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Key Points David Pollack recaps Week 11 and updates his College Football Playoff rankings. Ohio State and Indiana swap spots after close games with a shared opponent. Texas A&M, Alabama, and Georgia round out a competitive top five. Several one-loss teams continue to make their case in the back half of the rankings. David Pollack went live on his “See Ball Get Ball” podcast Monday night to recap Week 11 of the college football season, which had a few exciting moments but was largely uneventful outside of the Indiana–Penn State game. The most notable segment on Monday’s episode centered around Pollack’s updated college football rankings heading into Week 12, with the second round of College Football Playoff rankings set to be released Tuesday night. Last week, Pollack ranked Indiana as his No. 1 team in the nation, admitting it was a close call, almost giving the nod to Ohio State. However, after seeing the Hoosiers needing a last-minute miracle touchdown to sneak past Penn State, Pollack swapped the two Big Ten programs, placing the Buckeyes at No. 1 and Indiana at No. 2. While Indiana held on, Ohio State took care of business against Purdue, winning 34-10 on the road and moving to 9-0 on the season with a home game vs. UCLA coming on Saturday. “We do have the Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 1,” Pollack said. “Here’s another thing we can talk about. We can talk about common opponents. We can talk about Illinois as a common opponent with Ohio State, as a common opponent with Indiana.” Indiana moved to 10-0 thanks to a toe-tap grab from wide receiver Omar Cooper that gave it a 27-24 win over the head coachless Nittany Lions. Just a week prior, Ohio State handled PSU, winning 38-14. Indiana was on the road, while Ohio State was at home, but the difference between the two games was hard to ignore. “Now you have Penn State, another common opponent,” Pollack added. “And Penn State obviously got handled by Ohio State way better than that. Ohio State, because of the less injuries – (OSU WR) Carnell Tate’s still hurt – but Indiana had injuries at guard, Indiana had injuries at tackle, the way they’re playing, they didn’t look like the number one team in the country. They looked banged up. Ohio State to me moves to number one.” Ohio State once again dominated defensively in Week 11, holding Purdue to just 186 total yards, while the Buckeyes put up 473 of their own. Ryan Day’s team currently ranks No. 1 in the FBS in total defense, allowing just 211.6 yards per game and No. 1 in scoring defense, surrendering only 7.2 points per game. Pollack updated his College Football Playoff rankings ahead of Tuesday night’s reveal, which will air on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET. The top-five does not consist of many surprises, but he admitted things got tricky for him starting at No. 8, where he chose to go with the Notre Dame over Oregon. Ohio State Buckeyes (9-0) Indiana Hoosiers (10-0) Texas A&M Aggies (9-0): “You can debate whether A&M is at two; you can debate, maybe if you wanted to, whether A&M is at one,” Pollack said. “They’ve got three road wins against top-25 teams, which is the hardest thing to do in all of college football to me. But I’m going Indiana at two still; I’m keeping A&M at three.” Alabama Crimson Tide (8-1): “There’s no drama at four. Alabama’s at four,” said Pollack of Bama. Georgia Bulldogs (8-1): “No drama at five, Georgia continues to be at five. Again, the head-to-head with Bama over Georgia, Georgia over Ole Miss,” he said. Ole Miss Rebels (8-1): “They played the Citadel, nothing to write home about, I think they had a shutout, which was pretty good,” Pollack said regarding the Rebels. Texas Tech Red Raiders (9-1): “And then you go to Texas Tech,” Pollack added of his No. 7 team. “To me, the next team is the Red Raiders. Absolute beatdown, up 24 in the fourth quarter with BYU. I mean, they just absolutely handled business. It was very fun, very impressive to watch. Texas Tech, to me, deserves to be at seven.” Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-2): “This is the one I didn’t know about, honestly, what I wanted to do; if I wanted to go Oregon or Notre Dame. I went with Notre Dame at 8; if you went with Oregon at 8, so be it,” said Pollack. Oregon Ducks (8-1): “Oregon got their best win of the season. It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but neither was the weather. But the ground and pound was impressive, and Dante Moore making a play late was impressive.” Texas Longhorns (7-2): “I think you could argue Texas,” Pollack said, after naming his No. 11 team first. “They’re on a four-game win streak. There’s not a lot of meat on the bone. I mean, there’s not a lot of things you can point to that’s elite, but their out-of-conference loss is still to the number one team in the country (Ohio State) by seven points. They’re the only team that played them remotely competitive, and it’s not like Arch was playing his best football at that point; he was by far playing his worst football. So I think you go and you say, ‘fine, Texas is at ten for that component, and you beat Oklahoma.'” Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-1): “Georgia Tech has to be in this playoff,” Pollack said, due to the ACC having an automatic spot for its conference winner. “They have to be. The ACC has to have a team. So I put Georgia Tech at 11.” North Texas Mean Green (8-1): “I grabbed 12. I’m done with Group of Fives, I’m just gonna play roulette every week and I’m just gonna spin them in a jar and pick one out. So North Texas, congratulations, you won the lottery today,” Pollack said of the Mean Green. About the author Joe Vitale Lead Editor of Trending News, Athlon Sports Joe Vitale directs Athlon Sports’ breaking and trending news coverage, having helped launch and build the team from the ground up. With nearly 15 years in sports media, he focuses primarily on college football while also covering other major sports. He has launched multiple successful college football sites and built one of the sport’s largest social media brands, UGA Football Live—the first independently run college football fan page on Twitter.
