Week 11 delivered everything college football fans crave — drama, upsets, and a playoff picture that’s messier than ever.
So what better way to start the week than by reflecting on the best moments from a Saturday in college football and talking about how they will impact the weeks ahead?
Here are 10 takeaways from Week 11 of the college football season:
1. The catch heard around college football
After leading all game, No. 2 Indiana let Penn State come back from a 20-7 deficit and take a 24-20 lead in the fourth quarter. Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza proceeded to lead his team on a game-winning drive that ended with this marvelous toe-tap catch by wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. in the back of the end zone and gave Indiana the lead for good.
Undefeated Indiana is a real national championship contender and Mendoza preserved his place in the Heisman Trophy race. There are still a few weeks left in the season, but that performance certainly made the prospect of a No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Indiana matchup in the Big Ten championship somehow more exciting.
2. Meanwhile, at Penn State…
The Nittany Lions’ season just keeps getting worse. Instead of pulling off a massive upset against unbeaten Indiana, Penn State extended its losing streak to six games. There’s still time for this team to become bowl eligible, but they would need to win their last three games against Michigan State, Nebraska and Rutgers. Is it possible? Yes…
Sure, Penn State lost its coach in James Franklin, and sure, the Nittany Lions haven’t escaped this slump — yet against Indiana, we saw flashes of the team that was ranked No. 2 to start the season.
Penn State running back Nick Singleton showed off his explosiveness that we’ve been waiting to see. Backup-turned-starting quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer showed improvement. The defense got consistent pressure on Mendoza. Overall, the team had more energy than we’ve seen in weeks. Penn State has always been talented. Now let’s see if the team can get out of this funk and finish the season right.
3. Oregon escapes Iowa with a walk-off field goal
Dan Lanning’s Ducks were lucky to escape Iowa with a win. Senior kicker Atticus Sappington drilled a 39-yard field goal with three seconds left to give No. 6 Oregon an 18-16 victory over No. 20 Iowa, capping a 10-play, 54-yard drive led by quarterback Dante Moore on a rainy afternoon in Iowa City.
It was a close call for an Oregon team still clinging to playoff hopes — and it sets up a tantalizing showdown with USC in two weeks, a likely College Football Playoff play-in game.
4. Aggies feeling good in College Station
Texas A&M’s magical season has Aggies everywhere feeling cautiously optimistic. Can this team win a national championship?
Over the weekend, the third-ranked Aggies handled No. 22 Missouri on the road, 38-17. At one point in the third quarter, Texas A&M led 21-0. Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed went 20-of-29 for 221 yards and two touchdowns and now A&M is 9-0 with all three of its ranked wins coming on the road (at Notre Dame, at LSU, and at Missouri).
What Texas A&M coach Mike Elko is doing in just his second year is incredible. Now his team just needs to finish the job and avoid upcoming trap-like games against South Carolina at home and on the road against rival Texas.
No matter where this game is played – at Bryant-Denny Stadium or Tiger Stadium – this rivalry mostly always lives up to the hype. Not this year.
The Tigers came to Tuscaloosa fresh off firing coach Brian Kelly and struggled against the Tide’s defense. LSU managed just 13 first downs and 232 total yards — only 59 on the ground — as Alabama won 20–9. At one point, interim head coach Frank Wilson even benched LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier.
Garrett Nussmeier #18 of the LSU Tigers was benched during the Tigers’ Week 11 loss to Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Alabama, ranked No. 4 in the first set of CFP rankings, could have put the game away earlier if not for some missed opportunities down field by Crimson Tide QB Ty Simpson. Even so, this team has now won eight straight and seems poised to play for an SEC championship. LSU, meanwhile, has lost three in a row and four of its last five.
6. On that note…
Remember at the beginning of the year how many pundits had Brian Kelly and LSU as national title contenders while Kalen DeBoer was on the hot seat at Alabama after a Week 1 loss to Florida State?
Just goes to show nobody ever knows anything until the games are played.
The eighth-ranked Red Raiders seem to be separating themselves from the pack in the Big 12 after a 29-7 win over No. 7 BYU. The environment was ripe for a victory, being that it was a top 10 conference matchup at home and Patrick Mahomes was in attendance.
Now, the Big 12 has three teams – Texas Tech, BYU and Cincinnati – all with one conference loss. The top two teams will meet in the conference title game with a spot in the CFP on the line on Saturday, Dec. 6. Texas Tech could certainly be one of them given its remaining games are against UCF and West Virginia.
This is a huge moment for Texas Tech as a program. After Texas and Oklahoma left for the SEC and the Big 12 added a handful of new teams, the league seemed a bit chaotic. But now that Texas Tech has dipped into NIL, the program has a chance to be the big dogs of the conference moving forward.
Head Coach Joey McGuire of the Texas Tech Red Raiders stands with his wife Debbie McGuire after his team’s win over BYU. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
8. Don’t look now, but Notre Dame seems poised to make the CFP again
After dominating Navy 49-10 in the snow on Saturday, No. 9 Notre Dame is in control of its CFP fate. The Fighting Irish lost its first two games of the season against Miami and Texas A&M and put itself in a position to have to play win-or-go-home football the rest of the way.
So far, so good, though a road trip to No. 24 Pitt this coming weekend will be huge before finishing the season against Syracuse and Stanford.
9. Lane Kiffin is having fun
Did everybody see Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin photobomb a marriage proposal during Ole Miss’ 49-0 win over The Citadel? During the third quarter, a Rebels fan pretended to kick a field goal but instead proposed to his girlfriend. While they were taking photos, Kiffin jumped in.
No. 6 Ole Miss is 9-1 and if the Rebels win out – they have Florida at home and a road game against Mississippi State to finish the year – the team will be poised to make the CFP. Things are good in Oxford, and it seems Kiffin is doing all the right things to dodge rumors about him and the open jobs at LSU and Florida.
10. ACC chaos coming
Have you looked at the ACC standings lately? Five teams – Georgia Tech, Virginia, Pitt, SMU and Duke – are tied at the top with one conference loss each. Which team is going to make it into the CFP?
Who knows, but what we do know is that the final weeks of the season will cause some chaos: SMU has to play Louisville; Pitt still has to play Georgia Tech and Miami; Duke has to play Virginia. Should be a wild finish.
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of “Strong Like a Woman,” published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.
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