College football week 10 is in the books. After every week, fans can take away things from what happened on the field. Here are 5 things learned from college football week 10.
Related: 5 Things to watch in college football week 10
Last season, Notre Dame lost their two toughest games of the season and ended up missing the CFP. This season, they lost their first test to BYU, which had some doubts start to creep in. So far, this season has been wild, but Notre Dame was ranked 11th in the first CFP rankings, so they likely needed to win their game against Miami to feel good about making the CFP.
The Fighting Irish handled business against Miami, winning 31-24. While Miami didn’t have Malachi Toney, their best receiver, it was still a great win for the Fighting Irish. The win should move them up the CFP rankings to make them pretty comfortable if they handle business the rest of the way. Even if they take another loss, there could be a path to the CFP.
Alabama lost to Georgia and Tennessee in back-to-back games earlier this season, but has since rebounded. They were surprisingly ranked fifth in the first week of the CFP Committee rankings, which not only validated (maybe overly so) how they played on the season and even gave some margin for error. Alabama then defeated LSU on the road 31-13, really helping their path to the CFP.
The Crimson Tide maybe could’ve gotten in with a loss to LSU, but now that they have a win, they have an easier path to the CFP. They play Vanderbilt, who is 1-5 in SEC play. The next game is against Chattanooga of the FCS. As always, the Crimson Tide play Auburn to end the year. While Auburn has pulled off big upsets in this game before, the Crimson Tide should be able to handle things against a team that is 3-4 in SEC play, even if they did beat Georgia. Even if they lose to Auburn, they still may make the CFP, putting the Crimson Tide in a great spot.
For a lot of the season, Georgia looked like the best team in the country. They dropped a game to Auburn that raised some doubts and showed the parity in college football. The Bulldogs got things back on track by defeating Florida 27-8. This week, they followed it up with another big win, notching a 42-7 victory over Ole Miss in Week 10.
The Bulldogs now have wins over Alabama, Ole Miss and Florida this season, which are solid. Not only do they have a great case for their CFP ranking, but they pass the eye test as well. The Bulldogs have controlled a lot of their games. They also have a top-10 scoring offense and defense, something that most other teams at the top of the sport can’t boast.
Utah came into the week undefeated and ranked no. 3 in the initial CFP rankings. They had some decent wins over Houston and Cincinnati, but had a big test in Week 10. The Holy War was against BYU this week and Utah helped solidify and possibly amplify their ranking by winning 28-20.
With the win, Utah can maybe afford a loss down the stretch, giving them some cushion for the CFP. First, from a Big 12 perspective, the Utes haven’t lost in conference and only Texas Tech has just one loss in conference, so the Utes would still make the Big 12 Championship Game if they drop a game. On a national perspective, they are likely to move up to second in the country this week, meaning a loss likely wouldn’t drop them out of the CFP. While they won’t want to lose a game, it is nice to have a cushion in a sport where a lot of surprising results are happening weekly.
After losing to USC, Ohio State needed to rebound quickly to come home and host Oregon. Oregon is a team that had struggled to start the season, despite having great preseason expectations. The Buckeyes started off the game hot, but it quickly slipped away in the second half. Oregon won the game 41-28.
The win for Oregon may give them new life on the season, but for Ohio State, they need to make some changes. While firing Ryan Day has been something a portion of the fanbase wants to see, that is unlikely to happen. Ohio State could be hiring new coordinators this offseason to get better play out of their talent. They may also be in the market for a backup quarterback and could spend NIL money differently. A third loss before November isn’t common for Ohio State and now changes have to be made to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
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