Week 11 of the college football season is nearly upon us, and as always, there are a ton of big-time matchups. Duke goes on the road to play Miami, Wake Forest gets a tough test against SMU, Missouri will try to upset No. 1 Georgia, USC and Indiana clash, Utah will travel to Arizona, and Texas will head to Death Valley for a matchup against LSU.

It should be a fantastic week of football, but before we get into predictions tomorrow, we need to cover some of the latest college football news, which includes quite a few injury updates.

Michigan State Gets Mixed Injury News

Michigan State’s season has not gone to plan. They’re 3-6, and 1-5 in the Big 10, but they did upset their in-state rivals, the Michigan Wolverines, this past weekend, which makes up for a lot of their struggles. Still, they’d like to add another win to their total this week against Washington, but they received some bad injury news.

The Spartans have ruled out 10 players for Saturday’s game. Devin Vaught, their lead tackler, Jordan Hall, their starting linebacker, Jayden Savoury, their starting tight end and Rodney Bullard, their starting receiver, are among those out for Saturday’s game. They will be very thin at multiple positions, but there is a bright side.

MSU head coach Pat Fitzgerald told reporters that he believes everyone will be back at some point this season. It’s not a sure thing, but it appears that many of their injuries aren’t major, so while they will all miss this weekend’s game, they could be back as soon as next week.

Kansas State’s QB Situation Takes Another Hit

The Kansas State Wildcats have had three different quarterbacks attempt over 40 passes this season. They’ve had injuries at the position throughout the year, and now they’re going to be without their starting quarterback, Avery Johnson, and backup Jacob Knuth, leaving Blake Barnett and Dillon Duff to battle it out for the starting role.

Barnett has completed 29 of his 50 passes for 371 yards and four touchdowns with a pair of interceptions, while Duff has hit on 11 of his 18 attempts for 96 yards and one touchdown with one pick. Barnett does add another element with his legs, rushing for 66 yards this season.

It will be interesting to see who KSU goes with, but it seems like it will be Barnett.

Virginia Tech Gets Potential Boost From Two Injured Starters

The Virginia Tech Hokies have been without their starting left tackle, Justin Terry, and starting cornerback, Thomas Williams, for multiple weeks, but head coach James Franklin announced that both of them could return for Saturday’s game.

“So today was really the first day that we’ve been able to have [Terry] for everything,” Franklin said. “We’ve been kind of working him in slowly. Drills, indy, one-on-ones. So today was the first day we’ve kind of had him for everything. So he’s getting closer, and it’s positive for us.

“[Williams] been out all week long and looking good, and we’ve been impressed with how he’s playing, and we’re expecting to have him for Saturday,” Franklin said. “But again, we’ve expected [that] in the last two weeks as well.”

This would be a massive boost for the Hokies, who host Stanford this weekend.

FCS Playoff Picture Sees a Twist as 15 Teams Face Elimination

SI Writer Timothy Rosario has created a FCS Playoff Picture series, which attempts to provide fans with a look at what the FCS playoffs could look like. With only a couple of weeks left in the regular season, 39 teams remain alive in the playoff race, and with 24 making it every year, a whopping 15 teams will have to be eliminated over the next two weeks.

As of this week, Rosario believes there are eight teams that should be considered “locks” for the FCS playoffs: Montana State, Northern Arizona, Youngstown State, South Dakota State, Tennessee Tech, Stephen F. Austin, Lamar and Tarleton State. He also lists five teams as “should be in”: Monmouth, South Dakota, North Dakota, Mercer, and Austin Peay. If those 13 teams make the playoffs, that leaves 11 spots for the other 26 teams that are in the hunt.

It should be a thrilling race to the line for these 39 teams, who are doing everything they can to make it to the postseason.

Sun Belt Sets up Three In-State Rivalry Matchups For Week 11

Rivalry week isn’t until the final week of the season, but the Sun Belt has loaded its Week 11 schedule with in-state rivalries.

Starting in Louisiana, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette will head to the University of Louisiana-Monroe for the Battle on the Bayou. Moving to Alabama, South Alabama will host Troy in the Battle for the Belt. And finally, in Georgia, Georgia Southern will head to Georgia State for the Georgia Grown Bowl.

Three games. Three bitter rivalries. Three winners. Make sure you tune in on Saturday to see who comes out on top in these rivalry games.

Lehigh Could Secure Its Third Consecutive Patriot League Championship

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks have won the Patriot League in each of the last two seasons. In 2024, they finished 9-4 overall, but went 5-1 in the Patriot League to clinch the conference title. They got even better in 2025, finishing 12-1 with a perfect 7-0 record in conference play to win the conference once again. They have already dropped two games in 2026, but they’re 6-1 in Patriot League play, and with a win on Saturday against Richmond, they will clinch at least a share of the conference title for the third straight year.

Lehigh is in firm control of the Patriot League as the only team with one loss. Everyone else has suffered at least two conference losses, so as long as they don’t implode over the last couple of weeks, they should take home at least a share of the title.

Maryland Releases Major Injury Update Ahead of Wisconsin Clash

The Maryland Terrapins will clash with the Wisconsin Badgers this weekend, but they may be without their starting quarterback.

Malik Washington has landed himself on the Maryland injury report this week. He was listed as questionable with an undisclosed injury. He went to the medical tent late last week, and it appears the injury could keep him out of this weekend’s game.

Washington has played really solid football this season, throwing for 2,058 yards and 11 touchdowns with eight picks while rushing for 169 yards and four scores. Four of his interceptions came in one game, too, so if you remove that blowout loss to UCLA, he has 15 touchdowns to four interceptions this season.

This would be a massive loss for Maryland. They already have a slim chance at beating Wisconsin, but if Washington misses the game, their chances go from slim to none.

UAPB’s Alonzo Hampton Opens Up About the Program’s Turnaround

Arkansas-Pine Bluff head coach Alonzo Hampton has been with the team for four years, and he’s starting to turn the program around. He won two or three games in each of his first three seasons, but has led the Golden Lions to a 6-3 record this season, and has a chance to make a statement against a Prairie View A&M team that’s first in the SWAC.

While it’s part of his job description to try to win football games, Hampton told reporters that winning is not his purpose. He wants to lead his players to Christ, who in turn will help them find success on the gridiron.

“My purpose is simple: to lead young men to Christ. It’s not to win football games,” Hampton told HBCU Sports. “Because I got a lot of rings. I won. I made a lot of money at different locations, but none of that matters. When I took over this program, we were at the bottom. But I know what God spoke to me. He said we would become a lighthouse. I’ve never wavered from that.”

Hampton has done a fantastic job turning this program around, so I’m excited to see what the future brings.