College football Week 11 Top 25 schedule and predictions

The race for the College Football Playoff is on and no contender can afford to drop a game. Check out this week’s Top 25 schedule to see who might be upset.

Last week’s matchup between Alabama and LSU was supposed to be college football’s game of the year. Obviously, that didn’t work out. The Crimson Tide shutout the Tigers and asserted themselves as the top team in the nation. Fortunately, college football gives us another slate of action in the Top 25 this week that can make up for last Saturday’s letdown.

Nick Saban and company look invincible, but Mississippi State will arrive in Tuscaloosa with a ton of confidence. At the very least, it’ll be interesting to see what Nick Fitzgerald can do against the Crimson Tide’s dominant defense. This one might be interesting for a quarter but look for Alabama to win with style.

Georgia is set to take on the Tide in the SEC Title game, but they face a tough home matchup with Auburn this weekend. Gus Malzahn’s team got a big win against Texas A&M at home last week. Kirby Smart and company can’t afford to lose this game if they want to stay in the National Title hunt.

Don’t sleep on Clemson’s trip to Boston College as a potentially riveting game. The Tigers have more talent than the Eagles, but stranger things have happened in night games.

Without a delay, take a look at this Week’s Top 25 television schedule below. As always, our picks are in bold.

Thursday, Nov. 8

• Wake Forest at No. 22 N.C. State 7:30 p.m., ESPN

Friday, Nov. 9

• Louisville at No. 13 Syracuse 7 p.m., ESPN2
• No. 16 Fresno State at Boise State 10:15 p.m., ESPN2

Saturday, Nov. 10

• TCU at No. 7 West Virginia Noon, Fox Sports 1 | fuboTV
• No. 8 Ohio State at No. 24 Michigan State Noon, FOX | fuboTV
• Navy at No. 11 UCF Noon, ESPN2
• South Carolina at No. 19 Florida Noon, ESPN
• Wisconsin at No. 21 Penn State Noon, ABC
• No. 18 Mississippi State at No. 1 Alabama 3:30 p.m., CBS | fuboTV
• No. 4 Michigan at Rutgers 3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network
• Oklahoma State at No. 6 Oklahoma 3:30 p.m., ABC
• No. 10 Washington State at Colorado 3:30 p.m., ESPN
• No. 12 Kentucky at Tennessee 3:30 p.m., SEC Network
• Baylor at No. 23 Iowa State 3:30 p.m., FS1 | fuboTV
• San Jose State at No. 14 Utah State 4 p.m., Facebook
• Auburn at No. 5 Georgia 7 p.m., ESPN
• South Florida at No. 25 Cincinnati 7 p.m., ESPNU
• Florida State at No. 3 Notre Dame 7:30 p.m., NBC | fuboTV
• No. 9 LSU at Arkansas 7:30 p.m., SECN
• No. 15 Texas at Texas Tech 7:30 p.m., FOX | fuboTV
• No. 2 Clemson at No. 17 Boston College 8 p.m., ABC

As you can see, I’m not picking very many upsets this weekend. I think it’s going to be a week full of near misses. In particular, keep an eye on Bedlam. Oklahoma State can put up a ton of points and that should allow them to put a real scare into the Sooners. Lincoln Riley’s team is going to survive, but it will be a stressful encounter.

The same will be true for Georgia and Clemson. The Bulldogs will be tested by Auburn’s physical defense. They’ll need to play an excellent game if they intend to win comfortably. Clemson will face one of the biggest home games in Boston College’s history. That, combined with A.J. Dillon’s physical running will put a scare into the Tigers.

Back the favorites to win this week, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a slew of close games. This could be a rollercoaster weekend of college football.