Predicting Week 11’s Highly Anticipated Matchups

Picture from Jessica Alcheh, USA Today Sports

As the college football regular season approaches its end, every game matters for teams hoping to make a push for the college football playoffs. This weekend we see multiple matchups that could have massive playoff implications, with several teams being neck and neck for the top 4 spots. In this article, I’m going to try to predict the winners of the most highly anticipated matchups of the weekend, and see where that would leave us playoff wise.

Picture from Sports Illustrated

Georgia vs. Ole Miss

This matchup will be a showdown of two powerhouse SEC offenses, with both teams in the top 10 for yards per game in the power 5. Georgia sits confidently at number one in the AP poll for the 21st straight week, the second longest streak in the history of the poll; whereas Ole Miss ranks 10th. Ole Miss’ only loss was to Alabama back in September, and their offense has looked nearly unstoppable since then, anchored by running back tandem Quinshon Judkins and Ulysses Bentley IV. Despite Ole Miss’ high rushing tendencies, quarterback Jaxson Dart has been stellar as well, and extremely efficient with the ball, throwing 16 touchdowns to only 4 interceptions thus far. Georgia’s offense is structured in a similar way, and has been tough for opponents to contain with an average of 39.3 points per game. Star tight end Brock Bowers will likely still be out for this game, and without the Bulldogs best pass-catcher to aid their offense, I think Ole Miss’ offense will be too much for Georgia to handle, and the Rebels will pull off the upset in Athens.

Picture from Dan Rainville, USA Today

Michigan vs. Penn State

In arguably the biggest matchup of the weekend, number 2 ranked Michigan travels to Happy Valley to face off against 9th ranked Penn State. This matchup holds a lot of significance in both the playoff standings and the news as Michigan is currently in the midst of a major sign stealing scandal. This game also marks the first time this season that Michigan has played a ranked opponent, which has led some fans to question how good they really are. Both teams possess stellar defenses and explosive rushing attacks, with the ability to air the ball out when needed as well, making them fairly similar in terms of personnel. While it is still unclear what the NCAA and the college football playoff committee plan to do about Michigan and this scandal, a win over Penn State here would make it hard not to include them as one of the best 4 teams in the country. On the other hand, despite their loss to Ohio State a few weeks ago, if Penn State can pull off this upset, their name will be right back in contention for their first college football playoff spot ever. With their extremely similar teams and all of the distractions going on for this Michigan team, I think Penn State can pull off the upset at home.

Picture from Chris Kontoravdis

Washington vs. Utah

Two of the best Pac-12 teams are slated to face off Saturday with 5th ranked Washington and 13th ranked Utah in Seattle. Washington’s offense has been excellent this season, averaging a jaw-dropping 41.7 points per game, primarily through the air; so the name of the game for any team trying to beat Washington is to try to limit their passing attack the best they can. While Utah’s defense is solid, they have struggled against better passing offenses at times, such as Oregon and USC. The Utah offense is a solid group on paper, but inconsistent play from the quarterback position has held them back in several big games. With Washington and their offense not showing any signs of slowing down any time soon, I think they blow out Utah by controlling the pace of the game and ripping off big passing plays at will.

Picture from Randy Sartin, USA Today Sports

Missouri vs. Tennessee

In what looks to be a continuing theme this weekend, we have two of the higher powered offenses in the power 5 facing off against each other here with 14th ranked Missouri and 16th ranked Tennessee. Both quarterbacks have had great seasons thus far in Brady Cook at Missouri and ‘Bazooka’ Joe Milton at Tennessee. The key for Missouri’s offense has been standout sophomore receiver Luther Burden III who sits at 5th in power 5 receiving yards with 958, as well as 7 touchdown catches to go along with it. In Missouri’s only 2 losses, Cook has thrown 2 interceptions in both, so making good decisions with the ball will be imperative if the Tigers want to win this game. Although his stats might not blow you out of the water, Tennessee has something special in Joe Milton, who without exaggeration has one of the strongest arms we’ve ever seen. His ability to throw the ball any length down the field to one of his playmakers makes the Tennessee offense a constant scoring threat over the top, and Missouri is going to have to look to shut this aspect of his game down. This game is probably the toughest to predict out of the ones in this article, and the deciding factor will likely be the level of quarterback play we see from Cook and Milton. Taking all of this into account, I think Tennessee beats Missouri by a fairly close margin.

Picture from Soobum Im, USA Today Sports

Oregon vs. USC

Despite USC having fallen out of the rankings as of late, they still possess one of the most explosive offenses in the nation, lead by Heisman winning quarterback Caleb Williams. However, Oregon is a powerhouse on both offense and defense and their only loss being to 5th ranked Washington in a tight shootout shows their immense talent. Coming into this game ranked 6th, a loss to USC would likely put them out of playoff contention, however it is highly unlikely. Unfortunately, USC’s defense is quite the opposite of their star-studded offense,  allowing a staggering 34.5 points per game. This defense will likely have immense struggles against the versatile Oregon offense that can air the ball out with quarterback Bo Nix as well as run it down your throat with running back Bucky Irving. No matter how well USC’s offense performs, I can’t see any situation where they can contain Oregon, so I predict Oregon will win this one at home.