The beauty of college football is that you can never quite grab hold of it — this season more than most. We’ve reached November, the final stretch of the regular season, and an ACC clash between Wake Forest and Virginia is higher on this week’s docket than a blueblood SEC rivalry between LSU and Alabama. What an incredible sport.
Better yet, we get to watch both games! In prime time! Unless you subscribe to YouTube TV.
Here are the top 10 games of Week 11, starting with a few honorable mentions and counting down.
Honorable Mention: Houston at UCF (Fri.), JMU at Marshall, Southern Miss at Arkansas State, Duke at UConn, Kansas at Arizona, Iowa State at TCU, Auburn at No. 16 Vanderbilt, Cal at No. 15 Louisville, Florida State at Clemson
(All point spreads are courtesy BetMGM. All kickoff times are Eastern and on Saturday unless otherwise noted.)
10. Navy (7-1) at No. 10 Notre Dame (6-2), 7:30 p.m., NBC
This spread is massive, and Navy was just beaten 31-17 by North Texas thanks to three turnovers and 424 yards of offense for the Mean Green. But it’s also a storied rivalry, and Navy is still a one-loss team, going against a two-loss Notre Dame with no room for error in the College Football Playoff. The Irish should win this one at home, but with a trip to No. 24 Pitt next weekend, they can’t get caught looking ahead. The Mids have the best rushing attack in the FBS at 6.6 yards per carry, and still ran for 311 yards and 7.1 yards per attempt in the loss to North Texas.
LINE: Notre Dame -26.5
9. Northwestern (5-3) at No. 19 USC (6-2), Fri., 9 p.m., Fox
Northwestern has shown flashes of fight this season, but this game is here because USC is lingering in the Big Ten and CFP discussions with just one conference loss. The Trojans would need either Ohio State or Indiana to slip up to have a shot at the Big Ten title, but with games against Iowa and Oregon up next, they have an opportunity to play their way into the 12-team field. USC has a 21-percent chance to make the Playoff entering this weekend, according to The Athletic’s projection model. If it takes care of business against Northwestern on Friday, there will be chances to better those odds.
LINE: USC -14.5
8. No. 2 Indiana (9-0) at Penn State (3-5), noon, Fox
This game offers a rare shared data point to compare Indiana and top-ranked Ohio State. The Buckeyes were up just 17-14 on Penn State at halftime last weekend, at home, before a 21-0 second half put it on ice. How do the Hoosiers stack up, on the road, against the same opponent? The only other cross reference is Illinois, who the Buckeyes beat by 18 on the road and Indiana smoked by 53 at home. It’s not a perfect correlation, but it’s all we’ve got until these two meet in the Big Ten title game. (Also, let this be the last time we have to pay attention to Penn State this season.)
LINE: Indiana -14.5
WIIIIIIIIDE OPEN FOR THE TD @IndianaFootball strikes again 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tU8gQNetyP
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 25, 2025
7. LSU (5-3) at No. 4 Alabama (7-1), 7:30 p.m., ABC
Can an interim-coach palate cleanser revive the Tigers? On the road, zero expectations, nothing to lose — and the type of game Alabama has struggled to put away under Kalen DeBoer, including South Carolina before the bye. There was clearly a toxicity around the LSU program under Brian Kelly, but we’ve seen teams respond to midseason coaching changes, this season included. LSU has enough talent to pull it off. Counterpoint: It’s also a rivalry game in which Alabama, led by one of the best players in college football in quarterback Ty Simpson, understands what’s at stake as far as the bigger picture.
LINE: Alabama -10
6. No. 5 Georgia (7-1) at Mississippi State (5-4), noon, ESPN
This matchup highlights the difference between good teams and not-quite good teams. This iteration of Georgia is not great, and despite its top-five ranking, doesn’t feel like a national-championship caliber squad. At least at the moment. But there is still enough talent and culture and winning DNA to pull out those close wins against Tennessee, Ole Miss and Florida. Mississippi State is much improved from a year ago, but still falling just short in OT against the Volunteers and against Texas. They did storm back to beat Arkansas last week, scoring the last 17 unanswered, which is reason enough for a superior Georgia team to stay on high alert in Starkville.
