Week 11 College Football Preview

Another week and another couple of shake ups as national title picture begins to become a little clearer each week.

Recap of last week: Bowling Green was able to outscore Buffalo in their Tuesday night clash. Virginia Tech showed how good a team they are when they play defense and do the right things as they took care of East Carolina. Temple looked very good again against an average team in Miami (OH). Northern Illinois won impressively as well against a sad team in Eastern Michigan. Boise State kept winning when they defeated Louisiana Tech, but again did not do it very impressively as they struggled at times to hold on for the victory. Nevada got a pretty good win over San Jose State in the Sunday night matchup. Texas blew UCF away and McCoy to Shipley continued their dominance and this team looks focused not to stumble this year. Iowa, however, after a few close games lost their starting quarterback and loss their first game of the year to Northwestern and now are in a Big Ten race. They go to Ohio State with the Big Ten on the line this week. Oregon was rolling since their opening loss, but they got a smack in the mouth by Stanford last week. The Cardinal outscored the Ducks in a points-fest. Stanford is a serious team this year and looks good going up against USC this week and Oregon now has to regroup cause they can still in the Pac-10.

In a very good ACC battle, Wake Forest pushed Georgia Tech to the brink and brought the game into overtime before the Yellow Jackets sealed the win and look very good in terms of their chances to win the ACC. TCU looks extremely dominant as they barely broke a sweat against San Diego State while Utah barely had much trouble with New Mexico. The two (TCU and Utah) will meet this week in a huge game for both teams. TCU's BCS hopes rest in getting past Utah. Florida took care of business against Vanderbilt and are looking to win out and have the SEC title game already locked up. Houston prevailed again against a good team in Tulsa. And in a primetime Big East clash, Connecticut gave it their all for a third straight week, but it was not enough to get past Cincinnati, who looked to be on their way to rout, but found themselves in a close battle in the fourth quarter.

In terms of my top 5 matchups picks, I went 3-2 this past week and after ten weeks I'm 36-14 on the year. Clemson and Florida State were locked in good battle for the first half of the game, but then HB CJ Spiller of Clemson took over the game and Clemson pulled away and added another tough loss to Florida State's year. Clemson has been playing as good as anyone in the ACC in recent weeks and has a chance to still win the division if they keep playing well enough. USC did not look very good again on offense, but did enough good things to put away Arizona State. They didn't play as well as they could of and best be on guard against Stanford this week. Oklahoma's bad season continued as they could not get off plays and struggled to move the ball as a slightly overrated Nebraska team took care of business in a matchup of traditional Big 12 winners. Both don't look very good, but a win is still a win for Nebraska while Oklahoma is in danger of not making a bowl this year.

In the first of two big matches of the weekend, Ohio State dominated what many thought was a really good Penn State team. The Nittany Lions' two losses to Iowa and Ohio State eliminate any BCS hopes and chances to win the Big Ten. They were outplayed in all phases at home. Not the way Joe Paterno wanted to game to go. Ohio State has not especially good a couple times, but they get it done when they need to. They now have Iowa this week for the Big Ten title. The SEC main event featuring LSU at Alabama lived up to everything it was expected to be. The two switched leads and battled in a low scoring defensive battle. Alabama's offensive had a little more firepower and walked away with a huge win to clinch the SEC West. LSU has two losses. Both were in the SEC and they were to Florida and Alabama; the two teams playing for the SEC title. Tough break for the Tigers.

Now turning to this week's slate of games that might be worth watching/feature a team or teams with something on the line:

Tuesday Night:
Ohio at Buffalo: This should one could turn into a shootout with two fairly even teams.

Wednesday Night:
Toledo at Central Michigan: Central Michigan has looked very good this year and their QB, Dan LeFevour, has been putting on a display of his skills all year.

Thursday Night:
Bowling Green at Miami (OH): Should be a fairly close one between two average teams.

Ball State at Northern Illinois: These two have the capability to turn this one into a shootout.

No. 24 South Florida at Rutgers: Rutgers has had South Florida's number in recent years. This one should be a good one in primetime. Both teams have something to prove.

Temple at Akron: Temple has launched onto the scene this year and should continue their winning trend against Akron.

Sunday Night:
East Carolina at Tulsa: These two have had pretty good success in recent years. This one is a fairly good matchup for Sunday night.

No. 3 Texas at Baylor: Texas should be able to avoid stumbling against Baylor. Shouldn't even be close.

No. 7 Georgia Tech at Duke: Duke has upset a few teams this year and has a punchers chance to play for the ACC title. A win here would put them right in the driver's seat. That might be easier said then done though.

No. 15 Houston at UCF: Houston and QB Case Keenum have had a good 2009 season thus far. They still have an outside chance at a BCS bowl if they run the table. This could be a good challenge for them.

Tennessee at Mississippi: Mississippi entered the season with high expectations and haven't completely lived up to them. The team and QB Jevan Sneed have not played as well as they hoped. While Tennessee entered with more talk than necessary, but under a new direction especially on defense; they have played competitive even in losses. Should be a good SEC battle.

Idaho at No. 6 Boise State: Boise State still controls their BCS destiny and should be able to clear this hurdle.

No. 1 Florida at South Carolina: Steve Spurrier heads up against his former team. Florida is still on their collision course with Alabama and definitely shouldn't overlook the Gamecocks who have already upset Mississippi this year.

No. 2 Alabama at Mississippi State: Alabama should be able to get by Mississippi State, but the Bulldogs have been a tough team to put away at times this year. Mississippi State is coached by former Gator offensive coordinator, Billy Mullen, and could have extra motivation to hand Alabama its first loss.

Texas Tech at No. 19 Oklahoma State: These two have high powered offenses and might give us an offensive show. Oklahoma State still has BCS aspirations and a loss here could strike them down.

Arizona State at No. 13 Oregon: Oregon has rebounded very nicely since the opening loss to Boise State and everything that transpired after the game. They now can control their BCS and Rose Bowl destiny and need to avoid an upset this week.

Now my top 5 matchups for Week 11:
5) Notre Dame at Pittsburgh: Notre Dame has slowly been in free fall after what looked like a strong start. Pittsburgh and their freshman HB, Dione Lewis, have looked very good and have a great chance to be the Big East champions. These two rivals have a lot of lose this week and it will show Saturday night. Pick: Pittsburgh

4) Stanford at No. 9 USC: USC has dominated the Pac-10 for much of the tenure of Pete Carroll and look to rap up another Rose Bowl birth and even a possible title game birth if they get lucky. Stanford and HB Toby Gerhart have played well this year and could spring the upset. They knocked off the Trojans a couple years ago, can they do it again? Jim Harbaugh has this team in the right mindset. It should be close. Pick: USC

3) Friday Night: No. 25 West Virginia at No. 5 Cincinnati: This a big time Big East matchup. Cincinnati has been running the table and West Virginia still has a very talented team. Cincinnati can eliminate West Virginia essentially from the Big East title picture and keep their national title hopes alive with an impressive win. Pick: Cincinnati

2) No. 10 Iowa at No. 11 Ohio State: This game in a nutshell is for the Big Ten title. The winner will be smelling roses and the loser still has a great shot at a BCS bowl. It should definitely be a close one. Iowa will have a back up at quarterback and that could be the difference. Pick: Ohio State

1) No. 16 Utah at No. 4 TCU: This a big matchup. I don't care if you like big name teams or not. If you like college football, then this game has the most excitement around it this week. TCU has national title game hopes and needs to keep winning. Utah has been a very good team and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl a year ago. Utah still has an outside shot a BCS bowl to play for. TCU can make a statement against a team that is as good as Utah. Pick: TCU