PC's College Football Takeaways 24-25: Week 11

Dude…

Man, it seemed like college football opening day was just last week. Now, we’re past week 11 in the season. The SEC is a mess. The Big 10 seems to be dominating the AP Poll. The Big 12 seems to only have one team that will make the playoffs. The ACC’s top man just got gunned down. It’s chaos. Here is your latest weekly update as the month of November has been more important than it ever has been.

Down to the U- Miami was the clear top runner of the ACC. Cam Ward was firing on all cylinders and the U was rolling towards the ACC Championship. Visiting Georgia Tech can be difficult, but with a back up quarterback, it should be easy pickings for the Hurricanes. It wasn’t the offense that struggled, but it was the defense. Haynes and company ran all over the Canes defense. Over 270 yards on the ground is a fundamentally challenging stat to overcome as a defense. Cam Ward tried his best, he threw for 3 touchdowns and nearly 350 yards in the air. The Canes defense couldn’t live up to the hype. Now, Miami is still the front runner to win the ACC and get the auto bid to the quarter finals of the College Football Playoff, but their defense needs to play better if they want to try and take home the National Championship.

Ole Miss Playoff Bound?- Jaxson Dart told the media after their second loss of the season to LSU that they needed to win out to make the Playoff. Going into this game, I thought Dart and company had no shot at beating Georgia. The Georgia team that had only lost 4 times in the last 3 years. Dart would have to play out of his mind. He played alright, with 200 yards and 1 touchdown. Even with the 1 turnover, Dart played well enough. I think this was more of a Georgia loss than an Ole Miss win. Sure, they won 28-10, but it seemed like Georgia couldn’t ever get anything going on offense. Carson Beck hasn’t looked good the past few weeks and it finally caught up to him. Ole Miss’s kicker, Caden Davis, went 5/5 on his field goals with the longest being 53 yards. Ole Miss stays alive, and with a relatively easy rest of the schedule (Florida and Mississippi State) the Rebels better hope the committee puts them in. Their fate may be in their hands.

Bama continues to stay alive- The DeBoer Era of Alabama football was on the ropes of not making the first ever expanded college football playoff. Going into Death Valley is no joke. A night game, good luck getting out of there with a win. No matter how much better your team is, getting a win in those conditions is tough. On the cusps of elimination, Jalen Milroe demonstrated why this is still Alabama football. They didn’t just go in and win, they dominated. Milroe didn’t use his arms to beat the LSU Tigers. It was his legs. Milroe had 185 yards on the ground and had 4 touchdowns. He looked like Louisville Lamar Jackson. The Crimson Tide had over 300 yards on the ground. The Tigers just couldn’t keep up, especially since the Tide defense forced Nussmeier to throw 2 interceptions. With Oklahoma and Auburn left on the schedule, the Tide could find their way into the playoff. It’ll be hard for the committee to keep the Tide out of the postseason.