Last Word on College Football Top 25 Week 11
What we thought was the weakest weekend slate of the season turned out to have seismic implications on the Top 25. The college football earthquake that was Week 11 saw three of the top four teams upset, two by unranked teams. It also saw six of the top 15 teams and 7 total Top 25 teams collapse in defeat. It’s been over three decades since the nation’s top four teams had such a bad weekend.
Alabama maintains its place atop our standings after a dominant performance. In the aftermath of Destruction Saturday, Ohio State and Louisville move into the top four. Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Penn State, West Virginia, and Oklahoma State also took advantage of losses by top 15 teams to move up.
We even see some Group-of-Five (G5) teams making some noise. Undefeated Western Michigan comes in at 10th. And Boise State (22nd), San Diego State (24th), and Navy (25th) find themselves in the rankings this week.
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LAST WORD ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP 25 WEEK 11
| Rank |
Team
|
Points
|
Previous
|
|
1. |
|
400 | 1 | |
| A let down after the big win against LSU? No. Alabama crushed Mississippi State to avoid the buck the upset trend on Saturday. With Auburn’s loss, Alabama clinched the SEC West and is now the only undefeated P5 team. Mike Loveall
|
||||
2. |
|
381 | 5 | |
| The Buckeyes rallied behind Curtis Samuel to a 62-3 win over Maryland. Samuel had a total of 112 yards and three total touchdowns. Next week, Ohio State will travel will East Lansing to face the Spartans who had their first win in eight games last week. Rob Gritzer
|
||||
3. |
|
362 | 6 | |
| Louisville overcame a slow start to beat Wake Forest 44-12. The Cardinals will now hit the road to take on Houston. Jonathan Bailey
|
||||
4. |
|
352 | 2 | |
| Michigan suffered a shocking loss to Iowa, but Wolverines fans can rest easy knowing it might have hurt Ohio State more than it hurt Michigan. There’s no more margin of error, though. Yesh Ginsburg
|
||||
5. |
|
338 | 3 | |
| Playing dangerously finally caught up to the Tigers. Clemson’s playoff chances are all but dashed at this point. On the bright side, they at least got their first loss out the way. Justin Gordon
|
||||
6. |
|
321 | 7 | |
| Corey Clement led the Badgers again this week to a 48-3 win over Illinois. Clement ran 25 times for 123 yards and scored three touchdowns. Next week, Wisconsin will travel to face Purdue. Rob Gritzer
|
||||
7. |
|
292 | 4 | |
| The Huskies hosted that Pac-12 team that no one wants to play and found out why. Next week they host struggling Arizona State, and will attempt to get back on track. Donald King
|
||||
8. |
|
287 | 9 | |
| The Sooners raced out a 21-0 first quarter lead and never looked back in taking down the Bears 45-24. Baker Mayfield threw for 300 yards and Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine each ran for over 100 yards in the victory. Oklahoma travels to Morgantown to take on West Virginia next Saturday. Jason Rhea
|
||||
9. |
|
281 | 10 | |
| The Nittany Lions scored 17 points in the final four minutes to escape Bloomington with a 45-31 win over the Hoosiers. Don’t look now, but Penn State will represent the Big 10 East in the conference title game if Ohio State beats Michigan and they beat Rutgers and Michigan State. Zach Jones
|
||||
10. |
|
225 | 12 | |
| The Broncos were on upset alert early on against Kent State, trailing 14-3 after the first quarter. But behind a phenomenal performance on the ground that included 329 rushing yards and four touchdowns, they eventually prevailed 37-21 to move to 10-0 on the year. John Bava III
|
||||
11. (T) |
|
215 | 13 | |
| West Virginia edged out Texas in Austin this week 24-20. The Mountaineers defense stepped up when called upon, recording five tackles for loss and four sacks as a team. Brendan Dzwierzynski
|
||||
11. (T) |
|
215 | 14 | |
| The Buffaloes took care of business in Week 11, and they remain atop the PAC-12 South. Next, they get the last team unbeaten in conference play, as The Pirate and Washington State visit Boulder. Donald King
|
||||
13. |
|
190 | 16 | |
| Texas Tech missed an extra point in the late minutes allowing the Cowboys to escape with a 45-44 win. Mason Rudolph continued his hot play throwing for 395 yards and two scores. Oklahoma State controls their own destiny in the Big 12 as they take on TCU this weekend. Jason Rhea
|
||||
14. |
|
178 | 19 | |
| The Utes got plenty of offense in a 49-26 Thursday night win at Arizona State, but the story was actually the defense. Defensive lineman Hunter Dimick set three team records with five sacks in the game, six-and-a-half tackles for loss and 37 yards lost for the opposing team on his sacks. The win kept Utah in a tie for second place and still within striking distance of the Pac 12 South title. The Utes play at home against Oregon next week. Tony Siracusa
