Drama highlighted a Week 10 of college football, and while Week 11’s slate doesn’t quite provide the firepower of two top-10 matchups and Clemson’s trip to Notre Dame, there’s still plenty on the line.
If Alabama wants to keep any hope alive to make the SEC title game, it will have to beat Lane Kiffin and the one-loss Rebels in Oxford. The Crimson Tide enter the crucial SEC West matchup with two losses, something typically unthinkable in mid-November under Nick Saban.
The next step for the upstart No. 4 TCU Horned Frogs is a trip to Austin, where they’ve beaten Texas four of the past five times they’ve headed south. The Horned Frogs clinched a berth in the Big 12 title game already but will have to keep a perfect record rolling if they want to stay in the College Football Playoff mix.
Speaking of the playoff, No. 3 Michigan hosts Nebraska, opening as a 31-point favorite. The Wolverines will likely use the game as a tune-up before hosting a ranked Illinois team and a trip to Columbus for the biggest game of the season.
Out west, Oregon hopes to keep its playoff hopes alive as rival Washington heads to Eugene looking to play spoiler. And UCF and Tulane meet in one of the biggest Group of 5 matchups this season.
These are the biggest storylines ahead of Week 11’s action.
No. 9 Alabama (7-2, 4-2) at No. 11 Ole Miss (8-1, 4-1): Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS
This isn’t a terribly complicated game to figure out. Ole Miss wants to do one thing in particular on offense: run the football. The question is, can Alabama stop it?
On the face of it, the answer might be yes. The Crimson Tide are giving up the third-fewest rushing yards per game in the SEC this season (104.0). But dig deeper, and 37.6% of rush attempts have resulted in 5 or more yards gained. And, removing sacks, opposing quarterbacks are averaging 5.32 yards per rush.
During Saturday’s loss at LSU, quarterback Jayden Daniels ran for 95 yards and a touchdown. A few weeks earlier, during Alabama’s other loss to Tennessee, Hendon Hooker ran for 56 yards.
Don’t think for a second that Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin didn’t notice that. His quarterback, Jaxson Dart, is plenty capable in the run game, totaling 473 yards on the ground this season.
What’s more, Dart has two great running backs to play off. Quinshon Judkins, the bruiser and lead back, has 1,036 yards rushing. Zach Evans, a more explosive change-of-pace back, has 680 yards.
Alabama coach Nick Saban called the Rebs “one of the best running…
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