There are four ranked matchups on the docket in Week 11.
None bigger than a pair of top-10 matchups taking place around the college football world than No. 3 Michigan-No. 10 Penn State and No. 9 Ole Miss-No. 2 Georgia.
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Those games will be previewed later. There are also eight ranked programs playing on the road this week including No. 7 Texas and No. 8 Alabama.
Here are several games to watch this week.
Miami at No. 4 Florida State
A battle for the state of Florida will take place on Saturday.
The No. 4 Seminoles will put their 15-game winning streak on the line against Miami, which is looking to get back in the win column after a loss at NC State.
The rivalry game between the Seminoles and Hurricanes is set for 3:30 p.m. on ABC, and quarterbacks Jordan Travis of Florida State and Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke will square off. Both teams are top-five in the Atlantic Coast Conference in total offense putting up more than 437 yards per game.
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Florida State head coach Mike Norvell said his team looks forward to playing Miami every season, and it’s a game that is talked about with the likes of any game on the biggest stage.
“There’s only two games that I talk about before the season and I talked about them before our offseason because every day matters when it comes to that,” Norvell said. “If that’s not important to you then you’re not going to play in this game because you will get exposed. This game takes everything that you have. I’m grateful that I get the chance to coach in this game, I mean, it’s special and you respect the past, you respect every game that has been played before, you respect the people that have played in this game and I mean because these guys have to give it all and because if not, you can take all records, all things that have happened before, it won’t matter. But you prepare for this one every single day.”
No. 3 Michigan at No. 10 Penn State
There is a chance for a three-way tie in the Big Ten East Division.
If Penn State can upend Michigan at home on Saturday and if the Buckeyes were to lose to Michigan on Nov. 25, then all three of Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State would be in a tie atop the division.
First, though, the Wolverines must take on the Nittany Lions.
This will be a matchup between the top two total defenses in the country. Michigan leads by allowing 231.4 yards per game while the Nittany Lions are close behind at 234.2.
Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy will look to vault himself higher into the Heisman Trophy conversation, while Penn State’s Drew Allar will get an extended look against the Wolverines defense.
Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh said Allar, who is fourth in the Big Ten with 1,895 passing yards, will present a challenge to Michigan.
“He’s been good. You can see all the improvement,” Harbaugh said. “Just prototypical guy, tall, smart, got great stature in the pocket, very athletic, strong. He’s hard to get down on the ground. Courage, stands in there and throws it now. He’s an excellent quarterback.”
No. 9 Ole Miss at No. 2 Georgia
The second top-10 showdown of the week is set to be a good one in SEC country.
The No. 2 Bulldogs will welcome their third ranked opponent of the season in No. 9 Ole Miss, which is riding a five-game winning streak.
While the top-10 matchup in the Big Ten will be a battle among defenses, this SEC matchup will be one for the offenses.
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Georgia has the No. 2 offense in the SEC with an average of 493 yards per game, while the Rebels are right behind at 478.89 yards.
The quarterback battle will be between Georgia’s Carson Beck, who is in his first season as starter, and Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart, who is in his second year with the program after transferring from USC.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has scouted what Dart has done this season, as the Kaysville, Utah, native is third in the SEC with a 168.87 quarterback rating. Smart said Dart encapsulates what Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss look for in quarterbacks.
“I think Lane’s quarterbacks take home a personality from him, and they have a lot of moxie,” Smart said. “They have a lot of talent. They play really hard. They play with reckless abandon for their body, and he runs like a running back. He’s taking some hits this year and shown his toughness so he’s not going to shy away from contact and toughness, and he’s the extra element of run that gives them a competitive advantage over a lot of teams you play because they have great backs, but he runs the ball like a back and he throws the ball really well too, which that’s what makes them really hard to defend when you got a guy that can make all the throws but can also take off and run, and he’s proven the ability to do that.”
