College football Week 10 roundup with the 5 things that matter, winners and losers, overrated and underrated parts of the weekend, and what it all means.
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College Football Week 10 Roundup
Rankings AP | Coaches | CFN 1-127 Rankings
Playoff Chase | Week 11 Early Lines
Bowl Projections | Week 10 Scoreboard
20 Most Important College Football Thoughts Ever
5. Winners & Losers From Week 10
– Clemson vs. Notre Dame: One Really Big Thing
– BYU vs. Boise State: Most Overrated Thing
– Florida vs. Georgia: Most Underrated Thing
– The big-team losses: What It All Means, Week 10
Winner: QB Michael Penix Jr., Indiana
The star recruit is getting his chance to shine after a few injury issues, and he’s coming up huge. The comeback win over Penn State was nice, but over the last two games against Rutgers and Michigan, he has thrown for 588 and six touchdowns without an interception.
Loser: Michigan running game
The University of Michigan – home of the self-proclaimed Leaders and Best – ran 18 times against Indiana for a grand total of 13 yards in the 38-21 loss. It was the only time the program has been held to under 30 yards rushing since coming up with 28 yards in a loss to Michigan State back on October 3rd, 2009.
Winner: QB Kyle Trask, Florida
With his 30-of-43, 474-yard, four-touchdown day in the 44-28 win over Georgia, Trask has become the first quarterback in SEC history with five straight games with four touchdown passes or more.
On the year, he has thrown for 1,815 yards with 22 touchdowns and three interceptions. Last year after five games, Joe Burrow had thrown for 1,864 yards with 23 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Loser: Georgia pass defense in big games
The secondary was without star defensive back Richard LeCounte after a frightening accident, but it was still supposed to be better than it showed against Florida. The Dawgs allowed 474 yards and four touchdowns through the air. Two games earlier against Alabama, they gave up 417 yards and four touchdowns.
Winner: RB Breece Hall, Iowa State
With his 133 yards in the 38-31 win over Baylor, Hall has hit the 1,000-yard mark seven games into the season. It was his seventh 100-yard day in seven games, and he ran for multiple scores for the fifth time.
Loser: Oklahoma State passing game
The offense was supposed to be a high-flying fun show, but quarterback injuries and inconsistencies have been the issue. The Cowboys threw for 400 yards in the loss to Texas, but last week, Spencer Sanders threw for for 108 yards and no scores in the win over Kansas State. Just a few years ago, the 2017 OSU team led the Big 12 in passing. At the moment it’s seventh.
Winner: QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA
Now a veteran in the Chip Kelly system, he only hit half of his throws in the 48-42 loss to Colorado, but they went for 303 yards and four scores with an interception, and he ld the team with 109 rushing yards and a score. However …
Loser: UCLA in season-openers
With this loss, UCLA is 7-18 so far under Kelly. It’s the third year in a row the Bruins have lost their season-opener, and it’s the fourth time in the last five seasons.
– Clemson vs. Notre Dame: One Really Big Thing
– BYU vs. Boise State: Most Overrated Thing
– Florida vs. Georgia: Most Underrated Thing
– The big-team losses: What It All Means, Week 10
NEXT: The really big thing was …
4. The Really Big Thing Was …
Notre Dame beating Clemson just opened the door.
The Clemson defense was banged up, but that had nothing to do with Tiger RB Travis Etienne getting stuffed for 28 yards on the ground for a rushing attack that finished with 34 yards on 33 carries.
Travis Lawrence was out, but DJ Uiagalelei threw for 439 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, and he ran for a score.
Notre Dame earned this win, it proved it belonged in the four-best team conversation, and now the expectations have been pushed to national championship levels.
The Fighting Irish proved they really could beat anyone this year.
But Clemson really was banged up, and as good as Uiagalelei is, it was his second start and Lawrence had been through all the college football wars before. That all might have been enough to have pulled out a game that went into double overtime.
The assumption is that this was the first of two meetings, with both teams likely to play each other again in the ACC Championship. However …
Miami doesn’t play Notre Dame. It lost to Clemson, and if it wins out, and the Tigers lose another game, it’s Catholics vs. Canes for the ACC title.
Clemson still has to go to Florida State and play Pitt, and even though Liberty pulled off the win in Blacksburg this last weekend, going to Virginia Tech is going to be a fight.
It’s not like it’s official in a College Football Playoff world based on judges, but with one more loss, Clemson is almost certainly out.
With this win, the Irish can afford a loss along the way and still be fine in the playoff hunt, but they’d have to win the rematch against Clemson, or finish as the ACC Champion and have just that one defeat. However, with three of the final four games on the road, and Boston College, North Carolina and Wake Forest all dangerous, getting through cleanly isn’t going to be easy.
Lose once, and then the ACC Championship is a must win. Win the last four games and get into the title game 11-0, and a close loss to Clemson should still be enough to get in.
– Week 10 Winners & Losers
– BYU vs. Boise State: Most Overrated Thing
– Florida vs. Georgia: Most Underrated Thing
– The big-team losses: What It All Means, Week 10
NEXT: The most overrated thing was …
3. The Most Overrated Thing Was …
BYU beating Boise State – at least in terms of the College Football Playoff discussion.
It was BYU’s one big shot to make one big statement- and it did that.
However, that’s it. That’s about it for the big moments against an okay schedule, and it probably wasn’t enough.
