College football winners, losers in Week 11: Texas A&M is different in 2025 (really), Big Ten leaders survive

This year marks the 10th time in the past 15 seasons that Texas A&M has ranked inside the top 10 of the AP poll and/or College Football Playoff Rankings at some point. The No. 3 Aggies are regular sniffers of the sport’s elite stratosphere since joining the SEC, but rare stayers.

Things are officially different this time. That was confirmed on Saturday, when the No. 3 Aggies improved to 9-0 (6-0 SEC) with a 38-17 win at No. 22 Missouri. The win all but assured A&M of its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance, although merely reaching the CFP would be a disappointment at this point.

Texas A&M hasn’t appeared in the SEC Championship Game since joining the league in 2012. The Aggies have an inside track to the league title game and are well-positioned to snag a first-round bye in the CFP. Even if A&M slips out of the league title game and misses out on a top four in the CFP rankings, it would still be primed to host a first round game.

What the Aggies have done under second-year coach Mike Elko should be a lesson for all the programs currently in the market for a new coach. Elko wasn’t a “splashy” hire. He wasn’t poached from a big brand and didn’t have any national championship rings to flaunt at his introductory press conference.

But he’d proven his merit as a head coach at Duke and knew the landscape at A&M from his time as the program’s defensive coordinator. Coaching in this era is about scheme and substance, not sizzle. A&M had a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback in Johnny Manziel under Kevin Sumlin. He was followed by a former national championship winning coach at Florida State in Jimbo Fisher.

Neither accomplished what Elko has accomplished in less than two seasons with the Aggies. 

Here is the full breakdown of winners and losers from Week 11 action in college football, which featured a couple of wild escape acts from two of the Big Ten’s best teams.

Loser: Missouri is no match

No. 22 Missouri entered as just a seven-point underdog against No. 3 Texas A&M, but the Tigers and their third-string quarterback were no match for the Aggies. A&M cruised to a 38-17 win to reach 6-0 in conference play for the first time since 1998, when it was still a member of the Big 12. With starter Beau Pribula and backup Sam Horn both out for the season due to injury, Mizzou true freshman Matt Zollers faced the unenviable task of making his first career start against a defense stocked with elite talent. It didn’t go well. Zollers finished 7 of 22 for 77 yards and ended up on the wrong side of this bizarre sequence, which helped the Aggies build their lead to 14-0 just before halftime.

Winner: Oregon thrives on the margins

The margin between success and failure in college football has never been more narrow. Case in point: No. 9 Oregon’s 18-16 win at No. 20 Iowa. If Dante Moore did not fit this throw into the tiniest window imaginable, the Ducks easily could have ended up suffering a gutting loss that would have imperiled their CFP aspirations. But Malik Benson reeled it in to set up Oregon for a game-winning field goal in the waning seconds. It was the second time Oregon has lived life on the edge on the road against a ranked conference opponent and escaped with a win after a similarly dramatic win at then-No. 3 Penn State on Sept. 27. Flip either or both of those outcomes in the other direction and we could be talking about the Big Ten as a two-bid league. But because the Ducks have the clutch gene, they are living on the right side of this crazy sport’s line of demarkation between success and failure.

Winner: Indiana survives a thriller

After outscoring its last three Big Ten opponents by an average of 40 points, No. 2 Indiana looked to be on its way to another easy win Saturday at Penn State. Then, the Nittany Lions came back from a 20-7 deficit and took the lead late in the fourth quarter. How would a Hoosiers team so accustomed to winning in blowout fashion respond? Quite well, as it turns out. Down 24-20 with under two minutes to play, Indiana marched 80 yards on 10 plays for a go-ahead score. The drive featured two of the best catches you’ll see this season and lifted the Hoosiers (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten) to a 27-24 win. 

First, Charlie Becker elevated over a Penn State defender on the sideline for a remarkable grab that moved Indiana deep into Nittany Lions’ territory with under a minute left. Then, on third-and-goal, Omar Cooper Jr. bested his teammate with a toe-tapping touchdown grab that proved to be the game winner. Blowing everyone out is fun, but for a team with championship aspirations, getting tested can be useful as well. IU has championship aspirations, and it can draw on Saturday’s clutch touchdown drive if and when tense moments arise in the postseason.

Loser: BYU produces a dud

No. 7 BYU suffered its first defeat of the season, as the Cougars couldn’t get out of their own way in a 29-7 loss at No. 8 Texas Tech. Among the critical miscues were a muffed punt, a missed field goal and an interception. The Red Raiders weren’t perfect, either, but they won the turnover battle 3-0 as BYU’s sloppy performance made it simple for TTU to win and cover the double-digit spread in a critical Big 12 showdown. A trip to the league title game is still possible for the Cougars (8-1, 5-1 Big 12), but the likely opponent would be Texas Tech. If the rematch comes to fruition, expect a motivated BYU team that is eager to present a better version of itself than what we saw on Saturday.

Winner: Alabama’s defense delivers again

On a night when Alabama’s offense didn’t have its best, the defense delivered another series of clutch plays in the No. 4 Crimson Tide’s 20-9 win over LSU. Yhonzae Pierre produced two of them. The imposing edge rusher dragged LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier down for a 14-yard loss on a critical third-down play in the third quarter. Later, he ended LSU’s hopes for goods by forcing a fumble in the final minutes.

Winner: Jeremiah Smith puts on a show

New week, same Jeremiah Smith. Ohio State’s stud sophomore receiver added to his lengthy highlight montage with seven receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown in No. 1 Ohio State’s 34-10 win at Purdue. Oh, did we mention that was Smith’s first half line? He made another three catches in the second half to finish with a career-high 10 receptions, further bolstering his candidacy in a Heisman race that also features his quarterback, Julian Sayin.

