How Week 10's biggest games were won -- and whether CFP hopefuls can keep it up

• Bill ConnellyNov 8, 2026, 06:20 PM ET

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  Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

Week 10 of the college football season was more momentous than thrilling. We had six ranked-versus-ranked games, but only two were decided by fewer than 14 points, and the week ended up being more about statements than all-time classics.

Of course we still got down-to-the-wire thrillers in South Bend and Utah, some of the big statements were fascinating, and we ended Saturday with both Ohio State and Michigan in existential crises.

It was still a hell of a weekend, in other words. What made the difference in the week's biggest games? Who made the most sustainable statements? And how awesome was 100 Miles of Hate?? Let's recap.

No. 11 Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Miami 24

First things first: I didn't think it was a catch. Miami coach Mario Cristobal made it clear he disagrees -- that in his mind, on fourth down with less than four minutes to go and Miami down by seven, tight end Elija Lofton held on to a potential game-tying touchdown pass long enough for it to count. But everything this game has taught me about what is a catch, what "surviving the ground" entails, what constitutes a "football move" or whatever -- man, we've struggled with this for a long time, haven't we? -- told me that, while Lofton's feet came down in bounds and he had initial control of the ball, Luke Talich was able to knock it from his hands before it counted.

The near catch wouldn't have won Miami the game, of course: It would have tied it, and Notre Dame and CJ Carr would have had lots of time to potentially go and win the game. Instead, they were able to run out most of the clock, pin Miami deep and win the game.

That Miami was able to nearly tie a game that seemed as good as lost with 25 minutes left sure says a lot, though. The Hurricanes were slow to find the offensive adjustments required in the absence of star receiver Malachi Toney, and they had pulled just three points from six drives when Darian Mensah began to hit a strong rhythm in finding Lofton in space and hitting Cooper Barkate on quick slants.

The Canes scored three TDs in four drives (interrupted only by an interception by Talich) before their late fourth-down failure. If they had adapted a bit more quickly to Notre Dame's aggressive man defense, maybe they could have pulled out the win. Or maybe Carr would have just done even more to assure a Fighting Irish win.

What made the difference: CJ Carr. This was Carr's shining moment thus far. He typically plays like an honors student, making every smart decision and almost always doing the right thing, with minimal risk. In five previous starts against ranked opponents, he averaged just 10.9 yards per completion; he had averaged just 9.5, with three TDs to three INTs, in the last three.

On Saturday, he came out firing and never really stopped. Carr completed four passes of 20-plus yards, plus another five of at least 13. Ten guys caught at least one pass, and Micah Gilbert and Jordan Faison combined for 15. Granted, Carr still only ended up at 11.0 yards per completion because of the way the Irish used the short passing game as an alternative efficiency generator for a run game that only sort of worked. But he made big throws, his receivers made big catches, and it feels like Notre Dame's confirmed upside is a little higher than we had confirmed before Saturday.

Honestly, I sort of feel the same about Miami. The Hurricanes' playoff status is still quite safe, and now Mensah knows that he can lean heavily on Barkate and Lofton if he needs to. He'll do so for a few weeks, and in theory Miami's offense will be even more threatening than before if or when Toney returns.

I have high expectations of both of these teams come playoff time. But the team for which I have the highest expectations lives in Georgia.

No. 2 Georgia 42, No. 10 Ole Miss 7

I had high hopes for this one, if only because of how good last year's two meetings between these schools were. Georgia needed a late surge to beat Ole Miss 43-35 in Athens in the regular season, then the Rebels got revenge with a 39-34 CFP quarterfinal win. Trinidad Chambliss can still be magical when the playmaker switch gets flipped, and the crowd was guaranteed to be hyped at night.

The buzz from the crowd was gone in a heartbeat.

What made the difference: The fact that Georgia is the best team in the country. Since about Week 2, I've had the same answer anytime someone asks me who I think the best team is: Kirby Smart's Bulldogs. They were so good Saturday night that they're now not only No. 1 in SP+ -- they now hold a 6.9-point advantage over the second-best team (Notre Dame).

