College Football Week 11 Awards November 11, 2013

(Note:  All rankings are current AP [week 11] unless otherwise noted.)

COACHES
Wish I were him: David Shaw, Stanford

Glad I’m not him: Mark Helfrich, Oregon

Lucky guy: Bobby Petrino, Western Kentucky

Poor guy: Les Miles, LSU

Desperately seeking a clue: Brady Hoke, Michigan
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Gus Malzahn, Auburn

Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Bob Stoops, Oklahoma

Desperately seeking … anything:  Norm Chow, Hawaii

TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Florida State (defeated Wake Forest 59-3)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Louisville (defeated UConn only 31-10)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Colorado (lost to Washington 59-7)

Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t:  Army (lost to Western Kentucky 21-17)

Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did:  Baylor (defeated Oklahoma 41-12)

Dang, they’re good: Stanford

Dang, they’re bad:  Miami (Ohio)
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Oregon

Did the season start?  Ohio U
Can the season end?  Purdue

Can the season never end?  Baylor

GAMES
Play this again:  Texas 47, West Virginia 40, OT

Play this again, too:  Pittsburgh 28, No. 23 Notre Dame 21

Never play this again: No. 2 Florida State 59, Wake Forest 3

What? Pittsburgh 28, No. 23 Notre Dame 21

Huh?  No. 5 Stanford 26, No. 2 Oregon 20

Are you kidding me?  Vanderbilt 31, Florida 17
Oh – my – God:  Virginia Tech 42, No. 11 Miami 24

Told you so:  No. 22 Arizona State 20, Utah 19

NEXT WEEK

(rankings are current AP (post-week 11, pre-week 12)
Ticket to die for:  Texas Tech @ No. 4 Baylor  (or, No. 12 Oklahoma State @ No. 23 Texas)

Best non-Big Six vs. Big Six matchup: Troy @ Ole Miss (yes, I know, we had to scrape at the bottom of the barrel even for that one!)

Best non-Big Six matchup: Ball State @ No. 20 Northern Illinois (Wed.)

Upset alert: Oregon State @ No. 22 Arizona State

Must win: Houston @ No. 19 Louisville

Offensive explosion: Texas Tech @ No. 4 Baylor

Defensive struggle: Florida @ No. 11 South Carolina

Great game no one is talking about: Ball State @ No. 20 Northern Illinois (Wed.)

Intriguing coaching matchup: Will Muschamp of Florida vs. Steve Spurrier of South Carolina

Who’s bringing the body bags? Iowa State @ No. 22 Oklahoma (or, No. 3 Ohio State @ Illinois)

Why are they playing? Idaho State @ BYU

Plenty of good seats remaining: FIU @ UTEP

They shoot horses, don’t they?  Penn State @ Purdue

Week 11 Random Thoughts:

Okay, so it might not have been the biggest week in the college football season.  But it was good.  Not one, but two rock-‘em, sock-‘em match-ups on Thursday night?  Yes, please!  True, one of the outcomes was a bit less than exciting.  But is it always not fun – outside of Sooner Nation, at least – to see the arrogant Bob Stoops take a shellacking?  On the west coast was a “ticket to die for” that solidified the standings for the Pac-12.  Oregon looked like a hurry-up offensive juggernaut.  Green tee-shirts saying how the team, and indeed, the entire community, wanting a shot at Alabama, practically littered the campus.  In Palo Alto, Calif., meanwhile, was Stanford.  Sure, they were tough, but they already had one loss, and it was to Utah.  Let that sink in for a moment.  A team that could field an entire offense of tight ends if it wanted to – okay, so they look like they could! – all of a sudden gets beat by [now] 4-5 Utah.

So it was going to be a titanic clash; that much we knew.  But let us be honest; we all thought that the advantage would be Oregon’s, given their previous performances, and given that no other team’s defense could keep up with their offense.  What Stanford did was turn their offense into their defense.  A tough running game between the tackles exposed Oregon for being undersized on that side of the ball.  At one point, the Cardinal kept the ball for a full half of the third quarter in one series according to some reports.  Oregon may have a great system, but Stanford had better NFL-caliber talent, and it showed.  The only reason that the Cardinal beat the Ducks by only six points is that Stanford took their foot off the gas half-way through the fourth quarter.  They got more conservative, and took fewer risks, and that gave Oregon the opportunity for their type of offense to make up points quickly.  Otherwise, the margin of victory would have been three touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Baylor has yet again proven their mettle by beating a ranked, marquee program, and in convincing fashion.  The irony in all of this is that even though the Sooners have been ranked well over the course of the season, it still cannot be considered a good year, since they have lost badly to Texas and now to Baylor.  Heaven help them if they lose to the Cowboys in the Bedlam Series!