Loser: Auburn flames out again

Playing at No. 16 Vanderbilt in its first game since the firing of coach Hugh Freeze, Auburn produced 563 yards, which was more than it ever managed against an FBS opponent during Freeze’s tenure. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the end result was all too familiar: Auburn found a way to lose. The Tigers fell 45-38 in overtime after leading by 14 in the first half. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Auburn found some life offensively behind quarterback Ashton Daniels. At 4-6, the Tigers will need to beat Mercer and win the Iron Bowl against Alabama in order to avoid missing a bowl for the third time in four years.

Loser: Deion’s downfall continues

Colorado’s dreams of bowl eligibility met their end Saturday in a 29-22 loss at West Virginia. The Mountaineers entered with just 17 sacks for the season but racked up seven against the Buffaloes. Perhaps it was Colorado’s shoddy offensive line play that motivated third-year Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders to make a head-scratching decision early in the fourth quarter. Down just 22-16 and facing a fourth-and-4 from the WVU 17-yard line, Sanders played it safe and went with a field goal to draw within 22-19. A touchdown would have given Colorado a lead and left the Buffaloes in a far better position down the stretch. With nothing to lose late in a season going sideways, it was a timid decision from Colorado’s brash coach.

Winner: Georgia avoids drama

Georgia made a habit of crushing SEC opponents and avoiding fourth-quarter drama during its back-to-back national championship runs in 2021 and 2022. Parity has been on the rise in the SEC since then, and that has been reflected in the seemingly unending series of close league games the Bulldogs have played this season.

But for one afternoon at least, it felt like old times for No. 5 Georgia, which stomped Mississippi State 41-21 on the road. With UGA coming off a gritty rivalry win over Florida and heading toward a high-stakes home showdown against No. 13 Texas next week, it was a classic trap spot. UGA fell in an early 7-0 hole. From there, Georgia bludgeoned Mississippi State with a 38-0 run that came with a steady cadence of explosive plays.

Loser: Florida owned by Kentucky 

Kentucky’s 38-7 win over Florida was its largest win in an SEC game since it beat Vanderbilt by 31 points in 1998. It also marked UK’s fourth win over the Gators in the past five seasons. Things got so bad for Florida that interim coach Billy Gonzales benched sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway after his third interception. The Gators are now 1-10 over their last 11 SEC games.

Winner: James Madison quietly builds its case

Watch out for James Madison. The Dukes (8-1, 6-0 Sun Belt) have reeled off seven straight wins following Saturday’s 35-23 victory at Marshall to insert themselves into the CFP conversation. When the game went final, JMU had the second-best odds of any Group of Six team to reach the playoff (+240 at FanDuel) behind only South Florida. 

James Madison’s only loss came in a competitive showing on the road against No. 14 Louisville. All but one of its victories are by double-digits. Second-year coach Bob Chesney has himself a squad, and we just might see that squad in the CFP bracket.

Loser: Temple rarely sees the football

Temple possessed the football a whopping total of two times in the second half of its 14-13 loss at Army. The Black Knights forced a three-and-out with 10 minutes left and proceeded to run out the rest of the clock with an 18-play drive. The prolonged series included zero pass attempts and zero points, but it accomplished exactly what the Black Knights wanted it to accomplish. This was service academy football at its finest, as Army possessed the football for over 22 minutes in the second half. The Black Knights completed just one pass all game but converted on 11 of 19 third- or fourth-down plays to keep the chains moving and the clock rolling.

Winner: Wisconsin celebrates a rare win

Some are going to flame Wisconsin fans for rushing the field following the Badgers’ 13-10 win over No. 23 Washington. Has this once-proud program really fallen so far that a narrow win over a barely ranked team is getting field-storming treatment? The answer is unequivocally yes. Wisconsin (3-6, 1-5 Big Ten) is almost assured to miss a bowl game in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1991 and 1992. The Badgers entered averaging fewer yards per game (261.9) than any other Power Four team by more than 30 yards. They mustered just 205 yards and 12 first downs agains the Huskies but somehow found a way to win. When this is the product, you celebrate the wins where you can find them.

Loser: ACC gets quite murky

An already cloudy ACC picture got even cloudier on Saturday as No. 14 Virginia and No. 15 Louisville each took surprising home losses against league foes. The Cavaliers (8-2, 5-1 ACC) are now one of five ACC teams with one loss in league play after falling 16-9 at home to Wake Forest. Louisville (7-2, 4-2) is no longer in that group after falling 29-26 in overtime against Cal. Georgia Tech (8-1, 5-1) is now the only team in the ACC with fewer than two total losses, but the Yellow Jackets still play a strong Pitt team and face No. 5 Georgia. Any hope for the league to produce two playoff teams has been all but extinguished.

Winner: UConn makes a statement

UConn’s win over UAB last got the Huskies bowl eligible for the second straight season. But Saturday’s 37-34 win over Duke made a significantly louder statement. The Blue Devils are in the thick of the ACC title race and entered with one of the nation’s hottest quarterback in Darian Mensah. The Huskies picked him off twice and got another huge performance from their own star QB, Joe Fagnano, who tossed three touchdowns. The veteran star is up to 25 touchdowns without an interception on the season and has the Huskies in the mix to match or exceed last year’s program record-tying nine victories. Fourth-year coach Jim Mora Jr. is quietly doing a masterful coaching job.