This was pure destruction. The Dawgs scored TDs on three of their first four drives, then punched in another one late in the first half. Meanwhile, they erased the Ole Miss offense, sacking Chambliss four times, sacking his backup once and allowing just 175 yards in three quarters. When they lost their shutout in the fourth quarter, Smart evidently let offensive coordinator Mike Bobo dial up a deep shot in response: Gunner Stockton's only fourth-quarter pass went for 65 yards and a score to Talyn Taylor. Taylor finished with 140 yards in four catches, while Nate Frazier and Dwight Phillips Jr. rushed 27 times for 173 yards and five other players had at least one double-digit rush. Nasty stuff.

To emphasize the magnitude of this one, let's revisit a concept I leaned on last week: Playoff tiers. They're based on the combined CFP odds derived by both SP+ and the Allstate Playoff Predictor. (I like how each one kind of smooths out the rough edges in the other.) Last week, Miami was the lone team in Tier 1, with average CFP odds of around 98%. The Hurricanes' odds didn't fall much after Saturday, but they're now joined by three other teams at 94% or above.

Playoff Tier 1
Georgia (8-1, 97.0% average CFP odds)
Miami (8-1, 96.8%)
Notre Dame (8-1, 95.5%)
Utah (9-0, 94.2%)

Meanwhile, Ole Miss was solidly in Tier 3 last week (you'll see all the other tiers below). Now the Rebels have tumbled to Tier 5, with less than a one-in-five chance of winning out and grabbing a spot. This was, shall we say, a very clarifying result. It confirmed everything we suspected about Georgia's upside, and it made all of Ole Miss' cracks -- an offense that doesn't make nearly as many big plays as last year's (and asks for even more than before from Chambliss), a dismal run defense, far too many big plays for opponents -- into chasms.

No. 3 Utah 28, No. 9 BYU 20

Sometimes the Holy War reminds me as much of a slap fighting competition as a football game. These teams hit each other, and it can feel like the physicality is sometimes as exciting to the Utes and Cougars as the win itself.

There was plenty of physicality in Salt Lake City early Saturday, but early big plays and late adjustments allowed Utah to remain unbeaten and deliver a huge rival a tough playoff blow.

What made the difference: Defensive adjustments. There were some wild swings in this one. Among Utah's first seven snaps were gains of 47, 22 (touchdown), 18 and 46 (touchdown) yards, and the Utes led 14-0 early. But then BYU scored on four straight possessions -- including a touchdown on a 75-yard bomb from Bear Bachmeier to Legend Glasker -- to take a 20-14 lead into halftime. BYU was poised to win its fourth straight in the series; instead, the Cougars didn't score again. Their last six possessions: interception, interception, punt, punt, interception, interception.

Trey Reynolds picks off BYU Cougars

That was the second-to-last one, just as it looked like Bachmeier was going to pull off another late comeback and win. He threw another pick on a desperation heave (that looked for a moment like it might actually succeed) with two seconds left. Meanwhile, Devon Dampier threw for 177 yards, rushed for 99 more (not including sacks) and even made a leaping, 29-yard catch on a fourth-and-1 trick play. And most importantly, he threw zero picks. And Utah remains unbeaten -- and all but assured of a CFP berth -- because of it.

No. 5 Alabama 31, No. 14 LSU 13

The Crimson Tide spent four days listening to everyone say the CFP selection committee had overrated them dramatically. (And in fairness, they had.) But on Saturday afternoon in Baton Rouge, the underdog Tide proved themselves. Part of me expected Georgia to thump Ole Miss; I didn't see this score coming at all.

What made the difference: Negative plays (or a lack thereof). In Friday's preview, I said that until we saw if Alabama could avoid negative plays -- a growing concern of late, especially against an incredibly disruptive LSU defense -- then nothing else in the game really mattered.

DJ Pickett sacked Alabama's Keelon Russell on the Tide's second drive, prompting a three-and-out, but the Tigers recorded only two more tackles for loss the rest of the way. Alabama didn't exactly light the world on fire offensively -- 285 total yards at 5.4 yards per play, with a 41.5% success rate (the national average is 43.2%) -- but they didn't move backward, and they won the field position battle despite LSU sustaining quite a few drives.

