Best of Week 11: The catch of the year and
8:00 AM ET ESPN personnel There are only two weeks left in college football’s routine season, as some teams
jockey for playoff position and conference titles, while others gear up for enormous rivalry showdowns.In Week 11, Alabama and Tennessee got back on track with wins over Ole Miss and Missouri, respectively. Washington ended Oregon
‘s eight-game win streak, while TCU’s season remained ideal after managing Texas.Saturday likewise brought a couple of lucky groups to bowl eligibility, numerous upsets, huge plays and a jaw-dropping catch of the year. Let’s catch up on the very best minutes from the week.UConn is bowl
eligible!Week 11 offered a lion’s share of shocks. Arizona(+20 vs. UCLA), Boston College (+18 vs. NC State ), Vanderbilt (+17 vs. Kentucky), UL-Monroe (+13.5 vs. Georgia State )and Washington(+12 vs. Oregon)all won as double-digit underdogs, with Vandy ending a long SEC losing streak and Arizona ending UCLA’s College Football Playoff hopes. All were extraordinary results, however the most memorable surprise of the week can be found in East Hartford, where UConn got rid of a strong Liberty defense, 2 second-half deficits and, well, a horrid recent history to score its 6th win of the season. Jim Mora’s Huskies routed Hugh Freeze’s Flames by scores of 27-21 and 33-28 in the second half, however they blew up a Liberty fourth-down effort near midfield with 8:40 left, scored the consent touchdown on a 30-yard Zion Turner-to-Kevens Clercius
strike, then ended the game with one last fourth-down drop in the last minute.This is a win for the ages! @UConnFootball whups up on 19th ranked Liberty to become bowl eligible for the first time considering that 2015. You got ta believe! pic.twitter.com/VEtwQ3NU1O!.?.!— Guv Ned Lamont (@GovNedLamont)November 12, 2022 Bowl. Eligible. UConn. Even the Connecticut guv and UConn hockey fans were psyched up about it.The XL Center crowd emerges as the PA announces that UConn football beat Liberty and is now bowl qualified pic.twitter.com/vJlaXNty6J!.?.!— Daniel Connolly (@DanielVConnolly )November 12, 2022– Expense Connelly Catch of the
year?In a game that had Notre Dame jump out to a huge lead just for Navy to cut it close towards completion, the only thing anybody
will keep in mind is what will be Braden Lenzy’s go-to discussion point at large gatherings.Late in the very first quarter, Irish QB Drew Pyne chucked one downfield to Lenzy, who was well-covered by a Navy defensive back individually. It didn’t matter, as Lenzy continued to catch the ball behind his back.A capture OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE @NDFootball pic.twitter.com/1FwItxp9So!.?.!— ESPN(@espn )November 12, 2022 The catch was a difficult one that Lenzy made appearance simple as he
pulled the football away with his right-hand man and galloped towards the stands.The rating made it 14-0 Notre Dame, who would go on to lead 35-13 at halftime. The Midshipmen did the only scoring in the 2nd half, cutting it to a 35-32 lead with 1:21 left, however it was insufficient, too late.Besides, Notre Dame
wasn’t ready to lose that football game after that catch.– Harry Lyles Jr.Punter backflip!?!?! The best event of the week was a backflip that drew not one, not two, however 3 different flags from referees.After USC increased 32-10 on Colorado in the 3rd quarter of Friday night’s
blowout win over the Buffs, coach Lincoln Riley decided to include some design points to the Trojans ‘résumé. The phony PAT worked to excellence
, and holder Will Rose(who is likewise USC’s punter) waltzed into completion zone, then proceeded to manage the previously mentioned backflip.A 2-point conversion … and a FLIP pic.twitter.com/20o8g4KCZW!.?.!— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX)November 12, 2022 The no-fun flags occurred, however it didn’t matter. Even Riley wasn’t that upset by the unsportsmanlike conduct charges postgame. It was that type of night for the Trojans, who, after a sluggish start, scored 53 points in the last three quarters and won 55-17. They were once again fueled by Caleb
Williams, who included
3 more goals to his tally this season and threw only his 2nd interception of the year. It was Williams who was later on shown on the sidelines fired up and yelling at colleagues. He also had a technique of his own– this no-look flip that opted for a goal: PLAY 1: @rockwitaust takes the no-look pass from @CalebCSW and gets into the end zone! pic.twitter.com/RVH2v0uvSX!.?.!— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics)November 12, 2022 With UCLA and Notre Dame ahead, Williams and the rest of the USC offense will require to keep shooting on all cylinders
