College Football Bets: What You Need To Know Before Week 11 2023

And just like that, we are well and truly down to a 10-team race. Unless you somehow think that Louisville can make a case for itself as a one-loss CFP team, which would require some Simone Biles-esque mental gymnastics, we’ve got 10 programs with a clearly defined path to the playoffs. Ole Miss might be in a bit of a pickle with their one loss to Alabama that will likely keep them from having any chance of making it, but I think “win out and pray to Jesus that the ‘Tide choke” is clear enough.

How did we get here? Well, Texas, Washington and Alabama all won crucial games, Georgia knocked off a potential outsider in Mizzou, and Oklahoma cemented their failure by losing their last Big-12 matchup at OK State (more on that later). We’ve got a long way to go, but with 3 weeks left, you can fine-tune your channel listings to focus on games that truly matter. And, on top of that, I’ll give you 3 things to know for a little more information. Let’s get to it.

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1. Big Name Coaches on the Hot Seat

Going into last week, one of the biggest storylines was Dabo ripping into a child on the radio for questioning his job security. While Dabo is insufferable, the indignant tone was probably fair considering he took an insignificant small school and turned them into a national power, but he managed to do it in a way that was impressively obnoxious, even for him. But, as the day ended, we were less worried with Dabo, who had pulled off a big win over Notre Dame, and a lot more intrigued by some other coaches.

One point that was obvious to me is that it appears nobody has won from Lincoln Riley’s move to OU. The Trojans took massive expectations and completely blew them with the best player in the country from last year, while OU continues to be pretty good but ultimately never good enough because getting talent to live in Norman, Oklahoma is hard. Brian Kelly has to also be sweating in his misfitting slacks, as he took an LSU team filled with promise and wasted it. You may learn just how much the players want these guys to stick around by how hard they play in the last 3 weeks.

2. Mutually Assured Offense

Two years seems like a long time in college football, but, until Kirby Smart assembled one of the best defenses that college football has ever seen, the talk of the sport was that defense had pretty much died. Alabama had won the prior CFP on the back of a 52-point performance, and the prevailing sentiment was that programs were just going to try to outscore the opposition.

Well, after a two-year gap, we seem to be sort of back in the same place. It’s unclear if the Big 10 is on board, particularly because Michigan continues to play useless game after useless game, but it was hard to deny that the focus is back on offense after watching Bama-LSU and USC-Washington on Saturday evening. Sure, some teams like the Big 10’s powerhouses and Georgia haven't completely given up on two-sided football, but it doesn't seem like defense is going to be the focal point for anyone. That’s good news for fans, who should expect some higher-scoring football down the stretch.

MORE: Our updated look at College Football Futures: Who will be crowned National Champion?

3. Time to Kill some Contenders

As always, the last big point is to highlight a couple of massive matchups this weekend. The first is Michigan vs Penn State. It’s hard to say whether Penn State genuinely has life since Ohio State can effectively end that conversation by winning out, but we FINALLY get to see Harbaugh and co. play a real opponent. Oh, and everyone in the country will be rooting against them as more and more details about their sign-stealing program come out (reading their president’s letter requesting the Big 10 wait for all the information out is a truly hilarious gesture, as if that would change anything).

We also have a big SEC battle, with Ole Miss traveling to Athens to take on UGA. A Dawgs win effectively ends all questions until the SEC Title game where they would face off against Bama for a spot in the playoff, but an Ole Miss win makes things WAY MORE INTERESTING. If Kiffen pulls off the upset but gets left out of the SEC title, the committee is going to be left with a brutal choice to put the Rebels in or leave them out, come December. As someone married to a UGA grad I have to hope it’s a non-issue, but my love of chaos makes me think it might be fun to see.

Make sure you check for value in Dimers' College Football Player Prop Bets section before locking in any picks for your parlays.

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