College football is unpredictable and delightful, which is why we live for what happens on Saturdays. And Week 10 certainly delivered, from top-10 upsets in Austin and Dallas to Heisman Trophy-worthy statements made elsewhere.
Each Sunday, I’ll publish my biggest takeaways from the college football weekend. I’ll highlight the most interesting storylines, track College Football Playoff contenders and specifically shout out individual and team performances that deserve the spotlight.
1. Julian Sayin demands our (Heisman Trophy) attention.
I rightfully included Sayin in my list of Heisman contenders last week, and I noted that at the time that it was weird how little buzz No. 1 Ohio State has attracted so far this season. I genuinely think it’s because the Buckeyes have been blowing out their not-so-high-profile competition, and the general public hasn’t really watched much of this team lately. That changed on Saturday, as millions of college football fans tuned into Ohio State’s matchup with Penn State and saw an incredible performance from Sayin, one that should attract the attention of Heisman voters nationwide. He’s been playing extremely well for a few weeks now (especially in the explosive pass game), but Saturday seemingly unlocked a different level of quarterback play — against defenders that we’ll see playing on Sundays. Sayin finished the game 20-of-23 for 316 passing yards. He threw more touchdowns (4) than incompletions (3).
Sayin leads all Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks in completion percentage (80.7 percent) — by more than seven percentage points. He’s second in the country in passes of 40-plus yards and third in the nation in total passing touchdowns (23). He is undoubtedly one of the best quarterbacks in the country. And perhaps he should be considered the new favorite to win the sport’s most coveted individual award.
2. Arch Manning is finally rounding into form.
Between his fourth-quarter performance against Mississippi State and the entirety of Saturday’s game against No. 9 Vanderbilt, Manning looks good. Like, really good. He looks like a totally different quarterback than the one we saw early this season. Manning looks confident and decisive — the ball is coming out of his hand better and quicker — and he’s now working with a serviceable run game as well. Texas got him some easy pass completions early against the Commodores, which helped Manning settle into the game. He finished Saturday’s game 25-of-33 for 328 yards and three touchdowns (to zero interceptions) after dealing with a concussion that knocked him out of last week’s game in overtime.
There’s a lot to like with this Texas offense right now, and it was nice to see the Longhorns win a game in regulation (after holding off a furious Vandy comeback, admittedly). It’s possible that this four-game winning streak and win over a top-10 opponent can jumpstart a final push for the College Football Playoff. Texas is 7-2 with two huge matchups (at Georgia and home vs. Texas A&M) that provide opportunities to build a resume worthy of CFP inclusion. It’s been a while since I’ve been willing to put Texas and the CFP in the same sentence, but I’m willing to engage with the idea again. I think.
3. Miami is the biggest disappointment of the second half of the season.
And we’re just one day into the month of November. It’s all collapsed so fast for the ‘Canes. Just a few weeks ago, they looked like a lock for the College Football Playoff and a team head and shoulders above the rest of the ACC. Now, Miami has two league losses with four games to go. The Hurricanes are all but eliminated from ACC title game contention and would need a great deal of help to get into the CFP. They have no ranked opponents left on their schedule, which means no significant opportunities left to build up their resume. Their Week 1 win over Notre Dame is good, but it may not be enough to keep Miami ahead of the Fighting Irish the rest of the way even though both teams have two losses each. Notre Dame has a good win (over USC) and its second loss is far better than both of Miami’s losses. The CFP selection committee can always give the Irish the benefit of the doubt as a team that improved over the course of the season.
Either way, it’s time to stop talking Playoff with Miami and start figuring out how this season went south so quickly. Carson Beck’s six interceptions in the Hurricanes’ two losses didn’t help, but neither did Mario Cristobal’s game management. Or all the penalties! I’d start with those.
4. It’s time for Auburn to make a head coaching change.
Hugh Freeze was supposed to be an offensive genius. He was supposed to be a quarterback whisperer. These were the traits that earned Freeze a second chance in the Southeastern Conference. And here we are, nearly three seasons into the Auburn experiment, and Freeze is 15-19 (and an astonishing 6-16 in SEC play). His Tigers are 4-5 this season (1-5 in SEC play) after an embarrassing 10-3 loss to Kentucky — the Wildcats’ first SEC win of the season. Scoring just three points against one of the SEC’s worst defenses is a fireable offense. And it really doesn’t matter who Freeze starts at quarterback; he hasn’t hit at the position since getting to Auburn. Just two Power 4 teams rank behind the Tigers in passing yardage per game.
Auburn has fired coaches for less. And, relatively speaking, it’s a pretty manageable buyout. If the school makes the change now, Freeze would be paid about $15 million over the remainder of the contract (which runs through 2028). That seems very doable for a school that has never been averse to paying buyouts.
5. I can’t wait to see what the selection committee makes of the ACC — and part-time ACC member Notre Dame.
We’ll get the first set of CFP rankings from the actual selection committee on Tuesday. This is, by far, is the most important set of in-season rankings, because it tells us what this particular selection committee values. How bad are bad losses? Does Alabama’s Week 1 loss to Florida State matter much now? I’m most curious to see how the committee views the mess that is the ACC — how it orders the one-loss teams, what it makes of Virginia’s close calls, etc. How far does Miami fall after its second loss? Is it so far that the ‘Canes win over Notre Dame doesn’t come into play as a tiebreaker because the teams aren’t compared directly to one another? I could see the committee keeping the Irish ranked a few spots ahead of Miami based on better losses and more wins over teams .500 or better; the committee could say that Notre Dame improved from the start of the season to now. We’ll see!
