College football Week 11 buzz: Who will be the last undefeated team? Can Colorado have two Heisman finalists?

Now that the College Football Playoff selection committee has unveiled its first rankings for the new 12-team model, we finally have a glimpse of what the committee thinks about teams such as Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Ohio State, but also Indiana, BYU, Boise State and Army. The actual CFP selections are a month and a day away, and every set of games from here will reshape the playoff field.

Week 10 brought a reckoning for teams such as Clemson and Texas A&M. Week 11 is set up to feature CFP elimination scenarios, especially in the SEC. Alabama and LSU will meet at Tiger Stadium, both with two losses and seemingly unable to afford a third. The post-Nick Saban era has already brought some tough moments for new coach Kalen DeBoer, but imagine if No. 11 Alabama misses the 12-team CFP. LSU coach Brian Kelly is also facing pressure -- a third straight year for him without a CFP appearance wouldn't sit well on the Bayou.

Ole Miss built a team set up for the school's first CFP appearance, and the Rebels have outscored their opponents 379-119. But two losses, including a home setback against Kentucky, has Ole Miss in a must-win position as it hosts No. 3 Georgia on Saturday.

There's also some Week 11 intrigue beyond the SEC. Utah can momentarily quell a disappointing season by handing BYU its first loss in the Holy War. Travis Hunter continues his Heisman Trophy push -- and Colorado's for the Big 12 title game -- at Texas Tech, No. 25 Army puts its perfect record on the line at North Texas and Indiana hosts defending national champion Michigan as a two-touchdown favorite.

These are wild times, indeed, and as always, college football insiders Heather Dinich and Adam Rittenberg have been talking to sources to get their reactions and the storylines to watch heading into Week 11.

Jump to a section:
Who will be the last unbeaten?
Which two loss teams will make the Playoff?
Can Colorado have two players at the Heisman ceremony?
What team outside the top 15 could make the Playoff?
Emptying the notebook

Who will be the last unbeaten between Oregon, Miami, BYU, Indiana and Army?

Rittenberg: After Iowa State dropped its first game last week, some naturally think BYU, another Big 12 team with a much dimmer preseason forecast than the Cyclones, will come next. But BYU has some factors working in its favor, including a remaining schedule -- Utah, Kansas, Arizona State, Houston -- that includes only one opponent with a winning record (ASU). Coach Kalani Sitake cited several areas where the team has improved from last season, namely pass defense and offensive line play.

Sitake told me that BYU's Week 2 road win at SMU, a team that hasn't lost a game since, was the moment when he sensed big things were coming. BYU kept SMU out of the end zone and held the Mustangs to only 144 passing yards.

"We knew that was going to be a real test for us," Sitake said. "That game was so close, and regardless of the result, I was really pleased with the progress that our team made during that time, because I knew that that was a very talented SMU team. And so when we got that victory, we knew whether the game went in our favor or not. I know these guys were ready for something special this season."

Dinich: Miami has played with fire multiple times this season but has repeatedly found ways to win. If the Hurricanes didn't lose to Duke, they're not going to lose to Georgia Tech, Wake Forest or Syracuse (no pressure). The toughest remaining game is at Georgia Tech, and ESPN Analytics gives Miami a 77% chance to win. The Canes also have the best chance to win out of the remaining undefeated teams (42.8%). The difference between Miami and the rest of its opponents is an offense that ranks No. 1 with 47.4 points per game.

Rittenberg: Oregon might be the obvious answer and also the correct one. I spent the offseason noting the historical obstacles facing teams entering new leagues, but the performance of Oregon, SMU, Army and even Texas is showing that these are different times. Oregon's new travel schedule, which included three trips to the Midwest, suggested a loss was possible, if not likely. But the Ducks have been dominant since their signature win over Ohio State, winning their past three games by a combined score of 111-26. These aren't the Week 1 or Week 2 Ducks, who struggled with Idaho and Boise State.

"The biggest thing collectively is we've done a better job of not beating ourselves," coach Dan Lanning told me. "There were more self-inflicted wounds early in the season. And then we eliminated plays on defense. The combination of those two things, I think, creates success."

The Ducks have a potential tricky trip to Wisconsin on Nov. 16, as well as home games against Maryland and recent nemesis Washington. But their play since the Ohio State win shows they're ready to run the table.

