Week 11 of the college football regular season brings two matchups that had more hype earlier in the season than they do now and a potential preview of the Big 12 Championship Game.
Texas Tech hosts BYU in a top-10 showdown that could end up getting a rematch in a month. The Red Raiders are hosting ESPN’s “College Gameday” for the first time since that famous 2008 win against Texas. For this game, Tech comes in at 8-1 and ranked No. 9 in the country, and a 10.5-point favorite against BYU, which is undefeated and ranked No. 8.
If BYU pulls off the surprise road win, the Cougars would look very likely to go to the conference title game, and the race for the second spot would be very close. If Tech wins, those two teams could see one another again. Cincinnati is lurking at 5-1 in the Big 12 standings, but confidence in the Bearcats is wavering after a 31-point loss at Utah on Saturday.
Why is undefeated BYU a double-digit underdog? For starters, the Cougars’ five Big 12 opponents have a combined 10-19 record in conference play. BYU’s best win is a 24-21 home win against Utah, which is looking like a quality win. The Utes’ only losses are to these two teams (although Tech beat them by 24 on the road). For comparison, Tech’s six Big 12 opponents are 18-16, and the Red Raiders’ only game decided by fewer than 23 points was a four-point loss at Arizona State.
Elsewhere, the Big Ten has a pair of interesting games on the docket. Iowa, 6-2 but still unranked, hosts No. 6 Oregon. The Ducks were less than impressive against Wisconsin last time out (a 21-7 home win), but are coming off a bye. Still, going to Kinnick Stadium isn’t easy, as the spread is under a touchdown (5.5). Even Indiana, which won by 10 at Oregon and has been destroying almost every other team on its schedule, went down to the wire in a five-point win at Iowa.
Speaking of the Hoosiers, IU goes to Penn State in a game that a month ago appeared to be a huge one. Now, Penn State has lost five in a row (four by one score before Ohio State beat the Nittany Lions by 24 on Saturday) and is a 15.5-point underdog at home. Penn State leads the all-time series 25-2, and the last loss was in 2020 on a controversial call that went to video review in overtime.
In the SEC, the top two teams in the conference standings have potentially tricky games, but are clearly favored. No. 3 Texas A&M heads to No. 19 Missouri, which sounds like a tough game, but the Tigers are down to third-string quarterback Matt Zollers. Zollers, a freshman, came on two weeks ago against Vanderbilt after Beau Pribula got hurt in the third quarter. Sam Horn tore his ACL in Mizzou’s season opener, leaving Zollers to step in when Pribula went down. The Tigers had a bye week, so Zollers got decent practice time as the starter. Despite the extra work, the Aggies are favored by a touchdown.
No. 4 Alabama hosts LSU and is favored by 10.5 points. Both teams are coming off byes, and LSU needed it after firing coach Brian Kelly. What kind of effort will the Tigers bring to Tuscaloosa?
The entire top 10 of the AP Top 25 is in action, but a whopping seven ranked teams are on bye this week: No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 13 Texas, No. 16 Georgia Tech, No. 17 Utah, No. 21 Michigan, No. 23 Tennessee and No. 25 Cincinnati.
Here’s a look at the odds for every game involving an AP Top 25 team, plus some other notable games for Week 11. All games are on Saturday unless otherwise noted. FBS vs. FCS spreads will be posted later in the week (looking at you, Ole Miss vs. The Citadel).
College football Week 11 oddsHouston at UCF (Friday)
FS1
Northwestern at No. 20 USC (Friday)
FOX
Tulane at No. 22 Memphis (Friday)
ESPN
No. 2 Indiana at Penn State
FOX
No. 5 Georgia at Mississippi State
ESPN
No. 8 BYU at No. 9 Texas Tech
ABC
No. 1 Ohio State at Purdue
Big Ten Network
The Citadel at No. 7 Ole Miss
SEC Network+
No. 3 Texas A&M at No. 19 Missouri
ABC
No. 6 Oregon at Iowa
FOX
Syracuse at No. 18 Miami
ESPN
Kansas at Arizona
ESPN2
Iowa State at TCU
FOX
Auburn at No. 15 Vanderbilt
SEC Network
No. 24 Washington at Wisconsin
Big Ten Network
Wake Forest at No. 12 Virginia
ESPN
Cal at No. 14 Louisville
ESPN2
Florida State at Clemson
ACC Network
LSU at No. 4 Alabama
ABC
Navy at No. 10 Notre Dame
NBC