College Football Rankings: Week 11
Week ten marks the start of playoff season, inevitably causing a change in atmosphere on college football fields from coast to coast. College football’s Week 10 was filled with surprises, upsets, narrow margins and the always-shocking sight of undefeated records crumbling at the hands of the Indiana sports betting underdogs.
Things move real fast in NCAA football; danger is forever looming, a fact that will be eating away at the hearts of Michigan State. Just a week ago, their No. 3 placement suggested that they would be firmly in the running for one of the four spots.
A week later, the Spartans dreams are in shatters. They fought valiantly, but ultimately suffered a 40–29 defeat at the hands of the Purdue Boilermakers, the second time they had proved their metal on the field this season.
Wake Forest were another team to suffer a crushing defeat – and by the narrowest of margins, too. An action-packed 58-55 loss at North Carolina wasn’t what they were hoping for, but they certainly didn’t let their fans down on the way to achieving it. Forest gave it everything they could until the final whistle, but sadly, it just wasn’t quite enough on the day.
By the Skin and the Teeth
Louisiana State University’s Tigers had nothing to lose going into week ten but couldn’t quite overcome an Alabama team who were at the top of their game. They didn’t give the Southern state an easy ride, however, and Alabama must surely have had moments of worry when they wondered if they too might be on the way out of the 2021 season, just as Forest and the Spartans had suffered in week ten.
Cincinnati pulled it out of the bag in the closing phases of their game, managing two separate goal-line stands which were just enough to hold on against Tusla 28-20 to remain undefeated. Oregon too looked sure to be on the way out during their first half, but somehow managed to pull it back and defeat their rival Washington – their CFP rankings are safe for now.
Other top-ten teams were not so lucky – Misssissippi State, Kentucky and Minnesota all lost to unranked opponents, resulting in an unprecedented shuffle of the NCAA power rankings this season.
So, who does now stand at the top of college football’s power rankings entering week 11? and could these standings give any clues as to who will go on to win the finals?
Power Rankings… as You’ve Never Seen Them Before
We’ve got used to the same old teams running the show as far as NCAA football is concerned – whilst the NFL is regularly full of surprises, college football can be a little more… predictable. This is perhaps not surprising – some colleges have legacies that they simply must live up to, and they’ll gather up every athlete on campus for try outs to ensure they find the very best players they can possibly muster.
Georgia (Title Odds: -110)
But, this year, the NCAA has thrown us a curveball – take top-placed Georgia for example, whose thrilling game against Missouri was a perfect example of an American Football rout at its best. The Bulldogs posted 34 unanswered points to remain unbeaten. The final score? The final score? 43-6. I wouldn’t be surprised if the party is still going on at the Georgia campus, given that performance.
Alabama Crimson Tide (Title Odds: +350)
Making a rare appearance on the power rankings list, Alabama’s match against LSU wasn’t quite the haymaker we saw between Georgia and Missouri. LSU needed the win, but thanks to some sloppy play during the midgame, Alabama managed to keep their lead until the final minutes. The Tigers tried for a Hail Mary, but it came up short resulting in a crushing defeat of 20-14.
Cincinatti Bearcats (Title Odds: +8,000)
Their play won’t win any awards for style, but when it comes to winning games, style isn’t going to make the difference! The final minutes were full of nail-biting moments, as people wondered if the Bearcats could pull it off again – and pull it off they did, beating Tulsa 28-20. Considering they had started the game 14-0, this should have been another classic rout. Keep working on it Cincinnati – you’re going to need to hold it down much better than this for a shot at the title..
Oregon Ducks (Title Odds: +2,500)
The countries fourth best NCAA team slides right in here at fourth place in the power rankings – not where they will want to be, but an interesting co-incidence all the same. Washington’s head coach had talked a big game prior to this game, and his players showed steely determination for the first half of the game. Unfortunately, they couldn’t hold it together throughout the second half – with the Buckeyes and the Sooners sitting right underneath them, the Ducks are going to have to put on a better showing than this in their next game.