Dinich: The Ducks are the last realistic answer here. I'll eat my words if Indiana beats Ohio State, promise, but the game is in Columbus. IU has been a fantastic, fun team to watch -- but the reality is we won't know how good the Hoosiers truly are until they play that game. Can they win? Absolutely. But they've got more to prove after Ohio State went to Penn State and won -- and also came within a point of beating the committee's No. 1 team. As for Army, they have a reality check against Notre Dame, which is hitting its stride at the right moment. Though it might not be as soul-crushing as what happened to Navy (unless Army decides to gift the ball to Notre Dame six times), it probably will be the same outcome.

Which two-loss teams have the best chance of making the playoff?

Rittenberg: Alabama's win over Georgia is still one of the best in the country, but after road losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee, "Our guys know that their backs are to the wall," Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer told me. The Tide have been through a lot in DeBoer's first season -- the dramatic home win against Georgia, a historic road loss at much-improved Vanderbilt and then another loss at Tennessee, a shaky home win against South Carolina and a dominant home victory over Missouri. DeBoer called his team "extremely motivated" entering Saturday's showdown at LSU, noting certain position groups have practiced more with their regular rotations in recent weeks. He also singled out the play of young players thrust into key roles, such as freshman cornerbacks Zabien Brown and Jaylen Mbakwe.

"The experiences that we've gone through and us continuing to work through have helped us feel much better about the mindset we have going into this week," DeBoer said. "Really, we're not that far off. We played some pretty good teams, and we played them on the road, and that's not an excuse, that's not Alabama football."

The Tide play another good team on the road in LSU and will lean on quarterback Jalen Milroe, who rushed for 155 yards and four touchdowns, while passing for 219 yards, in last year's 42-28 win over the Tigers. In nine matchups against AP Top 25 opponents as Alabama's starter, Milroe has six wins and has completed 64.8% of his passes.

"When J-Mil starts feeling it, he's using his legs," DeBoer said. "That's a huge asset for our offense, when he's taken off and rattling off 15- to 40-yard plays with his legs. That's his superpower. We need him to play like he did last year."

Dinich: Because the committee already has Alabama in as a two-loss team -- but at No. 11 -- it's clear the Tide doesn't have much margin for error, but LSU has even less. Why? Because that season-opening loss to USC has become worse now that the five-loss Trojans have spiraled. LSU coach Brian Kelly told me the pressure to avoid another loss is still felt all over the country, even in the more forgiving 12-team field. "When it's an equal playing field across the board, everybody understands the regular season -- regardless of 12 teams or not -- there's still a huge importance placed on every single game," he said.

Kelly said he believed some sort of universal way of measuring teams' schedule strength will ultimately help determine how a two- or three-loss team compares against a one-loss or undefeated team that played a weaker schedule.

"It's coming," he said. "Clearly not all schedules were built alike. It's going to matter down the road. It doesn't mean that if you win your games you're not going to make it, but you might not be a top seed. I don't know that we're going to hit the nail right on the head this year, but it will eventually get to where the 12 teams are seeded the right way."

Could Colorado send two players to New York for the Heisman?

Rittenberg: Two-way star Travis Hunter might as well book travel, as his play at both cornerback and wide receiver has delivered a Heisman profile unlike any we've seen in recent memory. Hunter's improvement at wide receiver -- he already has three more receptions, 36 more receiving yards and three more receiving touchdowns than he had all of last season -- helps secure his spot as a finalist. "The kid knows the game really well," Kansas State coach Chris Klieman told me. "You see it on defense as well as on offense. He knows how to contort his body to be able to give Shedeur [Sanders] a spot to throw the football. If it's 50-50 balls, he's coming up with 90% of those. And then you see the same thing on defense, where he's baiting kids into throwing it, and he makes plays."

The bigger question is whether Shedeur Sanders joins Hunter in New York. Sanders certainly has the numbers and might be the best NFL prospect in the 2025 quarterback class. His challenge is outshining at least two other quarterbacks -- Oregon's Dillon Gabriel and Miami's Cam Ward -- whose teams are positioned better for the CFP. The longer Colorado can stay in the Big 12 race, the better chance for Sanders, who needs no introduction to Heisman voters.

Dinich: Yes, but with Ashton Jeanty, Ward and Gabriel also fantastic candidates, voters might have to pick one. When I asked Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire this week about Colorado, he told me he will continue to repeat "over and over that if Sanders doesn't go the No. 1 quarterback in the draft, I really question what scouts and GMs are looking at film-wise. I think he's the best quarterback in the country."