And when the ball was in opposition territory, the Tide dominated: Their success rate rose to 51.9% in LSU territory, and the Tigers' plummeted to 38.0%. LSU missed a field goal, threw a pick and turned the ball over on downs in Bama territory, all in the second quarter, and over the final 17 minutes Bama outscored the home team 21-0.

The loss was devastating for LSU, which fell from Playoff Tier 4 to Tier 5 and will need to beat Texas and Tennessee to have any hope of a CFP berth. The Tigers are capable, but they sure looked demoralized late against a Bama team that had every right answer at the right time. And now, when combined with a particularly high CFP ranking, Bama is nearly, but not quite, home free.

Playoff Tier 2
Alabama (7-2, 88.5% average CFP odds)
Indiana (8-1, 87.9%)
UCLA (9-0, 79.2%)

These three teams can all likely afford a loss and still feel good about their CFP odds, but add the odds together, and you see that only about 2.6 of the three will make it on average. There's still a little work to be done.

No. 7 Texas 34, No. 18 Missouri 20

If Texas ends up making the CFP and doing some damage there, I think I'll look back at an Arch Manning interception as the turning point. When he threw a foolish pick early in the fourth quarter against Ole Miss two weeks ago, it looked like the Longhorns' world was about to officially crumble to the ground. They had already blown leads in losses to Oklahoma and Florida, they had watched a 24-3 lead over the Rebels turn into a 24-24 tie, and Manning had just suffered the same level of gaffe that he suffered against the Sooners and Gators. But the Texas defense made a huge stop, and Steve Sarkisian seemed to suddenly remember, hey wait, Raleek Brown is running the ball really well. We should give it to him more often! Brown rushed seven times for 87 yards in the fourth quarter, and Texas scored on back-to-back drives to pace a 34-27 win.

In Columbia early Saturday, we basically saw a rerun.

What made the difference: A perfect fourth quarter. Texas was lucky to be tied with Missouri 20-20 heading into the fourth quarter -- Mizzou had suffered a pair of missed field goals, and somehow a seemingly clear Manning incompletion on third-and-10 was ruled a fumble and a big gain for Texas late in the third quarter. The Horns tied the game three plays later.

However they got to the fourth quarter tied, they took full advantage. Over the first 34 snaps of the quarter, Texas gained 112 yards in 22 plays, and Mizzou gained 12 in 12. The Horns once again fed Brown repeatedly, and his 12 touches gained a rugged 57 yards, a pair of key first downs and the go-ahead touchdown.

The win will keep Texas well above the in-or-out CFP line, and while the Longhorns still face a trip to a desperate LSU next week, SP+ gives the Horns an 88% chance of finishing 9-3 or better. And I'm betting their average CFP odds are therefore a bit low. Regardless, for now they belong in a Tier 3 that also includes a rising Wake Forest and an erratic Texas Tech.

Playoff Tier 3
Wake Forest (8-1, 65.6% average CFP odds)
Texas (7-2, 59.7%)
Texas Tech (8-1, 49.6%)

On average, we should expect about 1.8 of these teams to reach the CFP. I'm guessing Texas is pretty likely to be one of them.

No. 13 Tennessee 34, No. 6 Kentucky 6

"If you don't appease the stat gods, they'll eventually smite you." That's what I wrote in last week's CFP fatal flaws piece, and I guess the smiting just arrived. Kentucky's stats didn't match its 7-1 record heading into Week 10 -- the Wildcats ranked 42nd in points per drive and 88th in points allowed -- and the moment their offense stopped taking full advantage of its opportunities, everything fell apart. Tennessee pulled away to an easy four-touchdown win.

