Week 10 got off to a slow start, but things quickly snowballed in the Big 12 and ACC to completely shake up the College Football Playoff picture. Seven ranked teams ultimately fell by the final whistle, leaving only five undefeateds in the FBS ranks.
Perhaps the biggest shockwaves were felt in the Big 12, where two of the top three contenders — Iowa State and Kansas State — fell to unranked opponents. Clemson also lost a shocker against Louisville and SMU crushed Pittsburgh to take control of the ACC championship race.
Elsewhere, No. 3 Penn State lost its 10th game to Ohio State in 11 tries as the Nittany Lions again proved to be a step behind top contenders. Auburn coach Hugh Freeze lost to a familiar foe to really put himself behind the 8-ball in the Tigers’ rebuild. Nebraska failed to get bowl eligible for yet another week, and now could be at risk of missing out on the postseason again.
Here are the biggest winners and losers of Week 10, including conference championship contenders dropping like flies.
Winner: SMU
Welcome to the CFP race, Mustangs. SMU played perhaps the biggest game in the history of Gerald Ford Stadium, hosting undefeated Pittsburgh under the lights. The Mustangs responded with a wholesale 48-25 shellacking of Pitt that wasn’t as close as the final score. The Mustangs took a 23-3 lead early in the third quarter and never looked back to move to 5-0 in ACC play.
Perhaps just as importantly for SMU, Clemson lost a shocker against Louisville to pick up its first ACC loss, which leaves the Mustangs tied for first place in the ACC with Miami. SMU has games against Boston College, Virginia and California remaining — and the Mustangs should be betting favorites in all of them. SMU has a chance to complete the most successful transition to power conference football in history.
Loser: Texas A&M
The Aggies were in control of their destiny. They sat in sole possession of first place in the SEC standings. Even with a loss against Texas, Texas A&M was a likely entrant to the College Football Playoff. It took one horrendous road trip to Columbia, South Carolina for everything to go wrong in a 44-20 loss.
South Carolina took advantage of every opportunity, converting three short fields into points and crushing the Aggies up front with 286 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. The powerful Texas A&M front looked lost against what’s frankly a lesser offense than it faced a week ago in LSU. Now, the matchup against Texas becomes a must-win for the Aggies to stay alive in the playoff race and reach 10 wins for the first time since 2012.
Winner: Iowa
Iowa won’t break offensive records anytime soon, but the Hawkeyes are pretty dang serious behind new offensive coordinator Tim Lester. Iowa crushed Wisconsin 42-10 — the most points the Hawkeyes have scored against the Badgers since 1975. Running back Kaleb Johnson is a serious All-America contender with 135 yards and three touchdowns, while running quarterback Brendan Sullivan has helped open up Hawkeyes attack. Iowa tasked its previous offensive coordinator with scoring 25 points per game to save his job. With much of the same personnel, Lester has the Hawkeyes sitting at nearly 31 points per game.
Loser: Nebraska
I don’t believe in curses, but is Nebraska cursed? The Cornhuskers have the longest bowl drought in the power conferences and have not made the postseason since 2016. After starting the season 5-1, a bowl seemed almost certain. After a shocking 27-20 loss to UCLA, the chances are slipping through Nebraska’s clutches.
The Bruins were only 2-5 heading into the matchup and Nebraska was 7.5-point favorites. After a pick-six by freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, the Cornhuskers trailed 20-7 one drive into the second half. From here, Nebraska has to beat one of USC, Wisconsin or Iowa just to make a bowl game. All three are rated far higher than the Bruins.
Nebraska has the talent to punch up. Frankly, they just have to do it at this point.
Winner: QB Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt
Has there ever been a coach so individually and specifically tortured by a specific player as Hugh Freeze by Diego Pavia? For the third straight season, a Pavia-quarterbacked team played a Freeze-coached team. Amazingly, all three featured different matchups (Liberty vs. New Mexico State, New Mexico State vs. Auburn, Auburn vs. Vanderbilt). Not only is Pavia 3-0 against the Auburn coach, he has absolutely embarrassed Freeze each time.