What team outside the committee's top 15 is one to watch for the playoff?

Dinich: No. 17 Iowa State is still leading the race to face BYU in the Big 12 championship game -- by a line so thin you can barely see it. According to ESPN Analytics, Iowa State has a 36.6% chance to make the title game, and two-loss Colorado has a 36.4%. This is what's different about the 12-team field -- the pool runs as deep as the teams that can still win their leagues, because the five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the playoff. If Iowa State loses, and Colorado wins out, the Buffaloes will face BYU. If they both run the table and tie, though, Colorado would need Texas Tech to finish ahead of Iowa State in the Big 12 standings -- a bit of a Catch-22 for the Buffs, who also have to beat the Red Raiders on Saturday.

Rittenberg: The team directly outside, No. 16 Ole Miss, will be closely watched this weekend and, depending on their result against Georgia, perhaps for the rest of the season. Only Indiana has a wider season scoring margin than the Rebels (379-119), who rank fourth nationally in points per game and sixth in points allowed. Ole Miss hasn't played the most challenging schedule and lost to the best team it faced in LSU, but it also thumped South Carolina 27-3 and is coming off a 63-31 road win against an Arkansas team that had beaten Tennessee on the same field.

"Everything is on the line, in order to keep our playoff hopes alive and keep everything going in the way that we wanted it to," Rebels linebacker Chris Paul Jr. told me. "It's going to be a game full of grit. We feel very confident going into this weekend."

Ole Miss' problem is that it has a very bad loss, falling 20-17 at home against a Kentucky team that hasn't won since and sits at 3-6 overall. But a win over Georgia would again put the Rebels in the CFP mix with only Florida (road) and the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State (home) left on the schedule. Ole Miss has built a super team of sorts, adding transfers such as Paul and others on defense, and the time to deliver is here.

"These guys made it easy," Paul said of transferring to Ole Miss. "It feels good to be around a group of guys with similar interests, and that's just to win. That's a team full of excitement to want to go out there and put on a show."

Let's empty your notebooks. What else are you hearing this week/what's the best thing you've heard?

Rittenberg:

• Army and Boise State are generating the most CFP attention among Group of 5 teams, but don't forget about Tulane. The Green Wave started 1-2 after losses to Kansas State and Oklahoma but have been dominant since, winning their past six games by a combined score of 260-113. First-year coach Jon Sumrall said the second half at Oklahoma, where Tulane rallied from a 24-6 deficit, reminded him of his 2022 team at Troy, which lost to Appalachian State on a Hail Mary but then won its final 11 games, including the Sun Belt championship and the Cure Bowl. Beginning with a 41-33 road win at Louisiana on a sweltering day Sept. 21, Tulane hasn't looked back.

  "It's just been a team that's grown together and started to figure out we can win a lot of different ways," Sumrall told me. "We can win by putting up points, we can win by stopping people with defense. We can win by using the kickoff return. Offense, defense, kicking game, the whole team believes in the other phases to help get the job done."

  The belief is magnified by a staggering statistic: Tulane has eight non-offensive touchdowns this season. Micah Robinson's pick-six last week at Charlotte marked the team's fifth, to go along with a fumble return for a touchdown and two kickoff return touchdowns by Rayshawn Pleasant. Seventeen different Tulane players have reached the end zone.

  "This has been crazy man," Sumrall said. "What's really cool about it is on defense, it hasn't been the same guy. It's really fun to see a lot of different guys get in on the act."

  Running back Makhi Hughes tops Tulane's touchdowns chart at 13. The sophomore has been the bridge from the Willie Fritz era to Sumrall, rushing for 1,056 yards to be on pace to exceed last season's total (1,290). Sumrall described Hughes as "so dependable and reliable in every part of his game."

• An Iowa offense that drew national scrutiny and scorn the past few seasons is surging, as the Hawkeyes have risen to 45th nationally in scoring and have reached the 40-point mark three times in the past four games. The coordinator change from Brian Ferentz to Tim Lester has been noticeable, and the quarterback change from Cade McNamara to Brendan Sullivan resonated locally, but Iowa can cite other reasons for the improvement. Coach Kirk Ferentz, who was optimistic about the offensive line before the season, told me the group's performance has stood out, namely that of players such as senior guard Connor Colby, who "had to play before he was really ready to" earlier in his career.