What made the difference: Early missed opportunities (and the snowball effect). Kentucky was the better team for much of the first half in Knoxville, racking up 231 yards to Tennessee's 162 and generating a huge efficiency advantage. The Wildcats finished four of six first-half drives in UT territory but turned two red zone trips into only two field goals and trailed because of basically one big play (a 66-yard Daune Morris touchdown run for the Vols). Once Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles adjusted, the game was over. UK averaged just 4.2 yards per play in the second half, and a shaky defense eventually gave out as Tennessee scored TDs on its last three drives. The Vols finished the game averaging 7.5 yards per play despite a minuscule passing game.

After the blowout, the Vols and Wildcats find themselves in the same Playoff Tier.

Playoff Tier 4
BYU (7-2, 37.1% average CFP odds)
Tennessee (7-2, 33.6%)
Iowa (7-2, 30.3%)
Houston (7-2, 27.3%)
Ohio State (6-3, 27.2%)
Kentucky (7-2, 22.2%)

Tennessee will quite possibly land in the top 10 in Tuesday night's CFP rankings, but the Volunteers' playoff odds are still only decent, not great, because they only have about a 1-in-3 chance of winning out, with remaining games at Texas A&M and at home against LSU. (No, A&M isn't great, but Tennessee was also poor in two SEC road trips.) They're still limited at QB and only have one real way to win games (rushing and defense). But hey, it's gotten them this far.

Based on the odds above, this tier is likely to produce only about 1.8 bids for the six teams above. But wins over Bama and Kentucky will help Tennessee's chances quite a bit.

No. 23 Oregon 41, No. 12 Ohio State 28

I have to say, I'm impressed with the Big Ten solidarity coming from Columbus. When CFP expansion to 24 teams started to look realistic in May, I wrote about what concerned me the most about it, and one of the biggest downsides I saw was how teams such as Ohio State, Georgia and Alabama might never play in a regular-season game with major title stakes again. The Buckeyes, for instance, have finished ranked in 23 of the last 24 seasons. They would be likely to play about one make-or-break regular-season game per decade at most.

We don't have a 24-teamer yet (thank goodness), but if we did, we'd be in that once-per-decade mode right now. With Saturday's dire loss to Oregon, the Buckeyes are likely to fall pretty far in the CFP rankings, and it might be awfully difficult for them to climb back up into position for the 12-teamer. They're now 0-2 since losing quarterback Julian Sayin to injury.

What made the difference: Oregon's defensive adjustments. Ohio State scored touchdowns on two of its first three drives and appeared headed toward an easy win, but Oregon outscored the Buckeyes 31-0 in the second and third quarters, a period in which they outgained Ohio State 295-39 and Luke Fahey, Sayin's replacement, went 11-for-17 for just 37 yards, a pick and a sack. The run game didn't help him in the slightest -- after the first quarter, Bo Jackson rushed six times for 20 yards -- and Oregon blanketed Jeremiah Smith in such a way that, in the second and third quarters, he caught one of two passes for zero yards.

The loss knocked Ohio State from Playoff Tier 3 (average CFP odds last week: 68.6%) to Tier 4. Oregon remains in Tier 5, but the Ducks' average odds of making the playoff jumped from 4.3% to 19.2%.

Playoff Tier 5
Ole Miss (6-3, 19.5% average CFP odds)
Oregon (6-3, 19.2%)
Arizona (7-2, 15.8%)
LSU (6-3, 14.2%)
USC (7-2, 11.7%)
SMU (7-2, 8.6%)
Oklahoma State (6-3, 4.1%)
Louisville (6-3, 3.6%)
South Carolina (6-3, 2.9%)
Duke (7-2, 1.9%)

Among last week's 10 Tier 5 teams, only Oregon, Arizona, USC and SMU remain there this week. Tier 5 is a way station of sorts -- teams are either passing through on their way up the board, or their journey is just about over. Only about one of the teams in this tier is likely to make the cut.

No. 25 Boise State 64, Colorado State 38 (and other key Group of 6 things)

Heading into Week 10, we had a clear leader in the race for the Group of 6's playoff spot (Boise State), with three hopefuls (New Mexico, Liberty and UTSA) trying to keep pace and hope the Broncos fell victim to an upset.

After Week 10, the story is almost exactly the same thanks to BSU's 26-point throttling of CSU.