The BYU athletic department deserves all the credit in the world for merely putting together a decent football schedule as an independent during a pandemic, and it’s certainly not the program’s fault that everything went haywire.
The school doesn’t duck teams – it would’ve loved come up with a slate full of big-names. It was supposed to start the season at Utah, and play Michigan State, and then go to Arizona State, and then play at Minnesota, and later it was going to host Missouri.
It would’ve been fascinating to have seen what this Cougar team could’ve done against five Power Fivers, but, instead, playing Boise State will have to do.
Because BYU can’t catch a break when it comes to properly showcasing how good it is, Boise State was without starting QB Hank Bachmeier and RB George Holani, and backup QB Jack Sears was knocked out of the game early on. They don’t play defense, and they might not have made a 34-point difference, but it’s still a factor.
So yeah, the 51-17 win was a total wipeout, it was enough to get the Cougars into the top ten, but …
There’s still likely a hard ceiling on how high the team can go.
There aren’t going to be any Power Five wins – again, totally not BYU’s fault – and the rest of the slate just isn’t that great. However, with North Alabama and San Diego State the only games left, 10-0 is possible and a New Year’s Six bowl slot is almost assured.
At the very least, BYU will be discussed in the room in Grapevine, Texas starting in late November.
– Week 10 Winners & Losers
– Clemson vs. Notre Dame: One Really Big Thing
– Florida vs. Georgia: Most Underrated Thing
– The big-team losses: What It All Means, Week 10
NEXT: The most underrated thing was …
2. The Most Underrated Thing Was …
Florida’s win over Georgia was sort of a College Football Playoff-caliber moment.
USC’s win over Arizona State – complete with an unbelievable ending with the Trojans scoring twice and helped by an onside kick in the final few minutes – was even more underrated since that was a big, big, big thing for the Pac-12, but the formerly-known-as-the-Cocktail-Party had more big picture implications.
And why was the Gator win so underrated? 1) The entire planet was talking about the election being called for Joe Biden just a few hours before, and 2) the entire sports planet was talking about Clemson- Notre Dame just a few hours after.
The winner was going to control its own destiny. Now, Florida is in the College Football Playoff – not officially, but of course it’s in – if it get through Arkansas, at Vanderbilt, Kentucky, at Tennessee and LSU unscathed before winning the SEC Championship.
The other massive part to that puzzle is that Georgia didn’t win.
Florida’s victory now elevates Texas A&M, who beat the Gators a few weeks ago and whose only loss is to Alabama. Now, if Alabama wins out, or even if Florida wins out, a reasonable argument could be made that the Aggies belong in the CFP if they go 9-1.
The SEC race isn’t close to over, and the Gator defense has shown enough holes to keep fans up at night against anyone left on the slate other than Vanderbilt, it’s going to take something crazy for it not to be Bama-Florida for the conference title.
– Week 10 Winners & Losers
– Clemson vs. Notre Dame: One Really Big Thing
– BYU vs. Boise State: Most Overrated Thing
– The big-team losses: What It All Means, Week 10
NEXT: What It All Means: Week 10
1. What It All Means: Week 10
It was a bad weekend and it’s been a bad start for a whole lot of programs with a whole lot of big names.
Let’s put it this way. Cincinnati, BYU and Indiana are all ranked in the top ten. Marshall and Coastal Carolina are both in the top 17 in both polls, SMUm Northwestern and Liberty are each ranked in the top 23, and Louisiana and Army are both ranked.
That means something has gone haywire with a whole lot of big-time programs.
Where’s Michigan? 1-2 after getting rocked by Indiana, losing to the Hoosiers for the first time since 1987.
Where’s Penn State? 0-3 for the first time since 2001 after getting dominated by Maryland.
Isn’t this the year Nebraska was going to be good at college football again? 0-2, and it just lost to Nebraska.
Tennessee got rolled by Arkansas in the third quarter in yet another rough loss for the program. Worst of all for what’s supposed to be a superpower, that seemed like just another day when Tennessee lost a football game.
I’m old enough to remember when Florida State won the national title in the final BCS game, and went to the College Football Playoff the following year. Pitt 41, Florida State 17.
Rankings AP | Coaches | CFN 1-127 Rankings
Playoff Chase | Week 11 Early Lines
Bowl Projections | Week 10 Scoreboard, Predictions
20 Most Important College Football Thoughts Ever
Clemson lost. Georgia lost. Both of the defeats were more than acceptable – to Notre Dame and Florida, respectively – but those were two more powerhouses who had rough weekends.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin can’t even get back on the field, LSU is way off the national title grid, and the entire Big 12 – now realistically out of any playoff contention – is playing just for the fun of it.
So why is this happening?
Weird practice schedules, a bizarre offseason, and for most, merely being taken out of the rhythm is a problem, but that’s an excuse.
Some teams are getting through this, they’re in better shape, they’re catching the breaks, and they’re just plain playing better than some of the bigger-time football schools.
Enjoy how bizarre this all is, and enjoy that a whole lot of fan bases who never get their shot at the spotlight get to have some fun.
Merely saying something is 2020 is overused, but …
Cincinnati, Indiana, Liberty, Coastal Carolina, Louisiana, SMU and Marshall are ranked.
LSU, Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska, Tennessee and Florida State – just a few national titles between them over the last 30 years – aren’t.
– Week 10 Winners & Losers
– Clemson vs. Notre Dame: One Really Big Thing
– BYU vs. Boise State: Most Overrated Thing
– Florida vs. Georgia: Most Underrated Thing
