THE LOOKBACK

The 8 things to know before Week 11

1) BILLY NAPIER IS SAFE… FOR NOW. College football’s coaching carousel is about to start spinning and Florida’s Billy Napier is apparently safe. Napier got a vote of confidence from his boss Scott Strickland on Thursday:

The conversation around Napier is complicated. His record at Florida is 15-18 and just 8-13 in the SEC. There’s no question the Gators have underperformed during his time in Gainesville. That said, Florida is currently sitting at 4-4 and has looked better recently. This year’s team is also dealing with a crazy rash of injuries, notably with QB Graham Mertz blowing out his ACL, freshman DJ Lagway hurting his hamstring, and a number of others. It’s not unreasonable to give him another year to see if things progress.

2) RIP BEN HERBSTREIT. A bit of sad news to share. Kirk Herbstreit posted on Thursday that his beloved golden retriever, Ben, had passed away after a battle with cancer. Ben rose to fame over the last two years as Herbstreit’s weekly travel buddy and quickly became an unofficial mascot for college football. Our thoughts are with you, Herbie. Ben was the goodest of boys.

3) UM, LSU’S TIGERGATE IS VERY WEIRD. The Alabama-LSU game is one of Week 11’s headliners. To ratchet up the intensity, there will again be a live tiger back on the field. But that tiger won’t be it’s mascot, Mike VII:

This one gets weirder the more you read. LSU’s tiger handlers objected to the idea but were overruled by Louisiana’s governor and surgeon general, who is apparently both a medical doctor and veterinarian? Also, the unnamed tiger comes from an owner with a checkered past:

Cool, cool, cool. Look, I’m OK with live mascots, provided the setting — in this case, a raucous stadium — isn’t putting them (or their handlers) in any peril. In this case, it seems like LSU’s staff objected to the idea because the environment can be too much for the big cats. Unless the tiger is eligible to play defense, what is this accomplishing beyond creating a photo op?

4) USC IS SWITCHING QUARTERBACKS. Goodbye, Miller Moss. Hello, Jayden Maiava. The Trojans are making a change after a 4-5 start and going in a different direction with Maiava, a UNLV transfer who joined the Trojans after a promising 2023 freshman campaign with the Rebels.

Will this give the Trojans more pop? In nine games as starter, Moss threw for 2,555 yards with 18 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Though there have been bouts of inconsistency on offense, the bigger issue has been USC’s knack for blowing fourth quarter leads. It will be interesting to see how the playcalling evolves with Maiava and if the move changes the Trojans’ trajectory.

5) CFP RANKINGS ARE HERE! On Tuesday night, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee released its first set of rankings to a nation that was almost assuredly focused on other things:

Are there any surprises in here? It’s hard to say. The rankings mostly mimic our Verballer Top 12 poll, but do give us a glimpse into some interesting first round possibilities, with Penn State hosting Notre Dame and Alabama traveling to Texas.

These rankings will change considerably between now and season’s end, so don’t get too attached to them.

6) GRAYSON MCCALL COMES HOME. Grayson McCall was a legend in his time at Coastal Carolina. His career was cut short, as we mentioned a few weeks ago, after another concussion that derailed his campaign as a transfer at NC State. This past Thursday, in a great gesture, Coastal welcomed McCall back as a special guest for its game against App State. The Chanticleers not only won the game, but their fans also rushed the field. What a moment!

7) UTEP HAS STRONG UNIFORM GAME. The best uniforms of the week go to… UTEP! The Miners are going BRIGHT ORANGE for their homecoming game this week against Kennesaw State.

8) THE HISTORY BEHIND “SANDSTORM” AT SOUTH CAROLINA. The SEC is filled with odd traditions. This week, we put together an explainer on the start of the “Sandstorm” craze at South Carolina, which got its start thanks to a marketing guy who just really liked the song.

@solidverbal

South Carolina's "Sandstorm" got its start at Vandy

🔥 WIN SWAG IN WEEK 11🔥

You’ve got a little over 24 hours to join our pick’em game, Run The Board, for a chance to win a $100 Homefield gift card and a $50 coupon to our merch store. Just sign up for any of our paid Patreon tiers (starting at just $5) and pick winners (against the spread) for these games and props:

• Georgia vs Ole Miss

• Carson Beck total passing yards

• Colorado vs Texas Tech

• Alabama vs LSU

• Jalen Milroe total passing yards

• BYU vs Utah

• Iowa State vs. Kansas

• Miami vs Georgia Tech

• WVU vs Cincinnati

• Clemson vs Virginia Tech

• Michigan vs Indiana

• Washington vs Penn State

• UCF vs Arizona State

• South Carolina vs Vandy

Sign up now to play Run The Board and reap the other benefits of our Patreon perks, including ad-free episodes, bonus content, unfettered access to our Discord community and much more!

The game locks at 11:59 AM ET on Saturday!

ON THIS DAY IN 1980…

THE LOOKAHEAD

Our Week 11 Locks are…

But there’s more to Week 11 than our questionable locks…

Your full Week 11 Preview Pod is live!

There are just a few weeks left, it's time to suit up. In this college football podcast episode, we preview the two headliners in the SEC, as Georgia goes to Ole Miss and LSU hosts Alabama, the two biggest games in the Big 12, with Colorado on the road at Texas Tech and another installment of the BYU vs. Utah rivalry, the ideal quadbox setups for the remainder of the day and more. Plus, your Week 11 locks and a quick look at the first round of College Football Playoff Rankings.

▶️ Listen on Apple Podcasts

▶️ Listen on Spotify

▶️ Watch on YouTube

Also, don’t forget that a new episode of our video series, Big Ten Breakfast, is out now with a timeless question about whether teams are “breakfast” or “drunk breakfast.”