What made the difference: A good backup QB and an awful defense. Boise State throttled Colorado State, gaining 669 yards (10.6 per play) despite quarterback Maddux Madsen being out with injury. Madsen is currently third in the nation in Total QBR, but somehow junior backup Max Cutforth has done even better in a small sample, and against a CSU defense that defends only slightly better than air does, Cutforth went 16-for-19 passing for 317 yards and four TDs, while Dylan Riley needed only 19 carries to gain 192 yards and score twice. The BSU defense gave up some points in garbage time, but a good way to win is to score touchdowns on nine of 10 primary possessions. I don't know why more teams don't try that.

Thanks to UTSA's absurd track-meet loss to Florida Atlantic on Thursday night (60-29 Owls), the Roadrunners have dropped from the race, replaced by a long-shot North Texas team that is smoking hot but playing from behind.

Playoff Tier (Group of) 6
Boise State (8-1, 58.8% average CFP odds)
New Mexico (8-1, 27.7%)
Liberty (8-1, 10.6%)
North Texas (7-2, 1.3%)

New Mexico and Liberty both handled conference road tests, but this appears to be BSU's race to lose. And the Broncos will have a few extra friends in town this coming Saturday.

GET READY BOISE, WE'RE COMING TO YOUR CITY‼️ We're heading west for a Pac-12 showdown that could have CFP implications between Oregon State and Boise State 🍿 https://t.co/o9XzuwoKyv

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) November 8, 2026

Michigan State 15, Michigan 6

This game certainly didn't have playoff stakes, but it might end up being one of the most momentous of the weekend. After steadying the ship a bit with tight wins over Penn State and Rutgers and a near upset of Indiana, Michigan fell into total existential crisis Saturday night, losing to its in-state rival for the first time since 2021 thanks to a truly dire offensive performance, even by the Wolverines' 2026 standards.

What made the difference: Tommy Carr very much looked like the freshman he is. It was the key to a Michigan State upset in my Friday preview, and I'd say "14-for-26 passing with two INTs and five sacks" qualifies in that regard. Against a Sparty defense that allowed 443 yards to UCLA and 409 to Illinois, the Wolverines gained just 192 yards and fumbled twice, losing both. They didn't allow a touchdown and still lost -- it was the first time that has happened since the classic 12-10 loss to No. 1 Iowa in 1985.

At least that one was to the top-ranked team in the country. Michigan State came in extraordinarily banged up and had lost six games in a row, four by double digits. They ranked 112th in points allowed per possession. And they completely shut down Michigan. Offensive coordinator Jason Beck is the proverbial dead man walking, and the only question is whether first-year head coach Kyle Whittingham follows him out the door. Every job is its own unique challenge, and while Whittingham and Beck both shined at Utah -- Whittingham did so for 21 years! -- they've flunked their tests in Ann Arbor this year.

This week in SP+

The SP+ rankings have been updated for the week. Let's take a look at the teams that saw the biggest change in their overall ratings. (Note: We're looking at ratings, not rankings.)

Moving up

Here are the 10 teams that saw their ratings rise the most this week:

Wake Forest: up 4.5 adjusted points per game (ranking rose from 16th to 12th)

Georgia Southern: up 4.1 points (from 86th to 72nd)

Jacksonville State: up 4.1 points (from 68th to 54th)

Tulsa: up 4.0 points (from 83rd to 70th)

North Texas: up 3.9 points (from 66th to 52nd)

Texas State: up 3.9 points (from 61st to 48th)

Duke: up 3.8 points (from 40th to 32nd)

New Mexico: up 3.8 points (from 32nd to 23rd)

UCLA: up 3.5 points (from 15th to 11th)

Oklahoma State: up 3.4 points (from 27th to 20th)

This is a pretty self-explanatory list, as most of these teams looked somewhere between excellent and spectacular this week. Wake Forest benefited both from an easy pounding of Merrimack and the further phasing out of their preseason projections, but I should quickly also shout out New Mexico and UCLA.

