Winners and Losers: College Football Week 11
(Photo by Chuck Barton / AP)
Winner: The Kansas Jayhawks
There are only a few things guaranteed in life.
Death, taxes, and somehow, someway Kansas beating Texas.
The Jayhawks took down the Longhorns in Austin in an unbelievable game, 57-56, and there were a loooooot of records shattered in this one.
KU had lost eight-straight games, tied for the longest in the country, 18-straight conference games, tied for the longest of any team in any conference, 21-straight versus FBS opponents, the longest active such streak, and 56 (!!) straight road losses against conference opponents.
Kansas’ last win over a Big 12 team on the road? 2008 against Iowa State.
Want another insane stat? KU is 0-100 as the underdog of at least 24 points since the 1978 FBS/FCS split. Make that 1-100.
The biggest hero of the win was quarterback Jalon Daniels, who threw for 202 yards on 21-30 passing, plus three touchdowns (and the game-winning 2-pt conversion).
Daniels’ performance came in his first start of the year, and if he plays in either of KU’s final two games, his redshirt will be burned.
ROCK. CHALK.
(Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
Loser: The New SEC Additions (“We’re Baaaaack”/Choklahoma)
Now, let’s take a look at the other side of this ridiculous win: the current state of the Texas Longhorns (plus Oklahoma, yeah, y’all aren’t innocent either).
If this graphic doesn’t show it enough, Texas is down horrendously.
The Horn’s loss to Kansas gets the Jayhawks their second win over them, only one of two teams (Central Michigan of the MAC) that Kansas has beat multiple times this DECADE.
The ‘Horns have been on a steep decline since the 2009 BCS National Championship, where the Colt McCoy-lead squad fell to the first real dominant Alabama team since head coach Nick Saban took over.
Since 2009, Texas has had just one ten-win season, three head coaches, and just under seven wins a season. Woof.
Texas is 19-14 since this, with zero Big 12 title game appearances and one head coach firing too.
While Steve Sarkesian certainly will have time to rebound, the clock is already ticking in year one.
For OU, this week would be one to forget Sooner rather than later.
No. 13 Baylor, who choked away a win over rivals TCU last week, stormed back to take down Oklahoma 27-4 - the Bear’s largest win over OU since 2014.
This is also the first time the Sooners have lost by double-digits to a conference foe since 2014, which was that same loss to Baylor.
With No. 10 Oklahoma State left to play, OU isn’t done yet, but they have to win out to even have a slight chance at sniffing the playoffs again.
(Photo by Chris McDill/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Winner: The Magnolia State
The Hotty Toddy and Hail State crews are both riding high just two weeks from the annual Egg Bowl as both SEC West foes had big upset weeks.
No. 15 Ole Miss came off a big win over Liberty in a bounceback after the painful Auburn loss, and the No. 11 Texas A&M Aggies seemed like a very tough team to knock off.
This ended up not being the case, at least in the final frame.
The Rebels rolled over the Aggies, a 52-yard pick-six sealing the win with just under five minutes to play. This was the first Ole Miss win over A&M since 2016 (the first non-vacated win since 2015).
In fact, given the vacated wins, this was just Ole Miss’ second all-time win over A&M.
Mississippi State also brought in a massive win, coming back down 28-3 to beat No. 17 Auburn (on the road too).
Veteran QB Will Rogers perhaps played the game of his life - posting 415 yards and six touchdowns on 44-55 (!!) passing.
The Bulldogs outscored the Tigers 33-6 in the second half and won by nine, sealing the biggest comeback win in Mississippi State history as well as the worst blown lead in Auburn history.
(Photo by David Bowie / GatorCountry)
Loser: Florida’s Dignity (besides Emory Jones) and SEC Scheduling
I am aware Florida won this week.
They are still losers.
The Gators hosted the Samford Bulldogs in the annual “couple-of-weeks-before rivalry week so here’s a cupcake win” game every SEC team does (looking at you Alabama/Kentucky (vs NMSU), Georgia (vs Charleston Southern), Mississippi State (vs Tennessee St.), Texas A&M (vs PVAMU), Tennessee (vs South Alabama), LSU (vs ULM), Ole Miss (vs Vandy (sorry))).
Arkansas, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Missouri and Auburn, y’all are exempt this year.
Despite this, Arkansas still played Rice (3-7), Georgia Southern (3-7) and Texas (4-6), South Carolina played Eastern Illinois (FCS), East Carolina (6-4) and Clemson in an extreme down year, Missouri faced off against Central Michigan (6-4), Southeast Missouri State (FCS), and Boston College (6-4, and MIZZ lost) Vanderbilt is simply horrible anyway.
Auburn actually did have a hard schedule, which they tend to every season anyway.
Back to Florida - the Gator offense was a high positive for the day. Emory Jones threw for 464 yards and six touchdowns on 28-34 passing. Oh, and a whopping 70 points.
Now, for the defense.
Florida’s defense has been miserable this season, averaging 27.4 allowed points per game, and is 60th in total defense, best for 8th in the conference. They also got rocked by a middling South Carolina team 40-17 last week, just to add to the embarrassment.
Samford managed to score 42 points in the FIRST HALF. Not only does this break the record for the most first-half points by any FCS team over an FBS team, but it’s the most first-half points allowed by ANYONE in Florida football history. Oh, and 530 yards too.
Before this game? Florida had outscored their last four FCS opponents 199-16.
The best part of the whole debacle was Dan Mullen celebrating on the sideline like any other big-game win.
Hard to imagine a hotter seat this winter in Gainesville.
(Photo by David Petkiewicz/cleveland.com)
Winner: The Big Ten East
The Big Ten East has graced the winners list many times this season, and this week was no different.
The top-10 teams (No. 4 Ohio State, No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Michigan State) all pulled out strong wins over stiff challenges, and it’ll leave next week as basically decision day.
No. 19 Purdue had knocked off two top-five teams this month, but lighting didn’t strike thrice as the Buckeyes easily put them to bed (and my-oh-my what an offensive spectacle with 59 points).
Michigan State topped Maryland by 19 with yet another insane 143 yard, 2 TD performance from Kenneth Walker III, securing the Spartans’ 9th win.
Lastly, Michigan skated by Penn State on the road, the first win in State College for UM since 2015, also snapping a two-game PSU win streak.
The Spartans visit the Buckeyes next week, where OSU is favored by 19 (!!!) despite this being a top-10 matchup. An Ohio State win will eliminate MSU from the divisional race and leave it all to the Michigan game in the regular-season finale.
Now if Michigan State wins, it’ll give Ohio State their first conference loss and will grant the Spartans a tie-breaker over both them and Big Blue. Of course, MSU must beat Penn State on the road in their regular-season finale to clinch the division.
(Photo by Jill Brady/Portland Press Herald)
Loser: UMass *sigh*
UMass is a football program that only a mother can love.
Yet, even that unconditional love can be strained.
The UMass Minutemen seemed to only lead for a minute, as they took a 10-0 lead over the 4-5 FCS Maine Black Bears, the 6th-best team in the Colonial Athletic Association.
They lost.
35-10, final score. Maine, the same team that lost by 10 to Delaware, 48 to James Madison, 27 to Northern Illinois, 10 to Elon, and by four to Stony Brook. This was Maine’s fourth win over an FBS school in its entire history.
What a joke.
UMass is now 1-9 on the season, 11-39 in the last five seasons. Since 2014 when UMass joined the FBS, they have a record of 19-79.
Given Jacksonville State, Sam Houston State (Conference USA) and James Madison (Sun Belt) are moving up from the FCS to the FBS, maybe it’s time for some teams to move down.
UMass, you’re up first.