Interested to see how today’s Oklahoma vs Ole Miss game stands up to NFL viewership. Do they publicly release this info? Do they show game by game viewership?

Welcome back to the #CobraKaiAward for Excellence in Mercilessness!

This award has been going since 2018, recognizing the most cutthroat performance in each week's college football games. If you like obscure levels of college football from around the world (including shady teams), this is a fun weekly round-up.

It includes all levels of all football: FBS, FCS, D2, D3, NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA, U Sports🇨🇦, ONEFA🇲🇽 and JAFA🇯🇵 to spotlight which team tosses mercy out the window and instead uses the opportunity to make a statement.

Week 11 winner:

• 79-0. The Friends Falcons are a Quaker school in Wichita. They're fascinating because they run the ball at a level that shows their head coach was a former OL coach. Last season they were in the running to set the all-time, all-division team rushing record but fell short: they blew out all NAIA records, but lost in the playoffs, while a parallel run by D2's Harding beat the previous record that was also set by Harding. Suffice to say, the #15 Falcons (10-1) aren't here to make friends, but run you over.

Let's be clear, the Saint Mary Spires of Kansas are terrible. They're not just 0-11, they have been the recipient of the last two NAIA Cobra Kai beatdowns: Last week they lost to Southwestern (KS) 83-0! They've had some close losses, and are not quite as bad as the NAIA basket case Judson (more on them in Other Notes). Coincidentally, Southwestern gave Friends their only loss, 40-21.

The KCAC is very uneven, and there was a tie for margin-of-victory in the NAIA (and overall) with the Evangel Valor's 86-7 win over Bethany (KS) truly Terrible Swedes. However, the tie-breaker in this award for being cutthroat is points allowed so the tiebreaker goes to Friends.

[For those keeping track, Bethany is 1-10 with their only win this season was a 33-32 squeaker over... Saint Mary]

Back to this game: It was held in the Equity Bank Park in Wichita, home of the Minnesota Twins Double-A Minor League affiliate Wichita Turbo Tubs, where the Falcons proceeded to drown Saint Mary. Halftime was 58-0.

The Falcons had 531 total yards, all on the ground. They only attempted a single, incomplete pass. They averaged 10.8 yards-per-play on the ground. They lost 2 fumbles and it made no difference (they also gained two turnovers, including a pick-six). Out of desperation Saint Mary managed to go 4-for-4 on fourth down (2-of-15 on third down), and mustered only 123 total yards. Friends defense continues to be a pillar of their game.

They will find out if they make the NAIA playoff field tonight.

Other notes:

• Don't let your foot off the gas! (or, less politely, don't take it off their throats) #13 Wake Forest had a 42-point halftime lead over SMU before allowing it to settle at 49-7. They were in Cobra Kai lead until Wazzu decided to take out a season's worth of frustration on the worst defense in FBS. The CFP may not be impressed enough to keep them in the conversation at that rate.

• D3 #7 Endicott, Cobra Kai Award darlings of the past several weeks, did not score in the 70s but still put away Curry College, 58-0.

• On the flip side, Cobra Kai punching bag Judson (0-11) seemed headed for an epic beatdown when they hosted a finale with #6 Marian (10-1, only loss was to a D2 team). Marian had crushed the Eagles last season, only to have the game flipped to a 7-0 win by the NAIA after they self-reported an illegible player; without it, the Eagles came into the game on a 30-game on-field losing streak. Well, it was a shutout but only a disappointing 66-0 win for the Knights. Judson's season is over.

• Double shame on Chicago State, which made an ill-advised decision to add football for the first time as an FCS program, and made a schedule that was desperate for wins its inaugural season. They lost their program opener at home to a D2 team that had just moved over from NAIA. They've lost all their FCS games as an Independent. Their three wins are beating up programs more hopeless than they are, including one of the worst NAIA teams, as well as the jokes at Ft. Lauderdale (🤡; located in a strip mall in Lauderhill), and now they beat up the hollowed-out remains of Virginia University-Lynchburg, 45-0. VUL is a private HBCU that has been slowly dying off. They lost accreditation. They can't be members of the NCAA/NAIA. Regional HBCUs have been keeping them on their schedules as a point of support. Chicago State just wants to exploit them for wins. VUL sends their students to get obliterated in these games to try to stay afloat. As I wrote when Chicago State beat the strip mall school: There is no honor in destroying them. Chicago State is what the Klingons call a petaQ.

• JAFA winner, Rissho University, is easily the oldest institution on the list. It was established in 1580 and a monastic academy (danrin) that developed into a modern university. Danrin were official Buddhist seminaries during the feudal era where young Nichiren Buddhist monks gathered to study scripture, debate philosophy, and conduct scholarly research; the campus still has a preserved historic lecture hall on the original campus on the grounds of Iitaka-ji Temple in the mountains east of Tokyo. Following the Meiji Restoration (and modernization of the country), the seminary transitioned into a modern religious academy and moved to Tokyo. It became a full university in 1924 and expanded into secular education.

• Post-seasons are here! These leagues will likely see smaller Cobra Kai scores until their seasons wrap-up. The early post-seasons have begun in:

• Canada's U Sports had their quarterfinals, determining conference champions (they conveniently have only 4 conferences). The semifinals for a spot in the 61st Vanier Cup will see Saint Mary's Huskies (AUS) vs. Western Mustangs (OUA) in the Mitchell Bowl and UBC Thunderbirds (Canada West) vs. Montréal Carabins (RSEQ) in the Uteck Bowl. I would put heavy odds on a Western vs. Montréal title game with a repeat by the Carabins.

• Both juco leagues have begun their postseason. The NJCAA taking this week off before their 4-team Division I playoff and and Division III championship (there's no Division II for football).The 3C2A had postseason games and playoffs for their two divisions, National (upper) and American. The American Metro Bowl is a semifinal game in the American Division Bowl Series, that was between 3-seed Grossmont College against 3-seed Antelope Valley College.

• This is the most complex part of Japan's season: They have an asymmetrical playoff where the tiny conferences have already finished their regular season and started playing each other; the big conferences still have regular-season games, and those winners will dutifully crush those smaller champs (it's like D3 and D2 still have to play P2 teams). There's also parallel games in lower divisions of the 2 big conferences, non-participatory dental/medical school divisions, and the promotion-relegation games for conferences with multiple vertical divisions. It's confusing but I've got a grip on it now, and this week's JAFA Cobra Kai was not a playoff game.

• Pair of Ties: Not in the same division, this week we had the rare result of two divisions having the exact winning scores of 48-0 and then another pair with the seemingly more unlikely top-scores of 49-6! I'm not statistician but that seems very unlikely to occur in the same week.

• 🚨SHADY SCHOOL WATCH!🚨 No clown schools appeared on the list week. Every top-scoring Cobra Kai program played an NCAA, NAIA, or equivalent organization.

Week 11's biggest blowouts from each level, in order of margin of victory (ties are broken by points-allowed):

• [79] NAIA—#15 Friends, 79-0 over Saint Mary (KS)

• [75] D3—#17 Trinity (TX), 82-7 over Rhodes

• [66] FBS—Washington State, 73-7 over Colorado State

• [60] D2—#2 Harding, 70-10 over Arkansas Tech

• [48] FCS—#8 Stephen F. Austin, 48-0 over UTRGV

• [48] JAFA🇯🇵—Rissho (立正), 48-0 over Meisei (明星)

• [43] 3C2A—Antelope Valley, 49-6% over Grossmont

• [43] ONEFA🇲🇽—Águilas UACH, 49-6 over Tecos UAG

• [13] USports🇨🇦—Saint Mary's (NS), 28-15% over StFX

• [N/A] NJCAA—NO GAMES THIS WEEK

% Playoff or postseason game

[Fun fact: you can see all of the flairs of these teams by viewing this post in "Old" mode on a web browser, including mobile browsers, but not the totally neutered experience on the Reddit App which is optimized for ads not people.]

Past weeks winners:

Note: Rankings from time of game. Some divisions and conferences start later. ACSL🇦🇹, BUCS🇬🇧 and College Football Finland🇫🇮 do not play in Fall.

[season leader possesses the 🏆]

• Week 0: [87] FCS SC State, 87-0 over Savannah St

• Week 1: [77] JAFA🇯🇵—Hiroshima (広島), 83-6 over TUS Yamaguchi (山口東京理科)

• Week 2: [89] 3C2A—San Bernardino Valley, 89-0 over Compton

• Week 3: [🏆96] D2—Grand Valley State, 96-0* over Judson

• Week 4: [82] NJCAA—College of DuPage, 82-0 over Minnesota North-Vermilion

• Week 5: [90] NAIA—#3 Indiana Wesleyan, 90-0 over Judson

• Week 6: [72] NJCAA—Hutchinson, 72-0 over Independence

• Week 7: [75] ONEFA🇲🇽—Borregos TEC PUE, 75-0 over Leones UAC

• Week 8: [86] D3—#7 Endicott, 86-0 over Nichols

• Week 9: [80] 3C2A—San Mateo, 80-0 over De Anza

• Week 10: [86] D3—#7 Endicott, 93-7 over New England College

• Week 11: [79] NAIA—#15 Friends, 79-0 over Saint Mary (KS)

"🤡" signifies teams that should not be countable as they are not members of NCAA, NAIA, or equivalent organization, and/or are operating at the edges of bona fide college football programs.

