Here it is. Week 11 of the college football season, featuring the monumental matchup between No. 2 LSU and No. 2 Alabama, is upon us.
Alabama-LSU is a big game every year. It doesn’t always feature a pair top three programs vying for the College Football Playoff, though.
Alabama has made the Playoff every year since the new four-team postseason system was adopted. LSU has had some nice seasons during that stretch, but hasn’t really challenged for the CFP, in large part due to Alabama’s dominance.
If that changes this year, Tiger fans will be able to thank Ed Orgeron for finally taking steps to overhaul a long-stagnant offense. The biggest move was to hire New Orleans Saints staffer Joe Brady to modernize the LSU attack, and now Joe Burrow, a game-manager last fall, is a leading Heisman candidate.
Alabama made the same change a few years ago, and has its own dynamic signal caller, junior Tua Tagovailoa. The Hawaiian superstar finished second in the Heisman race, and has looked the part again this fall, though an ankle injury has kept him out since midway through the team’s win over Tennessee. While Nick Saban continues to keep things close to the vest, it is widely believed that Tagovailoa will play on Saturday.
Of course, the game in Tuscaloosa on Saturday afternoon isn’t the only show in town. Earlier in the day, we get a very interesting showdown between undefeated Minnesota and Penn State teams in the twin Cities, Kansas State at Texas, Iowa at Wisconsin, Clemson at NC State, and Iowa State at Oklahoma, among others.
After 10 weeks, here is what our staff picks standings look like:
1. Dan Lyons: 284-85
T-2. Stephen Driscoll: 282-87
T-2. Andrew McCarty: 282-87
T-4. Matt Hladik: 279-90
T-4. Alek Arend: 279-90
6. Andrew Holleran: 278-91
7. Tzvi Machlin: 277-92
8. Chris Rosvoglou: 274-95
9. Matt Lombardi: 271-98
The biggest splits for our staff this week come in the Texas Tech-West Virginia, Stanford-Colorado, LSU-Alabama, and USC-Arizona State games.
We’ve had some smaller games throughout midweek, but the Power Five action this week gets going on Friday night, with Washington’s trip to face a very game Oregon State team.
Here are our college football picks for Week 11:
Every week, we pick each game involving Power Five and other Top 25 programs. Check back to see how the contest, which often comes down to the final slate of games, shakes out.