College football games, Week 11: Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin get third shot to overcome wounded Alabama, Nick Saban
Three weeks remain in the 2022 regular season, which means divisional races are narrowing, conference championship pictures are clarifying and teams legitimately eligible for the College Football Playoff are dwindling with every Saturday that passes. Such will be the case again in Week 11 with multiple top-25 showdowns set to clarify these scenarios.
The most notable showdowns come from the SEC where No. 7 LSU hopes to avoid taking a step back from its thrilling overtime win against Alabama when it visits Arkansas. Despite the Tigers suddenly becoming the talk of the nation in Year 1 under coach Brian Kelly, their grip on the SEC West is tenuous. LSU will need to win out to secure a spot in the SEC Championship Game (likely against No. 1 Georgia), and that begins by avoiding a road upset against an Arkansas team that can play up to anyone.
Speaking of the No. 9 Crimson Tide, barring an absolute miracle, their SEC and CFP hopes are dashed. That is not the case for No. 11 Ole Miss, which hosts Alabama in the SEC on CBS Game of the Week with Rebels coach Lane Kiffin looking to get his first win over Nick Saban. Unlike the Tide, the Rebels still have a shot to win the SEC West. Ole Miss will have to beat Alabama to put itself in position, though it will also need LSU to take an L as the regular season concludes.
Saturday's nightcap is a huge Big 12 showdown as newly minted No. 4 TCU visits No. 18 Texas in perhaps its toughest remaining test over the final three weeks. The Longhorns have been playing much better in the second half of the season, and with former Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson on staff as an analyst, they will certainly have a handle on what TCU brings to the table. If the Frogs can get past the 'Horns, only Baylor and Iowa State remain as TCU eyes a spot in the playoff.No. 11 Ole Miss and No. 9 Alabama are in strange spots this week. Usually, Nick Saban would be trotting out the usual "rat poison" references as a 12-point favorite on the road in the late stages of another national championship chase.Instead, Lane Kiffin found himself inventing an antidote for the dreaded R.P.
"G.O.A.T. Fuel," he calls it. You know, any talk of the Alabama dynasty being over is motivation for the greatest coach of all time.
"I'm sure that was on his desk Sunday morning," said Kiffin regarding any references to Saban's dynasty potentially crumbling.
The question is what Saban and the Crimson Tide do with those claims. It sure doesn't feel like Alabama should be a 12-point favorite at Ole Miss. This is yet another chance for a former Saban assistant to beat him. That has happened twice in the last five such meetings after never happening previously. Saban opened 24-0 against his protégées.
Kiffin is winless in three tries against his ex-boss. Not without the usual hype. The Rebels visited the Tide undefeated last season. Kiffin told CBS Sports before the game to your "get your popcorn ready." Ole Miss fell behind 35-0 and lost 42-21.
Kiffin is the Twitter troll who never stops trolling. This week, he tweeted a picture of a Saban book on leadership resting atop Ole Miss' defensive call sheet. That could have been a reference to Saban cryptically suggesting in 2020 that Ole Miss' defense knew what was coming from Bama's offense.
More than Alabama's pride is wounded after Saturday's loss to LSU. That result likely bounced the Tide out of College Football Playoff contention before Thanksgiving for the first time.
Ole Miss and Kiffin deserve the love they're receiving. They're on the uptick, in contention for a New Year's Six bowl and still a longshot for the SEC West. But it's Alabama generating most of the headlines.
Another loss would be the most in a season for Saban since 2010 (three). There could be the ugly specter of opt outs before a mid-level bowl game. That's the dichotomy. Saban still has all those NFL prospects. But something happened this year.
The Tide are vulnerable. Their wide receivers lack the ability to separate. There is no shifty, bulldozing running back in the mold of Najee Harris, Derrick Henry or Josh Jacobs. (Jahmyr Gibbs flashes incredible ability but not frequently enough -- and he can't do it alone.) An LSU offensive line with freshmen at each tackle pushed Bama around in the second half to the tune of 148 yards and 7.4 per rush. The reigning Heisman Trophy winne, Bryce Young, was outplayed by Jayden Daniels.
So, there is something more there than just brushing it off as two losses by a total of four points. If Ole Miss needs any motivation -- it probably doesn't -- that 12-point line is hanging out there like a low-hanging tweet.
Who knows what Kiffin will thumb out if his team pulls off the upset? For now, perhaps it's best to say Alabama's current football reputation is an underdog this week.
Turnaround Texas
No. 4 TCU at No. 18 Texas might mark the first time a top-five, 9-0 FBS team goes into a game against a ranked opponent as a touchdown underdog. That line favoring the Longhorns against the Horned Frogs requires some layers of thought.
TCU's best offensive weapon, WR Quentin Johnston, took two snaps last week against West Virginia due to a lower-body injury. He did practice Wednesday and Thursday.
TCU is on the road in this rivalry that was ramped up gobs when the Frogs joined the Big 12 in 2012. But since then, TCU is 4-1 at Texas and 7-3 overall in the series.
Texas (6-3) has been playing like it can win the Big 12. It already controls its own destiny for the league title game. It just has to keep winning. Texas is favored over an AP top 10 team for the first time in a decade.
And then there's Texas defensive analyst Gary Patterson, who goes against his old team for the first time. Patterson was fired a year ago at TCU after a 3-5 start. A large majority of Frogs were guys he recruited. You better believe Coach P has something ready for TCU.
"He texted me after the Oklahoma win," new TCU coach Sonny Dykes said. "It was really nice of him to do that. I texted him back. Look, Gary loves TCU and he loves his players. He wants nothing but success for his players."
Except on Saturday.
If the Horns beat the Frogs then follow up by running the table by beating Kansas and Baylor in the regular-season finale, Texas would clinch a spot in the Big 12's top two.
Win the Big 12 Championship Game, and the Horns go to the Sugar Bowl at 10-3. The last time Texas won 10 and went to the Sugar was 2018. It beat Georgia in that game with QB Sam Ehlinger infamously claiming, "Longhorn Nation, we're baaaack."
Once again, we'll see. This is still quite a comeback from a program that was floundering at 2-2 after an overtime loss Sept 24 at Texas Tech.
LSU point of view
No. 7 LSU can see a national championship from here. At 7-2, it controls its ability to win the SEC West and the SEC, which could mean a spot in the CFP. Try to keep LSU out of the top four if they win out against Arkansas, UAB, Texas A&M and likely Georgia. LSU can clinch a spot in the SEC Championship Game with a win and an Ole Miss loss.
Daniels is the latest of bloomers. Since losing to Tennessee, he has accounted for 14 touchdowns (seven passing, seven rushing) in the last three games. The only other Power Five quarterbacks since 2000 with those totals in a three-game span are Tim Tebow, Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson. It's possible the Arizona State transfer is currently the SEC's best quarterback. Yes, that's considering what Hendon Hooker has done.
-cbs
