College Football

College football Week 11 preview: How Deion Sanders, Colorado can make the CFP

Updated Nov. 6, 2024 3:23 p.m. ET

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Laken Litman

College Football & Soccer Analyst

RJ Young

FOX Sports National College Football Analyst

The first College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday night, with a pair of Big Ten teams – Oregon and Ohio State – holding the top two spots in the reveal.

The Buckeyes, sitting at 7-1 on the season and fresh off a memorable 20-13 win over Penn State, welcome Purdue to the Shoe this weekend at 12 p.m. ET on FOX (watch on FOX and the FOX Sports App). Ohio State has won 45 straight games against unranked teams, with its last loss against an unranked opponent coming back in 2018 against the Boilermakers.

There are several other notable games this weekend, including Colorado's Big 12 showdown against Texas Tech and a pair of SEC top-25 matchups with No. 3 Georgia traveling to No. 16 Ole Miss, followed by No. 15 LSU welcoming No. 11 Alabama to Tiger Stadium.

FOX Sports college football writers Laken Litman and RJ Young are here to answer the biggest questions heading into Week 11:

Following Ohio State's win over Penn State last weekend, the Buckeyes now get set to host Purdue on Saturday at the Shoe. What do you expect to see from Ryan Day's team this weekend following that emotional win over the Nittany Lions?

Laken Litman: While Ohio State's 20-13 win over Penn State in Happy Valley wasn't a program defining moment or anything quite like that, it was important for the Buckeyes not to lose a second Big Ten game. Because now that Ryan Day and his team are past that top-five showdown, they have a clear path to the Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff.

After Purdue, Ohio State plays Northwestern on the road, before hosting Indiana and Michigan at home to conclude the regular season. With the All-Star team Day has, the Buckeyes know they can win out and continue to dominate. And even if they have to play Oregon again in the conference title and lose, they could still make the 12-team field.

RJ Young: A fast start.

Purdue is the worst team in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers fired their offensive coordinator. They've played without starter Hudson Card, and they have yet to win a game against an FBS opponent. Frankly, Ohio State might as well play a different sport than the Boilermakers this season. It's time the Buckeyes acted like it.

In years past, the Buckeyes would name the number they want to win by and how many points they want to score against a program like Purdue. If the starters at Ohio State are playing past the first series of the third quarter, it'll leave room for this collection of suits in a boardroom to doubt the Buckeyes' ability to contend for the national title if their admission into the 12-team CFP comes down to style points. November is not the month to play down to your competition, Ohio State.

With Kansas State and Iowa State both losing last weekend, the Big 12 title race seems to be wide open, with BYU on top and a trio of other teams in the mix, including Colorado. With four regular-season games remaining, does Deion Sanders' team have a legitimate shot to win this conference and play in the 12-team CFP?

RJ: Yes. As I wrote following the initial release of the CFP selection committee's ranking, with just one game left against a team with a winning record in Texas Tech (6-3) — Utah (4-4), Kansas (2-6) and Oklahoma State (3-6) — a win on Saturday might be the most difficult test left for the Buffs, who need Iowa State to lose to Kansas State on Nov. 30 and to win out to earn entry into the Big 12 title game.

If Colorado wins out, that would mark the first 10-win season the Buffs have secured since 2016 when they finished at No. 10 in the Selection Sunday rankings — high enough to earn selection into a 12-team CFP in the four-team era.

Laken: Yes. Colorado is currently on the Big 12 title game and CFP bubble. But a few things likely need to happen. First, Colorado, which only has one conference loss, needs to win the rest of its games. Easier said than done, but it is possible given the opponents remaining are Texas Tech, Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State. Beating the Red Raiders on the road won't be easy on Saturday, but it's doable.

Assuming the Buffs don't lose again, they will need to jump either Iowa State or BYU – the two teams ahead of them in the current Big 12 standings. The Cougars might be a tough out and don't have a ranked team left on their schedule. But the Cyclones, who lost their first game of the season last weekend by one point to Texas Tech, have Kansas State to finish the regular season on Nov. 30. That game could go either way, but if things shake out how Colorado hopes, then an Iowa State loss would mean the Buffs go to the Big 12 title game.

Then, if Deion Sanders & Co. can win the Big 12, they would make the CFP. A third loss, however, would keep them out.