Pavia played all three games on the road and was a touchdown underdog each time. It didn’t matter. Pavia’s teams outscored Freeze’s by a combined 97-31. Pavia scored 11 touchdowns with zero interceptions in the three games.
By the way, Vanderbilt had never beaten Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium before today. The Commodores have now beaten Alabama and Auburn in the same season for the first time since 1955. Pavia is on his way to becoming a college football folk hero. In Auburn, Alabama, though, he might become a perpetual bogeyman.
Loser: The Big 12
The Big 12 was in a shockingly strong position heading into November with two undefeateds and a one-loss team all in strong contention for the College Football Playoff. After Week 10, the dream of a two-bid Big 12 is probably off the table.
No. 11 Iowa State played with fire a week ago against UCF, and it finally burned them in a 23-22 heartbreaker against Texas Tech. The Cyclones outgained Texas Tech by nearly 70 yards, but two turnovers and poor efficiency on third down ultimately doomed them. Less than an hour later, No. 17 Kansas State lost a 24-19 shocker against Houston.
While the losses are significant for each team’s Big 12 title chances, the implications will span past this week. Now, BYU is the only undefeated team left in the conference. More significantly, any team that loses to the Cougars in the Big 12 title game would have at least two losses. There’s still a narrow path two getting two teams in (it involves an upset in the Big 12 title game), but it’s not nearly as straightforward as it was before Saturday’s games.
Winner: Ole Miss
After a messy couple of weeks, it was good to see Ole Miss shake off some rust and put an opponent through a table. Quarterback Jaxson Dart became the first quarterback in program history to throw for 500 yards and six touchdowns as the Rebels obliterated Arkansas 63-31 to move to 7-2 and stay alive in the playoff race heading into a monstrous battle against No. 2 Georgia. Despite missing receiver Tre Harris and losing running back Henry Parrish Jr., the Rebels nearly reached 700 total yards and hit an absurd 16.5 yards per pass attempt. Ole Miss complicated its CFP case by dropping a clunker against Kentucky, but a home win over the Bulldogs next week can change fortunes.
Loser: Penn State receivers
Penn State has put together some of the best recruiting classes in the country and stacked talent at almost every position. But in a a 20-13 loss to No. 4 Ohio State, the gap at wide receiver could not have been more stark. The Nittany Lions completed only three total passes to wide receivers for 49 yards, a brutal total for the No. 3 team in the country. Quarterback Drew Allar wasn’t awesome, but played well enough to win. Outside of tight end Tyler Warren, he got no help.
Granted, Ohio State is the opposite extreme with its embarrassment of riches, but receivers are more important today than ever. Ohio State struggled in several aspects of the game, but got key plays in the red zone from Brandon Inniss and Emeka Egbuka to score. Penn State simply won’t be able to compete at the highest level until it upgrades its receiver room in a major way.
Winner: Minnesota
Don’t look now but the Golden Gophers are quietly putting together a solid season. Minnesota came back from a fourth quarter deficit to shock No. 24 Illinois behind a go-ahead touchdown from quarterback Max Brosmer to Jameson Geers. The win was a fourth straight for Minnesota after victories over USC, UCLA and Maryland. Outside of a 17-point loss to Iowa earlier this season, the Gophers’ other two defeats came by a combined five points. PJ Fleck is quietly putting together one of his best coaching jobs.
Loser: Memphis
The Tigers had a chance to solidify their path to an AAC Championship Game by beating a struggling UTSA team. Instead, a series of poor performances finally ended in a loss. The Tigers lost a stunner 44-36 against the Roadrunners as Memphis turned the ball over twice and gave up more than 400 yards. UTSA quarterback Owen McCown threw for 280 yards and four touchdowns in his 10th career start. Memphis headed into a culmination year behind senior quarterback Seth Henigan and senior running back Mario Anderson Jr. Now, any chance of contending for the first ever CFP slot is gone.