Another week in the books, remember to Reach Out and Crush Someone!™ 💪😤🏈

I like to do this every week to see where the pulse of the CFB fandom is.

I put the teams in a pod and you tell me where the national champion comes from.

11/15/2026

Pod A: Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame, Texas, Miami, Indiana

Pod B: Utah, UCLA, Tennessee, BYU, Texas Tech, Wake Forest, Iowa, Oregon, USC, Kentucky, Ohio State, Boise State, Liberty, Louisiana Tech

Pod C: The remaining 118 FBS teams

I truly thought in that Kiffin offense he would b e a Heisman contender. Instead he’s a turnover waiting to happen: god awful pocket prescene and cannot read the field past his first read. He single handedly ( along with some awful special teams ) cost LSU a signature win vs a top 10 Texas team that would’ve kept their playoff hopes alive. I don’t see how LSU can bring him back another year. The money he’ll most likely demand isn’t worth a QB who is untrustworthy in his decision making.

Here's what it would take:

• Alabama defeats Chattanooga and Auburn

• Tennessee defeats LSU and Vanderbilt

• Texas loses to either Arkansas or Texas A&M

This puts Tennessee in the SEC title game against Georgia.

• Tennessee defeats Georgia

• Utah loses to either TCU, WVU, or in the BigXII title game

• UCLA loses to either Michigan, USC, or in the Big Ten title game.

In this case, the #1 spot comes down to Alabama or Tennessee. Notre Dame and Miami aren't jumping Alabama or an SEC champion Tennessee.

Now comes the interesting part. By this point, South Carolina would have already lost to Georgia, LSU would have lost to Tennessee, and Auburn would have lost to Alabama.

Meaning all it would take is Kentucky losing to Missouri to put them on the fringe of the Top 25. Losing to Louisville as well would guarantee that Kentucky finishes unranked.

In which case, it is plausible that Alabama finishes #1 in the college football rankings without a single win over a ranked team.

by Joe Smith

MORGANTOWN, W.VA – Who says you can’t go home? Certainly not Kansas linebacker Trey Lathan.

Lathan, who played for West Virginia from 2022-2024, transferred to Kansas after Neal Brown was fired nearly two years ago, and ended up in Lawrence with the Jayhawks. On Saturday, he returned to Milan Puskar Stadium for the first time since, leading a Kansas team that must win out to achieve bowl eligibility. And by the end of the night, it felt like old times for Lathan.

He finished second on his team with eight tackles and also added an interception, hearing his name called over the PA system at Milan Puskar Stadium all night long. He was a centerpiece of a Kansas team that stifled West Virginia, securing a 37-14 win – and he closed the night singing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as he had so many times before. But this time, it was in the visitor’s locker room.

“It was a great feeling,” Lathan said. “Walking back into my old stomping grounds and just taking it all in, where I started my career. I was just happy to be back. It's amazing. You go out there, walk into somebody’s house, and take it over, it's a different type of feeling.”

Lathan’s effort helped anchor a defense that was the true story of the game, as they managed to do something no other team has really achieved – they shut down West Virginia quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. and running back Cam Cook, and held their high-octane offense in check all night.

West Virginia entered averaging 37.2 points, 263.6 rushing yards, and 480.8 offensive yards per game – they were 17th nationally in scoring offense, 10th nationally in total offense, and sixth nationally in rushing offense. But the Mountaineers finished with an abysmal 35 rushing yards, managing just 262 total offensive yards and 14 points on the night.

“They did a different scheme than what they had shown,” West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez said. “It's not something we haven't seen as coaches. It was a completely different deal than what they had done before... but, after the first couple of series, we knew it.”

So what was the special scheme the Jayhawks threw at the Mountaineers? It turns out, it might not have been that special at all. Rodriguez didn’t divulge exactly what threw West Virginia off about what Kansas ran defensively, but both Lathan and Kansas head coach Lance Leipold gave a pretty straightforward assessment of what they did to stop their opponent.

"Our game plan was just to set by the edges,” Lathan said. “They try to outrun the perimeter, they just try to outrun everybody on the perimeter. So we had a game plan of just setting by the edges and keeping everything contained, and that's what we did."

"We got some pressure on the ends, and we didn't ever really let them get into a rhythm,” Leipold said. “To contain Hawkins and Cook is a really impressive day for our defense."

