The SEC spent Saturday beating itself up.
Florida went to Kentucky and handed the 11th-ranked Wildcats their third loss, and three-win Arkansas blew out 17th-ranked South Carolina.
In Baton Rouge, Arch Manning and Sam Leavitt threw three interceptions apiece. Manning got the last word in a 22-21 comeback win for Texas, ending LSU’s College Football Playoff hopes.
Meanwhile, Wake Forest, aka “Bachelor U,” spent the weekend making moves and giving the CFP committee something to think about. Arizona State flew 1,900 miles on game day and beat UCF. And a bunch of teams that made staff changes looked … like winners.
Here are Week 11’s winners and losers:
Winners: New guys on the headset
Head coach Brent Key fired four assistants last Monday after Georgia Tech gave up 44 points to Louisville. He handed defensive play-calling to Vinnie Sunseri and put former Clemson star DeAndre Hopkins in charge of the receivers. Five days later, the Yellow Jackets went to Clemson and won 20-6.
Nebraska hadn’t scored more than 17 points in four straight games. Matt Rhule fired offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen, handed Glenn Thomas the headset and watched the Huskers beat Rutgers 31-0.
Maryland fired its defensive coordinator and changed head coaches three days later. The Terps beat Wisconsin 24-21 on Saturday, their second straight win under interim coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim.
Oregon scored 10 points in a loss to Illinois, then fired OC Drew Mehringer. The Ducks have scored 34, 41 and 31 points in three wins with Jay Johnson calling plays, including Saturday’s 31-7 romp over Michiganwhich just fired the highest-paid OC in college football in Jason Beck. That didn’t work out so well for the Wolverines, who completed only six passes — their fewest in a game since Stathead’s records dating to 1995.
Nevertheless, since Oct. 18, seven FBS head coaches have fired assistants and five schools have changed head coaches. Maryland did both. Those 11 teams were a combined 36-52 before their first change and 13-8 since.
Florida State lost 12 straight road games under Mike Norvell. Rick Stockstill needed six days to win two. The Seminoles beat Boston College 31-24 in his debut, then went to Pitt on Friday night and won 16-10. Now they’re one win from a bowl. Who had that two weeks ago?
Winner: ‘Bachelor U’
Wake Forest football went on social media Friday to declare itself “Bachelor U.” The Demon Deacons say they’re the only school in the country with three former football players featured in “The Bachelor” franchise.
Sam Hartman, now with the Washington Commanders, will be the Bachelor in season 30. Former Wake receiver Matt James did it in season 25, and backup quarterback Tyler Cameron went on season 15 of “The Bachelorette.”
Only school in the nation with three former players in the Bachelor franchise 📈🌹 pic.twitter.com/tTSUd7XCjN
— Wake Forest Demon Deacons (@DemonDeacons) November 13, 2026
Maybe the CFP committee will start giving “Bachelor U” a little more respect this week.
Wake was on the outside looking in at No. 13 in the CFP rankings Tuesday, two spots beneath its AP ranking. Then the Deacs went to Dallas as 1.5-point underdogs and whipped SMU 49-7. It was 42-0 at halftime. The Mustangs had never lost an ACC game at home.
“That’s easily a Playoff team if you just watch them play,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said.
Wake is 9-1 and has won seven straight. In its last five ACC games, it’s outscored opponents 236-38. Three of those games were on the road. Let’s see where the committee puts the Deacs on Tuesday.
As it stands, Wake is on a collision course to face Miami in the ACC Championship Game. The Hurricanes handed the Deacs their only loss, 33-20, in Winston-Salem, N.C., back in September.
It’s a pretty good time to be a Wake Forest Demon Deacon. The school has won nine games in a season five times. Jake Dickert is responsible for two of them. He signed a long-term extension Thursday and said he wanted to put the speculation to rest while his team still had something to play for.
“I want to be the first one to say I want to be here,” Dickert said of his extension Saturday. “I do believe we’re just getting started.”
Loser: Oklahoma fans who bought tickets for Saturday
In case you missed it, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights across the country for more than four hours on Friday, leaving college football teams scrambling to get to their Saturday games.
Two Power 4 teams switched to buses: Auburn (to Mississippi State) and Purdue (to Iowa). Five P4 teams shifted their flights to Saturday and still played, including Arizona State (at UCF) and Baylor (at BYU). Three received later kickoffs: Arizona State (at UCF), Baylor (at BYU) and Utah (at Arizona).
Only one FBS game got pushed to Sunday: Ole Miss at Oklahoma.
Sooners athletic director Roger Denny still wants to know why they couldn’t play Saturday night. Fair question. Utah’s airline ran out of crew hours Friday, too, and the Big 12 pushed kickoff at Arizona back three hours. Denny said the Sooners were willing to play Saturday night and that the SEC told him they’d forfeit if they refused to play Sunday.
