In the final weekend before the first College Football Playoff rankings are unveiled Tuesday, one SEC team written off earlier this season surged back into the thick of the chase, a Miami team once crystal-balled to the playoffs instead got Cristobal-ed again, two of the remaining unbeaten teams in the country lost, conference races tightened and the Heisman Trophy conversation continues to evolve.
We break it all down in our top 10 takeaways from Week 10 of the college football season.
RELATED: Breaking Down The Week 11 AP Top 25 Poll | College Football Week 10 Game Balls: Top 10 Individual Performances | Breaking Down The College Football Playoff Hopefuls Ahead Of Tuesday CFP Rankings Release
1. Welcome Back Texas And Arch Manning
What a journey it’s been for the Longhorns already, from preseason No. 1 to out of the rankings entirely, and then the Arch Manning redemption story and Texas surging back up the polls and squarely back into the College Football Playoff discussion.
For now! That could all change again when the Longhorns go on the road to No. 5 Georgia after their bye this week.
But give credit where credit is due to coach Steve Sarkisian and to Manning for not letting the first-half-of-the-season struggles define the overall narrative for this team.
Texas was 3-2 after its loss at Florida when it tumbled completely out of the AP top 25 poll, and it’s been a hard team to size up since then, honestly. A dominant 23-6 win over then-No. 6 Oklahoma put things back on track for the Longhorns, but then they needed overtime to beat a bad Kentucky team (16-13) and overtime again to squeak past Mississippi State (45-38).
Then this past Saturday, Texas looked elite again (for three quarters, that is), jumping out to a 24-point lead entering the fourth quarter against then-No. 9 Vanderbilt before narrowly hanging on for a 34-31 win after surviving a wild onside kick in the final minute.
Is this team good? Is it great? Does it lean on its defense? Or is it dependent on Manning’s arm to lead the way?
Who knows!
What Texas is, for sure, is 7-2 overall, 4-1 in the SEC and still in the race there, back to No. 13 in the AP rankings and fully in control of its CFP hopes that will hinge on two big SEC showdowns. The Longhorns play at No. 5 Georgia and home vs No. 3 Texas A&M in the regular-season finale (with Arkansas at home in between).
If they win out, they are obviously in the playoffs. If they lose any of those next three games, they are almost surely out. But what if they reach the SEC championship game and lose there? No three-loss team earned an at-large invitation to the CFP last year.
One game at a time, though. As long a Texas gets this version of Manning — 25-of-33 passing for 328 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions vs. Vandy (after 346 passing yards and 4 combined passing/rushing TDs vs. Mississippi State) — all of its season goals remain within reach.
2. Another Late-Season Letdown For Mario Cristobal
The stat has been all over social media and follow-up coverage from then-No. 10 Miami’s 26-20 overtime loss at unranked SMU on Saturday.
Coach Mario Cristobal is now 3-9 in the month of November in his four seasons with the Hurricanes (plus 0-2 after November).
There’s no denying that Cristobal is a good program-builder, a strong recruiter and an elite developer of talent in the trenches. But the knock has always been that he can’t get his best teams over the hump late in the season.
The evidence is overwhelming, frankly.
In Cristobal’s third season at Oregon, his Ducks were taking flight in 2019, off to a 9-1 start, ranked No. 6 and right in the mix for the four-team playoff. But not after they lost 31-28 on the road against an Arizona State team that was 5-5 entering the game. That said, Oregon did close strong, finishing 12-2 with a Rose Bowl win and No. 5 final ranking, but the loss to ASU left a big what-if.
In his final season with the Ducks in 2021, Oregon was 9-1, No. 3 in the rankings and in prime position for the still-four-team CFP. But then it lost twice in three games to Utah (ranked No. 23 in the regular-season meeting and No. 17 in Pac-12 championship game). More what-if’s.
Flash forward to Cristobal in Miami …
Last season, the Hurricanes started 9-0 led by future No. 1 NFL draft pick Cam Ward, were ranked No. 4 and just had to close out against three unranked opponents — Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Syracuse. Miami lost to the Yellow Jackets and Orange, missed the playoff and then lost the Pop-Tarts Bowl to Iowa State, which just sounds like a fitting encapsulation of the collapse.
And now this.
Miami was No. 2 in the AP poll before losing two of the last three games to Louisville and SMU (both unranked at the time, albeit both among the better teams in the ACC). The Hurricanes are now No. 18 with no clear path to the ACC championship game, fading hopes for the playoffs and yet more laments about what could have been.