New Mexico woke up a bit offensively in a 31-3 win over Nevada -- it was the Lobos' first time scoring more than 21 points since Week 5 -- and UCLA just kept proving itself. The Bruins are the only team to have overachieved against SP+ projections in every game, which means they probably should have risen beyond even 11th by now. But they have a nearly 50-50 shot at reaching 12-0, per the SP+ measure that is underestimating them. Maybe they could be rewarded for this awesomeness by drawing at least one home crowd of 40,000? They've averaged an appalling 31,461 thus far; that's 19% worse than Fresno State and 24% lower than a Cal team having an atrocious season.

Moving down

Here are the 10 teams whose ratings fell the most:

Tulane: down 3.7 adjusted points per game (from 100th to 114th)

Georgia Tech: down 3.6 points (from 92nd to 99th)

Ole Miss: down 3.6 points (from 13th to 30th)

NC State: down 3.0 points (from 67th to 81st)

Kansas State: down 2.9 points (from 45th to 53rd)

Marshall: down 2.8 points (from 105th to 117th)

Rutgers: down 2.6 points (from 96th to 105th)

Eastern Michigan: down 2.6 points (from 122nd to 128th)

Florida: down 2.3 points (from 44th to 47th)

Ohio State: down 2.2 points (from second to fourth)

I really didn't like Tulane's hire of Will Hall last winter to replace Jon Sumrall. It just felt extremely unambitious, as one of the best G6 programs of the 2020s, to hire a guy who had seen success as a Tulane assistant but had gone just 14-30 at Southern Miss. He's now 4-5 in 2026 after his Green Wave underachieved against projections by 47.5 points against Tulsa, losing 60-10. A once-solid defense stopped defending three weeks ago, and they've only topped 30 offensive points against Charlotte. There are plenty of other disappointing teams this season, but Tulane shouldn't slip under the radar.

My 20 favorite games of the weekend

1. No. 15 Texas Tech 53, West Virginia 48. A game that had 1,220 yards despite WVU gaining minus-6 in the fourth quarter. College football, everybody!

2. No. 11 Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Miami 24. Early in the second half, it looked like a Notre Dame statement win and an opportunity to roll up style points. The Irish had to settle for merely holding on to beat the No. 1 team in the country.

3. No. 3 Utah 28, No. 9 BYU 20. Haymakers galore. So good.

4. FCS: No. 3 Montana State 28, No. 18 Idaho State 26 (3OT). It was a wild weekend at the FCS level. No. 2 Stephen F. Austin got KO'd 45-28 by No. 12 Lamar, No. 8 Illinois State got pounded by No. 15 North Dakota and No. 3 Montana State had to hold on for dear life in Pocatello. The defending national champs trailed 10-0 early and 20-13 late in the fourth quarter before tying the game, surviving a long Idaho State field goal attempt at the end of regulation, trading two field goals each with the Bengals in OT and winning with 2-point trickeration.

Montana State Bobcats vs. Idaho State Bengals: Full Highlights

5. UCF 33, Kansas 32. I don't know what Lance Leipold did to offend the football gods, but his Jayhawks have now lost 12 of their last 15 one-score finishes and have, in the last two weeks, allowed the game-winning points with 71 seconds left (against TCU) and one second left (against UCF). Brutal.

6. Middle Tennessee 51, Western Kentucky 42. Man oh man, did 100 Miles of Hate live up to expectations. We saw runs of 14-0 MTSU, 13-0 WKU, 21-7 MTSU and 22-7 WKU, and it looked like we were going to overtime until Dominic Bourgeois knocked in a 48-yard field goal with one second left. MTSU then tacked on a bonus TD on WKU's last-second lateral fest. The scene on the field afterward was as if MTSU had just won a conference title or something. Rivalry games are the best.

7. No. 22 Arizona 29, TCU 28. If you've ever found yourself wondering why more teams don't attempt pooch kicks into the wide open spaces that return teams sometimes leave, Arizona made you feel awfully smart Friday night.

A THRILLER IN TUCSON 🌵🔥 Arizona comes back in the fourth to defeat TCU 😤 https://t.co/ctuMFyJC9x

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 7, 2026

It saved the day for the Wildcats too.