By Saturday, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum accused Denny of pandering to his fans. It’s hard not to expect Oklahoma’s AD to stick up for the people who bought tickets. But I’m pretty sure Denny wouldn’t have been cool sending his team 559 miles on a bus to Oxford, Miss., late Friday night. That’s a nine- or 10-hour bus ride. Ole Miss said Saturday afternoon was the earliest it could fly.
At least Oklahoma is offering cheaper concessions and free handwarmers for Sunday’s 1 p.m. kickoff. Meanwhile, kudos to the FAA for helping keep most of Saturday’s slate on schedule.
Loser: Future body clock excuses
The next time a coach complains about having to play in a different time zone, remember Arizona State.
The Sun Devils sat on a plane for two hours Friday after the FAA grounded flights across the country. When they finally got off, their luggage stayed on board along with many of their wallets and keys. So they flew about 1,900 miles to Orlando, Fla., on Saturday morning, held the ball for nearly 38 minutes and beat UCF 26-13. They even became bowl-eligible out of it.
In the end, no P4 team had a longer distance to travel after the delays than Kenny Dillingham’s Sun Devils.
MACK TRUCK TOUCHDOWN 🚛🏈
Cardae Mack runs over a Knights defender and reaches across the goal line for the ASU touchdown.
Sun Devils are in control in Orlando, up 23-7 in the fourth.@FOX10Phoenix @cardaemack33 pic.twitter.com/Ia2wPUZDus
— Blake Niemann (@Blakes_Take2) November 15, 2026
That said, most teams that had flights moved to Saturday and still played lost: Baylor got stomped by BYU 28-7, Kansas State lost 20-10 at TCU, Minnesota was drubbed 42-14 at Penn State. Utah survived Arizona in a game with major “Pac-12 After Dark” vibes, 40-39.
Power 4 teams that switched from taking a flight to a bus went 2-1.
Auburn’s 268-mile, four-bus ride to Starkville, Miss., ended with a 41-9 win over Mississippi State. Purdue lost to Iowa, 28-7, after its five-hour, near 300-mile ride from West Lafayette, Ind., to Iowa City.
Winner: Nate Sheppard’s next name, image and likeness deal
Miami swiped Duke’s two best players after the Blue Devils won the ACC last season. On Saturday, Darian Mensah threw for 382 yards and a touchdown, Cooper Barkate caught eight passes for 134 yards, and the new Hurricanes beat their old team 36-25.
Duke still had Nate Sheppard. And just in case anybody needed a reminder of what it’ll cost to keep him, the sophomore ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns, caught 12 passes for 93 yards and completed both of his passes for another 16. His 47-yard touchdown run broke Duke’s single-season rushing record. A guy can only do so much.
Nate Sheppard was making plays all over the field for Duke.
16 CAR, 131 RUSH YDS, 12 REC, 93 REC YDS, 16 PASS YDS, 2 TD.
A standout individual performance against one of college football’s top teams. pic.twitter.com/K8PCSaISte
— Football Performances (@NFLPerformances) November 14, 2026
Sheppard said on the “Gramlich and Mac Lain” podcast this week that he would’ve loved to have Mensah and Barkate back in Durham, N.C., this season. When they asked him what he liked most about Duke, the Mandeville, La., native and former four-star recruit mentioned the people and riding his scooter around campus.
The Athletic estimated Duke spent $12 million to $15 million on its football roster this season. How much will it cost to keep Sheppard riding that scooter around Durham? That’s a good question. He’s rolled up 1,719 yards from scrimmage and 23 touchdowns in 10 games, helping Duke to a 7-3 record.
Loser: Caden Chittenden’s timing
USC kicker Caden Chittenden had already made two field goals Saturday. Then he missed from 27 yards early in the fourth quarter with the Trojans trailing Indiana by 7. Bad enough, right?
Shortly after the missed USC kick, a fan absolutely drilled one 😅 pic.twitter.com/RbJi6kXFtJ
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) November 14, 2026
Right after Chittenden’s miss, an Indiana fan came out and made a 25-yarder in front of CBS cameras. Of course, the clip took off on social media.
Indiana won 27-13. The missed field goal didn’t cost USC the game. But if you’re Chittenden, you’re probably wondering why they couldn’t have let the fan kick when he made one from the distance in the third quarter. For the record, Chittenden is 11-for-15 on field goals and 35-for-35 on extra points this season.
Loser: Cal’s fourth-and-goal play call
The good news for Chittenden? He wasn’t on the field for the most embarrassing moment by a West Coast team on Saturday. That belonged to Cal.
The Bears were four yards from the end zone, down 9-0 late in the first half and decided a trick play on fourth-and-goal was the right decision. Eleven seconds later, Virginia’s Brandyn Hillman took an interception on a pass by tight end Mason Mini the other way for a 100-yard pick-six. It was one of two pick-sixes in the game thrown by Cal in a 36-7 Virginia win.
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) November 14, 2026
Head coach Tosh Lupoi changed offensive play callers at halftime during a loss to UNLV last month. Cal has lost four straight since by a combined 167-44 score and is 3-7 this season. So maybe not all in-season staff changes have worked out.
Source: www.nytimes.com
