Week 11 in college football allows us to look forward to some exciting conference games.
Saturday will feature a must-see SEC matchup between No. 11 Alabama and No. 15 LSU. With the implications of the College Football Playoff on the line in the last full month of the regular season, should each team capitalize to take home a win?
No. 3 Georgia will visit No. 16 Ole Miss in a matchup that is expected to keep college football fans locked in. Both teams have a dominant defense, which could end up being the star of the show. With the Rebels without a win over a ranked opponent this season, a win over Georgia should keep their CFP hopes alive.
Our college football experts preview the big games and share the week’s quotes ahead of the Week 11 slate.
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Ole Miss’ moment | Indiana changes made | Alabama-LSU
Quotes from Sunday
Is this Ole Miss’ moment?
The jump from good to great in the SEC can be as taxing as shooting par on a run-of-the-mill country club course and then performing at Augusta National.
It didn’t happen overnight, and when Lane Kiffin came to Ole Miss, he said it didn’t come well. He’s getting big. This is their best chance to fulfill that promise when Georgia steps into Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in a must-win Ole Miss game to stay in the College Football Playoff conversation.
“We messed up two games earlier in the year (a 29-26 overtime loss at LSU and a 20-17 home loss to Kentucky), and when you do that, you put yourself in a situation,” Kiffin said. “So, I’m not talking about the playoffs usually and championships and all that because I think it really doesn’t matter. It’s about how you prepare and how you play.
“But I told our players, you know … because they hear all the time, that they still have something that (championship and playoffs) lives. And in my opinion, whoever wins it will have. to go through Georgia in some point.
The Rebels (7-2, 3-2) have reached the height of Kiffin who has not been broached in Oxford in decades, but what they have not done is to consistently beat the best team in their schedule. They don’t have a win over a nationally ranked team this season, which makes this Georgia game very important in the playoff committee, and Kiffin is 7-9 against nationally ranked opponents since coming to Ole Miss in 2020. The wins came last season against LSU and Penn State, as Ole Miss won 11 games for the first time in school history.
“We’ve kind of put ourselves in a playoff situation for two games in a row now,” said Kiffin, whose team bounced back from the LSU loss with double-digit wins over Oklahoma and Arkansas. “So this will be the third one in a row that we have to win to keep going.”
Third — and most challenging.
Georgia (7-1, 5-1) has not lost to anyone not named Alabama since the 2020 COVID-19 season when the Bulldogs were defeated by Florida. Georgia is healthier on defense now with top pass rushers Jalon Walker and Mykel Williams back, and in the Rebels’ two losses this season, they gave up 10 sacks.
One of Kiffin’s priorities in mining the transfer portal this offseason is to get bigger and more physical, especially on defense. Ole Miss was physically punished a year ago by Georgia in a 52-17 loss that saw the Bulldogs pile up 611 total yards.
The Rebels have struggled offensively this season against SEC competition, which is impressive. He exploded a week ago in a 63-31 win over Arkansas, but hasn’t scored more than 27 points in an SEC game in his previous four outings. He won’t 100% attack Georgia. Leading rusher Henry Parrish Jr. is out after an injury last week, and top receiver Tre Harris has been banging up for a few weeks with a lower body injury and missed the Arkansas game.
The backbone for Ole Miss has been its defense. The Rebels lead the country with 41 sacks and are one of two SEC teams (along with Tennessee) to rank in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense (13.2 points) and yards per play allowed (4.41).
A key storyline in this game will be what kind of pressure Ole Miss can put on Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, who has been prone to interceptions with an SEC-high 11, all in the past five games. In six SEC contests, Georgia is next to last in the league in yards per rush (3.31), and the Bulldogs have thrown an SEC-high 232 times in that span.
That’s probably the formula for the Rebels if they’re going to break through and take the first top-five win in Kiffin, smothering the Bulldogs’ ground game, forcing Beck and forcing him to throw 40-plus times. — Chris Lowe
What changes did he make to Indiana’s success this season?
The biggest change obviously came at the top with coach Curt Cignetti, but Indiana also made the necessary investments that allowed Cignetti to assemble a roster built to win outright.
Cignetti brings a strong collection of James Madison transfers, including standouts like defensive linemen Mikail Kamara and James Carpenter, wide receiver Elijah Sarratt and linebacker Aiden Fisher. They also added experienced players like quarterback Kurtis Rourke, a two-time All-MAC player at Ohio State with 33 career starts. Other than the offensive line, where several sophomores start along with veterans Mike Katic and Trey Wedig, Indiana’s offense is filled with senior starters. The defense has several sophomores in the back end but features an experienced front seven with Carpenter, Kamara, Fisher, linebacker Jailin Walker and others.
“All these guys have been starters for years at previous schools, and they’re older,” Cignetti said earlier this season. “So he’s seen it all at this point. He’s used to getting it.”
Indiana’s name, image and similar operations are a source of angst for Tom Allen, Cignetti’s predecessor, who said shortly before the shooting, “If you’re not in the (NIL) game, and you’re not on the train, you’. I’ll be left and run.” Like other Power 4 schools making coaching changes, Indiana is improving its ability to compete for impact transfers.
“You put yourself in a position to succeed,” Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson told me. “From our end, it’s not just a one-time thing. You have to continue to invest and put resources and be super smart about it, where we can really influence the trajectory of the program. — Adam Rittenberg
What must each team do to win?
Alabama: Without question, Alabama needs to get off to a faster start on the road against the Tigers than it has in its past two trips — both losses. Especially with a playoff berth hanging in the balance. In a 40-35 loss to Vanderbilt in early October, Alabama was outscored 23-7 before clawing its way back into the game. At Tennessee two weeks later, Alabama trailed 14-10 at halftime before losing 24-17. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said this week they will try to prepare for practice so that the squad can start quickly, and the performance in the past two road games is not from a lack of effort. “You just can’t dig holes, especially giving your opponent momentum in an environment like we’ll see at LSU. So that’s critical. We preach it every day.” — Andrea Adelson
LSU: The Tigers need to find a way to finish the game. LSU has an open date all to think about what happened last time out, a 38-23 loss to Texas A&M which blew a 17-7 halftime lead after the Aggies switched to a running quarterback and couldn’t stop him. Even in the loss at USC, the Tigers led 17-13 in the fourth quarter before losing. The good news for LSU is that it will be more prepared for Jalen Milroe than Aggies backup Marcel Reed. The bad news for LSU is that Milroe can run and run — note his 374-yard passing, 117-yard rushing and fourth day in a win at Georgia earlier this year. — Adelson
Quotes of the week
“I think playing Jaxson Dart is one of the best quarterbacks in the country in the explosive game,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of Dart, who broke Archie Manning’s school record for total offense with 562 yards in a 63-31 win over Arkansas and also throwing six goals over. “A lot of people respect how competitive he is. The running back is very physical, like an SEC running back. … You can tell he has a competitive attitude, like his coach, like Lane.”
“I like where we are. Unfortunately, we have less wiggle room and our backs are against the wall. We will fight every day, bite, scratch and claw like we have never seen and continue this week.” — Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer
“Every week presents its own new situation and that’s why there’s a lot going on this week. I understand. — Indiana coach Curt Cignetti
“It was a lot of fun. I’ve obviously had a lot of memories there as a player and as a coach and now as the head coach at BYU. Personally, I probably have a different perspective than a lot of people.” — BYU coach Kalani Sitake wants to play at Utah.
