August is for arguing. September is for dreaming. October is for bargaining. November is for everything.
On November 1, 2008, Michael Crabtree and Texas Tech took down undefeated Texas.
On November 2, 1935, Ohio State played Notre Dame for the first time, in front of 81,000 at the Horseshoe in one of college football's first Games of the Century. (The Buckeyes lost, because it was 1935 and it was Notre Dame.)
On November 3, 1990, Scott Sisson and Georgia Tech knocked off No. 1 Virginia in Charlottesville.
On November 4, 2000, Northwestern took down Michigan, 54-51, in a game that legitimized the spread offense like few others could.
On November 5, 2011, LSU beat Alabama, 9-6, in a national title prequel.
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The things that happen in November are the things that we remember, the things that determine title races.
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On November 6, 2008, No. 10 Utah survived No. 11 TCU, 13-10, to pave the way for an undefeated season and Sugar Bowl win.
On November 7, 1998, Nick Saban and Michigan State did the same to one of the best Ohio State teams in Buckeye history, It pre-empted John Cooper's best shot at the national title. And because college football is symmetrical, Michigan State would do almost exactly the same thing to Urban Meyer's most talented Ohio State team 17 years and two weeks later. Meanwhile, on November 7, 2015, Hunter Henry's desperate lateral eliminated applied the death blow to Ole Miss' SEC chances and set the table for another national title for Saban's Alabama.
On November 8, 1980, Lindsay Scott ran.
On November 9, 2002, LSU beat Kentucky with a Bluegrass Miracle. Five years earlier, Nebraska beat Missouri with a Flea Kicker.
On November 10, 2007, Juice Williams and Illinois upset Ohio State in Columbus and knocked the BCS title race on its ear. (Well, it was already on its ear that year. Knocked it on its other ear.)
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November gives you no bargaining period.
Your team is what it is, and there's not much of a way to change it at this point.
Clemson is a team with a shaky offensive line and unshakeable prowess in close games. The Tigers are an updated version of 2014 Florida State, complete with a wonderful, calm quarterback and enhanced with a hell of a defensive line.
Alabama is an unquestionably dominant team, as physical as ever and replete with an extra gear of speed. When Nick Saban famously asked, "Is this what we want football to be?" a few years ago, he was simply asking for confirmation. He has dominated that version of football, too. However ...
... Alabama is also a team hoping to survive up to seven more games with a true freshman quarterback who still makes the occasional true freshman mistake. Jalen Hurts has been everything he needed to be so far. But can he keep it up?
LSU is a team that blew it in September. The Tigers couldn't get Leonard Fournette healthy and couldn't get out of their way in losses to Wisconsin and Auburn. And they didn't get a chance to rally with Les Miles. But since Miles' firing, they've looked like they were supposed to look, and in November, they could make life hell for the favorites of both the SEC West (Alabama) and SEC East (Florida). And hell, with enough chaos, they could perhaps sneak back into the title race themselves.
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On November 11, 2006, Florida's national title bid survived a visit from Steve Spurrier and South Carolina, 17-16, on a blocked field goal at the buzzer.
On November 12, 1983, No. 6 Miami survived Florida State, 17-16, to set the table for a championship upset of Nebraska.
On November 13, 1993, No. 2 Notre Dame beat No. 1 Florida State, 31-24, clearing the path for a title shot that would be mortally wounded seven days later.
On November 14, 1998, Arkansas' Clint Stoerner left the ball on the ground against Tennessee, and Kansas State beat Nebraska for the first time in 29 years.
On November 15, 2007, No. 2 Oregon's Dennis Dixon went down against Arizona, and his leg wouldn't let him get back up.
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November is a grind.
The Playoff committee will make its initial proclamation on Tuesday. We know undefeated Alabama, Michigan, Clemson, and Washington will be at or near the top. We will be paying close attention to which of three one-loss teams (Louisville, Ohio State, or Texas A&M) comes in fifth. And we will search for darkhorses. Florida, perhaps, with its mediocre-as-ever offense and dominant-as-ever defense? Two-loss Auburn or LSU, both of whom still get shots at Bama? Wisconsin, with marquee wins and two acceptable, competitive losses?
