- - Wisconsin, Indiana and ACC lead the best, worst of college football Week 11

Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAYNovember 9, 2025 at 8:24 PM

0

For much of 2025, there hasn’t been much to jump around for in Wisconsin.

Six consecutive losses. Two straight home shutouts. All while the coach fans want out gets told he will be back next season.

How much worse was it going to get for the Badgers? Turns out, the good times have finally arrived.

Not only did Wisconsin score a touchdown at home, but it pulled through to stun Washington, 13-10.

It was by no means pretty. It’s not often you see the leading passer is the punter – on one pass – but the Badgers mustered 157 yards on the ground and kept the Huskies, No. 23 in the College Football Playoff rankings, scoreless in the second half.

It may be silly to see Wisconsin fans storm the field, but they absolutely deserve it after the pain they’ve endured this season. It’s the little things that matter, and that’s why Wisconsin leads the best and worst things from Week 11.

Wisconsin Badgers cornerback D'Yoni Hill (5) celebrates following a play during the fourth quarter against the Washington Huskies at Camp Randall Stadium.Best: Indiana and Gus Johnson

Fox top play-by-play man Gus Johnson is beloved for his electric calls, but he may have delivered one of his best on one of the greatest plays of the season.

Indiana avoided an upset from Penn State thanks to Fernando Mendoza finding Omar Cooper Jr. in the back of the endzone as the Hoosiers receiver somehow got a foot down to secure the touchdown. With that, a generational call from one of the game's best.

OMAR COOPER UNREAL CATCH FOR THE TD 😱🤯WHAT A GAME. WHAT A CATCH. @IndianaFootball pic.twitter.com/PhHzKjuVB9

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 8, 2025

Worst: ACC woes continue

It was highlighted last week, but just when you think the ACC can’t get worse, it somehow goes down further.

After not having teams in the top 12 of the initial CFP rankings, the ACC plummeted further with its highest ranked teams – Virginia and Louisville – losing to unranked foes.

The Cavaliers and Cardinals will surely fall down the rankings, and a four-way tie for first place ensures absolute chaos. Even worse, the only ranked team to play, Miami, won but doesn’t even control its destiny to the conference title game.

Does anyone want to win this conference?

Best: UConn

One of the best stories is developing at the independent level, where Jim Mora has Connecticut winning again.

The Huskies beat Duke to move to 7-3, making it two straight seasons of at least seven wins for the first time since 2009-10. Mora has done an excellent job building off last season’s nine-win campaign, and the fans are buying in.

The win over the Blue Devils came in front of its best home crowd in 12 years, proving basketball isn’t the only thing the Huskies care about.

It’s even more impressive when you realize UConn has more ACC wins (three) than seven actual ACC teams, including North Carolina and Florida State.

Worst: Painful celebration

Western Carolina thought it pulled off the upset of Mercer in FCS with a last second field goal, and the players and crowd went wild as they stormed the field.

There was just one problem: the kick wasn't good.

It appears the stadium public address announcer thought the kick was good, and told the crowd it was successful, resulting in the celebration. It was only after some time everyone supporting the Catamounts realized the field goal was missed, and Mercer actually won.

Drama in Cullowhee!Western Carolina has a short field goal for the win. It's up and....no good! Except the PA says its good and the cheerleaders, some players and students start rushing the field....until they realize it missed! Mercer wins the battle for the top of the SoCon. pic.twitter.com/2BvN2pOMGY

— TK from the Paper (@tkpipedreams) November 9, 2025

Nothing worse than a premature celebration.

Best: Not giving up

Southern California quarterback Jayden Maiava made a bad mistake when his pass went right to the hands of Northwestern’s Najee Story. The Wildcats defensive lineman looked like he was going to take it back for a pick six and give Northwestern the lead, but Maiava didn’t quit on the play.

Just as Story was going to cross the goal line, Maiava hit him and forced the ball out. It tumbled out of the endzone, resulting in a touchback and no points for Northwestern.

THIS PLAY WAS CRAZY 😱Jayden Maiava throws an interception to Najee Story and then Maiava forces Story to fumble into the end zone for a touchback 👀 pic.twitter.com/7bJqzJAuZo

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 8, 2025

It was a big play as USC got the ball back and eventually scored a touchdown, proving you should never give up even after making a mistake.

