auburn’s leading rusher JaTarvious Whitlow averaged 3.7 yards per carry. The numbers are not spectacular, but Auburn won this game on special teams with a first quarter punt return for a touchdown, and a Texas A&M fumble led to a short field and another score for the Tigers. Auburn has wins against Oregon and Texas A&M, and neither of those games were played at home. That’s enough to put them in the top spot after 4 weeks. Auburn has Mississippi State at home next week followed by a road game at Florida.

2. LSU

It’s still strange to see what LSU is doing on offense just putting points on the scoreboard like nobody’s business. The offensive experiment is significantly more effective than what Michigan is trying to do in its supposed new-look offense. More on that later. The Tigers went on the road and put up 66 against Vanderbilt. If you are going up against a non-2018 Louisville and can score that many points, that’s impressive. Joe Burrow continues to be my favorite for Heisman with another big-time performance that included nearly 400 yards passing and 6 touchdowns. LSU has a bye week before home games against Utah State and Florida.

3. Georgia

Night game between two premier programs with GameDay in attendance at an actual campus sight? Yes, please. Georgia took control in the third quarter and coasted for the win. I thought Georgia might go for 40 and blow out the Irish, but that didn’t quite happen, leading to a significantly lighter wallet this Sunday morning. Both offenses were not spectacular, and Notre Dame’s defense was much better than expected. The Bulldogs have a bye next week before Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky. Sure sounds like they’ll be 7-0 before a matchup with Florida.

4. Clemson

Clemson put its murder pants on and did some damage against Charlotte on Saturday night. The Tigers move down a few spots due to big wins from teams behind them, which should not matter considering there is still a very high chance Clemson finishes the season undefeated. However, the ACC is definitely the worst Power 5 conference, so any Clemson loss could be massive depending on how the rest of the country shapes out. Next week, the Tigers head to North Carolina, which just lost to Appalachian State at home.

5. Wisconsin

Hell yes. This was a top-five victory for me as a Wisconsin fan, and the Badgers’ complete domination over Michigan puts them into the top five of the top 11. Two blowout wins against crappy Group of 5 teams still had a few folks remaining skeptical, but Wisconsin is for real after a bad 2018 season. Michigan did nothing against the Wisconsin defense, and Jonathan Taylor is Jonathan Taylor. The Badgers host Northwestern next week without their top three safeties to start with one out for the year and two receiving targeting penalties in the second half.

6. California

Is Cal for real? What a start for the Golden Bears, who went on the road and beat Ole Miss. Cal probably should not have won this game, but you get what you get with Pac-12 referees. The Rebels are not good, but combine that with a road win at Washington with a 4-0 record, you’ll find yourself inside the top 11 at this point of the season. California will play an unbeaten Arizona State team in a Friday night matchup next week followed by a road game against Oregon.

7. Florida

Florida took care of business against Tennessee, which is just an awful, awful football team. Is it bad to say the Gators are a better football team with Kyle Trask at quarterback than they are with Feleipe Franks? No? Okay, then I’ll say that. After leading the comeback against Kentucky last week, Trask completed 20 of 28 passes for nearly 300 yards. Florida is going up against Towson, and the result should be the same as today’s game, followed by a big one against Auburn the week after.

8. Virginia

Virginia at #8? But they almost lost to Old Dominion??? Yeah, but they didn’t. Virginia had a massive letdown after beating Florida State in an awesome game the week before but survived the Monarchs despite trailing 17-0 in the second quarter. Virginia was likely looking ahead to next week’s matchup at Notre Dame, which will likely result in a loss and thus taking the Wahoos off this list.

9. Alabama

Yep, it sure seems like Alabama will be a good team this year believe it or not. The Tide beat Southern Miss 49-7 in their fourth blowout of the season. The only reason Alabama isn’t higher is its only Power 5 wins are Duke and South Carolina. Alabama will destroy Ole Miss next week before a bye.

10. Iowa

No movement for Iowa this week. Power 5 wins against Rutgers and Iowa State put the Hawkeyes in the top 10. When those two wins get you into the top 10, it’s a sign the conference season could not come soon enough. Iowa has Middle Tennessee next week before Michigan and Penn State.

11. Kansas State

We’re getting low on quality wins here toward the end, and Kansas State joins the top 11 despite just hangin’ out at home this weekend. The victory over Mississippi State last week puts Kansas State into the list. Not much else to say, but Kansas State looks to move to 4-0 at Oklahoma State next week.

Photo courtesy of KStateSports.com

Leave a Reply