Reactions from Week 10 + Predictions for Week 11 of the 2024 College Football Season

Buckle up folks, November is going to be bumpy.

Two top-10 teams lost yesterday, and two other notable ranked teams also went down. It’s amazing too how fans don’t seem to learn from others’ mistakes (or even their own mistakes). Clemson had fans throw objects (water bottles this time) onto the field and I think the loss will rightfully hurt them more but also hopefully serve as a lesson for the fans in attendance. I haven’t seen Dabo’s reaction but I imagine he feels similar to Steve Sarkisian when Texas fans did it too.

The last team to not yet lose a conference game in the SEC now has a blemish, where Williams-Brice takes another highly ranked hostage. With Penn State and Iowa State losing as well, there are now just five undefeated teams left in college football (Oregon, Miami, Indiana, BYU, Army).

I predicted Oregon to beat Michigan 38-17, but I didn’t expect it would be at the end of the game that Oregon got the 38th point. I’ll have to sieve through all the picks to see how many total I have correct, but I believe that is now 7 that I have picked correctly this season, including the second game involving Michigan that I have correctly picked.

The first CFP rankings come out on election day, and while there are games going on during the week. I don’t think any of the impending top 25 will be playing prior to Saturday. But, I will put my picks here ahead of the week and update them here on this post.

Record through 10 weeks: 458-156 (.746)
Week 10 record: 33-16 (.673)

November 5 (2 games):

Bowling Green (F -14) def. Central Michigan, 31-21
Miami (OH) (F -11.5) def. Ball State, 38-10

November 6 (2 games):

Ohio (F -18.5) def. Kent State, 41-10
Western Michigan def. Northern Illinois (F -2), 38-31 (X)

November 7 (2 games):

Appalachian State def. Coastal Carolina (F -1), 34-30 (X)
East Carolina (F -7.5) def. Florida Atlantic, 34-23

November 8 (4 games):

Wake Forest def. California (F -7), 30-24 (X)
Iowa (F -6.5) def. UCLA, 37-20 (X)
Memphis (F -9) def. Rice, 34-17
San Diego State (F -3) def. New Mexico, 38-34 (X)

November 9 (40 games):

2) Ohio State (F -38) def. Purdue, 56-7
4) Miami (FL) (F -10) def. Georgia Tech, 42-21 (X)
5) Texas (F -21.5) def. Florida, 38-17
Minnesota (F -5.5) def. Rutgers, 27-17 (X)
Syracuse def. Boston College (F -2), 30-27 (X)
Cincinnati (F -4) def. West Virginia, 34-27 (X)
Texas State (F -8) def. UL Monroe, 33-23
Navy (F -3) def. South Florida, 35-21
Liberty (F -12) def. Middle Tennessee, 41-14
UConn (F -7.5) def. UAB, 37-23
Marshall (F -12.5) def. Southern Miss, 42-17
3) Georgia (F -1) def. 16) Ole Miss, 38-31 (X)
8) Indiana (F -14) def. Michigan, 45-24
17) Iowa State (F -2.5) def. Kansas, 27-24 (X)
23) Clemson (F -6.5) def. Virginia Tech, 34-27
25) Army (F -2.5) def. North Texas, 38-24
Duke def. NC State (F -3), 30-23
Oregon State (F -3) def. San José State, 31-21 (X)
James Madison (F -15.5) def. Georgia State, 34-17
20) Colorado (F -4.5) def. Texas Tech, 55-24
UTEP (F -3.5) def. Kennesaw State, 41-10
Tulane (F -27) def. Temple, 45-14
Vanderbilt def. South Carolina (F -6), 31-26 (X)
Jacksonville State (F -10) def. Louisiana Tech, 35-21
Louisiana (F -15) def. Arkansas State, 34-31
Western Kentucky (F -18) def. New Mexico State, 37-17
1) Oregon (F -23.5) def. Maryland, 44-13
7) Tennessee (F -24.5) def. Mississippi State, 45-17
Arizona State (F -2.5) def. UCF, 28-24
TCU (F -11) def. Oklahoma State, 35-33
10) Notre Dame (F – 26.5) def. Florida State, 38-14
11) Alabama (F -2.5) def. 15) LSU, 29-28
Oklahoma (F -3) def. 24) Missouri, 24-17 (X)
6) Penn State (F -13) def. Washington, 31-17
12) Boise State (F -24) def. Nevada, 41-20
18) Pittsburgh (F -7.5) def. Virginia, 33-27 (X)
UNLV (F -13) def. Hawaii, 38-24
Fresno State (F -9.5) def. Air Force, 33-13 (X)
Utah def. 9) BYU (F -3), 26-24 (X)
21) Washington State (F -20.5) def. Utah State, 41-27

Record: 33-17

It’s about time I took Arizona State seriously – in Kenny Dillingham’s second season, they are bowl eligible again and as a young staff, they’re only going to get better (Dan Lanning at Oregon is the next youngest and Dillingham was Lanning’s OC during the 2022 season, Lanning’s first at Oregon). Mario Cristobal is finally paying off the decision to leave Oregon and return home to Miami as his team is on the verge of their second 10-0 start in 8 years. Time will tell if they falter like they did with Mark Richt.

Additionally, a coach I forgot about, in terms of whom has been a surprise, is Curt Cignetti at Indiana, who has kept up with the beat of his own drum. Indiana hosts a reeling Michigan team in what is back to back games against top 10 teams, and another one looms on November 30 against Ohio State. This season, the wolverines are just 1-3 against ranked teams (Texas, Illinois, Oregon), averaging just under 16 points a game in those games. They scored four touchdowns in the game against a ranked team they won (USC) even though the Trojans have tumbled since that game.

It turned out they are using different reveal graphics though they aren’t too bad given the expanded bracket. However, I would have liked the drive-across-the-screen animation as that I found to be quite interesting.

A piece of history in Oregon’s favor as the no.1 team right now is that this is the first time since the 2010 season they were ranked as the top team at any point. In 2010, the Ducks played for the national championship and won their conference. Low and behold, I predicted that at the start of the season and had them preseason playing for the natty. The other team I predicted to make the championship game (Alabama) has major business to take care of tomorrow night.