10 Biggest Questions Facing Top 25 Teams Heading into Week 11
Well, this is it. This is the weekend college football fans have been looking forward to for months on end. The hype is about as good as it gets.
There are six games between Top 25 teams, two of which feature two Top 10 teams. Alabama, Michigan State, Oregon, TCU, Notre Dame and Arizona State all have big opportunities to state their case for the last two playoff spots realistically up for grabs.
The two undefeated teams atop the playoff rankings, Mississippi State and Florida State, play home games against UT-Martin and Virginia, respectively. So yeah, they're not exactly in the headlines.
Otherwise, there's a lot going on.
Which storylines are the most important heading into Week 11? The answers are in the following slides.
The only criterion here is that one of the teams involved has to rank in either the Associated Press poll or the Amway coaches poll.
10. Can Utah Quarterback Travis Wilson Have His Best Game of the Season?
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Utah is 6-2 and, despite a loss to Arizona State last week, still alive in the wide-open Pac-12 South race. The Utes have gotten to this point by playing solid defense and running the ball well with Devontae Booker. Quarterback play, on the other hand, has been a mixed bag.
Travis Wilson is the guy, but he's been up and down the past few weeks. He had good efforts against USC and in limited time against Oregon State, but he went 12-of-22 for 57 yards in last week's loss to Arizona State.
Wilson will likely need to have his best game of the season against Oregon if the Utes want to pull off the upset at home. It's no secret what the Utah defense can do. It's no secret what Booker can do. The question is, what can Wilson and the Utes receiving unit do?
The Ducks passing defense is, in the dictionary sense of the word, average. Oregon also ranks in the middle of the pack in interceptions, with eight through nine games. There's a window of hope that, perhaps, Utah can do some damage in the passing game.
Realistically, Utah needs to keep the score close and hope Wilson has just enough plays in him to make a difference. Ideally, though, Wilson needs to have his best game yet.
9. Has LSU, in Fact, Turned a Corner?
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It's approaching two weeks since LSU last pulled off a 10-7 upset over then-No. 3 Ole Miss. It was an impressive victory if for no other reason than the Tigers completed just eight passes but still averaged nearly five yards per carry against a stout Rebels defense.
(LSU also won despite losing four turnovers.)
How much better is this LSU team than the one that got pushed around by Mississippi State and Auburn? We'll find out against Alabama, but it would appear that the Tigers have at least found their identity in the ground game with a stable of powerful running backs.
However, the Tide have one of the best rushing defenses in the country, allowing under three yards per carry.
If LSU can't run the ball, it's unlikely that it can rely on its quarterback play, which has been average at best. Yes, it'll be Saturday night in Death Valley and all, but it doesn't feel like the Tigers can play the same game against Alabama as it did against Ole Miss and realistically expect to win.
8. Will Sterling Shepard Be a Factor for Oklahoma?
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Will Oklahoma wide receiver Sterling Shepard, who sustained a groin injury in last Saturday's win over Iowa State, be ready for Baylor this weekend?
That's what head coach Bob Stoops is hoping.
"It appeared to be pretty minor [Sunday]," Stoops said, via Jake Trotter of ESPN.com. "The best way I'd say now is we're optimistic that it will heal enough that he'll be full speed by the end of the week."
If Oklahoma is going to knock off Baylor and end the Bears' playoff hopes—which is an odd thing to type in and of itself—it will probably need a healthy Shepard. The junior is ranked seventh in the nation in receiving yards (957) and has hauled in five touchdowns this season.
Stoops also told Trotter that injured running back Keith Ford should be back in the lineup.
Baylor is in an interesting position concerning the playoff spots. The Bears would hold a tiebreaker over TCU if both one-loss teams win out. Hypothetically speaking, would the selection committee value the head-to-head result or the entire body of work?
Early returns from the selection committee indicate that it doesn't value what the Bears—ranked No. 12 behind eight one-loss teams, including TCU, and two-loss Ole Miss—have done.
