2024 College Football: Week 11 Takeaways
The CFP committee released their first official rankings on Tuesday, and as usual, I have a few complaints. Each week, I’m going to dedicate one of my takeaways below to analyzing their rankings. I’ll explain where they went wrong (or right if that miraculously happens) and why, as well as what I’d do differently. I will also try to provide a draft nugget each week, focusing on a particular player or position group. Late in the season, draft preparation and playoff positioning take centerstage, and my posts will reflect that, but we’ll still talk about other stuff! Let’s start now with my week 11 takeaways!
(16) Ole Miss and (11) Alabama Crush (3) UGA and (15) LSU, Respectively
The SEC gave us our only two ranked-on-ranked matchups of the week, and neither one was ultra competitive. Both Oxford, Mississippi and Baton Rouge, Louisiana dealt with rain throughout the afternoon and evening, but that can’t completely explain some of the sloppy play we saw from the Bulldogs and Tigers. For Georgia, it was another bad outing from QB Carson Beck (20/31, 186 yards, INT, FUM). Beck is seriously hurting his draft stock and has not looked anything like his 2023 self. In a must-win game for Ole Miss, that wasn’t going to cut it. The Rebels could not afford a 3rd loss and played like it.
At the start, they almost went awry. QB Jaxson Dart (13/22, 199 yards, TD, INT) took a sack and hurt his ankle. He threw an INT one play later, which led straight to a Georgia TD. Dart missed the following drive, and things could’ve gone south. Instead, backup freshman Austin Simmons went 5/6 for 64 yards and led a tying TD drive. Even when Dart returned, that success (and oddly the second squirrel delay of the season at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium) gave the Rebels the confidence that they could win. The offense had one of its better games in putting up 28 points against a vaunted defense, but let’s talk about the Ole Miss defense.
A couple of odd results this season have kept us from acknowledging that this version of the Rebel defense is the best we’ve seen in some time. They held Georgia to just one more field goal, which came at the start of the second half. You might’ve felt like the Bulldogs were gaining momentum, but Mississippi snuffed that out and made sure their point total stayed at 10. This is the biggest win of coach Lane Kiffin’s career. The only blemish was the fans rushing the field with 16 seconds left. Other than that, this gives Ole Miss a real playoff shot. Georgia isn’t in too much trouble having been at 3, but they can’t lose again.
In the more hyped battle between Alabama and LSU, billed as a CFP elimination game, we didn’t get much of a contest. The Crimson Tide did not trail once in this 42-13 victory, and 7 of LSU’s points were pure garbage time. I only saw one two mistakes by Alabama, and they both helped the Crimson Tide in the immediate aftermath. First, they committed a delay of game penalty before a 52-yard FG attempt, which forced a punt. The FG headed way right, so it was good that it didn’t count. On the next drive, Alabama failed on 4th and 1. One play later, LB Jihaad Campbell strip sacked QB Garrett Nussmeier for a turnover.
Alabama QB Jalen Milroe (12/18, 109 yards) did little as a passer, but he didn’t have to. He ran 12 times for 185 yards and 4 TDs, which is when he’s at his best. The Crimson Tide ran for 311 yards and 6 TDs overall, while the defense smothered the LSU attack. Nussmeier (27/42, 239 yards, TD, 2 INTs, FUM) had a terrible game, and it makes me wonder why people consider him a viable pro prospect. Prior to this game, Tigers HC Brian Kelly had been 13-0 at night in Death Valley. His first such loss eliminates LSU from CFP contention. I still don’t trust Alabama, but they’re in pretty good shape. They’re locks if they win the SEC.
Georgia Tech Ruins (4) Miami’s Perfect Season for Second Straight Year
Sometimes an opponent just has your number, but this one is a little weird. A year after ending Miami’s 4-0 start in one of the wildest games of the year, the Yellow Jackets had designs on doing the same thing to a 9-0 Hurricanes team this weekend. We all saw this coming for Miami at some point. They already should’ve lost once against Virginia Tech, and they played with real fire against California and Duke. This defense has been a sieve for most of the year, but Heisman contending QB Cam Ward has bailed them out over and over again. For the first time this year, his heroics weren’t enough to save the day.
The defense showed us the type of day they’d be having on the very first drive of the game. Ga. Tech RB Jamal Haynes (3/83/1), already injured coming into the game, ran twice for 81 yards and a score on the drive. Unfortunately, he only received one more carry before leaving with a concussion. QB Haynes King, who missed the past several games himself, picked up the slack on the ground. His 6/6 passing line for 32 yards and a TD was efficient if not prolific, but he took 20 carries for 93 yards and another score. The Yellow Jackets struggled without King, but we knew that would not be the case with him back in the lineup.
Ward responded with a quick strike to TE Elijah Arroyo (3/82/1) to tie the game, and the Canes scored a field goal to take a 10-7 lead. That would be Miami’s only lead of the game. Georgia Tech quickly scored a TD of their own to go back ahead, and nobody else scored again until the third quarter. Part of that was offensive inefficiency by Miami; they turned the ball over on downs 3 times during this game. Credit the Ga. Tech defense though, as they largely held a wildly explosive offense. RB Damien Martinez (15/81) and WRs Jacolby George (7/88) and Xavier Restrepo (4/78/1) had good production, but most of it came with Miami trailing.
