Well, we’re getting down to the nitty gritty, aren’t we? Just 3 weeks of the 2025 college football regular season remain, and there is oh so much still to be sorted out.
But let’s not jump ahead just yet. First, let’s celebrate the week that was in the SEC and beyond!
Biggest Winner of the Weekend: The Alabama Crimson Tide (Football and Basketball)
On the gridiron and on the hardwood, the Alabama Crimson Tide were big winners on Saturday. Nate Oats’ squad went into the World’s Most Famous Arena and took down Rick Pitino and the Johnnies, proving that Alabama basketball is officially here to stay under the man who continues to make a compelling case that he’s among the best coaches in the entire country. Then, just hours later, back in Tuscaloosa, Kalen DeBoer‘s quest to return Bama back to the top of the SEC after a 1-season gap year took another step forward as the Tide rolled past the Brian Kelly-less LSU Tigers.
I’m not going to make any bold proclamations and say that they will do it, but if any program is going to become the first since the 2006-07 Florida Gators to win the college Football and college basketball championships in the same academic year, it’s going to be Alabama. And hell, it might end up happening this year.
Biggest Loser of the Weekend: The SEC
With nothing consequential on the slate, the SEC took a back seat to the Big 12, ACC and Big Ten in Week 11, a huge bummer considering how stacked the conference is and how many teams are still in the College Football Playoff hunt. With all due respect, if this conference is going to claim that “It just means more” in the SEC, we can’t have any November weekends go by with a lack of pop like this one did.
Play of the Weekend: Fernando Mendoza and Omar Cooper Jr. nearly break Gus Johnson’s brain
Gus Johnson just doesn’t miss, and on Fernando Mendoza’s final throw of the game, he didn’t miss either.
Biggest News Outside of the SEC
I want to spend just a bit more time talking about Indiana’s win over Penn State, because it established 2 things for me that going into Saturday I was unsure about.
- First, it established Indiana as a great team that can play from behind. We’ve seen the Hoosiers clean house over and over again during Curt Cignetti’s tenure, but rarely has this team come through in a big spot when their collective backs were against the wall. Well, that’s not the case anymore. I know Penn State isn’t top-tier competition. In fact, they’re in a full-blown free fall right now. But Happy Valley isn’t an easy place to win, and that’s not a fruitcake defense that the Hoosiers offense marched down the field against in the final minutes of the game to take the lead.
- Second, it solidified Fernando Mendoza as the Heisman frontrunner in my mind. No, it was not even close to being his best game, but it was Mendoza’s most important performance of the year, and that final drive — and final touchdown pass to Omar Cooper Jr. — was undoubtedly his Heisman moment. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, this is in many ways a narrative award. At the very least, when all else feels equal, the vote will often come down to whoever has the best narrative. Right now, that belongs to Indiana’s QB.
As for who would be runner-up on my non-existent Heisman Trophy ballot, I’ll go against tradition and give some love to Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, whose Heisman push went into overdrive during Saturday’s authoritative win over the previously unbeaten BYU Cougars. Rodriguez finished with 14 tackles, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery and 1 totally justified Heisman pose.
The ACC remains exceptionally weird. Virginia and Louisville both lose at home to unranked opponents, so we’ve now got 7 programs – Georgia Tech, Virginia, Pittsburgh, SMU, Duke, Louisville and Miami – within a game of each other in the loss column, all still with sights set on playing for the ACC Championship Game. Trying to figure out which 2 teams are going to end up playing in Charlotte on December 6? Yeah, so am I, and your guess is as good as mine.Â
Things are heating up in the Group of 5! Much of the focus will be on figuring out who is going to come out of the American Conference, as Navy, South Florida, Tulane, North Texas, East Carolina and Memphis are in a logjam similar to that of the ACC. But don’t sleep on James Madison just yet. The Dukes have a much easier schedule the rest of the way, and in the most recent AP Poll, they were the highest ranked G5 team in the Top 25.Â
Did you see the conditions in Oregon/Iowa? I know down south y’all don’t often get weather like this, but man oh man, that was some football weather where I come from.Â
SEC Player of the Year Ballot
- Ty Simpson (QB, Alabama) – 2,461 passing yards, 21 passing touchdowns, 1 interception, 66.9% completion, 2 rushing touchdowns
- Marcel Reed (QB, Texas A&M) – 2,193 passing yards, 19 passing touchdowns, 6 interceptions, 62.3% completion, 378 rushing yards, 6 rushing touchdowns
- Diego Pavia (QB, Vanderbilt) – 2,063 passing yards, 18 passing touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 69.2% completion, 501 rushing yards, 6 rushing touchdowns
- Trinidad Chambliss (QB, Ole Miss) – 2,356 passing yards, 13 passing touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 64.0% completion, 434 rushing yards, 6 rushing touchdowns
- Gunner Stockton (QB, Georgia) – 1,776 passing yards, 12 passing touchdowns, 2 interceptions, 70.3% completion, 290 rushing yards, 7 rushing touchdowns
SEC Power Poll
Following Texas A&M‘s win over Missouri this past Saturday, we’re officially down to 7 teams in the SEC who could conceivably play themselves into the College Football Playoff. Happy trails to Mizzou, who deserved better than to have its season essentially end when Beau Pribula went down with a potential season-ending leg injury. I think this is the point we would’ve arrived at anyway, but once QB1 went down, it all but sealed the Tigers’ fate.
So which 7 programs are left standing? And how good are each teams odds of making the CFP this year? Let’s investigate!
Playoff Odds provided by ESPN’s Allstate Playoff Predictor.
- Texas A&M Aggies
– Current Playoff Odds: 99%
– Remaining Games: vs. South Carolina, vs. Samford, at Texas - Alabama Crimson Tide
– Current Playoff Odds: 96%
– Remaining Games: vs. Oklahoma, vs. Eastern Illinois, at Auburn - Ole Miss Rebels
– Current Playoff Odds: 81%
– Remaining Games: vs. Florida, at Mississippi State - Georgia Bulldogs
– Current Playoff Odds: 92%
– Remaining Games: vs. Texas, vs. Charlotte, at Georgia Tech - Vanderbilt Commodores
– Current Playoff Odds: 24%
– Remaining Games: vs. Kentucky, at Tennessee - Texas Longhorns
– Current Playoff Odds: 45%
– Remaining Games: at Georgia, vs. Arkansas, vs. Texas A&M - Oklahoma Sooners
– Current Playoff Odds: 33%
– Remaining Games: at Alabama, vs. Missouri, vs. LSU
One Big Question Heading Into Week 12: Can the new SEC (Texas and Oklahoma) keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive against the old SEC (Georgia and Alabama)?
SEC, I forgive you for the weak slate in Week 11, because Week 12 provides us with not 1, but 2 massive games. And not only are these games massive in terms of sorting out how many SEC programs will end up making the College Football Playoff — a loss for either Texas or Oklahoma essentially shuts the door on any hopes for the CFP for both the Longhorns and the Sooners — but it gives the 2 newest programs in the SEC the chance to continue to show that they belong.
Texas showed it last year, making the conference title game in its debut season and pushing the Georgia Bulldogs to overtime. Oklahoma’s introductory season didn’t go so well. But this weekend, in the span of just a few hours, these former Big 12 powerhouses can prove once and for all that the jump to the Southeastern Conference wasn’t too much to handle.