|
||||
15. |
|
163 | NR | |
| The Trojans took home one of the most impressive upsets of the weekend by defeating Washington, holding the Huskies’ rushing yards to 17 yards. USC QB Sam Darnold threw for 287 yards and two TDs. The Trojans have now won six straight games and will prepare to face the UCLA Bruins. Lauren Beasley
|
||||
16. |
W
|
150 | 21 | |
| Alabama has the longest winning streak in the country, at 22 games. The second-longest among teams in Power 5 conferences? Washington State, with eight. Yesh Ginsburg
|
||||
17. |
|
139 | 8 | |
| The 9th ranked Tigers blew a shot at the SEC West title on Saturday as the Auburn offense struggled against Georgia. With an injured quarterback and a defense that just couldn’t quite put it together, the Tigers snapped a six-game win streak in the 13-7 loss. Lauren Beasley
|
||||
18. (T) |
|
113 | 16 | |
| The Tigers were back to work against Arkansas as they snapped a two-year losing streak. They started fast and fought off the Razorbacks rally attempt for a 38-10 win on the road. They host the 7-2 Florida Gators next Saturday. Kate Pearson-Halyburton
|
||||
18. (T) |
|
113 | 11 | |
| The Aggies continued their November slump with a home loss to Ole Miss. They took a 15 point lead into the 4th quarter but the Rebels freshman QB Shea Patterson engineered 23 4th quarter points. Jake Hubenak performed admirably but still hasn’t found his first win as the Aggies starting QB. Matthew Atkinson
|
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20. |
|
102 | 24 | |
| The Gators welcomed former head coach Will Muschamp back by handing him a 20-7 defeat. The Gators have to address turnover issues and some injuries, including a broken arm suffered by All-American safety Marcus Maye. Florida heads to Baton Rouge next week, where a win seals the SEC East. Zach Jones
|
||||
21. |
|
97 | 20 | |
| FSU manhandled Boston College 45-7 on senior day Friday night. Deondre Francois and Sean Maguire threw for a combined five touchdowns in the win. Jonathan Bailey
|
||||
22. (T) |
|
83 | 23 | |
| The story in the Broncos 52-16 win at Hawaii was not that quarterback Brett Rypien had another huge game, (338 yards passing and four touchdowns). Or that Boise State had piled up 403 yards by halftime. It was that Hawai’i coach Nick Rolovich was so tired of his team’s performance that just after halftime he had the stadium maintenance crew remove his team benches from the sidelines so that his players could no longer sit. Boise State got “only” 200 yards of offense the rest of the game. Boise State hosts UNLV next. Tony Siracusa
|
||||
22. (T) |
|
83 | 22 | |
| Tommy Armstrong came up big for the Huskers on Saturday. The senior quarterback combined for 268 yards and three touchdowns as the Huskers outlasted a game Minnesota team 24-17 to move to 8-2 on the season. John Bava III
|
||||
24. |
|
39 | 25 | |
| San Diego State moves to 9-1 on the year with a 46-16 drubbing of Nevada. The Aztecs literally ran all over their opposition, as Donnel Pumphrey and Raashad Penny recorded a combined 406 yards on the ground and three TDs between them, allowing their team to coast to a division clinching victory. Sean Garmer
|
||||
25. |
|
22 | NR | |
| The Midshipmen still have the inside track in the American West Division after a great win against Tulsa’s high octane offense. Winning out gives Navy a likely rematch with USF for the AAC title, and a possible big time bowl. Mike Loveall | ||||
OHIO STATE (9-1)
LOUISVILLE (9-1)
MICHIGAN (9-1)
CLEMSON (9-1)
WISCONSIN (8-2)
WASHINGTON (9-1)
OKLAHOMA (8-2)
PENN STATE (8-2) 
WESTERN MICHIGAN (10-0)
WEST VIRGINIA (8-1)
COLORADO (8-2)
OKLAHOMA STATE (8-2)
UTAH (8-2)
USC (7-3)
ASHINGTON STATE (8-2)
AUBURN (7-3)
LSU (6-3)
TEXAS A&M (7-3)
FLORIDA (7-2)
FLORIDA STATE (7-3)
BOISE STATE (9-1)
NEBRASKA (8-2)
SAN DIEGO STATE (8-1)
NAVY (7-2)Others Receiving Votes: North Carolina (16), Virginia Tech (10), Houston (7), USF (7), Troy (7), Pittsburgh (5), Tennessee (4), Minnesota (3).
The damage is done. The dust is settling. Will we see more upsets and turmoil at the top next week? Not a single weekend has disappointed this season, so there’s a very good chance next weekend has more aftershocks in store.
Previous LWOS Polls:
Preseason Top 25
Week 1 Top 25
Week 2 Top 25
Week 3 Top 25
Week 4 Top 25
Week 5 Top 25
Week 6 Top 25
Week 7 Top 25
Week 8 Top 25
Week 9 Top 25
Week 10 Top 25
About the poll: Sixteen Last Word on College Football writers submit ballots and points are awarded on a inverse-scale (a first place vote receives 25 points, a 25th-place vote receives 1 point).
Main Photo:
