College football is unpredictable and delightful, which is why we live for what happens on Saturdays. And Week 10 absolutely delivered, from the upsets in Big 12 country to a beatdown in Dallas that will surely impact the ACC race. The upsets continued in the SEC as South Carolina dominated Texas A&M. Oh yeah, and that top-five showdown in State College that leaves James Franklin with more questions than answers.
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.
Here are my top takeaways from Week 10:
1. Ohio State won a game it absolutely needed to win.
There’s no sugar-coating it. Ryan Day had to beat Penn State on Saturday. Entering the game, he was 2-6 vs. top-five teams — a record that has overshadowed the other 61 wins he’s accumulated in his five-plus seasons in Columbus. We all know how much Ohio State boosters poured into this particular roster and its national championship-or-bust ambitions. Life is already uncomfortable for Day after three consecutive losses to That Team Up North. He doesn’t want to add a two-loss regular season to the pile of ammunition his doubters have collected. Ohio State is supposed to be the most talented team in all of college football, and it has only looked that way in spurts this season. But the way the Buckeyes iced Penn State out with the huge fourth-down stop and then 11 straight runs was exactly what Ohio State fans wanted and needed to see in that situation. Perhaps that is the start of something new for these Buckeyes, who still have so much to play for.
2. James Franklin has a big problem in big games.
Franklin is now 1-of-13 in games against AP top-five opponents as the head coach of Penn State. Saturday’s loss to Ohio State was the 11th consecutive loss vs. a top-five team and the eighth straight to the Buckeyes. Franklin’s teams are good at beating teams they should beat — the bad teams and the decent ones. But they can’t beat the great teams. And this remains an endless frustration for Penn State fans, who have spent nearly a decade waiting for the Nittany Lions to break through and finally join the sport’s elite. And yet again, they fail to meet the moment.
3. As currently constructed, Penn State’s offense is not championship caliber.
There were myriad issues for the Nittany Lions on Saturday, but one of the most glaring was the disconnected nature of the offensive play calling. I’ve praised first-year offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki quite often this season because I like the creativity and the potential explosiveness. But there are also times — like Saturday — where the offense feels like a collection of play calls, not something purposely strung together where one play sets up another, which sets up another four plays later. It’s cool to see Tyler Warren get a direct snap, but it’d be better to have a coherent offensive strategy to get the ball to him early and often. I’d also have preferred to see Penn State develop its receiving corps instead of finishing its biggest game of the year with a running back as its leading receiver and a tight end as its leading rusher.
4. Georgia wins again despite Carson Beck.
The Bulldogs have become one of the most frustrating teams to watch this season. Their defense has had its moments — like, basically the entire game against Texas — but the offense has been wildly inconsistent. Or, rather, Beck has been all too consistently bad. He threw three interceptions against Florida on Saturday for his second straight game with three interceptions. He’s thrown 11 interceptions in the past five games — and so many of them are from bad decision-making. Each week, the Dawgs have to overcome both their own quarterback and their opponent, and it’s a lot to ask. Don’t let the final score of 34-20 fool you. This was an ugly game and rough quarterback play. And it’s deeply concerning for those who believe Georgia is talented enough elsewhere to contend for a national title.
5. Move the Georgia-Florida game to campus!
Speaking of the game formerly known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party … let’s talk about the future of this rivalry. With renovations coming to EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, the two schools needed to find a new home for their annual rivalry game for both 2026 and 2027. And instead of giving Athens and Gainesville the opportunity to host the game, school leaders chose to take the game to Atlanta (for 2026) and Tampa (for 2027). I understand that this and the Red River Rivalry game are always played at neutral sites — and the 50/50 ticket split and the impact on the local economies are real factors here — but I generally hate neutral sites, even ones that have hosted a particular series for the better part of a century. College football is built on the pageantry of the sport and the spirit of its campuses. Put more games where they belong!
