Week 11’s totally decked slate of college football action began with No. 21 Western Michigan winning over Kent State on Tuesday and No. 17 North Carolina losing by one point to Duke on Thursday. And as of this writing, No. 15 Utah Utes are in a tense battle with Arizona in halftime, showing that there’s nothing guaranteed for the top teams in the nation.
To get a better grasp of the rest of the week’s schedule, let’s hear it from several of the web’s college football experts below on how they think the ranked teams will fare this week to guide you with your very own picks.
Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report is not as high on ranked teams this week, as he only sided with six out of 16 teams that enter Week 11 with double-digit spreads. Ballentine, however, did not shy away from picking the likes of Alabama, Louisville and Ohio State to overwhelm their weaker opponents despite their respective needs to cover massive odds.
There’s no question that the top-ranked Crimson Tide will make quick work of the underachieving Bulldogs this Saturday since they’re undefeated in 20 consecutive home games (14-6 ATS) and have held their opponents to 13.2 points per contest this season – second in all of FBS. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes should find it a cinch to contain the Terps’ lackluster passing game, and the Cardinals will likely pick apart the Demon Deacons with ease barring a significant injury to Lamar Jackson (the current odds-on favorite to win the Heisman Trophy at -2,000).
Fox Sports
GAME
PREDICTION
No. 25 Baylor at No. 9 Oklahoma (-15.5)
Oklahoma, 48-27
Mississippi State at No. 1 Alabama (-30)
Alabama, 41-14*
No. 12 Penn State (-7) at Indiana
Penn State, 24-20*
No. 8 Auburn (-10) at Georgia
Auburn, 31-17
Pittsburgh at No. 3 Clemson (-20.5)
Clemson, 44-20
No. 20 USC at No. 4 Washington (-9)
Washington, 35-31*
No. 2 Michigan (-21.5) at Iowa
Michigan, 40-10
No. 19 LSU (-7) at Arkansas
LSU, 14-13*
Minnesota at No. 21 Nebraska (-7)
Minnesota, 23-21*
*underdog covers the spread
Keeping up with the trend of favorites failing to cover the spread, Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports only saw four favored teams out of his nine selected games to prevail against the spread. What’s quite a surprise is that Feldman believes Minnesota has what it takes to stun the reeling Cornhuskers.
Nebraska is in a two-game skid with defeats to juggernauts Wisconsin and Ohio State, looking nothing like the ranked team that they currently are after being outscored a combined 85-20 in those losses. On the other hand, the Golden Gophers are riding a four-game win streak of their own coming into Memorial Stadium this Saturday. The team averaged 37.3 points per contest during that span, including back-to-back 40-point performances over Illinois and Purdue these past two weeks.
We’ve taken the liberty of applying our very own odds for Week 11 in relation to the panel of Campus Insiders‘ predictions. And you guessed it: not a lot of favored teams are expected to win against the spread here as well.
Apart from agreeing with Fox Sports‘ Feldman that Minnesota will prevail victorious against Nebraska, columnist Robert Judin believes that the Trojans will pull a last-minute upset on the road over the undefeated Huskies. Judin argued that USC’s Sam Darnold is playing as phenomenally as Washington’s Jake Browning of late. Darnold has 18 touchdowns to just three interceptions during the his team’s five-game win streak, with USC having won by an average score of 40-19 during that stretch against Pac-12 rivals.
However, you may want to take Judin’s advice with a grain of salt, as Washington has simply been unstoppable this entire season. The team is second in the nation in points scored (48.3 ppg), with Browning having completed exactly two-thirds of his passes thus far for a whopping total of 33 TDs to just three picks this entire season. The Huskies defeated each of their opponents this season by more than 24 points except for two teams from their own division: Arizona (Week 4) and Utah (Week 9).
Now, considering that USC has held each of their opponents during its five-game win streak to 24 points or less, the Trojans may actually seize Washington’s gates this Saturday with an all-around performance after all.
