College Football’s Week 11:
DG’s “Pick Six” Includes #2 Georgia (7-1) at #16 Ole Miss (7-2),
#11 Alabama at #14 LSU, #19 Clemson at Virginia Tech, More
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
Each week during college football season, we offer a “Pick Six” package of intriguing matchups — three “local” games that include one or more North Carolina-based team and three “national” contests that involve the Atlantic Coast Conference and/or the most prominent intersectional games.
Week 11: Top “National” Games
Game One
#2 Georgia (7-1) at #16 Ole Miss (7-2), Sat., 3:30 pm (ABC/ESPN+)
Latest Betting Line: Bulldogs a two-point favorite
In one important sense, this game is an even bigger deal for the Bulldogs than for the Rebels.
Georgia still has a great shot at playing in the SEC championship game, whereas Ole Miss — with two losses in SEC play already — probably does not have a realistic road to that title contest.
Under ninth-year head coach Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs have won two national championships (2017, 2022) and two SEC titles (2017, 2022), and they have finished in the national top 10 for a stunning seven years in a row. Given that backdrop, a loss at Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon would put Georgia at risk of having its “worst season” — air quotes definitely are required in this context — since Smart’s first year in Athens.
What makes this matchup especially scary for Georgia is that Ole Miss leads the SEC in scoring offense (42 points per game) and passing offense (377 yards per game), and the Rebels just put up 63 points at Arkansas last week.
Many Old North State college football fans got an entertaining dose of the Rebels’ incredibly accurate quarterback, senior Jaxson Dart, when he went to Wake Forest and thrashed the Demon Deacons’ defense during a 40-6 Ole Miss victory earlier this year. Dart is completing about 72 percent of his passing attempts this season, and he has 21 touchdown throws against only three interceptions.
Dart and fifth-year Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin have proved to be an amazing combination, especially over these last two seasons, when the Rebels’ record is a combined 18-4.
Thanks to its NFL-caliber combination of fifth-year senior quarterback Carson Beck and an elite defense overflowing with future professional talent, Georgia is the slight favorite in this one, but especially with this game being played in Oxford, anything can happen.
Game Two
#19 Clemson (6-2) at Virginia Tech (5-4), Sat., 3:30 pm (ESPN)
Latest Betting Line: Tigers a six-point favorite
This game is included, in part, because 1-if Clemson falters even once more during the 2024 regular season, there will be an avalanche of criticism toward 16th-year Tigers coach Dabo Swinney, and 2-despite its middling record thus far this season, Virginia Tech is certainly no pushover, especially in Blacksburg.
During the relatively recent six-year stretch from 2015 through 2020, Swinney had the top program in college football. The Tigers captured two national championships (2016, 2018) and all six ACC titles during that stretch, and they finished in the top four of the national postseason rankings every year, marking one of the greatest runs in college football history.
Ever since several massive changes (NCAA portal, immediate transfer eligibility, Name-Image-Likeness, etc.) dramatically impacted the college sports world, though, Clemson hasn’t been nearly as dominant. The Tigers won the 2022 ACC championship, but unless they win out this year, they’ll likely fall short of that accomplishment for the third time in the last four years, and they’ll likely finish outside the national top 10 for the fourth season in a row.
Last week, an unranked Louisville squad went to Death Valley and embarrassed Clemson, 33-21, while rushing for more than 200 yards and beating the Tigers for the first time in program history, after eight previous defeats.
Led by tackle Aeneas Peebles and end Antwaun Powell-Ryland, Virginia Tech is giving up only 22.3 points per game, which ranks fourth in the ACC. The Hokies’ defense has been particularly strong against the pass, yielding only a 56% completion rate and 12 touchdown passes against eight interceptions.
Offensively, third-year Tech coach Brent Pry‘s squad has a dual-threat quarterback in Kyron Drones and a probable All-ACC running back in Bhayshul Tuten, a 2023 North Carolina A&T transfer who ranks second in the conference (behind only UNC All-American Omarion Hampton) with 119 rushing yards per game this season.
Game Three
#11 Alabama (6-2) at #14 LSU (6-2), Sat., 7:30 pm (ABC/ESPN+)
Latest Betting Line: Crimson Tide a three-point favorite
This one is intriguing, in part, because first-year Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer — who has the impossible task of succeeding perhaps the Greatest Of All-Time, Nick Saban — already has lost twice in his first eight games with the Crimson Tide, including once to traditional SEC cellar-dweller Vanderbilt (a good team this year).
For perspective, keep in mind that in Saban’s 17 seasons at Alabama, the Tide lost more than two games in a single campaign only twice — in his first season there, way back in 2007, and in his fourth season there, 2010, when Bama went 10-3 and still finished the season ranked #10 in the nation.
That is an almost impossible standard to sustain, for any coach, but DeBoer still has a shot at a 10-2 regular season in his Alabama debut, with this trip to LSU looming as perhaps the biggest challenge of the Tide’s four remaining regular-season games.
LSU coach Brian Kelly, meanwhile, actually has a much better shot than Alabama does of playing in the 2024 SEC title game, because the Tigers have only one loss in conference play, whereas both of Alabama’s defeats were to conference opponents.
LSU’s finishing stretch comprises Alabama this week, a trip to struggling Florida, then home games against Vanderbilt and Oklahoma.
If the Tigers finish 7-1 in conference play, which would appear to be very doable if they can beat Alabama in Baton Rouge on Saturday night, they would have a great chance of playing for this year’s SEC title. That would give Kelly two trips to the SEC championship game in his first three seasons with the Tigers.
LSU’s biggest potential problem in this matchup is that the Tigers don’t run the ball very well, and Alabama’s defense has been improving in recent weeks.
Finally, if you’re a neutral fan, just enjoy the matchup between LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier (a brilliant passer) and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe (a dual threat). They have been two of the SEC’s best signal-callers so far this season, and they both are on the NFL’s radar, as potentially high picks in the 2025 draft.
NOTE: For the complete Week 11 schedule (including television/streaming options) for all ACC and state of North Carolina teams, please click HERE.
