By Chris Carlson: Week 10 delivered once again proving the regular season for College Football is the best out of all sports. Case in point, seven Top-25 teams lost to unranked opponents. Week 11 features 4 separate ranked vs. ranked matchups along with a handful of games flying under the radar. After a 2nd week of rankings some of the dust has settled for Cincy as far as the Bearcats moving up and also the numerous difficult games other highly ranked teams face. Why did Michigan State fall below Michigan? Why didn’t Baylor fall more after losing to TCU? Why the hell was Minnesota and Mississippi State ranked?
Marquee Matchups
#4 Ohio State vs. #19 Purdue: The Boilermakers are coming off a huge victory over the Spartans to go along with another highly-ranked upset over Iowa. However, they did lose to Minnesota and got beat handily by a resurging Wisconsin team. Can Purdue make it 3 wins in a row? I guess not with the way Las Vegas thinks of this marquee matchup setting them as a 20.5-point underdog. Ohio State has won 7 straight games since dropping a close one to Oregon and need this win here to keep pace in the Playoff Rankings. Purdue can pass the ball like crazy averaging 332 yards per game and the Buckeyes have given up a fair amount of passing yards thus far. Purdue runs the ball for just 77 yards a game and have problems stopping the run. That stat alone plus being on the road and the letdown factory gives me enough ammo to think Ohio State wins cleanly.
The Pick: Ohio State 40 Purdue 24
#8 Oklahoma vs. #13 Baylor: Baylor fell to an unranked TCU last week and the question is can they stop the bleeding? Wins over BYU and Iowa State standout out for Baylor but they way they’ve won so many games close has me scratching my head as to how good they are. Beyond the two losses, the same can be said or asked about the Sooners as far as winning ugly. Sure, Oklahoma won by a large margin versus Texas Tech but they have 6 wins with the margin of error was just 1 score. Not to mention they almost got beat by Kansas. It’s fair to say Oklahoma is better now with a new QB in Caleb Williams plus the Sooners are coming off a bye week enough to give them the edge.
The Pick: Oklahoma 34 Baylor 30
Under The Radar
#11 Texas A&M vs. #15 Ole Miss: The Aggies secured another quality victory last week by defeating Auburn in a no-nonsense throwback game. After losing two games in the early part of the season Texas A&M has strung together 4 wins one coming against Alabama. Ole Miss lost to Alabama but found a way to win 4 out of their last 5 games, one being a crazy finish with Arkansas. Injuries at the skilled positions especially wide receiver have hampered Ole Miss of late whereas is seems the Aggies have found their groove. Adding to that fact Texas A&M’s has a clear advantage on defense and do just enough on offense. This SEC West title might come down to which team has the ball at the end.
The Pick: Texas A&M 27 Ole Miss 23
Saturday Upset Special
Coming off a defeat to UNC #12 Wake Forest is a 1.5-point favorite over #16 N.C. State and the Wolfpack will pull the minor upset.
Hardcore Barnburner
#25 Arkansas vs. LSU: The Tigers almost did the unthinkable but fell short to Bama last week. While the Hogs got a key win to pop back up in the Top-25 and of course have to play a night game in Baton Rouge which isn’t easy.
#22 San Diego State vs. Nevada: Both teams lost to Fresno State but they find themselves in a two-way tie on the West side of the Mountain West conference with only that 1 loss to Fresno. This one has barnburner written all over it.
Against The Spread
Losers of two in a row are we sure SMU beats Central Florida by 7-points?
Northwestern finds a way to lose by less than 24.5 points to Wisconsin.
(Honorable Mention: Oddsmakers teasing Purdue as a 20.5-point favorite to Ohio State after knocking off previously unbeaten MSU.)
Take it to the window
Ragin Cajuns cover as a 6.5-point favorite at Troy.
Miami vs. Florida State will go over the 61 points set as over/under.
Quick Hits Recap & My Top-4 Plus 2 More.
-My Top 4: Georgia, Alabama, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Oregon, Ohio State
-Purdue QB Aidan O’Connell threw for 536 yards and 3 TD’s in a big upset over Sparty.
-The Boilermakers now have the most wins over AP Top-5 opponents while being unranked in those games.
-Alabama barely won the game over LSU but the craziest stat is the Crimson Tide only rushing for 6 total yards.
-Central Florida’s Brian Battie returned two 100-yard kickoff returns for touchdowns in a loss to Houston. Battie has 3 on the year now and became just the 2nd player in FBS history to score twice in one game on KO returns.
-Nebraska has outscored their Big Ten opponents 190-176 but somehow has managed just 1 victory.
-For 5 games in a row Miami Hurricanes games have been decided by 4 points or less. The Canes have won three of them.
-Arizona ended a 20-game losing streak by beating a severely depleted team in California.
Written by Chris Carlson Host of The College Ball Show Podcast available at blogtalkradio.com/ropeadoperadio and Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio