CFB Week 11 Preview (National):
Wake Forest-#12 Virginia, LSU-#4 Alabama,
Navy-#10 Notre Dame Games In Big Spotlights
(DG’s “This Week In CFB” YouTube Show = below)
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Nov. 5, 2025)
The 2025 college football season continues Tuesday through Saturday with a compelling Week 11 schedule.
The most prominent games nationally this time (each previewed below) include intra-league clashes on Saturday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference, plus another edition of a famous rivalry that’s been played almost every year for the past century: Wake Forest at #12 Virginia (7 p.m., ESPN), LSU at #4 Alabama (7:30 p.m., ABC) and Navy at #10 Notre Dame (7:30 p.m., NBC/Peacock).
Meanwhile, in the Old North State, Duke visits UConn, Appalachian State, East Carolina and UNC are all favored in important home games, Western Carolina hosts one of the biggest regular-season contests in program history, and Johnson C Smith seeks to clinch a spot in the CIAA championship game.
Here are more details on our “Three To See” selections from this week’s national schedule:
National “Three To See,” Game One
Wake Forest (5-3) at #12 Virginia (8-1), Sat., 7 p.m. (ESPN)
This rivalry has taken some wild pendulum swings over the past 40 years, and whereas both teams have a lot to play for in this matchup, Virginia has a chance to make history.
The Cavaliers have been playing football since the late 1800s, meaning for more than 130 years, and they have never won eight games in a row within a single season. Since they’re carrying a seven-game winning streak into this contest against Wake, there’s a chance history will be made Saturday night in Charlottesville.
Regarding those pendulum swings, from 1984 through 2007, UVa won 20 of the 21 meetings between these schools. However, Wake now has won five of the last six head-to-head matchups, the only exception being the Wahoos’ 31-30 victory last year in Winston-Salem.
Virginia (a six-point favorite) is not a dominant team this season — many major team metrics have the Cavaliers ranked outside the top 40 nationally — but they’re 8-1 and ranked #12 nationally because, week after week, they keep doing just enough to win, usually in very close contests.
In narrow victories over Florida State and Louisville, the UVa offense was outstanding. Sixth-year senior quarterback Chandler Morris, a North Texas transfer with previous stops at Oklahoma and TCU, is a high-energy dual threat guy and an emotional leader, and he gets plenty of help from senior running back J’Mari Taylor (an NC Central transfer) and transfer wide receivers Trell Harris, Jahmal Edrine and Cam Ross, who’s also an extremely dangerous return man.
Morris has taken a lot of hits this season, and his performance has come back to earth a bit lately, so it will be up to Wake Forest’s typically outstanding defense to try to continue that trend.
Meanwhile, over UVa’s last three games, lower-scoring triumphs over Washington State, UNC and Cal, the Wahoos have won more with their defense, led by sensational junior linebacker Kam Robinson.
First-year head coach Jake Dickert and the Demon Deacons will be trying to recover from the 42-7 slaughter they suffered at the hands of Florida State last week, and they’ll be trying to do so against by far the most talented team of head coach Tony Elliott’s four seasons with the Wahoos, in what is expected to be a much more super-charged environment than what visiting teams typically have seen in recent years at Scott Stadium.
National “Three To See,” Game Two
LSU (5-3) at #4 Alabama (7-1), Sat., 7:30 p.m. (ABC)
Let’s start this one by revisiting a crazy Fun Fact about the Southeastern Conference, where league officials have been using the motto “It Just Means More” as part of their football branding for almost a decade now.
There are 16 teams in the SEC, and right now nine of them — including #4 Alabama in this game — are ranked in the national Top 25. Whether you love or hate the SEC, that’s a mighty impressive accomplishment.
Meanwhile, among the seven schools that are not in the Top 25, four already have fired their head coach during this ongoing season: Arkansas (Sam Pittman), Florida (Billy Napier), LSU (Brian Kelly) and most recently Auburn (Hugh Freeze). The only three other guys near the bottom of the standings — Shane Beamer at South Carolina, Mark Stoops at Kentucky, and Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State — have gotten absolutely ripped by their own fans on a regular basis this season.
To recap, the SEC has nine teams in the Top 25, and among the other seven programs, there are four fired head coaches and three hot seat head coaches.
In the end, perhaps all of that suggests that — in all the good ways and the bad — it probably does “just mean more” in the SEC, especially during football season.
Regarding the LSU-Alabama rivalry itself, here’s another quick Fun Fact. When legendary coach Nick Saban was leading the Tigers (2000-04), they went 4-1 against the Crimson Tide. Starting just a few years later, when Saban was leading the Tide (2007-23), they went 13-5 against the Tigers. In every possible way, that’s the stuff of which legends are made.
Among the highlights in this year’s game, in which Alabama is a 10-point favorite, is the quarterback matchup.
Alabama redshirt junior Ty Simpson and LSU redshirt senior Garrett Nussmeier are generally regarded as two of the top half-dozen QB prospects for the 2026 NFL draft, along with Oregon’s Dante Moore, Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza (formerly of Cal), South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers and Oklahoma’s John Mateer.
National “Three To See,” Game Three
Navy (7-1) at #10 Notre Dame (6-2), Sat., 7:30 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
This game is included partly for historical purposes, partly because it’s always on national television, and partly because Navy is 7-1 and Notre Dame is ranked #10 in the nation.
The historical angle boils down to this: Believe it or not, 100 years ago, Navy and Notre Dame were two of the best programs in the entire nation.
The Midshipmen captured their first and only “claimed” national championship in 1926, back when the various polls and ratings systems sometimes produced multiple national champions in any given season. Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish won their first two “claimed” national titles in the 1920s, under legendary coach Knute Rockne.
Fast forward to the 21st century, and Navy hasn’t finished in the national top 10 since 1963, when Middies quarterback Roger Staubach won the Heisman Trophy, and the Fighting Irish haven’t won the national championship since 1988, when coach Lou Holtz led them to a 12-0 campaign.
Over the last 60 games in this rivalry, the tally has been 56 victories for Notre Dame and just four for Navy. The Fighting Irish have won 12 of the last 13 matchups, including the last two by lopsided scores, 42-3 and 51-14.
The Midshipmen have been improving under third-year head coach Brian Newberry, formerly the team’s defensive coordinator, going from 5-7 in 2023 to 10-3 last season to their 7-1 start this year. Navy wins mainly when teams have trouble with its triple-option offense, which for the second year in a row has QB Blake Horvath, now a senior, at the controls.
Meanwhile, under fourth-year head coach Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame has just gotten better and better since opening the season with back-to-back losses at Miami and against Texas A&M.
Led by redshirt freshman quarterback AJ Carr and a much-improved defense, the Irish have posted six straight victories — all by double-digits — including against Boise State, NC State and nationally ranked Southern Cal.
If Notre Dame can win out against a very manageable remaining schedule — Navy, at Pitt, Syracuse, at Stanford — the Irish would be 10-2 and a strong candidate (but perhaps not a sure thing) for this year’s 12-team College Football Playoff.
It will be interesting to see if Notre Dame (a 26-point favorite) goes for some style points down the stretch, because as impressive as a 10-game winning streak would be, its only top-notch victory would be the one over USC.
NOTE: For the in-state edition of our Week 11 college football preview, including analysis on the highest-profile games, plus schedules and TV/streaming options for all 32 teams (FBS, FCS, Division Two, Division Three) in the Bold North State, please click HERE.
