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2020 is a bad year for a lot of things, but it’s been a good year for some surprisingly good teams. Week 11, in its own way, backwards, highlighted this fact. Fifteen Saturday games have been postponed or canceled due to COVID-19. It is a high season and reflects what is happening across the country. Of the 15 games that were crossed out, six included the top 25 teams. Alabama, Ohio State and Texas A&M did not play.
Of course, those games are missed, but that also leaves room for other teams just as deserving of our attention. Now is the time to put more eyeballs on No.7 Cincinnati, which just strangled 55-17 ECU on Friday. The Bearcats have a top-five defense by SP + and quarterback Desmond Ridder was a touchdown machine. And if you like to pass, No.8 BYU should be your favorite team. Quarterback Zach Wilson gets a first-round ad for next year’s draft. The No.22 Liberty is perhaps the most fun you have to watch a team this year. Tulsa is close to being ranked 4-1 after beating SMU and is criminally underrated. The list goes on. There are rightfully six or seven teams in the Group of Five ripping things up right now.
Even within the Power Five Conferences, there are worthy teams that fly under the radar. No.23 Northwestern is 4-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1996. The Wildcats’ home game against No.13 Wisconsin next week will be a head start in the division race. Where is. And the Indiana Top 10 (!) Has a Big Ten East vs. Ohio State showdown on the same date.
This year, a wash for most of the teams. Some will play 11 games and others will play three. If a team is healthy and can make it to Saturday, they get extended reps. Otherwise, they won’t. It’s best not to take what’s going on too seriously. Enjoy the chaos because this is the rare kind that is good. And celebrate teams that do unexpectedly well in the middle of it all.
Here’s what else we learned in week 11 …
Notre Dame has passed the trap game
Good teams win. Big teams cover. For Notre Dame No.2, managing Boston College 45-31 was the perfect sequel to upset Clemson in Week 10. The Eagles are well-trained and good enough to pull off this type of upset, but Notre Dame dominated in the trenches. again (274 yards for 85) and everyone on the Irish attack looked like a lag. They’re just better, period. It could easily have been a trap game, but instead Boston College looked like a team trying to keep pace. Notre Dame looks legitimate – like, actually legitimate. Upcoming games in North Carolina and Wake Forest could also be tough, but right now Notre Dame is playing its best football.
Penn State is 0-4 for the first time since 2001. No AP Top 10 preseason team has ever started 0-5, but it’s a real possibility as the Nittany Lions look to the Iowa after a comeback against Nebraska which failed Saturday 30. -23. I do not subscribe to the idea that the James Franklin team has resigned. They passed Nebraska by over 200 yards and were in a position to win. Outside of the egg they laid against Maryland, Penn State has been close to winning games or not too far. But anything that went wrong did and for some reason the Nittany Lions weren’t able to pull it together. Nebraska has lost the feeling that this could be the season and this team is running out of chances to make a difference.
It’s Don Brown, not Jim Harbaugh, in the hot seat
Has Harbaugh run out of welcome in Michigan? Yeah, and the 49-11 loss to Wisconsin confirmed that. But I’d bet on wholesale coordinator changes for 2021 earlier before Harbaugh gets the ax. Much of this has to do with his remaining contract. That would mean Brown, Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator for over four years, is the most likely target of “new faces, new places.” (Him and offensive coordinator Josh Gattis.) Brown’s defenses were elite in his first two seasons and have consistently been in the top 25 in each of the last three. This year, however, inexperience and injuries played a big role in the inability to create disruption or take out.
Most entertaining game of the day: North Carolina’s 59-53 shootout victory over Wake Forest. Quarterback Sam Howell put in a record performance with 550 yards and six touchdowns in the air – both school records. In eight games, Howell totaled 2,631 passing yards and 23 touchdowns, both atop the ACC. Granted, Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence missed the last two games after contracting COVID-19, but that doesn’t take away from Howell’s productivity. Expectations were high for Howell entering the season and he lived up to it.
Oregon has shown its courage on the road
The No.11 Oregon beat Washington State 43-29, but looked almost the entire half as if the Ducks were on serious alert. Three turnovers in the game’s opening 20 minutes put Washington State in a 19-7 lead. With 20 seconds left in the first period, however, Oregon return Mykael Wright gave his team a good position on the field with a 39-yard kickoff return. In the next game, quarterback Tyler Shough hit Jaylon Redd for a 57-yard pass that went to Wazzu’s 3-yard line. Running back CJ Verdell then hit him with three seconds left to make it 19-14. The quick strike saved the game for Oregon, which beat Washington State 29-10 in the second half.
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