8. FCS: Samford 37, No. 21 East Tennessee State 35. Trailing by 12 late in the third quarter, Samford scored twice in 86 seconds to take the lead, and when ETSU took it back in the final minute, the Bulldogs drove 75 yards in 57 seconds and won the game on a Gabarri Johnson-to-Domonique Thomas walk-off score.

9. Wyoming 41, UNLV 35. Five weeks ago, Wyoming was 2-3 and 124th in SP+. But following a 28-0 shellacking by North Dakota State, the Cowboys rejiggered their offense, scored a couple of wins over the Mountain West's lesser teams (San Jose State and Northern Illinois), then thumped Air Force. And Saturday night in Vegas, they put themselves in position for a spot in the MWC title game by bolting to an early 17-point lead and withstanding a pair of UNLV comebacks. Tyson Shamsid-Deen's late interception and Markell Holman's Beast Mode impersonation iced the game.

DUDE WENT BEAST MODE!!! Markell Holman OMG @wyo_football @SickosCommittee https://t.co/boCpRSq3gU

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) November 8, 2026

10. Division III: No. 14 Baldwin Wallace 27, Mount Union 21. Against undefeated Baldwin Wallace -- which hadn't won in this series since 1994 -- Mount Union needed to score an upset to avoid missing the Division III playoffs for the first time since 1991. Didn't happen. Three Charlie Bubonics touchdown passes gave BWU a 24-14 lead heading into the fourth quarter, and while the Purple Raiders rallied to cut the lead to 6, a last-minute drive stalled near midfield. Just as Ohio State's playoff fate seems all but sealed, the state of Ohio's Div. III royalty has also fallen short.

11-12. UMass 31, Ball State 30 and Buffalo 34, Miami (Ohio) 31 (OT). The first week of midweek MACtion gave us a couple of delights. At 5-4, UMass is only one win away from clinching its first .500 season in 15 years at the FBS level. The Minutemen might need an extra win to bowl - they have two wins over FCS teams - but 6-6 alone would be a hell of an accomplishment in Amherst.

13. Division III: No. 4 Wisconsin-Whitewater 24, No. 2 Wisconsin-Platteville 21. The Division III game of the week was a slight upset thanks to two Tommy Novotny scores and a great performance from the UWW defense.

14-15. Navy 42, Temple 35 and East Carolina 20, USF 17. Navy blew a 28-point lead and still won, and ECU landed a huge win with a 55-yard Andrew Conrad field goal at the buzzer. Throw in Florida Atlantic's track-meet upset of UTSA, and it was quite a week in the American.

16. Division III: Simpson 57, Nebraska Wesleyan 49 (2OT). Simpson led by 18 late in this Division III track meet, but 1-8 NWU scored four times in the final 8:19 to force overtime. As with Temple, however, the comeback was for naught, and an 11-yard Noah Cracraft score made the difference.

17. NAIA: St. Mary of the Woods 28, Judson (Ill.) 27. It was 0-8 St. Mary-Woods -- playing its first season of football -- against 0-9 Judson. St. Mary scored the first 20 points, and Judson scored the next 27, but the game turned when Adonimi Parker returned a blocked PAT 97 yards for two points with 1:52 left. Instead of trailing by eight, the Pomeroys trailed by only six and won the game with a Carter Hall TD plunge.

18. Division III: Heidelberg 38, Capital 32 (OT). Here's a name you'll be reading in my Tuesday Heisman of the Week piece: Heidelberg's Drew Miller gained 451 yards from scrimmage and scored five times - and the Student Princes needed every one of those scores.

19. FCS: SC State 35, Howard 28. SC State was heavily favored and led by 14 at halftime, but Howard charged back to tie the game late before Ricorian Brown scored the winning TD with 17 seconds left.

20. Division II: Upper Iowa 41, Quincy 39 (3OT). Quincy led 24-7 heading into the fourth quarter, but UIU drove 93, 69 and 55 yards to tie the game; the teams traded four TDs in OT, but Elijah Genenbacher's 2-point rush made the difference. Small-school football is unbeaten.