Week 10 college football rankings: Texas A&M, Army, BYU rise after Week 9 as LSU, Mizzou fall

Credit where it’s due, the Colorado Buffaloes have exceeded expectations already this season. While Shedeur Sanders and Co. have lost to Nebraska and Kansas State, it’s worth mentioning that 31-28 loss against the Wildcats came with Travis Hunter and other Buffaloes’ starters injured. Colorado is going to be bowl-eligible and with the looming schedule, Deion Sanders might get this team to 9 wins.

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Washington State Cougars quarterback John Mateer is carrying this team in 2024, entering Week 9 with nearly 2,000 passing yards and a 16-6 TD-INT ratio while leading the team in carries (103), rushing yards (533) and touchdowns (eight). While it’s clear the Cougars aren’t on the same level as Boise State, who they lost to on Sept. 28 (45-24), the Cougars do have that loss surrounded by four- and three-game winning streaks.

The Illinois Fighting Illini never stood a chance in this one. Oregon put up 35 first-half points, which put the game away before the final whistle in the second quarter even blew. Everything that could go wrong on Saturday did for Illinois, but the program itself knew it wasn’t on the Ducks’ level. Still, a 6-2 record for the Fighting Illini is an incredible mark entering November. Plus, Illinois doesn’t have to face any more tanked teams, so 9-10 wins in the regular season is doable.

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Missouri Tigers quarterback Brady Cook left the game with an injury for the second game in a row, but this time he didn’t return. The Tigers probably don’t win even with a healthy Cook, but replacement quarterback Drew Pyne (6 completions and 3 interceptions) made sure Mizzou had no shot in this one. The Tigers defense has also been a disappointment this year and there’s a shot we drop them out of the college football rankings entirely with a third loss.

It’s hard to win at any level when you lose the turnover battle and the time of possession battle. Somehow, the SMU Mustangs found a way to cough up 6 turnovers on Saturday night and they still escape with a road win over Duke. It’s not like the Blue Devils are a bad team either, they still leave Week 9 with a 6-2 record. It’s just remarkable to see SMU turn it over 6 times, draw 86 penalty yards, get shutout in the first and fourth quarters and still win the game.

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There’s only one undefeated academy school left and it’s not Navy. Quarterback Bryson Daily (909 rushing yards, 26 total touchdowns) received a well-earned bye in Week 9, allowing him and the Army Black Knights to rest up before facing Air Force. The Black Knights should be heavy favorites against Air Force then at North Texas (Nov. 9), but that undefeated season is likely coming to an end on Nov. 23 against Notre Dame.

Lane Kiffin can thank his defense for avoiding an ugly Week 9 loss at home to Oklahoma. The Ole Miss Rebels defense generated an absurd 9 sacks, and 15 tackles for loss (ESPN) on Saturday, limiting the Oklahoma Sooners to 5.9 yards per attempt with 2 fumbles. Ole Miss should only care about the 6-2 record right now, but the Rebels do look like a team headed for another loss or two.

Just about everything that could go wrong for the LSU Tigers did on Saturday night. It started with an abysmal offense that did absolutely nothing on the ground. While LSU’s receiver duo of Aaron Anderson and Kyren Lacy each eclipsed the 100-yard mark, it didn’t matter because Garrett Nussmeier kept giving the football away to Texas A&M. If that’s not bad enough, LSU’s defense allowed 5 touchdowns and over 240 yards on the ground. This was an utter thrashing and it’s another embarrassing look for Brian Kelly’s program.

Another week of just treading water in the college football rankings for the Kansas State Wildcats. We get rivalry games are always tough, but a nail-biter against a two-win Kansas team is a bad look for the Wildcats. Kansas State saw a 23-14 lead early in the third quarter turn into a 27-23 deficit with 14 minutes left in the game. Fortunately for KState, Avery Johnson and DJ Giddens were able to engineer two scoring drives and the Wildcats’ defense pitched a fourth-quarter shutout to preserve the win.

One of the beauties of college football is that on any given Saturday, you can see something unique. In Week 9, we got the Pittsburgh Panthers decimating the Syracuse Orange (5-2), behind three pick-sixes with four sacks and five total takeaways. Pitt’s resume isn’t necessarily the best, with Syracuse and Cal the biggest wins of the season, but an undefeated record heading into November speaks for itself.

The Alabama Crimson Tide defense finally showed up and it only took until Week 9. Missouri couldn’t get anything going on Saturday, at one point trailing 34-0 in the fourth quarter with 3 turnovers and an 18 percent third-down conversion rate. Jalen Milroe did nothing to salvage his Heisman Trophy candidacy and it was a quiet day for true freshman Ryan Williams, but at least the Crimson Tide finally won a game in emphatic fashion for the first time in nearly a month.

Traveling for a Friday night matchup against UNLV (6-2), the Boise State Broncos continued their phenomenal season. Heisman Trophy front-runner Ashton Jeanty finished with a season-low 3.9 yards per carry, but he served as the workhorse with 36 touches turned into 139 scrimmage yards and a touchdown. With the win, Boise State’s resume gets even stronger this season. While few saw it coming, this definitely looks like a CFP team.