Wins over Oklahoma on Saturday and against Kansas State at the end of the season could change that, but Shepard and the Sooners could play spoilers.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
7. If Michigan State Wins, Will It Go for the Throat?
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There hasn't been a lot of talk about "style points" in this inaugural playoff season. Rather, it's been more about the resume and quality wins—or lack thereof.
Michigan State could be a possible case study to see if style points still exist.
Let's say the Spartans beat Ohio State on Saturday. They're 3.5-point favorites, according to OddsShark.com, which means the outcome could almost go either way. If the game is as even as Vegas predicts, that's one thing, but what if Michigan State has things under control by the fourth quarter? What then?
The Spartans kept their foot on the gas against Michigan in a 35-11 win, but that's to be expected. Would they do the same against the Buckeyes?
Ranked No. 8 in the latest playoff poll, it looks like Sparty could need some help to rise up the polls. That won't happen without some losses in front of them, but would Michigan State try to make a win over Ohio State look as convincing as possible?
Michigan State's only other notable win was against Nebraska, and it almost gave that one away.
That's not to say Michigan State will beat Ohio State or that the game won't be tight. In the event that it's not, though, it brings up an interesting decision for head coach Mark Dantonio.
6. Is Kansas State a Real Playoff Contender?
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Kansas State's road from sexy preseason playoff dark horse to legitimate contender gets steeper starting this weekend.
The Wildcats travel to TCU on Saturday ranked No. 7 in the College Football Playoff poll (the Frogs come in at No. 6). With a 12th-ranked scoring defense and one of the better quarterback-receiver combos in the Big 12 (Jake Waters and Tyler Lockett), the Wildcats are still six-point underdogs, per OddsShark.com.
Lockett will no doubt be paired up against TCU cornerback Kevin White, who did a number on his namesake—West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White—by limiting him to just three catches for 28 yards. If K-State can establish its run game with Waters and Charles Jones, it will open up Lockett and Curry Sexton in the downfield passing game.
You wouldn't think of the Wildcats as a high-scoring team, but they've put up at least 30 points in four of their five Big 12 games.
After TCU, K-State still has to play two more (currently) ranked opponents on the road: at West Virginia on Nov. 20 and then at Baylor on Dec. 6. Only a home game against Kansas spells relief during that stretch.
Yes, we're looking pretty far ahead. But if the Wildcats win out, that's one heck of a resume they've put together.
5. Can West Virginia Wide Receiver Kevin White Get Back on Track?
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West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White had at least 100 yards receiving in each of his first seven games of the season.
In the past two weeks, however, White's basically been a non-factor. He had three catches for 27 yards and a score against Oklahoma State and three catches for 28 yards in last week's loss to TCU. More than that, White was completely taken out of the game.
Not coincidentally, the Mountaineers offense just hasn't been the same.
Can White get going against Texas, which will surely put its best corner, Quandre Diggs, on him? Diggs is a physical, veteran corner and White, while talented, is still developing at his position.
The emergence of Mario Alford has taken pressure off of Mountaineers quarterback Clint Trickett to throw only to White, but there's no doubt that West Virginia wants to get White going again. When it comes to going up and getting a football in one-on-one coverage, there aren't many better than White.
4. Will Oregon Dismantle Utah's Defense Like It Did Stanford's?
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Statistically speaking, Utah is up there with Stanford among the best defenses in the Pac-12. In fact, Stanford and Utah rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the conference, respectively, in points allowed and yards per rushing attempt. The Utes are also especially good at getting into the backfield.
But, in case you missed it, Oregon had absolutely no problem putting up points on the Cardinal in a 45-16 win last weekend. The Ducks were about as balanced as an offense can get, putting up 258 passing yards and 267 rushing yards.
Specifically, quarterback Marcus Mariota exorcised some demons by averaging nearly nine yards per passing attempt, more than nine yards per rush and accounting for four total touchdowns. As Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.com notes, Mariota has been stellar against pressure this season, and he's faced a lot of it because of an oft-injured offensive line:
"Mariota processes at 5G speed, which helps when he's under duress. "Unflappable," one Pac-12 assistant described him.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Mariota ranks second among Power 5 quarterbacks in completion percentage against the blitz this season (76.5). He's seventh in yards per attempt against the blitz (10.4) and third in percentage of passes resulting in touchdowns against pressure (17.6).
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Yes, Stanford is just 5-4, and yes, there may have been some vengeance involved, as Oregon had lost two straight to the Cardinal, but to pick apart that defense was impressive.
Can Oregon do it again and on the road? Utah has not allowed any opponent to score more than 30 points this season, so the Ducks would be the first.
3. Can TCU Quarterback Trevone Boykin Bounce Back?
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TCU played well in a 31-30 win at West Virginia last Saturday. Quarterback Trevone Boykin did not.
Boykin had his worst game of the season against the Mountaineers by a country mile, completing just 12 of 30 passes for 166 yards, a score and a pick. He also picked up 49 yards on nine rushing attempts.
Granted, the wind made it an awful day to throw for both sides, but Boykin was pressured early and often before making some crucial late-game plays. For what it's worth, conditions appear they'll be much better in Fort Worth on Saturday against Kansas State.
Boykin has been one of the better stories of the year, emerging as a legitimate candidate for the Big 12's Offensive Player of the Year. Two subpar games in a row, especially if TCU loses, will hinder that campaign.
More importantly, though, Boykin has to be sharper because, put simply, K-State is better than West Virginia. The Mountaineers turned the ball over five times against the Frogs. K-State has turned the ball over seven times all year. The Wildcats also have the second-fewest penalty yards per game of any team in the country.
The point is, K-State likely won't beat itself like West Virginia did. So Boykin will have to lead the way on that front.
2. How Much Will the Injury to Joe Schmidt Affect Notre Dame's Defense?
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Notre Dame's defense hasn't exactly been what you would call "stingy" over the past three games. Though the Irish are 2-1 in that span—the only loss was by four points on the road to No. 2 Florida State—they've also given up an average of 37.7 points.
Lo and behold, a road game against Arizona State and its high-powered offense is up next for Notre Dame.
The injury to linebacker and leading tackler Joe Schmidt doesn't help. Schmidt sustained a fractured dislocated ankle in last Saturday's win over Navy and will miss the rest of the season, per head coach Brian Kelly.
More than just producing big numbers, Schmidt was the cornerstone and leader of the Irish defense.
"Everybody is going to have to pick up the slack for a guy that did most of the work," Kelly said, via Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune. "He's a big loss."
Freshman Nyles Morgan is projected to start in Schmidt's place.
1. Is Ohio State's Offense Ready for Its Toughest Challenge Yet?
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Since losing to Virginia Tech in Week 2, Ohio State has scored at least 50 points—50—in five of its last six games. The only exception was a 31-24 overtime win over Penn State, which has one of the nation's best scoring defenses.
But all of those wins came against easily beatable opponents. Saturday's test against Michigan State will show how far this Buckeyes offense has really come.
The Spartans defense hasn't been as stingy as it was a year ago—that seems impossible given the turnover—but it has been good at getting off the field on third downs, forcing turnovers and limiting big plays.
Michigan State's defensive line, featuring Shilique Calhoun, will be a formidable challenge for a Buckeyes offensive line that appears to finally be hitting its stride.
This is going to be as stiff a test as the Ohio State offense will face all season. How will quarterback J.T. Barrett play in a tough environment? Can running back Ezekiel Elliott gash the Spartans?
The Virginia Tech loss may hinder the Buckeyes' playoff chances, but a win over the Spartans gives this team the inside track to the Big Ten title.
Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All stats courtesy of CFBStats.com.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
