The first set of College Football Playoff rankings this season are set to be revealed on Nov. 4 and one thing is for certain: the Ohio State Buckeyes will be ranked No. 1.
As they should be.
Ohio State’s quest to repeat as national champions in January leads Sports Illustrated‘s takeaways for Week 10.
Ohio State starting quarterback Julian Sayin looked every bit the part of one of the best quarterbacks in the country on Saturday, as he completed 20 of his 23 passing attempts for 316 yards and four touchdowns in a 38–14 home rout over Penn State.
The Buckeyes boast the nation’s top defense behind first-year defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, and the continued steps forward from their first-year starter in Sayin make this loaded Ohio State roster a tough one to beat heading into the final month of the season. Ohio State’s coaching staff has been very high on the development of Sayin behind the scenes, and it’s clear he’s starting to make a leap on the field as he continues to get more comfortable in Brian Hartline’s offense.
Ohio State hasn’t garnered a ton of headlines this season, as they’ve quietly taken care of business every week. But amid a chaotic year across the sport, the Buckeyes remain the team to beat as they look to repeat as national champions.
No. 20 Texas kept its College Football Playoff hopes alive with a 34–31 victory over No. 9 Vanderbilt. The Longhorns took a 34–10 lead into the fourth quarter thanks to the play of Arch Manning, who appears to be finally rounding into form and becoming the quarterback that everybody expected him to be entering the season.
The sophomore completed 25 of his 33 passes on Saturday afternoon for 328 yards and three touchdowns. Manning’s standout performance was one week removed from throwing for 346 yards and three touchdowns in a wild overtime win over Mississippi State.
Texas is a far cry from the No. 1 AP ranking they were awarded before the start of the regular season, but the Longhorns may still be a threat down the stretch in the SEC as they look to capture an at-large bid to the playoff, or maybe even backdoor their way into the conference title.
A crucial showdown awaits after an off week in Week 11. The Longhorns travel to Georgia on Nov. 15.
Unfortunately for Georgia Tech fans, I wrote in last Saturday’s column that the Jackets should be considered ACC title favorites.
The No. 8 Yellow Jackets followed up that prediction by allowing nearly 600 yards of offense to a middling NC State team on the road in Raleigh to lose 48–36 on Saturday night. The worst part about the performance by Georgia Tech’s defense was that NC State was down two of its best offensive players in running back Hollywood Smothers and tight end Justin Joly. Wolfpack running back Jayden Scott filled in admirably, rushing for 196 yards, while quarterback CJ Bailey threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns.
Elsewhere in the ACC, No. 10 Miami continued to do less with more under Mario Cristobal, falling for the second time in three games by a final score of 26–20 in overtime on the road against SMU. Carson Beck threw four interceptions in the loss to Louisville in mid-October, and his two interceptions on Saturday proved costly in another defeat for the Hurricanes.
The loss effectively (but not officially) eliminates Miami from conference title contention, and thus, the College Football Playoff.
Current leaders in the clubhouse to make it to Charlotte? None other than the Virginia Cavaliers and … somebody else? The Hoos are 5–0 in the ACC heading into Week 11, while five others have one league loss (Georgia Tech, Pitt, Louisville, SMU and Duke).
Where the ACC chaos stops, nobody knows. But the ACC will very likely be a one-bid league for the CFP.
Let’s do a quick hot seat check on Hugh Freeze at Auburn.
Fired.
What happened at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night was completely inexcusable for Freeze and his Tigers, who elected to start Stanford transfer Ashton Daniels. That decision for Freeze, and his inherent inability to develop quarterbacks during his time on The Plains, will likely cost him his job.
Daniels showed no marked improvement over Jackson Arnold in Saturday’s start. He completed just 13 of his 28 passes for 108 yards and an interception in a 10–3 loss to Kentucky, who entered the contest with a 2-5 record.
Auburn is now 0-for-2 in trying to replace former head coach Gus Malzahn. The Bryan Harsin experiment proved to be a bad fit both on-and-off the field, and Freeze’s tenure has been poor in its own respect.
For context, Malzahn lost just 11 home games in eight seasons at Auburn. Freeze has now lost 11 home games in three years.
Auburn appears to be the next big job to open in an already crowded market. Freeze’s time is up.
No. 14 Tennessee played host to No. 18 Oklahoma on Saturday night in what was viewed as an elimination game for an at-large bid to the College Football Playoff. The Sooners found a way to keep their hopes of making the bracket alive, thanks to timely stops defensively throughout the game and 192 rushing yards between starting running back Xavier Robinson and star quarterback John Mateer.
The Vols will rue their three turnovers and missed field goal, which proved costly in the six-point home loss. After making the College Football Playoff a year ago, it will be a gap year for Josh Heupel’s program in a competitive SEC.
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