Copyright CBS Sports
The 2025 college football season is reaching crunch time. The calendar turning to November means that most teams only have four games left to either make an impression on the College Football Playoff selection committee -- which released its first selection of rankings Nov. 4 -- or salvage their years otherwise. The 12-team playoff format means that November is very important for a lot of schools. Any program touting a top-25 ranking is still, technically, involved in the race. Even some schools outside of the rankings can make a big run, especially from the Group of Six ranks. Though Week 11, on paper, isn't the most exciting slate of the year, there are plenty of key games to pay attention to. Both the Big 12 and the SEC are home to ranked clashes that will go a long way towards deciding their final conference standings and each team's further postseason fate. We here at CBS Sports have been overreacting to each college football weekend for a while now. Let's try and manifest some into existence for a change ahead of the 11th week of the season. Texas A&M will win its first SEC championship This may not seem like a bold prediction for Texas A&M, which is currently the last remaining undefeated SEC team in the land. But the Aggies have established a recent reputation for falling well short of expectations while allowing big opportunities to slip through their grasp. That will not happen this year. Texas A&M certainly has a tough path to the postseason, which begins in earnest on the road Saturday against No. 19 Missouri. The Tigers are the first of two ranked away games that Texas A&M has to contend with over the last month, culminating in a regular season finale against No. 13 Texas. This A&M team is built for the moment. The Aggies are playing complete football. Their offense ranks second in the SEC with 37.8 points per game, and the defense has largely stabilized after a rough start. Texas A&M has allowed just one conference opponent to exceed 25 points. The Aggies are going to host a conference trophy in Atlanta for the first time in program history. Then they'll have an argument to be the top overall seed in the CFP. Julian Sayin cements his status as the top QB prospect Not just in his draft class. In all of college football. He's far better than any signal caller coming out this year, he's better than any other quarterback that could declare for the 2027 NFL Draft and -- to take it even further -- he would have been first off the board in 2025. He's only started eight games at the collegiate level, but he's already shown he's that good. He hasn't thrown an interception in any of his last five starts with 18 touchdowns passing in that same span. Sayin will have his way against a Purdue pass defense that ranks third-worst in the Big Ten while allowing 234.4 yards per game. The only reason he potentially won't exceed 300 yards passing for the fourth time in five games is because Ohio State will open up a massive lead in the first half. He might reach that benchmark anyway. Sayin leads the nation in passing efficiency and completion percentage and he's second in yards per attempt while airing it out to stars like Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. While those aforementioned stars do make him look good, he's his own talent, with an advanced ability to layer throws all over the football field. Iowa is a shoo-in for the playoff Iowa has flown under the radar this season while building a 4-1 start in Big Ten play. That lone loss came by five points against No. 2 Indiana. The Hawkeyes are the only team to finish within one possession against the Hoosiers this season. Saturday will serve as a coming out party for Iowa, as it gets a beatable No. 6 Oregon team at home. Those Ducks lost by 10 against Indiana. Results in college football often aren't transferrable, but that would suggest that Iowa is capable of hanging around. The defense is as good as ever. The Hawkeyes limited Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza -- a Heisman Trophy candidate -- to a season-low 56.5% completion percentage while also notching an interception. The offense still isn't perfect, but the Hawkeyes are scoring 31.3 points per game, which is tremendous progress. Quarterback Mark Gronowski has added a spark with his legs. Iowa officially becomes a playoff favorite Saturday as it notches a much-needed marquee win against Oregon. James Madison stakes its playoff claim The prevailing thought for most of the season is that the Group of Six's CFP team will come from the American Conference. South Florida and Memphis -- currently at No. 22 -- have both occupied spots in the AP Top 25 this season, and the Tigers, North Texas and Navy all have at least seven wins thus far. But the American is also cannibalizing itself. Navy lost to North Texas. North Texas got blown out by South Florida. Memphis, somehow, dropped a game against UAB. Then there's James Madison, which has quietly been taking care of business in the Sun Belt with a 7-1 record. That lone loss came on the road by 14 points against a Louisville team that looks like it could win the ACC.