LINE: Georgia -8.5
5. Wake Forest (5-3) at No. 14 Virginia (8-1), 7 p.m., ESPN
The ‘Hoos are the college football embodiment of that Breaking Bad “He can’t keep getting away with it!” meme. Virginia had three straight wins by three points or less, two of them in overtime, before a 10-point victory against Cal last weekend that featured a last-minute pick-six to break the streak. Winning is a skill, and particularly tough on the road, where UVA has claimed three of the last four, so credit to Virginia’s resiliency. At 5-0, the team is all alone atop the ACC standings and facing a Wake Forest team that beat SMU and played Georgia Tech close, but got blown out by Florida State last Saturday.
LINE: Virginia -6.5
Game-winning pick 6 to extend @UVAFootball 7-game win streak 🫡 pic.twitter.com/CniRISwGJe
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) November 5, 2025
4. No. 3 Texas A&M (8-0) at No. 22 Missouri (6-2), 3:30 p.m., ABC
No Beau Pribula at quarterback for Missouri (out with a dislocated ankle). The Tigers turn to true freshman Matt Zollers, who looked decent coming on against Vanderbilt, but will have to go against a Texas A&M defense that is tied for third in the FBS with 32 sacks and is best in FBS at preventing third-down conversions, allowing just 22.2 percent. Pribula’s injury takes a lot of the air out of this one, but it’s still a ranked matchup, and the Aggies still have to go on the road against a Missouri team with Ahmad Hardy at running back and a top-10 defense.
LINE: Texas A&M -7
3. Tulane (6-2) at Memphis (8-1), Fri., 9 p.m., ESPN
A white-hot American Conference showdown on Friday night that will have major implications on the league standings and G5 Playoff race. Tulane suffered a surprise whupping at UTSA last week to shake up the hierarchy, including quarterback Jake Retzlaff getting benched after tossing two interceptions. The Green Wave needs a road win at Memphis to stay in contention. The Tigers, the lone G5 team in the AP Top 25, didn’t crack the CFP rankings, and have to finish the regular season with East Carolina and Navy. But with Memphis having only one loss overall, the rest of the American (along with James Madison and San Diego State) is likely rooting for Tulane.
LINE: Memphis -3.5
2. No. 9 Oregon (7-1) at No. 20 Iowa (6-2), 3:30 p.m., CBS
Some respect for the Hawkeyes, who were unranked in the AP Top 25 poll but slotted at No. 20 in the initial batch of CFP rankings. Iowa doesn’t play the most exciting style of football, but it’s also the exact type of team you don’t want to play against. The Ducks came in at No. 9 in the CFP rankings, three spots lower than in the AP poll. The best win on their resume is a double-overtime road victory over Penn State. How Oregon’s top-five offense fares against Iowa’s top-five defense in Kinnick Stadium will be fascinating and could tell us a lot about the Big Ten race.
LINE: Oregon -6
1. No. 7 BYU (8-0) at No. 8 Texas Tech (8-1), noon, ABC
The game of the week is a top-10, Big 12 matchup in Lubbock, Texas, where ESPN’s “College GameDay” returns for the first time since Michael Crabtree and the Red Raiders slayed No. 1 Texas in 2008. The winner assumes pole position in the conference standings, against what will be the toughest opponent either team has faced all season. Undefeated BYU and Bear Bachmeier — the quarterback with a great name and weird number — will look to establish the run against Texas Tech’s top-10 defense. Tech quarterback Behren Morton looked solid in his return from injury last week, but with backup Will Hammond out of the season, the Red Raiders need Morton to stay healthy the rest of the way.
LINE: Texas Tech -10