We will then watch the battle royale. Bama takes on LSU and Auburn. Ohio State hosts Michigan, but not before a visit to a Michigan State team that has wrecked its plans a time or two; the Ohio State-Michigan winner might get Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game. Clemson is mostly in the clear but will probably get either a feisty Virginia Tech or efficient North Carolina in the ACC title game.
We've spent the first nine weeks of the year positioning ourselves. Now it begins.
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On November 16, 1991, Florida State went wide right against Miami for the first time.
On November 17, 2007, Indiana beat Purdue and clinched a bowl bid in honor of fallen head coach Terry Hoeppner.
On November 18, 2011, Iowa State beat undefeated Oklahoma State by the width of a goalpost.
On November 19, 2011, Baylor's Robert Griffin III locked up the Heisman against Oklahoma.
On November 20, 1993, BC's David Gordon knocked a 41-yarder between the uprights to take down No. 1 Notre Dame and give Florida State's Bobby Bowden a shot at his long-sought first national title.
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November is renewal.
Michigan's defense collapsed after a couple of injuries and a gut-wrenching loss to Michigan State last year. The Wolverines beat State this time around but have shown a couple of vulnerabilities nonetheless. Can they continue their defensive dominance this time?
Washington had lost 12 in a row to Oregon and seven of eight to Stanford but beat the two by a combined 114-27 earlier this year. The Huskies enter November in the top 10 for the first time in 16 years. Colorado enters with a half-game lead in the Pac-12 South; Mike Macintyre's 6-2 Buffaloes are in the middle of an out-of-nowhere dream season and are in their first division title race in 11 years. These two programs had shares of national titles about 25 years ago, and both fanbases have been waiting a long time for a November like this.
Gus Malzahn was supposed to be fired by now, especially after a 1-2 start. Instead, his resilient Auburn Tigers played like one of the best teams in the country in October and, at 6-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play, still have quite a few goals on the table. The Iron Bowl could be quite a bit bigger than we anticipated.
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On November 21, 1987, No. 2 Oklahoma knocked off No. 1 Nebraska in Lincoln to set up an Orange Bowl date with Miami for the national title.
On November 22, 1969, Michigan upset undefeated Ohio State, and Woody Hayes former pupil (Bo Schembechler) became his closest peer.
On November 23, 1984, Doug Flutie Doug Flutie'd Miami.
On November 24, 2007, Missouri beat Kansas in the biggest game in the history of either school.
On November 25, 1971, Nebraska beat Oklahoma in what many still claim is the greatest game in the sport's history.
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November is cruelty.
Injuries in November don't mean you miss part of the season. They mean you miss the rest of the season. And losses are eliminators.
Duke running back Jela Duncan saw his career end when he ruptured his Achilles celebrating a touchdown. He finishes with 2,025 career rushing yards and about five fewer games than he expected. Missouri's Michael Scherer, fighting desperately to keep a once-proud defense afloat, tore his ACL and MCL four plays into the Middle Tennessee game on October 22, then watched MTSU ruthlessly exploit the hole he left in the lineup. His career ends with 266 career tackles and five or six fewer games than he expected.
Florida State's Nate Andrews ... Nevada's Tyler Stewart ... North Carolina's Mack Hollins ... Tennessee's Jalen Reeves-Maybin ... so many others whose college careers came to a preemptive end. Season-ending injuries are always awful; at this time of the year, there's an extra twist of the knife.
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On November 26, 2010, Cam Newton and Auburn came back in Tuscaloosa, while the best Boise State team ever missed two chip-shot field goals and lost to the best Nevada team ever.
On November 27, 2015, Baylor and TCU finally got their rematch 14 months after an all-time classic. Only, both teams were defeated by a deluge of rain.
On November 28, 2014, Stanford eliminated Notre Dame from the College Football Playoff race with a last-second field goal at the end of a spectacular 60 minutes.
On November 29, 2014, Ohio State's J.T. Barrett broke his leg in the fourth quarter against Michigan. The Buckeyes survived, and a week later, romped Wisconsin with backup QB Cardale Jones to make the Playoff.
On November 30, 2013, "The Kick Six" became part of the college football lexicon.
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We spend the first 10 months of the year talking about what might happen in the college football season. We spend November watching what happens.
College football is at its best and worst in November. October was wild, cruel, and exhilarating. And now come four November Saturdays. Buckle up.