Week 11 of the College Football season is in the books and it was a relatively boring transgression of events. The only people who stayed glued to their TVs on Saturday were the sports bettors.
Many of the top games only came down to the wire on the point spread. Alabama, who opened at -24 at many books and then was bet down to 22 or 23, landing right on the number with a 24-0 final. How’s that for sharp? And #2 Clemson, who played Boston College and were laying -19 on the road, ended up winning the game 27-7. Here are the essential highlights from week 11 in College Football for the 2018 season.
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All four teams slated for the College Football Playoffs were favored by at least 17 points, and not surprisingly, none were threatened on Saturday. Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa did not play in the fourth quarter against Mississippi State after reaggravating his right knee. Bama was also the recipient of an extremely beneficial call late in the first half that should have been a touchdown for Miss state but ended up in no points being scored. It’s good to be BAMA at home.
The Crimson Tide probably won’t need Tua against The Citadel this week, which is part of the annual SEC November Sabbatical. How’s that for one more cupcake opponent? Eight SEC teams will play nonconference games next week, three of which will be against FCS schools. All eight figure to be huge favorites with the possible exception of Texas A&M, which will play 9-1 UAB.
Kentucky really needs a break after suffering a second straight loss. They appeared to have given up after they lost at Tennessee 24-7 and have officially dropped out of the New Year’s Six bowl game projections. UK has been replaced by the Florida Gators, which fought off South Carolina on Saturday.
Northwestern clinched the Big Ten West division and bowl eligibility on the same day. The Wildcats won 14-10 at Iowa for their sixth win of the season. That combined with Wisconsin’s loss at Penn State and Purdue’s bad loss at Minnesota (not good for Ohio State) gave Northwestern a spot in the Big Ten title game. The Cats will likely face the winner of the Michigan-Ohio State game.
#10 Ohio State had a semi statement game against #18 Michigan State and won easily 26-6. It’s all headed toward the classic showdown with Michigan for the Buckeyes. As mentioned above, the winner will play Northwestern for all the marbles in the big 10 and hopefully backdoor the #4 seed in the CFP.
In the Pac-12 South, USC is likely done now after the loss to Cal at home. Utah has a half-game lead over Arizona and Arizona State, and it finishes its Pac-12 schedule at Colorado next week. The Arizona schools still have to play each other but have another game before that first.
Morris Chambers is a senior wannamakeabet.com analyst