Happy Veterans Day!–Wake Forest Hosts #15 North Carolina Highlighting Week 11’s Best Of The Rest In College Football

Happy Veterans Day!--Wake Forest Hosts #15 North Carolina Highlighting Week 11’s Best Of The Rest In College Football.

This is an extra special day for me as it would have been my parents 62nd wedding anniversary.  That being said, Happy Heavenly Anniversary to my parents papa Pete and mama Lucia!

On Thursday I posted 3 big games, here are three more huge games and clinching scenarios for Saturday in college football.

UNC visits Wake Forest on Saturday night in the renewal of a long-running series that has included wild comebacks and video-game scores the past two seasons. This time, the Tar Heels (8-1, 5-0 ACC) arrive with a 5-0 record in road games after going 0-5 last year and can clinch the league's Coastal Division title.

This is a marquee matchup of quarterbacks with UNC's Drake Maye and Wake Forest's Sam Hartman.  Wake Forest is 19-3 at home since 2019, with the only losses coming to Louisville in 2019 and twice to Clemson. The latter includes this year's double-overtime thriller, won by the Tigers 51-45 despite Hartman's six touchdown passes.

Clemson has clinched the Atlantic Division.  North Carolina clinches the Coastal with a win at Wake Forest OR losses by Duke (vs Virginia Tech) and Georgia Tech (vs Miami).

For the first time since 1973, Tulane will play in an AP-ranked matchup when it faces off against UCF.  The Green Wave are looking to win an AP-ranked matchup for the first time since 1956 against Ole Miss. They were in the SEC at the time.

But the real streak in play here? Tulane has lost 60 consecutive games vs AP-ranked teams, the longest streak in the Poll Era (since 1936).
Most Consecutive Losses vs AP-Ranked Teams – Poll Era (Since 1936)
1984-pres. Tulane 60
1992-2006 Vanderbilt 56
1974-90 Rice 52
1973-pres. Army 51

South Carolina won last year’s meeting 40-17 and is looking to win back-to-back games against Florida for the first time since 2013-14. The Gamecocks have only won at The Swamp twice since joining the SEC, both times under former Gator Steve Spurrier (2010 and 2014).

South Carolina has reached bowl eligibility for the second straight season and is looking to win four SEC games in a season for the first time since 2018.

SEC

Georgia clinches the East with a win at Mississippi State OR a Tennessee loss to Missouri.  LSU clinches the West with a win at Arkansas AND an Ole Miss loss to Alabama.

Big 12

TCU clinches a spot in the Big 12 championship game with a win at Texas.

Another big weekend of college football including that TCU Texas matchup. Let's dig in.

TCU is 9-0 for the first time since 2010 when the Horned Frogs finished a perfect 13-0 under Gary Patterson.  Speaking of Patterson, he is now a special assistant to the head coach at Texas after spending more than 20 seasons as head coach at TCU. Patterson’s 181 career wins at TCU are easily the most in program history, and he coached in 17 bowl games over his time there. All others in TCU history have combined for 17 bowl games coached.

Kendre Miller is one of two Big 12 players with 1,000 rushing yards, along with his opponent in this game, Bijan Robinson. Miller is the first TCU player to reach 1,000 rushing yards in the team’s first nine games of a season since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2000.

Miller has recorded a rushing touchdown in 10 consecutive games, the 2nd-longest streak in TCU history, trailing only Tomlinson’s 15-game run from 1999-2000. But the Texas defense might be to the task as it is the only Big 12 school to not allow a 100-yard rusher in any game this season.

Robinson has a streak of his going as well. He has 100 rushing yards in seven straight games, the 3rd-longest streak in Texas history, trailing D’Onta Foreman and Earl Campbell.  Robinson has recorded at least 1,000 rushing yards in each of the last two seasons, becoming the first Texas player with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons since Vince Young in 2004-05. He needs 41 yards on Saturday to become the 7th player in Texas history with 3,000 rushing yards.

In the passing game, Texas WR Xavier Worthy has a receiving touchdown in six straight games, tied with Roy Williams for the 3rd-longest streak in program history.  On the other side, Max Duggan has 24 passing touchdowns and two interceptions this season, the best touchdown to-interception ratio in the Big 12. He also has multiple touchdowns in eight straight team games, the longest streak within a season by a TCU player in the last 75 years.

Alabama has not lost back-to-back regular-season games since entering the 2007 Independence Bowl on a four game losing streak. Alabama has gone 184 games without losing consecutive regular-season games, the 3rd-longest span in the Poll Era. That is also the longest such span by any team in SEC history.

Alabama has won six straight meetings in this series since losing back-to-back games in 2014 and 2015, with each of the past five wins coming by at least two touchdowns.

Ole Miss leads the SEC and is third in FBS with 267.4 rushing yards per game this season, trailing only Air Force and Army. Alabama allows 104.0 rushing yards per game, third-fewest in the SEC; the last time the Crimson Tide allowed 250 rushing yards in a game was in 2020 … when Ole Miss ran for 268 in its 63-48 loss.

Georgia has won 12 of the last 13 meetings between these teams, including a 31-24 win in Athens in the only previous meeting between Kirby Smart and Mike Leach. JT Daniels threw for 401 yards and four touchdowns in that game to outduel Will Rogers (336 yards, one touchdown).

How good has Georgia’s defense been this season? The Bulldogs allowed a total of 16 points in its games against Oregon and Tennessee. The Ducks and Volunteers have averaged nearly 50 points per game in their other 16 games this season.

Three SEC teams average at least 300 passing yards per game this season: Tennessee (336), Mississippi State (326) and Georgia (320). The Vols finished with a season-low 195 passing yards in their loss at Georgia.

That's all for now.  On Friday I will be posting my "best of the rest" games including a big ACC showdown between North Carolina and Wake Forest.  Listen today on Shemon and Sheppard 2-6pm for more information on all these games!