Worst: Failed spike

There’s plenty of insane ways to lose a game, but Eastern Washington took the cake this week.

With the Eagles down 29-24 in the final minute to Montana, quarterback Jake Schakel tried to spike the ball to stop the clock and set up one last play. Only problem was he fumbled the ball on the spike.

By the time EWU got control of the ball, the clock ran out and the undefeated Grizzlies avoided the upset. A brutal way to lose.

THE SPIKE IS FUMBLED 🤯@MontanaGrizFB holds on pic.twitter.com/n9qm9bjxap

— Big Sky Conference (@BigSkyConf) November 8, 2025

Best: Deception

Southern California pulled off one of the sneakiest fake punts you'll ever see.

Against Northwestern, the punt team was on hand on fourth down, but when the play began, the punter looked like a seasoned quarterback, dropping back and delivering a dot left-handed to receiver Tanook Hines for the first down.

It looked impressive from punter No. 80 Sam Johnson – only for it to not be him.

That was actually third-string quarterback Sam Huard. Listed as No. 7 on USC's online roster, he was listed on the game day roster as No. 80.

IT'S A FAKE PUNT 🫨Punter Sam Johnson throws it for a @uscfb first down! pic.twitter.com/eRMSo0gQ2m

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 8, 2025

It clearly faked out Northwestern, which didn’t realize a quarterback was in the game. Lincoln Riley’s trickery worked out well as USC scored a touchdown on the drive.

Worst: Fighting

Something must’ve been in the air on Nov, 8 that was making several teams want to throw down.

Three notable fights took place in Week 11, with Auburn and Vanderbilt nearly throwing down, while Grambling and Bethune-Cookman got crazy on the sideline.

No love lost between Bethune Cookman and Grambling State pic.twitter.com/VnL9FMnP2q

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) November 9, 2025

Leave it on the football field.

Best: Onside kick

The chances of recovering an onside kick are rare, but if executed correctly, the benefits are great.

Delaware reaped all the rewards against Louisiana Tech. Down 24-16 in the final minute, the Blue Hens scored a touchdown but couldn’t tie it on the two-point conversion. So, it attempted the onside kick, and it worked perfectly. Kicker Nate Reed placed it perfectly for Delaware to get the ball with 33 seconds left.

Have you ever seen a better onside kick 😏 pic.twitter.com/Rm0iN93pVU

— Delaware Football (@Delaware_FB) November 8, 2025

A few plays later, Reed was back on the field, and he drilled a 51-yard field goal with 12 seconds left to put the Blue Hens on top, and they held for a stunning victory.

51 YARDS FROM NATE! 🦿 pic.twitter.com/EUC9WXlUNz

— Delaware Football (@Delaware_FB) November 8, 2025

Best: Army kills the clock

Temple was down 14-13 against Army when it punted it away with 9:45 left in the game. The Owls presumably figured just get a stop, get the ball back for a chance to take the lead.

It never happened.

The Black Knights put on a clinic in time of possession, running an 18-play drive that took up the rest of the game to preserve the win. Army started at its own 42-yard line, and made it to the Temple 1-yard line before it went to victory formation. Death by the triple option.

Worst: All-time losing team

For years, Indiana has been the most losing team in college football history. It entered 2025 with 715 losses. But Indiana hasn’t lost since, and in that time a new all-time loser has emerged: Northwestern.

With the loss to USC, Northwestern now has 716 losses, the most in FBS. Congratulations?

Best: Sam Houston wins

Another team has fallen off the rank of winless.

Sam Houston entered Week 11 0-8 with a trip to Corvallis to take on Oregon State. The Bearkats were facing a Beavers team coming off a solid win against Washington State, but they didn't fold on the road. Thanks to two special teams touchdowns, Sam Houston overcame some late mistakes to stun Oregon State and get its first win of the season. A remarkable achievement for Phil Longo's team.

Kats take the lead!!Special teams strikes again as Lyric Smith blocks a Beaver punt and Brody Henderson returns it for the score to put the Kats up 21-17 in the 4Q #EatEmUpKats pic.twitter.com/QAXPIG8yXY

— Sam Houston Football (@BearkatsFB) November 9, 2025

Now there's only one team left without a win: Massachusetts. Hopefully the Minutemen can get out of the cellar.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football Week 11 best, worst: Wisconsin wins, ACC is down

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Sports”