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Turnovers and dominating in the trenches, that was the recipe for success for Texas A&M on Friday night. Sure, LSU put up some gaudy passing stats, but those are just empty calories when you turn it over 3 times. The takeaways certainly made a difference in this game, but it’s the Aggies rushing attack (242 yards and 5 touchdowns) that ensured the Tigers could never come back.

Needless to say, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish made easy work of the formerly unbeaten Navy. It started in the trenches, with the Fighting Irish rushing for 265 yards and 4 touchdowns, with Jeremiyah Love and Riley Leonard combining for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns on their own. Notre Dame did struggle against Navy’s triple-option (222 yards), but most of the damage came when the game was well out of hand. It’s been a very nice turnaround for Marcus Freeman and Co. since the loss to Northern Illinois.

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It’s one thing to be undefeated heading into November, it’s another to win when the spotlight is on you and your starting quarterback is out. That’s the position the Indiana Hoosiers found themselves in on Saturday with the Washington Huskies coming to town. Yet, even with starter Kurtis Rourke (188.7 QB rating) sidelined, the Hoosiers offense kept ticking, Quarterback Tayven Jackson scored 2 total touchdowns on the day and did a nice job spreading the ball around. The biggest reason the Hoosiers are now 8-0, though, is the defense that held Washington to 3-for-11 on third downs and snagged 2 interceptions.

Just another day at the office for the BYU Cougars. Jake Retzlaf did the heavy lifting in this one, accounting for 3 total touchdowns in the first three quarters to take a 31-10 lead over UCF. The Cougars just keep handling their business and, once again, they came off a close call the previous week by throttling their opponent in the next game. Now, BYU gets two weeks to prepare for Utah.

A year ago, Matt Campbell and the Iowa State Cyclones didn’t win their seventh game of the season until Nov. 25. One season later, Iowa State is in the minuscule group of undefeated teams heading into November. The Cyclones’ 20-19 win over Iowa is their only ranked victory this season, so with some strong competition nipping at their heels, Iowa State could drop a few spots in the college football rankings in the weeks to come.

The Clemson Tigers rolled into their bye week with a six-game winning streak, with all of those victories by 16-plus points. Over that six-game stretch, Cade Klubnik has three 300-yard games with a 20-2 TD-INT ratio, along with 4 rushing touchdowns and 250 rushing yards for good measure. The Georgia loss rightfully still lingers in everyone’s mind, but Clemson should be able to handle Louisville and Virginia Tech to open its November schedule.

After falling behind 7-0 early, Quinn Ewers and the Texas Longhorns answered with 21 unanswered points and Ewers was responsible for each of those touchdowns. The wheels seemingly fell off the Longhorns’ offense after that, including an Ewers interception that lat to a Vanderbilt touchdown. Texas still pulled out the victory, but the past two weeks have made it pretty clear the Longhorns’ six-game win streak early in the year was largely the result of a soft schedule.

The Tennessee Volunteers survived against the Alabama Crimson Tide a week ago, but this offense has problems. Nico Iamaleava’s decision-making and poise are big problems, though not even as concerning as the Volunteers offensive line. Tennessee has the next two games (vs Kentucky and Mississippi State) to get things right before it takes on the Georgia Bulldogs. If the version of Tennessee’s offense we’ve seen in the last month shows up, Big Orange is in serious trouble.

After all the questions and criticisms surrounding the Georgia Bulldogs program in mid-October, Kirby Smart has to feel elated to beat the Texas Longhorns right before the bye week. It restored a lot of national confidence in the Bulldogs, demonstrated by them moving up to No. 2 in most college football rankings. It’s certainly an impressive win, but before calling Georgia one of the four best college football teams, we do need to see more consistency from Carson Beck.

A little too close for comfort for the Ohio State Buckeyes, but they came out of it with a win. Quinshon Judkins (2.9 ypc) and TreVeyon Henderson (2.5 ypc) were bottled up for 54 rushing yards on 20 attempts, while Carnell Tate led the Buckeyes in receiving. It was that kind of Saturday for Ohio State, but a late touchdown pass and two clutch defensive stops preserved the win.

This is the type of game the Miami Hurricanes needed. Cam Ward didn’t find the end zone on Saturday night, finishing with just 208 passing yards on 35 attempts with -4 rushing yards. No matter, running backs Damien Martinez (148 yards and 2 TDs) and Mark Fletcher Jr (71 yards, 1 TD) buried the Florida State Seminoles. While Florida State (1-7) is an awful football team, the big thing here is Miami winning on a night when Ward didn’t play like a Heisman Trophy contender.

The Wisconsin Badgers gave Penn State a scare, especially with starting quarterback Drew Allar leaving the game with an injury. Credit to backup Beau Pribula, who looked excellent as the fill-in leader of this offense, coming up clutch in the fourth quarter with two scoring drives to turn a 14-13 game into a decisive two-score win. However, Allar’s injury looms large with the Ohio State Buckeyes coming to town next Saturday.

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The Oregon Ducks just keep rolling. Against a stout Illinois Fighting Illini defense, Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel put on an aerial showcase. It was over before halftime, with Gabriel finding the end zone 3 times and the Ducks defense generating both third-down stops and takeaways. A few weeks ago, Oregon vs Michigan seemed like a must-see battle with playoff stakes. In November, the Ducks should be double-digit favorites even on the road.

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