3. Four Remaining Unbeatens
Two more fell from the ranks of the unbeaten on Saturday, as NC State stunned Georgia Tech, 48-36, dealing the Yellow Jackets’ a costly loss as they tumbled from No. 8 in the AP poll to No. 16.
And North Texas gave Navy its first loss, 31-17, to make the AAC race even more congested at the top.
That leaves just four remaining undefeated teams — No. 1 Ohio State (8-0), which won 38-14 over Penn State; No. 2 Indiana (9-0), which won 55-10 at Maryland; No. 3 Texas A&M (8-0), which was on bye; and No. 8 BYU (8-0), which was also on bye.
The Buckeyes and Hoosiers have a great chance of being 12-0 heading into what would be an incredible Big Ten championship game matchup.
Ohio State closes at Purdue, home vs. UCLA and Rutgers and then at No. 21 Michigan. That last one obviously is a hurdle — the Wolverines have won the last four meetings in the storied rivalry series — but the Buckeyes look to be a much deeper and more dynamic team.
Indiana goes to Penn State, is home vs. Wisconsin and then at Purdue. And given how the Hoosiers seem to bring their max performance week after week, it’s hard to see any of those games even being close.
Texas A&M has a tougher path — at No. 19 Missouri, home vs. South Carolina and Samford, and then at No. 13 Texas.
The last FBS team to finish a season unbeaten was Michigan in its 2023 national championship campaign.
4. Indiana’s dominance
At some point, the doubters are just going to have to accept that No. 2 Indiana is for real.
The Hoosiers have played one game within single digits all season — a 20-15 win on the road at Iowa, which is not only one of the Big Ten’s better teams this season but also perennially a very hard place to play. Honestly, rallying from a three-point fourth quarter deficit and grinding out a game-winning touchdown drive in Iowa City might be as impressive as some of the blowout wins.
Even with that narrow win, Indiana’s overall average margin of victory is a ridiculous 35.7 points per game. It has won half its Big Ten games by 45 points or more, including 55-10 on the road at Maryland over the weekend.
And that’s with numerous early exits for Heisman Trophy candidate Fernando Mendoza, who mercifully departed the game Saturday with more than 14 minutes left in the fourth quarter after doing his part.
5. Speaking Of The Heisman Race
We’ll break this down further in our weekly Heisman tracker on Tuesday, but Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin continues to make a major push for college football’s top honor.
In fact, he took over the top spot this week, per BetMGM’s odds, as a +175 favorite, with Mendoza at +225 and Alabama QB Ty Simpson at +350.
Sayin’s efficiency is … literally unparalleled.
He’s completing 80.7 percent of his passes as a first-year starter — best in college football this year by 7.6 percent over Washington’s Demond Williams Jr. — and he seems to only be getting better.
Sayin has been over 85 percent in three of the last four games, including connecting on 20-of-23 passes (87%) for 316 yards, 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in the 38-14 win over Penn State on Saturday. In Big Ten play, he’s tossed 15 TDs and 0 INTs for the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes.
He’s a true sophomore eight games into his collegiate career. Special.
6. Best Wins Of Week 10 In College Football
In our opinion, the top five most impressive/significant/impactful wins over Week 10 were …
1. NC State, 48-36 over No. 8 Georgia Tech: Even with the win, NC State is just 5-4 and well out of the ACC race, but the Wolfpack have a talented sophomore quarterback in CJ Bailey to build around for the future so moments like this — taking down a top-10, undefeated opponent — are huge. Bailey completed 24-of-32 passes for 340 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs and rushed for a score.
2. No. 24 Utah, 45-14 over No. 17 Cincinnati: Utah had the ESPN “College GameDay” spotlight on campus Saturday and then delivered a statement win over a Bearcats team that had won seven straight games. With two Big 12 losses already (to conference favorites Texas Tech and BYU), it may be tough to find a way into the conference championship game and thus the CFP, but the Utes jumped seven spots to No. 17 in the AP poll with the dominant win. Dual-threat QB Devon Dampier passed for 213 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT and rushed for 7 yards in the win.
3. No. 20 Texas, 34-31 over No. 9 Vanderbilt: We touched on this one already so no need to go in-depth again, but the Longhorns saved their season (for now) with this win and vaulted seven spots in the rankings as a result.
4. No. 18 Oklahoma, 33-27 at No. 14 Tennessee: We made the point in our weekend preview that these teams should have been flipped in the rankings to begin with, and the Sooners backed that up with another ranked win that moved them up seven spots in the AP poll and kept their CFP hopes alive.
