Success With Hyperlinking: The Season Isn’t Over Yet

The Game of the Century lived up to the hype.

The storylines stemming from this game are seemingly endless. The Alabama loss may simultaneously signal the end of a dynasty and also not matter at all. The Tigers may have separated themselves from the pack while creating a future dynasty of their own.

LSU coach Ed Orgeron established himself as one of the coolest dudes in the world, even if he didn’t want the world to know. The game also reminded us that college football fans can be absolutely bonkers.

With a pair of undefeated matchups — we’ll get to the other one later — the list of remaining undefeated teams dwindled further over the weekend. The list features some usual suspects, but a couple of surprise names have also worked their way into the conversation.

With quality wins being so important and even a single loss potentially being catastrophic, the winners and losers from Week 11 are easy to point out.

Misery in Minnesota

Perhaps the biggest winner outside of Baton Rouge, the Golden Gophers used Saturday to establish themselves as contenders for the College Football Playoff, with at least one analyst giving Minnesota a top-four spot.

Penn State’s outlook, on the other hand, isn’t quite so bright. For as well as the Golden Gophers performed, the Nittany Lions still found ways to shoot themselves in the foot.

Coach James Franklin took issue with some of the criticism, understandably so based on what Twitter had to say. Plenty gave their support to Franklin, imploring fans to take a step back and look at the bigger picture before @ing him on Twitter.

To Indiana and Beyond

Somehow, Penn State may still have a path to the College Football Playoff. All the Nittany Lions have to do is win out, including matchups against a historically good Ohio State and possibly Round 2 with the Golden Gophers — or, somehow, Illinois — in the Big Ten Championship Game. Easy.

Sure, the loss stinks. But the season isn’t over yet.

That path starts with a rebound game against Indiana. The Nittany Lions will need to leave last week’s performance behind while keeping focus squarely on the Hoosiers and not their Week 13 foe.

Fresh off a bye and in the midst of a four-game winning streak, the Hoosiers are approaching this weekend as the biggest game of their season with a similar mindset as the Nittany Lions.