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LSU, Penn State and more teams that are on upset alert entering Week 11

Could the Tigers fumble a second straight opportunity against a ranked opponent at home?

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: NOV 07 Alabama vs LSU | Icon Sportswire/GettyImages

Last weekend set up to be a memorable one around college football, with tons of huge ranked matchups. Some of those games delivered; unfortunately, others didn’t. But for our purposes here, Nebraska, LSU and Florida all lost — which means all our upset plays came true.

The Week 11 slate isn't quite as juicy on paper. But there are still plenty of funky lines, and if this season so far has taught us anything, it's that you should always expected the unexpected, and that's especially true for the following three favorites this weekend.

Florida State Seminoles at Pitt Panthers, Friday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: NOV 07 Florida State vs Boston College | Icon Sportswire/GettyImages
  • Line: Pitt -3.5 (-105), ML (-160/+132)

We saw last week that Florida State has not entirely given up on this lost season. After going down early to Boston College, the Seminoles came back and won a road game in sloppy conditions by a score of 31-24. Now they come into Pittsburgh looking for a winning streak under new interim head coach Rick Stockstill.

Pitt was humming early in the season with quarterback Mason Heintschel throwing for massive yards and multiple touchdowns every game. Since he tore his ACL, though, the Panthers have not been able to find much offense, and they limp into this game with a 6-3 record.

This is not going to be an easy game for either side. But if Florida State really want to be here, they still have some talent on the field, and they can win this road game against a backup quarterback.

Minnesota Golden Gophers at Penn State Nittany Lions, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, FS1

Penn State v Washington | Steph Chambers/GettyImages
  • Line: Penn State -9.5 (-110), ML (-360/+280)

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I have been a fan of Penn State going back to the days of Todd Blackledge, Kerry Collins and Ki-Jana Carter. When I tell you this team should not be favored by 9.5 points against a solid Minnesota team, you can believe me.

Rocko Becht played solid football for the first half against Washington last week. But that was his first good half in about a month, and it came against a Huskies team that is severely underperforming in 2026. After jumping on Washington for a 28-6 lead at half time, Penn State held on in the second half to escape with a 28-25 win.

While Minnesota lost 34-20 to UCLA, this showed a lot more than the Penn State victory. The Golden Gophers will smother the struggling Nittany Lions offense, and when on offense, PJ Fleck will use his ground attack to bleed time off the clock and shorten the game. You know, much like they did in Bloomington, when they nearly pulled off an improbable upset over Indiana in overtime.

Penn State is not Indiana and Matt Campbell is certainly not Curt Cignetti. Which just means that 9.5 points is crazy; I may turn out to only take Minnesota to cover but, the Gophers may well be the better team coming into this contest.

Texas Longhorns at LSU Tigers, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: NOV 07 Texas vs Missouri | Icon Sportswire/GettyImages
  • Line: LSU -4.5 (-105), ML (-176/+146)

Huh? I know Texas is coming off a big road win against Missouri. But it is not like the Longhorns were big underdogs against the Tigers; the line finished  with Missouri being favored by 2.5 points and Texas went in thinking they were going to win.

On the other hand, Lane Kiffin just lost another game against Alabama, dropping his record to 0-6 against the Tide. This would be overlooekd a bit at Ole Miss. It is not at LSU, where previous coaches have all been let go for similar losses — especially when they get stacked up, and we know Kiffin can stack up losses to good teams.

This is not a great Texas team. But they are good, and they bring in a defense that will look to confuse quarterback Sam Leavitt and make things difficult for him. The Horns, who have more defensive talent than Alabama, can use the same game plan to get the Tigers into bad situations and force turnovers.

If Arch Manning has another good start on the road, this time right near his hometown of New Orleans, Texas will not just cover the spread — they will give LSU their fourth loss of the season in as many games against good teams.

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