5. Duke, 46-45 at Clemson: Look, Clemson is having a majorly down year, we acknowledge, but Duke hadn’t won in Death Valley since 1980. And what many college football fans still don’t realize is that the Blue Devils have a chance to win the ACC. In fact, they are the betting favorite, per FanDuel, at +240 over Georgia Tech (+320), Louisville (+360) and Virginia (+390).
7. Worst Losses Of Week 10 In College Football
1. Tulane, losing 48-26 at UTSA: Is all the buzz about Tulane coach Jon Sumrall being a candidate for … every open job around college football becoming distracting? The Green Wave (now 6-2, 3-1) controlled its path to the AAC championship game and the CFP if it won out. Now, it’s one of six teams with one loss in AAC play duking it out for the Group of Five’s likely CFP berth, all because it didn’t just lose but got blown out by a UTSA team that was 3-4 entering the weekend.
2. No. 22 Houston, losing 45-35 at home to West Virginia: Houston had just played its way into the AP top 25 last week while getting to 7-1, only to take itself right back out while losing at home to one of the Big 12’s worst teams. West Virginia came into the weekend 2-6 overall and 0-5 in the Big 12. Yeesh.
3. No. 10 Miami, losing 26-20 in overtime at SMU: The Mustangs are a good team. They went to the CFP last year and were ranked earlier this season. It’s more so that the Hurricanes were No. 2 in the country just a few weeks ago and now look dead in the playoff hunt. And the way it ended only made it worse, with Carson Beck throwing a bad interception at the start of overtime as he’s gone from one-time top Heisman candidate to throwing six picks in his last three games.
4. Auburn, losing 10-3 at home to Kentucky: The Wildcats had lost 10 straight SEC games going back to last season and were clearly the worst team in the conference. Auburn had at least been competitive every week despite its meager record, and Hugh Freeze was coaching for his job. This was a heck of a way to go out for Freeze, who was fired the next day.
5. No. 17 Cincinnati, losing 45-14 at No. 24 Utah: Cincinnati was just starting to get some national respect after seven straight wins with its only other loss coming by three points to Nebraska in Week 1. But it got eviscerated in this one, falling down 24-7 in the first half and never recovering. The Bearcats aren’t out of the Big 12 race, officially, but this was a damning result.
8. The Most Vulnerable Top 10 Team Is …
No. 5 Georgia. That’s right.
If we’re being honest, and oh we are, outside of their 43-35 win over then-No. 5 Ole Miss a few weeks ago, the Bulldogs really haven’t been compellingly in command much at all this year.
They needed a missed Tennessee field goal at the end of regulation and then overtime to get past the Vols in Week 3, they lost at home to Alabama, who knows what would have happened against Auburn if not for the controversial fumble call at the goal line as the Tigers were about to go up 17-0 in the first half, and then they trailed Florida (with an interim head coach) by three points in the fourth quarter Saturday before winning 24-20.
And yet, Georgia is 7-1 overall, 5-1 in the SEC and does have a top-five win.
The Bulldogs aren’t safe yet, though. They go to Mississippi State this week, where the other Bulldogs have been a tough out all season even if the results don’t show it. Georgia then has No. 13 Texas at home and later No. 16 Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
Let’s not punch Georgia’s playoff ticket just yet.
9. What Are The AP Top 25 Voters Thinking?
There is only one three-loss team ranked in the AP poll, and it’s a baffling decision.
Tennessee (6-3) did drop nine spots to No. 23 with the home loss to Ole Miss, but why was it that high to begin with and why is it still ranked at all?
The Vols don’t have a single notable win, not one — Syracuse, ETSU, UAB, Mississippi State (in overtime), Arkansas (by 3 points) and Kentucky — and have lost all three of their games against ranked opponents. I mean, what are we missing here?
Tennessee seems to be ranked mostly based on … being good last year and reaching the CFP, opening the season ranked highly based on that 2024 success and losing in overtime to Georgia.
We’re not the only ones who think this doesn’t add up.
Former USC and NFL safety Su’a Cravens tweeted a conspiracy theory regarding the Vols’ continued residency in the top 25.
It’s not the craziest theory. Or the AP voters are just lazy and whiffed on this.
10. Shoutout To A New CFB Record
If you missed this news over the weekend, we’ll forgive you — that’s why we’re here!
Buffalo linebacker Red Murdock — what a college football name — now holds the all-time FBS record with 17 career forced fumbles, passing a former Buffalo legend no less. Khalil Mack set the record with 16 forced fumbles during his time with the Bulls.