6. The ACC race just got really simple.
Miami did its usual thing — falling behind by double-digits before storming back to blow out its opponent — to stay unbeaten. SMU crushed Pitt in a highly anticipated top-25 matchup to stay unbeaten in ACC play in its first year in the conference. So, now the math gets really straightforward. If both teams win out, they’ll meet in Charlotte for the ACC championship game, with an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff on the line. We spent the whole week doing the math to figure out the various tiebreakers because Miami, Clemson and SMU don’t play each other. But it turns out that it was a waste of time because the Tigers no-showed against Louisville on Saturday night. They now need a lot of help to make it to Charlotte, while the path is clear for the ‘Canes and the Mustangs. Win and you’re in.
7. Diego Pavia will haunt Hugh Freeze’s dreams.
PAVIA ➡️ STOWERS @VandyFootball is #BowlBound#BowlSeason #AnchorDown #SECFB #vandyFB #vanderbiltfootball #collegefootball #cfb #college #football pic.twitter.com/6qfhlNuEVg
— Bowl Season (@BowlSeason) November 2, 2024
In 2022, Diego Pavia’s New Mexico State team beat Hugh Freeze’s Liberty squad. Last year, Pavia and NMSU beat Freeze at Auburn. And on Saturday, Pavia’s Vanderbilt beat Freeze’s Auburn. Individually, Pavia is 3-0 vs. Freeze. And Pavia’s teams were underdogs entering all three matchups — by an average of 18 points, per Vegas — which makes this streak even more incredible. With the win on Saturday, Vandy is also now bowl-eligible for the first time since 2018. And the ‘Dores are 2-0 vs. Alabama and Auburn for the first time since 1955. It’s just that kind of history-making season for Vandy.
8. Indiana is 9-0 for the first time in program history.
Cheers to the Hoosiers, who remain one of the season’s greatest stories. First-year coach Curt Cignetti has totally transformed the program perhaps best known for losing more games than anyone else in the history of college football into a consistent winner. Indiana has been so dominant this season that it hadn’t even trailed in a game until Saturday’s game against Michigan State. The Hoosiers found themselves in a 10-0 hole early and then simply reeled off 47 unanswered points. To quote Cig, Indiana football is truly a “movement.”
By the way, we’re down to just five unbeaten teams this season. And it’s the five teams I think we all thought would remain undefeated into November — Army, BYU, Indiana, Miami and Oregon.
9. Iowa has found its quarterback.
Brendan Sullivan became Iowa’s starting quarterback essentially by necessity, with Cade McNamara ruled out with a concussion. But this is the quarterback that Hawkeye fans have been clamoring for, and we saw why in Iowa’s lopsided win over Wisconsin. Sullivan’s mobility added an entirely different dimension to the Hawkeye offense, as the Badger defense had to account for him as a potential runner on every RPO. That helped open up holes for Kaleb Johnson and the other running backs, who had a field day. Sullivan’s stat line — 7-of-10 for 93 yards, nine carries for 58 yards and two total touchdowns — doesn’t tell the full story of his impact in this game. Offense looked like it came easy for Iowa, which is a sentence I’m not sure I thought I’d write this season. Here’s hoping Kirk Ferentz makes the right call and rolls with Sullivan the rest of the season.
Take Flight@bsully02 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/Iia0fGU1zI
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) November 3, 2024
10. Colorado won the bye week.
Congrats to the Buffs, who avoided the craziness and carnage of the Big 12 this weekend! Two ranked teams — No. 11 Iowa State and No. 17 Kansas State — got upset. Now, Colorado is tied with the Cyclones for second place in the Big 12 race, behind unbeaten BYU (which also had a bye this weekend). The Buffs are very much in the mix here, which is really impressive for Deion Sanders in Year 2. Colorado should be getting a lot more adoration than it is, but I think people are a little gun-shy after the team got way too much fanfare at the start of last year. Now, the Buffs deserve our attention. They’ll demand it next week, with a suddenly quite-significant Colorado-Texas Tech game. But they should keep it the rest of the way, with Travis Hunter‘s Heisman hopes hanging in the balance and Shedeur Sanders continually making a case to be QB1 in next year’s NFL Draft.