  "All five of those guys starting for us right now, they've seen the lows, and they've also experienced some highs now," Ferentz said. "They're developing a real confidence in themselves, and rightfully so, because they've worked hard for it."

  The other big story is Kaleb Johnson, who emerged from a pack of running backs entering the season to No. 2 nationally in rushing yards (1,279) and tied for second in rushing touchdowns (19). Johnson impressed Ferentz early in the second by fighting for hard yards, and since has become a big-play machine, recording 20 runs of 20 yards or longer, eight more than Iowa's season total from 2023.

  "He's not going to go down with somebody swatting him with an arm or something like that," Ferentz said. "He's got an ability to stay on his feet and finish runs, which is great. Then the other part, obviously, is not only the O-line, but our tight ends and our receivers are doing a really good job, too."

  Ferentz added that Lester's West Coast-style offense has brought increased verbiage for playcalls that can be overwhelming, but not for the players. "I'm the last one figuring stuff out," he said. "So that's good, because I don't play."

• The Holy War is always a big deal, but BYU's historic start and Utah's disappointing play after being the Big 12 preseason favorite adds a different dynamic to Saturday's game in Salt Lake City. Utah would like nothing more than to give BYU its first loss. But BYU has one of the better road wins at SMU, as well as a dominant victory at UCF and an increasingly impressive win at Baylor.

  Sitake is very confident in the leadership of his team, saying there's "a high level of trust" in how players work together, communicate and prepare for opponents and difficult environments like the one at Utah.

  "They were the preseason favorites for a reason, and you can't take anything for granted," Sitake said of the Utes. "Even before this weekend, it's got our attention. It'll be a good challenge for our boys, and I'd like to see us step up and answer the challenge, just like they did against SMU earlier in the year. I don't think it really changes the focus of the players. They know it means a lot to the coaches, a lot to the fans, so that's the only, the only difference. But these guys are really good at getting things done and getting to work."

Dinich:

• At No. 10, Notre Dame has finally gotten past the loss to NIU, a game that offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock simply referred to as "the unthinkable," in the eyes of the selection committee. He said this group of players has "had a hunger about them" since that day, and it has helped propel them -- but he needs the "hunger to continue."

  He also needs the explosive plays, which were part of the reason the committee ranked the Irish at No. 10, noting the improvement in the Navy game. Denbrock said they had been trying to manufacture some, but they happened more naturally against the Midshipmen.

  "You could kind of see a breakthrough coming, but you didn't know exactly when it was going to come," he said. "We got a little bit more understanding. We got a little bit more familiarity. We got a little bit more consistency up front. And I think all of those things have contributed to us being in a better position to make explosive plays.

  "Hopefully that continues," he said. "We've got the ability to do that."

• LSU coach Brian Kelly said beating Alabama will come down to a few keys, including winning the turnover battle, establishing the running game, and containing Jalen Milroe.

  "You saw what happens when we don't take care of the football," he said. "Bad things happen. And then we have to be able to carve out some success in the running game. Defensively, it's pretty clear we have to be able to stop the running quarterback. That has been a problem for us and clearly we're facing a quarterback that is an elite dual-threat quarterback.

  "They're going to have their runs. This is about big chunk plays, and we've got to be able to do a really good job defensively. They're the best team in the country on third and short. They're not quite the best team in the country when it's third and long."

• While some might point to Vanderbilt's Oct. 5 upset against Alabama as a turning point in the Commodores' season, coach Clark Lea said the double-overtime loss at Missouri a week after losing to Georgia Southern was equally as important within the program.

  "In that game at Missouri, we synced up in some ways," he said. "We still played a sloppy game, but we found a rhythm there and were able to take a lead and battle and came up just short. I just felt like we kind of reclaimed that footing we had early in the season that we didn't have against Georgia State. That was an important game for us in terms of getting back on the track of progress and obviously having the breakthrough against Alabama."

  Now bowl-eligible Vandy is trying to win seven games in a season for the first time since 2013 against a much-improved South Carolina team. Lea said the Gamecocks' formula resembles their own in a lot of ways.

  "They're trying to create possessions for their offense, they're trying to shorten fields for their offense," he said. "They've done that really effectively. They've also scored points on defense, too. So we have to be smart with the ball. We have to create space. We have to try to get in our rhythm and somehow counterbalance their edge play, which is exceptional -- probably as good as we've seen."