By the end, the Hurricanes got the ball back with 1:52 to go while down 28-23. Ward ran out of magic, and he lost a fumble on a strip sack. You can’t blame him or that moment for the loss; he went 25/39 for 348 yards and 3 TDs. He was great as usual if not flawless, and I still view him as a primary Heisman contender. The tactic of falling behind and then charging back has caught up with Miami, and that may mean only ACC team gets into the CFP. For the Canes in particular, they fall back to behind 0-loss (13) SMU and tied with 1-loss Clemson. Much work remains to be done and quickly.
Oklahoma State is in Full Meltdown Mode as a Program
One of the standard-bearers of the Big XII is imploding without a whole lot of attention. Oklahoma State, who is in contention for the conference title most years, started off 3-0, but they had some warts. Those warts took over, and the Cowboys haven’t won since. OKST beat an FCS team, Arkansas, and a terrible Tulsa squad, so those wins clearly didn’t mean much. In hindsight, we shouldn’t be surprised at their 0-7 record in Big XII play. How the Cowboys got to 3-7 is the interesting part. They started with a 22-19 loss to Utah. While Oklahoma State was competitive, we’ve since learned that Utah isn’t very good.
In the following 6 games, the Cowboys allowed 38 points or more each and every time. Out of those six occurrences, Oklahoma State lost by 21 or more four times. In the other two games (against BYU and Baylor), they at least kept things close. This used to be a defensive team, but now they can’t stop anyone. Granted, the Big XII is known for its exciting shootouts, but most of the time, OKST isn’t participating on the offensive side of things. The team’s QBs have thrown 12 INTs, and the Cowboys average 3.7 yards per rush. I can compliment a few receivers and RB Ollie Gordon II, but even they aren’t playing at their previous levels.
I consider this a worse situation than Oklahoma’s (they had a wild loss of their own Saturday at (24) Missouri). That’s because there are no easy fixes. Mike Gundy is one of the longest-tenured coaches in the FBS and has done a great job overall. Even he seems to be out of answers, and he took his frustration out on Cowboy fans earlier this week. His team is guaranteed to miss bowl season at 3-7, and they might finish 3-9 with Texas Tech and (20) Colorado remaining on the schedule. It’s going to be incredibly interesting to see how the school handles this, as they haven’t seen their team finish under .500 since 2005—Gundy’s first as head coach.
Weekly CFP Update and Analysis
Much to my surprise, the top of the initial rankings didn’t bother me very much. Oregon is the clear #1 team, and I thought (2) Ohio State was better than (3) Georgia (this is now confirmed based on their week 11 games). (4) Miami had some scares, but an undefeated ACC team belonged in that spot. That issue took care of itself this week anyway (see above). (5) Texas is slotted properly, but my first issue is at #6 (Penn State). How did those frauds only drop 3 spots after last week’s loss? Comparatively, (8) Indiana may have a weak schedule, but they’re undefeated and have looked dominant. I’d have ranked them higher.
Similarly, I had much more respect for (9) BYU than the committee did. Their win over (13) SMU and their crushing of (19) Kansas State have aged really well. I suppose given their near-loss to Utah this week I might have overrated them, but they’re a 9-0 Power-4 team, which carries weight. Speaking of SMU, I’m glad they finally got their due. That team had been penalized for losing to BYU by 3 early in the season, but that’s pretty trivial given that the Cougars are now in the top 10. Another underrated team is (16) Ole Miss. I thought they deserved to be a bit higher, and they definitely will be now that they’ve beaten Georgia (see above again)
It’s clear that the committee is declaring who they think is best right now, or else a 3-loss Louisville team wouldn’t be 22nd. They’re the only 3-loss team in the rankings, and they’re ahead of (25) Army. That’s my last point of contention but also my biggest. The Black Knights have been a dominant 9-0 team. Their schedule is also better now that they’re AAC members. Yet it feels like they only got ranked at all because they’re undefeated; otherwise they wouldn’t be considered. For anyone who feels their team was slighted, remember: this is a 12-team affair now. That means there’s much more hope to go around than ever before.
What Position Should Colorado’s Travis Hunter Play in the NFL?
(20) Colorado won an important game this week to stay in the Big XII hunt, and two-way star Travis Hunter had 9 catches for 99 yards and a TD. He didn’t register a defensive stat, but he provided good coverage. That got me thinking: which position will he play at the next level, and is there a chance that he’ll play both? Hunter himself says he wants to play both, but that’ll be up to his NFL team. Given the insane snap counts he racks up by playing on both sides of the ball, I imagine that team will choose one or the other. This isn’t a Shohei Ohtani situation because football is much more intensive.
Hunter played both positions going back to high school, and he has been quite good at each of them in college. First at Jackson State and now at Colorado, he is stuffing stat sheets and dominating. He has 2 INTs and a forced fumble on defense plus 856 yards and 8 TDs on offense. At 6’1″ and 185 pounds, his frame is probably better-suited for the CB position. However, his explosiveness and pure athleticism make me think of him more as a WR. I’m not the only one who can’t decide: NFL teams are just as split. Here’s what we know: he’s good at both positions, and that has made him a leading Heisman candidate.
What that might bode well for him is that if he struggles at one position in the NFL, he’s 50% less likely to be a bust because he can simply try the other one. His pro team will have one spot in mind though. That said, you can’t have too many good WRs or CBs, as both are premium positions. If I were making the decision, I’d probably play him as a CB with a 75% snap load there and then have him run some WR routes on 25% of the offensive plays. Those percentages can vary, but it’s easier to sprinkle a player in on offense than on defense. That could be the blueprint for NFL teams to follow.