College football coaching carousel news, sort of. Plus, Week 11 watch guide

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Today, we’re breaking down the Week 11 schedule. But first, we have coaching carousel news that, surprisingly, does NOT include a firing.

Cooled Seat

Vote of confidence in Napier

Florida AD Scott Stricklin announced today that Billy Napier will remain head football coach (for an unspecified amount of time) despite Napier’s 15-18 start as a Gator. Entering this season, he was the biggest name on the hot-seat list, and although his 4-4 Gators have avoided a complete meltdown, they still need two more wins to reach bowl eligibility and keep him from becoming the first coach in almost 90 years to start his Florida career with three losing seasons.

Is Florida making the right choice? None of the previous three Florida coaches (Dan Mullen, Jim McElwain or Will Muschamp) lasted four full seasons. Evidently, hitting the reset button every few years hasn’t worked for the program, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2020. Plus, conveying some stability could help with a recruiting class that currently ranks No. 51 in the 247Sports Composite.

It’s too early to say if this is the right decision, but it’s definitely a more patient strategy than we may have expected. The ultimate prove-it opportunity awaits with the Gators’ gauntlet of a remaining schedule: Texas, LSU and Ole Miss. But at least they also get to play Florida State.

What does this mean for the carousel? It’s looking rusty. Napier isn’t the only coach who cooled his seat this season — Dave Aranda has won three straight at Baylor, Clark Lea has Vanderbilt ranked and Sam Pittman’s Arkansas upset a top-10 Tennessee team. Regardless, Florida was sure to be the biggest opening in the sport if it’d happened.

Now, as Ralph Russo reported today, the most likely power-conference coach to be fired looks like Purdue’s Ryan Walters. It’s still early, but the last time the SEC made it through an entire season without a coaching change was in 2018.

Week 11 Schedule

Friday night lights

There aren’t any ranked teams playing until Saturday, but if you’re looking to kickstart your college football weekend a little early, this is the game to watch:

• Rice (3-6) at Memphis (7-2), (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2). In the Owls’ first game since firing coach Mike Bloomgren, they pulled out an unexpected win against a 6-1 Navy squad. Now, they meet another team fighting to stay toward the top of the AAC standings. The Tigers’ high hopes were tarnished in a loss last week to UTSA, and they’ll be playing against a Rice team with not much to lose besides playing spoiler.

Saturday’s slate

Early 

• Most important game: Florida (4-4) at No. 5 Texas (7-1). The three ranked noon matchups don’t look like they will inspire too many dramatics (just remember to kneel this time if you’re beating Georgia Tech, Miami). But Florida-Texas has a few wrinkles that might make things interesting. The last time we saw the Longhorns was two weeks ago in a close 27-24 win against Vanderbilt. Meanwhile, the Gators can quiet Napier’s doubters if they pull off a miracle, but that might depend on the availability of starting QB DJ Lagway, who is questionable after leaving the Georgia game with an injury.
• Most underrated game: Minnesota (6-3) at Rutgers (4-4) (Noon, NBC). The Gophers are on a hot streak, winning their last four games and knocking Illinois out of the Top 25 last week. There’s an added grudge here as Gophers QB Max Brosmer was brought in from FCS New Hampshire to replace Athan Kaliakmanis — who played for the Gophers in 2022 and 2023 before darting to the Scarlet Knights. Brosmer hasn’t thrown an interception since the Gophers’ winning streak began, while Kaliakmanis just threw his season-high 313 yards in Rutgers’ loss to USC last week.

Afternoon

• Most important game: No. 3 Georgia (7-1) at No. 16 Ole Miss (7-2). The Rebels are hanging on to College Football Playoff hopes by a thread and enter this game with a 20 percent chance to make the field, per Austin Mock. A loss eliminates them, while a win would make things interesting in the SEC standings, which are already crowded at the top. Ole Miss has the conference’s top offense and hung 63 points on Arkansas last week (along with 694 total yards of offense). Georgia will need more accuracy from QB Carson Beck, who has thrown eight interceptions in the Bulldogs’ last three games.
• Most underrated game: No. 20 Colorado (6-2) at Texas Tech (6-3). In a wide-open Big 12, the Buffs could be a sleeping giant in the conference title race. A win here would keep them tied for second place in the conference standings (assuming BYU handles Utah). Texas Tech’s last two games were decided by one point (a 35-34 heartbreaking loss to TCU and a 23-22 upset win against Iowa State), and the Red Raiders have the Big 12’s worst passing defense (allowing 307.2 yards per game), which means Heisman radars could go up on Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter.

Night 

• Most important game: No. 11 Alabama (6-2) at No. 15 LSU (6-2). This rivalry already has its fair share of iconic meetings (Bama leads all-time 56-27-5), and with a Playoff bid on the line, we could be in for another thriller. Kalen DeBoer has yet to win his first SEC road game, but a win in an environment like Death Valley could make up for the early shortcomings (and rumor has it, a live Tiger will be on-site, too). Both teams have seen highs and lows, and are coming off bye weeks. The key for LSU will be for QB Garrett Nussmeier — who ranks second in the conference in passing yards — to avoid mistakes, while the Tide will need more than just their dynamic duo of QB Jalen Milroe and WR Ryan Williams. As for which coach is under more pressure to win, the “Until Saturday” podcast debated that topic today.
• Most underrated game: No. 9 BYU (8-0) at Utah (4-4). Speaking of underrated, the Cougars might be the most underrated team in the CFP rankings. So, can they use that chip on their shoulder to come out on top of this year’s Holy War: Big 12 Edition? The Utes have won nine of the last 10 in this series, but Kyle Whittingham’s 2024 squad has largely underperformed — most recently in a painful 17-14 loss to Houston. Despite the tailspin, the Utes still have the top defense in the Big 12 … but their offense is far from high-achieving. If they want to upset BYU’s perfect season, they’ll have to disrupt the Cougars’ offense and QB Jake Restzlaff.

Click here for a full Week 11 viewing guide.

Need tickets? Go here. Stream the games on Fubo for free.

Quick Snaps

It’s your last chance to join The Athletic’s bracket challenge. Submit your prediction for the final CFP bracket by tomorrow, and you’ll get points for each team that makes the field (extra for correct seeding). The top three scorers will win a free year subscription or extension to The Athletic! Enter here and watch the “Until Saturday” prediction show here.

In sad news, Kirk Herbstreit’s golden retriever Ben, a beloved broadcast-crasher of CFB and NFL games in recent years, died today at age 10. It’s a good time to look back at Tess DeMeyer’s feature on Ben from last year.

Meet the creator behind college football’s most iconic helmets

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(Top photo: James Gilbert / Getty Images)