The Week 11 college football weekend left the SEC's hierarchy intact, with Georgia remaining the nation's top-ranked team after a 48-21 home win over Missouri. Georgia stormed to a three-touchdown lead in the first quarter, and Nate Frazier paced the rout with 72 rushing yards on 14 carries and three touchdowns, his second three-touchdown game of the season. The most significant disruption of the weekend came not on the field but from an FAA ground stoppage that grounded flights across the country on Friday and created travel headaches across the league, including pushing Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma to Sunday at 1 p.m. ET in Norman.
Elsewhere, Alabama turned to Keelon Russell at quarterback despite reports that Austin Mack would start because of Russell's injury concerns, and overcame another sluggish offensive start on the road to beat Vanderbilt 21-6. Russell accounted for all three Crimson Tide touchdowns, throwing two 9-yard scores and a 39-yard touchdown. In the Bayou, Arch Manning and No. 8 Texas picked up a late-season College Football Playoff resume-booster win over Sam Leavitt and No. 22 LSU on the Longhorns' last offensive play of the game. Auburn became bowl-eligible in Year 1 of the Alex Golesh era with a 41-9 win over Mississippi State, and No. 9 Tennessee picked up its eighth win of the season with a 22-7 win at Texas A&M.S2
The loss to Texas was a costly one for LSU and coach Lane Kiffin. LSU crashed out of the CFP conversation with a fourth loss to a ranked opponent and sits 3-4 in the SEC standings, making it an eight-win team at best. Kiffin left a team that was assured its first invitation to the College Football Playoff to take the LSU job roughly 11 months ago, and the Tigers administration and donors have backed the roster with a reported $13 million investment. The bare minimum expected of Kiffin in Year 1 was a CFP berth, which now appears out of reach.S1
In the broader rankings picture, three teams dropped off the top-25 list after losses and travel chaos, namely SMU, South Carolina and New Mexico, and were replaced by a returner and two newcomers, including Liberty, which moved to 9-1 on the season with a 28-23 win over Middle Tennessee. Liberty's only loss came in its opener against James Madison, leaving it along with Boise State as the last one-loss team in the Group of Six. Houston, meanwhile, fell 42-32 to Colorado in Week 11 and faces West Virginia next. The AP Top 25 and US LBM Coaches Poll updates are still pending, with the Coaches Poll due Sunday and the AP Top 25 due Monday.S1S2
