Ten Takeaways: Week 11

For those reading on e-mail: click 'view in browser' to see the full contents of today's post

For my Ohio State subscribers: Check out my full thoughts on Ohio State's 34-10 win over Purdue in Bulletpoints:

Bulletpoints: Purdue

Thoughts on Ohio State’s 34-10 win at Purdue.

Two Stripes with Colton DenningColton Denning

1. The November Scaries are here. Can your team fight through them?

Even with the extra margin for error the 12-team playoff provides teams compared to the past, November is still the month where championship hopes go to die. We saw it down the stretch last year with Miami, Alabama and Ole Miss. Week 11 reminded us what's to come this season with a host of fatal blows, critical hits, and near misses.

• No. 2 Indiana's 27-24 comeback win at Penn State might be the most dramatic (on-field) moment of the season so far. Losing wouldn't have knocked the Hoosiers out of the playoff or Big Ten Title picture, but it would've had heavy consequences shaping each, plus the Heisman race. Facing second-and-17 at their own 13 with 1:30 left and no timeouts, Fernando Mendoza led Indiana on an 87-yard march that brought Gus Jonson back to his March Madness final form. The winning touchdown to Omar Cooper Jr. is one of the damndest catches I've ever seen, and the first true Heisman Moment™ of 2025:

The entire drive is worth watching, because it was a masterpiece from the whole Indiana offense:

• No. 9 Oregon had one job walking into Kinnick Stadium: leave with a win, by any means necessary. That's exactly what they did in gutting out an 18-16 slugfest. Without star receiver Dakorien Moore, QB Dante Moore had to make due against a tough Hawkeye defense. This throw on the Ducks' game-winning drive was a superstar-in-the-making moment:

• No. 4 Alabama's offense tried their best to keep handing LSU opportunities to pull an upset, but the Tide defense kept the Tigers in a headlock for an ugly 20-9 victory.
• An already chaotic ACC dove even further into madness with both No. 14 Virginia and No. 15 Louisville falling to Wake Forest and Cal, respectively. You could convince me that any one of these teams will be the conference's lone representative in the playoff:

• No. 16 Vanderbilt kept their at-large hopes alive with a second-half rally against Auburn, before winning in overtime.
• Any slim at-large hopes No. 23 Washington had went down the drain with their stunning 13-10 loss at Wisconsin.

Every team not named Ohio State has either lost, or gotten a significant scare at some point they've had to claw through for a win. Style points are nice, but we've reached the point of the season where just handling your business and moving to the next week is priority No. 1. It's my favorite time of year.

Join the hundreds of college football fans like yourself with a subscription to 2StripesCPD 👇

Subscribe

2. Texas Tech's defense shines against BYU

My favorite group to watch this season (on a team I don't actively root for) is Texas Tech's defense. Behind stars David Bailey and Jacob Rodriguez, the Red Raiders have spent all season putting opposing offenses in a burlap sack and wailing on it with a metaphorical baseball bat. Sure enough, that's exactly what they did to previously undefeated BYU in a 29-7 win.

Tech gave up a mere 188 yards to a Cougars offense averaging 433 coming in. They held BYU to 3/14 on third downs, while also forcing three turnovers. Unsurprisingly, the biggest catalysts were Tech's two best players. DE David Bailey and LB Jacob Rodriguez wrecked BYU from start to finish. Bailey –the nation's sack leader– showed he's much more than just a dynamic pass rusher. He ended BYU's first drive with this PBU:

Early in the second, he blew up another third down with this run stop:

Meanwhile, Rodriguez filled up the stat sheet in almost every way possible, like he does nearly every game. He had 14 tackles, 1 TFL, and a spectacular third-quarter interception that put Tech in position to eventually take a three-score lead. Fittingly, Bailey was the one who pressured BYU QB Bear Bachmeier on it:

Great defense can take you a long way. Texas Tech might ride theirs to the best season in school history, thanks to some Heisman-level play from Bailey and Rodriguez.

3. Welcome to the great unknown that is the G5 playoff race

I feel pretty confident about this take: Whichever G5 team earns a spot in the playoff will be public enemy No. 1 to the handful of SEC/Big Ten teams who narrowly miss out. People could stomach Boise getting in last year because of their resume, a close loss at Oregon, and Ashton Jeanty's historic season. I can guarantee you the G5 representative this year will not receive the same treatment. In fact, it'll probably be the hottest issue in the final rankings! Anyway, here's what went down this week: