Penn State football desperate for a win against Michigan, plus Week 11’s tame to terrific

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Will this week live up to the hype?

Let’s check in with the top games to watch Until Saturday …

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Week 11 Schedule

From tame to terrific

College Football Playoff implications

Noon: No. 3 Michigan (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) at No. 10 Penn State (8-1, 5-1), Noon, Fox: It’s about time for the Wolverines’ season to start! Let’s hope Penn State looks different than it did against Ohio State because it desperately needs this win. The Wolverines have passed the eye test, but can they finally get a resume win? Of course, the sign-stealing saga hangs over every Michigan game.

Afternoon: No. 18 Utah (7-2, 4-2 Pac-12) at No. 5 Washington (9-0, 6-0), 3:30 p.m., Fox: The Huskies were criticized after some less-than-spectacular wins against Arizona State and Stanford. But after dropping 52 points on USC — which was followed by the Trojans firing defensive coordinator Alex Grinch — Washington has a chance to break into the College Football Playoff rankings’ top four with resume-boosting opportunities against Utah and Oregon State (No. 12) on deck.

Prime time: No. 9 Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1 SEC) at No. 2 Georgia (9-0, 6-0), 7 p.m., ESPN: It feels like this one has flown under the radar for no good reason. The Dawgs will face the best offense they have seen this season, led by QB Jaxson Dart and RB Quinshon Judkins.

Group of 5 spotlight

Early: Old Dominion (4-5) at Liberty (9-0), 1 p.m., ESPN+: Old Dominion lost last week after Coastal Carolina scored a go-ahead touchdown with 23 seconds left. It was the Monarchs’ eighth straight game decided by one score. ODU only lost by a field goal to G5-darling James Madison, but can it cause a scare for a Liberty offense that ranks in the top five nationally in yards per game?

Afternoon: Texas State (6-3, 3-2 Sun Belt) at Coastal Carolina (6-3, 4-2), 3:30 p.m, ESPN+: Coastal Carolina likely will be without starting QB Grayson McCall, and backup Jarrett Guest is questionable. But Ethan Vasko did just fine in leading the Chanticleers to a come-from-behind win last week.

Night (Friday): Wyoming (6-3, 4-2 MWC) at UNLV (7-2, 4-1), 10:45 p.m., FS1: The Rebels cruised to a 56-14 win against New Mexico last week and are leading the Mountain West with 36.7 points per game. The Cowboys reached bowl eligibility by snapping a two-game losing skid last week. (More on UNLV shortly.)*

Sneaky good games (Plus: An action meter from tame 🤯 to terrific 🤯🤯🤯🤯)

Noon: No. 8 Alabama (8-1, 6-0 SEC) at Kentucky (6-3, 3-3), ESPN: The hype is back for the Crimson Tide, and Jalen Milroe stepped up in a big way in a 42-28 win against LSU last week. Can the Tide jump into CFP contention? First, they’ll have to beat a Kentucky team that has been battle-tested against Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee. Action meter: 🤯

Afternoon: No. 13 Tennessee (7-2, 3-2 SEC) at No. 14 Missouri (7-2, 3-2), 3:30 p.m., CBS: The Vols have won the last four against the Tigers, taking last year’s game in a 66-24 blowout. This one probably won’t have much impact on the SEC title race, but it sure looks like one of the most exciting games of the weekend. And just imagine if it were 2024. Action meter: 🤯🤯🤯🤯

Prime time: USC (7-3, 5-2 Pac-12) at No. 6 Oregon (8-1, 5-1), 10:30 p.m., Fox: Perhaps the Trojans will feel more settled after Grinch was fired. They will need to be ready against an Oregon offense that leads the nation in scoring. But then again, USC is right behind the Ducks, scoring 45.5 points per game. I expect both QBs to light it up. Action meter: 🤯🤯🤯

* And about that Wyoming-UNLV matchup … the Rebels have been cruising under Barry Odom. The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman spoke to UNLV’s coach about the turnaround from Mountain West afterthought to one of the season’s most intriguing teams.

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Feldman’s Files

Next-player-up mentality fuels UNLV

Since 2000, UNLV has had just one winning season, and that came a decade ago. The Rebels haven’t won more than eight games in a season since 1984 when Harvey Hyde led them to an 11-2 season while playing in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association.

• In Odom’s first season, UNLV has emerged as one of the season’s best stories. Despite all sorts of injuries, including to their starting QB early in the year and to their top two defensive players three weeks ago, the Rebels have kept rolling.
• Odom has evolved quite a bit from his first stint as a head coach at Mizzou. He told The Athletic that he learned from his days working at Arkansas for Sam Pittman, who took some lessons he learned from Kirby Smart at Georgia about how to practice and truly cultivate a next-player-up culture.

“Everybody in our program has gotten equal reps,” Odom said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a first-teamer or a fourth-team guy.”

Another layer to that next-man-up mentality happened on Odom’s staff when Bobby Petrino bolted a few weeks after he was hired by Odom to become the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M.

• Odom pivoted and hired Brennan Marion, the architect of what he calls the Go-Go offense. The Rebels’ backup QB, freshman Jayden Maiava, has shined, completing 65 percent of his passes with a 10-4 TD-INT ratio, and a program that never had scored 40-plus points in three straight games has done it four times in a row and just scored 56 in a romp at New Mexico.
• It’s worth noting that Marion’s offense is far outperforming Petrino’s at A&M. Both OCs have had to rely on backup QBs, although Petrino’s QB, Max Johnson, had been a starter in the SEC before at LSU.
• The Rebels are up to No. 16 in the nation in scoring after ranking 76th in 2022. They’re 16th in rushing, 70 spots above last year. UNLV is fifth in the country in third-down offense, up from 116th last year, and No. 17 in red-zone offense, up from No. 59.

The next two weeks are quite a test to see just how much improved the Rebels are. They face Wyoming on Friday and then visit 8-1 Air Force next weekend.

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers will start Saturday against TCU after missing the last two games while recovering from a right shoulder injury.