Offensively for Kansas, it was more of the same you see from any team that has faced a West Virginia defense which entered ranked dead last in FBS in pass defense and next-to-last in FBS in total defense. 

Quarterback Isaiah Marshall led the Jayhawks, going 15-for-18 for 152 yards through the air while adding 164 rushing yards and one touchdown with his legs. In total, Kansas tallied 448 yards of total offense, including 296 rushing yards.

"Watching film, we knew they were going to drop eight into coverage and force me to throw something into a tight window,” Marshall said. “It was just trying to use my legs, and we had a lot of QB options that helped a lot."

It was a massive win for the Jayhawks, who were feeling pressure on the program after a 3-6 start to the season. But three of those six losses have come by one touchdown or less, and there’s a world where Kansas could easily be 7-3 right now. Alas, they are just 4-6 after the West Virginia win.

But for the time being, Leipold still has his team bought in, and bowl eligibility is still on the table if Kansas can win out against BYU and Oklahoma State – which would be a major step back in the right direction after missing the postseason last year.

"It means a ton. I'm so proud of their work ethic, their character, and how they approached some tough times and stuck together. It pays off. You just don't know when,” Leipold said.

"It's tough with the last two losses especially. We have great leadership and understanding, and our guys know if there's a chance for bowl eligibility we got to win out and do some things. You've got to be able to pull your end of the rope...the way they responded has been really impressive."

For West Virginia, they drop to 5-5 with the loss, and with their final two opponents on the schedule being Houston and Utah, there is a good chance they could drop their final four games of the season and miss bowl eligibility for the second straight season, which would be the first time the program missed a bowl in back-to-back years since 1991-1992.

After the game, Rodriguez offered an apology to the fan base for the effort, and offered his belief that the coaching staff had “failed our program” with the loss.

“I apologize to our fanbase, to every West Virginia fan out there,” Rodriguez said. “I didn't see this coming. It was just embarrassing. I told the team it was as poorly coached as it could be. Offense poorly coached. Defense poorly coached. I thought we had a decent week. Give them credit. We got a lot of work to do.” 

But when asked about losses this year to teams with first-year coaches and teams that were at the bottom of the conference, like Kansas, he pushed back on the criticism. 

“I know what it takes to win. You can question that after tonight, but this is not my first rodeo. You can be critical. I'm a big boy. I can handle it. I know what the hell I'm doing. I know what I need to do to fix it. But I'm frustrated that I haven't fixed it a little bit more than I have so far, especially defense.”

I've been seeing it all morning that Wake needs to win the ACC to get in the CFP but who exactly is going to get in over them.

The only team that has an argument assuming everyone else wins out is going to be BYU. BYU does have one of the 2 or 3 best wins, but they put themselves in a bad position after losing to UCF in a letdown spot. If you want to argue Oregon/Iowa I do not see how that is possible when it appears neither team is going to end up in the BIG10 championship and Iowa is likely going to end the season in 5th place.

Also, who is to say that the same reasoning being used against Wake won't be used against Texas Tech. If Utah blows the doors off of Texas Tech and Wake has a close game vs Miami, why isn't it assumed Texas Tech is in the same danger?

A lot of football left, and Wake could end up being spoiled by Duke but just where I'm at with this now.

Edit: 11-1 prior to ACC championship.

Efficiency started being tracked in 2005. Since that time, Colorado State has the third worst Defensive efficiency ever, with only 2019 UMass and 2018 UConn rating lower than them.

They also have the 3rd largest gap between their offensive (#36) and defensive (#138) efficiency ever, rating only behind 2007 Navy (#3/#119) and 2023 LSU (#1/#106)

What are your feelings on it? Would you prefer your team actually miss out on it or is the title game important to you as a fan?

For those that don't know, Hawai'i had the ball on the final drive of the game down 8, and on fourth down the QB just ran out of bounds, didn't even try to make a play.

The critical context people are missing is the play before, everyone thought it was fourth down. The downs operator goofed and they went to a long video review and determined Hawai'i actually had another down, and brought everyone back out onto the field for another fourth down. The delay was 6 minutes and 45 seconds. That means Hawai'i had several minutes to discuss their final play, and the QB knew it was 4th down (no excuse to be had there).

The line was 7.5 and NDSU was up 8 at the time.

Is this going to be the next betting scandal?

here is the timestamped link to the play

Did anyone notice gaps in his coverage of the game last night? A couple of times, it seemed like he missed the play. One example was Utah's fumbled punt near the end of the game that AZ recovered. He mentioned the player got drilled, then stopped talking, seemingly forcing Klatt to bring up the turnover.