Florida makes its case as the 2nd best team in the SEC, Miami escapes again, Indiana keeps on winning, Cincinnati isn’t slowing down, while Michigan may be folding their program soon. This and more from this past week of college football.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | NEXT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 6-0 | BYE |
| 2 | Notre Dame | 8-0 | 45-31 Win at Boston College |
| 3 | Ohio State | 3-0 | BYE |
| 4 | Clemson | 7-1 | BYE |
| 5 | Texas A&M | 5-1 | BYE |
| 6 | Florida | 5-1 | 63-35 Win vs. Arkansas |
| 7 | Cincinnati | 7-0 | 55-17 Win vs. East Carolina |
| 8 | Indiana (+3) | 4-0 | 24-0 Win at Michigan State |
| 9 | Wisconsin (+3) | 2-0 | 49-11 Win at Michigan |
| 10 | BYU (-2) | 8-0 | BYE |
| 11 | Marshall (+3) | 7-0 | 42-14 Win vs. Mid Tennessee |
| 12 | Oregon (-2) | 2-0 | 43-29 Win at Washington State |
| 13 | Miami (-4) | 7-1 | 25-24 Win at Virginia Tech |
| 14 | Oklahoma State (-1) | 5-1 | BYE |
| 15 | Oklahoma (+1) | 5-2 | BYE |
| 16 | Georgia (-1) | 4-2 | BYE |
| 17 | Liberty (NR) | 8-0 | 58-14 Win vs. Western Carolina |
| 18 | Coastal Carolina | 7-0 | BYE |
| 19 | Iowa State | 5-2 | BYE |
| 20 | USC | 2-0 | 34-30 Win at Arizona |
OUT: SMU
IN: Liberty
Week 11 Recap
10 teams didn’t take the field this past weekend from our top 20, sheesh. Our Irish took the field of course and won while Alabama took the week off because everyone at LSU has the virus. In another era, maybe Notre Dame would jump the Tide but not this current one.
Kyle Trask is starting to get comparisons to last year’s Heisman winner Joseph Burrow. The Gators QB lit up Arkansas upon former Florida quarterback Filipe Franks’ return to the Swamp.
Man, you’d think Cincinnati is going to trip up at some point but they just show no signs of that happening soon.
It’s possible that the Big Ten is really, really like generationally bad this year so while I’m glad for Indiana I’m okay believing they could lose to anyone by 20 and I wouldn’t bat an eyelash.
Speaking of losing by 20, that’s a typical quarter for Michigan these days. There seems to be no hope for Jim Harbaugh at this point. It’s nice not having to worry about these problems.
On the 50th anniversary of their tragic team plane crash, Marshall picked up an emotional victory.
Elsewhere, Oregon looked okay in a win, Miami came from behind to topple Virginia Tech, we may never see Liberty lose in 2020, and USC grabbed another fluky win.
***
AP Top 25: Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Clemson, Texas A&M, Florida, Cincinnati, BYU, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oregon, Miami, Georgia, Oklahoma State, Marshall, Coastal Carolina, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Northwestern, USC, Liberty, Texas, Auburn, Louisiana, Tulsa
SP+ went behind the ESPN+ paywall and we’re upset.
Week 12 Games to Watch
Indiana (+20.5) at Ohio State
So, about that whole losing by 20 thing for Indiana. We still need some more data to truly understand if the Buckeyes are a National Title contender and this should be a good matchup. However, OSU only has 4 more games remaining including this and the way things stand today this will be by far their biggest win should they be victorious. And they are nearly 3 touchdown favorites.
Cincinnati (-5.5) at UCF
Currently AP-ranked Tulsa looms large to finish the season but this may be Cincinnati’s most likely game to lose this weekend. UCF has been off the radar pretty much the whole year but they remain super dangerous on offense and go up against a very good Bearcats defense.
Wisconsin (-7.5) at Northwestern
Leave it to Michigan to allow Wisconsin to dominate them and somehow look less impressive than the Badgers win over Illinois. This is a fun spread that pre-season wouldn’t have made much sense. But, the Wildcats can take command of the B1G West with a win, folks!
Oklahoma State (+7) at Oklahoma
Bedlam at this point in the season feels weird. I have nothing more to say except I’m sure the Sooners will win and begin slowly moving towards a Top 8 finish this year.
Liberty (+3.5) at NC State
This will be Liberty’s 3rd game this year against an ACC team. They are currently 2-0 and could make it a perfect 3-game sweep. Their regular season finale at Coastal Carolina looms super large for both programs if they can each remain unbeaten.
USC (-3) at Utah
Who knows what Utah is going to look like and they only have 4 games to play this year now. Additionally, this could be USC’s toughest remaining game and their odds of going undefeated in the regular season are pretty high right now. Will the Utes come through and not allow that to happen?
Miami has had 3 games rescheduled. As one is Ga.Tech. to Dec. 19, is the date of the ACC championship being moved?
They said that game will only be played if it doesn’t affect who would play in the ACC title game. At this juncture, it doesn’t look like it would – Miami’s on the short end of a 3-way tiebreaker with ND and Clemson even if we were to lose a game.
Philip Riley re-committed?
Yes yesterday
Sweet. F USC.
Any new ELITE names pop up as the season has gone on?
Supposedly close to a flip of a DT who committed to Oklahoma, Kelvin Gilliam. He’s 102 overall. From Highland Springs in VA; a school and area which very much fits more of the Oklahoma profile than a Notre Dame in the “traits” profile. But if you can get a high-end DT, why not. And he says academics is important, so I guess we’ll see.
Also, I have heard mentions that RB Donovan Edwards, CB Ceyair Wright, and S Titus (I probably spelled all of those names wrong) are still considering ND. I have no idea if ND has a realistic chance with any of them, but they have been mentioned