to remain in contention for the conference and a possible spot in the playoffs.– Paolo Uggetti Week 11 Takeaways Oregon’s loss affects the whole Pac-12. The Pac-12 continues to get in its own method, and this time it was Oregon who could not escape an upset at the hands of Washington.In the period of a couple of minutes, the Ducks ‘College Football Playoff possibilities evaporated into the Eugene air. After deciding to go all out on fourth down with Bo Nix on the sideline in their own territory and stopping working– permitting Washington to kick a go-ahead basket– a banged-up Nix couldn’t summon some late magic to keep Oregon and the conference in the playoff hunt.Dan Lanning’s choice to go for it on 4th down raised plenty of eyebrows, however be it an illogical self-confidence in his offense or no self-confidence in the Ducks’defense, the outcome leaves Oregon with only the conference title to play for.And provided the Pac-12’s track record, it would not be surprising if the Ducks ended up keeping the only remaining Pac-12 group with a shot at
the playoff (9-1 USC)out of it by beating them because title game. It would be absolutely nothing however fitting for a conference that has been either not good enough to compete against the sport’s finest or unfathomable for its own
good.Case in point: No conference has
more ranked groups this week than the Pac-12.– Paolo Uggetti Do not pass over Iowa. In the last 15 years, only five groups had managed the odd accomplishment of balancing 2.8 or less lawns per play in a game while still winning by two touchdowns or
more.2011: Florida State (1.6 )def. Florida 21-7, 2007: Notre Dame(2.1 )def. UCLA 20-6, 2014: Missouri (2.4 )def. Florida 42-13, 2008: Arizona State (2.4)def. UCLA 34-9, 2012: Florida (2.8)def. South Carolina 44-11 3 of these games involved Will Muschamp’s Florida, 2 included either Karl Dorrell’s UCLA(2007)or the UCLA roster Dorrell left for Rick Neuheisel (2008), and none had actually
can be found in the last eight calendar years.Just when we thought Iowa had actually managed everything it might in the field of winning with defense, special groups and the tiniest amount of offense possible, Kirk Ferentz’s Hawkeyes crossed the Muschamp Line on Saturday. They averaged simply 2.2 lawns per play, acquired just 146 total backyards … and beat Wisconsin 24-10 thanks to a Cooper DeJean pick-six and touchdown drives of 17 lawns (after a blocked punt) and 18 yards (after a long DeJean punt return). Iowa was outgained by 81 lawns and went simply 6-for-19 on third downs, but it didn’t matter– they required three turnovers, made 2 huge unique team plays, won in the most Iowa way possible and somehow required their way back into the Big 10 West race.MOOD #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/KT1mZKdptV!.?.!— Hawkeye Football(@HawkeyeFootball )November 13, 2022– Expense Connelly
to remain in contention for the conference and a possible spot in the playoffs.– Paolo Uggetti Week 11 Takeaways Oregon’s loss affects the whole Pac-12. The Pac-12 continues to get in its own method, and this time it was Oregon who could not escape an upset at the hands of Washington.In the period of a couple of minutes, the Ducks ‘College Football Playoff possibilities evaporated into the Eugene air. After deciding to go all out on fourth down with Bo Nix on the sideline in their own territory and stopping working– permitting Washington to kick a go-ahead basket– a banged-up Nix couldn’t summon some late magic to keep Oregon and the conference in the playoff hunt.Dan Lanning’s choice to go for it on 4th down raised plenty of eyebrows, however be it an illogical self-confidence in his offense or no self-confidence in the Ducks’defense, the outcome leaves Oregon with only the conference title to play for.And provided the Pac-12’s track record, it would not be surprising if the Ducks ended up keeping the only remaining Pac-12 group with a shot at
the playoff (9-1 USC)out of it by beating them because title game. It would be absolutely nothing however fitting for a conference that has been either not good enough to compete against the sport’s finest or unfathomable for its own
good.Case in point: No conference has
more ranked groups this week than the Pac-12.– Paolo Uggetti Do not pass over Iowa. In the last 15 years, only five groups had managed the odd accomplishment of balancing 2.8 or less lawns per play in a game while still winning by two touchdowns or
more.2011: Florida State (1.6 )def. Florida 21-7, 2007: Notre Dame(2.1 )def. UCLA 20-6, 2014: Missouri (2.4 )def. Florida 42-13, 2008: Arizona State (2.4)def. UCLA 34-9, 2012: Florida (2.8)def. South Carolina 44-11 3 of these games involved Will Muschamp’s Florida, 2 included either Karl Dorrell’s UCLA(2007)or the UCLA roster Dorrell left for Rick Neuheisel (2008), and none had actually
can be found in the last eight calendar years.Just when we thought Iowa had actually managed everything it might in the field of winning with defense, special groups and the tiniest amount of offense possible, Kirk Ferentz’s Hawkeyes crossed the Muschamp Line on Saturday. They averaged simply 2.2 lawns per play, acquired just 146 total backyards … and beat Wisconsin 24-10 thanks to a Cooper DeJean pick-six and touchdown drives of 17 lawns (after a blocked punt) and 18 yards (after a long DeJean punt return). Iowa was outgained by 81 lawns and went simply 6-for-19 on third downs, but it didn’t matter– they required three turnovers, made 2 huge unique team plays, won in the most Iowa way possible and somehow required their way back into the Big 10 West race.MOOD #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/KT1mZKdptV!.?.!— Hawkeye Football(@HawkeyeFootball )November 13, 2022– Expense Connelly