Coach Prime's future: Will he stay at Colorado or move on?

The Heisman Trophy appears to be a four-man race right now between Travis Hunter, Ashton Jeanty, Dillon Gabriel and Cam Ward. Who is your pick to win the award heading into Week 11 of the college football season?

Laken: Travis Hunter. 

Nobody is doing what he does as a two-way player. For example: in the Buffaloes' last game, a 34-23 win over Cincinnati, Hunter had nine catches for 153 yards with two touchdowns and then broke up four passes on defense. He's consistently impacting both sides of the ball and if he can continue to do that down this November stretch, he might end up helping Colorado contend for a Big 12 title and potentially a spot in the CFP.

RJ: We have never seen a player as productive on both sides of the ball in a career — let alone one season — as Hunter has been in 2024. He will play more than 1,000 snaps before the season ends. He's likely to become the first player in college football history with 1,000 receiving yards, 10 touchdowns and multiple interceptions. He is arguably one of the five best wide receivers and five best cornerbacks in the country, and he impacts winning.

It's not a stretch to say that without Hunter, the Colorado offense and defense would suffer. While there are playmakers on the offense — Shedeur Sanders, Jimmy Horne, — his presence on defense takes away playmakers from opponents. 

If we had seen a player perform at the level Hunter has, perhaps I'd feel about him the way I do about Ashton Jeanty, who still has a chance to break Barry Sanders' single-season rushing record, or Dillon Gabriel, who will likely become the sport's all-time leading passer in yards and touchdowns on the No. 1 team in the country, or Cam Ward, who is the closest thing to Patrick Mahomes in terms of style and his impact on winning.

But we've seen Mahomes. And we've seen record-breaking passers and rushers. Hunter is the first of his kind. Heisman voters need to honor that.

Is Colorado's Travis Hunter the clear front-runner for the Heisman Trophy?

Indiana and BYU both enter Week 11 with undefeated records and atop their conference standings. Which one of these programs has been the bigger surprise this season, and why?

RJ: As I wrote on Tuesday, Indiana, and it's not close.

BYU has won a national title. BYU has enjoyed a Heisman winner. BYU won 11 games just four years ago. Indiana has never won any of those things, and, in November, it has a chance to win 10 games for the first time in school history and earn a chance to play for the national title.

The Hoosiers have achieved their highest-ever ranking in the CFP rankings at No. 8 after having previously peaked at No. 11 in the 2020 in the Selection Sunday 2020 rankings. 

They have won every game by 14 points or more. In Big Ten play, they've won games by 29, 37 and 49 points this year. Two of those three wins have come on the road.

The AP and CFP committee ranked this team No. 8. I ranked this team No. 6 because they have demonstrated they can play at the level Oregon and Ohio State have. Just look at a common opponent: Ohio State beat Michigan State 38-7. Oregon beat Michigan State 31-10. Indiana stomped a mud hole in Michigan State and walked it dry, 47-10.

Barring a disastrous loss for Indiana or Ohio State, that Nov. 23 matchup between the two teams will define which of those programs is guaranteed selection come Dec. 4 when the CFP bracket is set.

Laken: Indiana. 

The Hoosiers are 9-0 and ranked No. 8 in the first CFP poll, which was released on Tuesday night. In the preseason, IU was picked to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten. With a new head coach in Curt Cignetti from James Madison and a transfer quarterback in Kurtis Rourke from Ohio, that assumption made some sense. But Rourke has been one of the most impressive QBs in the country this season, ranking second nationally in QBR (91.6) and completion percentage (73.3). He's passed for 19 touchdowns with only three interceptions, and is a major reason why the Hoosiers are having so much success this season. Another reason is Cignetti, whose infectious personality, brash confidence and winning background – just google him – has helped him turn around a dormant program.

One of the biggest knocks on the Hoosiers is that they haven't played a ranked opponent. For what it's worth, neither has Miami, another unbeaten team that's ranked No. 4 in the country. Indiana can only play the teams on its schedule and still has a path to the Big Ten Championship and the CFP if it wins the rest of its games, which includes a top 10 showdown against No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus on Nov. 23.

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The Number One College Football Show." Follow him at @RJ_Young.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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