B/R's 2025 College Football Winners and Losers from Week 9

On a day when college football didn't have many marquee matchups on paper, the sport delivered with some wild moments, as always.

The two big, early SEC showdowns delivered in a huge way with Ole Miss beating Oklahoma in a one-score game on the road and Vanderbilt surviving a late Hail Mary from Missouri to win at home.

Alabama got past a South Carolina upset bid, and the Crimson Tide weren't the only one. Virginia stopped an overtime two-point conversion to survive North Carolina, and Texas somehow overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit at Mississippi State.

Elsewhere, Memphis scored 17 unanswered points to shock South Florida and send the Group of Five playoff picture into a frenzy. Indiana, BYU and Georgia Tech stayed spotless, too. Texas A&M joined them with a dominant win under the lights over LSU in Death Valley.

There was plenty to decipher in Week 9, including some new conference contenders, breakout stars and Heisman moments. Here are the winners and losers from the week.

Saturday's showdown between No. 8 Ole Miss and 13th-ranked Oklahoma in Norman was billed not only as a potential College Football Playoff elimination game but also a strength (Rebels offense) versus strength (Sooners defense) battle.

In the end, coach Lane Kiffin's offense made enough explosive plays and his defense made just enough in a sweaty 34-26 road win that keeps the Rebels very much in the picture following last week's loss at Georgia.

The Sooners, meanwhile, likely must run the table against a rugged SEC schedule after suffering their second loss.

John Mateer's last-second heave fell just shy of the end zone and was batted down by the Rebels to give Ole Miss the win. Princewill Umanmielen flexed like his brother—former Rebels star edge-rusher Princely—with three big sacks (including a safety), harassing the Sooners all day.

Yes, the Rebels gave up some game-changing, long scoring plays to keep OU in the game, but in a year where coordinator Pete Golding's unit has been a liability, the Rebels defense made the biggest plays at the biggest moments.

Heisman Trophy candidate Trinidad Chambliss did the rest, passing for 314 yards and running for 53 more to lead the Rebels to a massive win. With South Carolina, The Citadel, Florida and Mississippi State remaining, Kiffin's bunch has a great chance to make the final 12.

Now, you may as well throw the Group of Five playoff possibilities into a can and shake it up like a Yahtzee dice roller.

Memphis threw a wild card into everything with a major rally and an ultimate 34-31 win over No. 18 South Florida on Saturday.

After the Tigers reeled off 17 unanswered points, led by star quarterback Brendon Lewis, who found Cortez Braham Jr. for the go-ahead touchdown, USF had a chance. But after Byrum Brown led the team down, the Bulls made a massive mistake.

With 10 seconds left and in Nico Gramatica field-goal range, lineman Cole Best was flagged for holding as USF tried to score a touchdown on one last play, backing the Bulls up 10 yards. Following a low snap, Gramatica couldn't hit a 52-yard field goal, and coach Ryan Silverfield and the Tigers celebrated a homecoming win.

Silverfield told the ESPN2 crew after the game how proud he was of his Memphis team following the adversity of a stunning loss to UAB last week. Now, all that is erased.

The Group of Five playoff picture now is wide-open. A one-loss Memphis now looks like the favorite after handing the Bulls their second loss (though one is to Miami). Navy, Boise State, Tulane and possibly North Texas are all back in the mix, too.

Lots of wacky football is left to be played, too. But this was a huge squandered opportunity for coach Alex Golesh's Bulls.

No matter the opponent, a Virginia football game this season is never boring.

The Cavaliers find a way to play up (or down) to their competition each week, but coach Tony Elliott's team seems to always find a way to win. 

They did that again in Chapel Hill, stopping a would-be, game-winning North Carolina two-point conversion to survive a much-improved Tar Heels team, 17-16.

After a Gio Lopez touchdown toss pulled UNC within one, coach Bill Belichick decided to go all-in to get his first ACC win. After a Benjamin Hall catch, his lunge toward the goal line fell just shy of the pylon, and after a review, UVA celebrated a win.

It has to be a sigh of relief for the No. 16-ranked Hoos, who moved to 7-1 and unbeaten (4-0) in the ACC. This is the fourth-straight ridiculous win for UVA. They've won the past three by six total points.

Last week, Virginia looked like it was headed to overtime against Washington State but got a safety to win 22-20. The week before, it was an incredible 30-27 win at Louisville, and everybody remembers the 46-38 double-overtime win over Florida State before that.

Somehow, Virginia is just finding a way. It isn't always pretty, and the Cavaliers may not always be impressive, but wins matter. With California, Wake Forest, Duke and Virginia Tech remaining, a win-out is a possibility.

This is a legitimate playoff sleeper.

The Kalen DeBoer era at Alabama has been characterized by losing games to inferior opponents more so than huge wins, and it almost happened to the Crimson Tide again against South Carolina.

But this year's Gamecocks have found ways to lose games all season, and they did it again in a soul-crushing 25-22 loss to fall to 3-5 and 1-5 in the SEC.

After leading by eight points, the Gamecocks gave up a 79-yard touchdown drive orchestrated by Ty Simpson, who didn't have his best game. A perfect trick play call by Ryan Grubb on the two-point conversion tied it. On the play, Simpson got the ball on a handful, faked a reverse to Ryan Williams and threw a two-point pass.

Still, South Carolina had the ball with a chance to score, but Deontae Lawson forced a LaNorris Sellers fumble, and it was recovered by Tim Keenan III on the Gamecocks 38-yard line. Germie Bernard raced in for a 25-yard scoring run with 34 seconds left to win.

While losing to Alabama was expected, the way it happened is another strike in Shane Beamer's horrific season. Sellers has been brutal after preseason Heisman hype, and he had the game-deciding turnover.

Sometimes, when you have a championship run, you endure games like this, and fourth-ranked Alabama was able to survive. But this definitely shows some major gaps in the Tide, especially in a run game that had just 73 yards on the ground.

This was a squandered opportunity by Beamer and the Gamecocks.

The BYU Cougars keep getting no respect. But few play the underdog role better than the Cougars.

They entered Saturday's road game in Ames against Iowa State as an underdog despite being unbeaten and ranked 11th nationally. But after falling behind by two touchdowns just before halftime, the Cougars reeled off 31 of the next 34 points to win 41-27.

Of course, they've been here before. In 2024, coach Kalani Sitake's team started the season 9-0 with Jake Retzlaff at quarterback before losing two of their last three and failing to make the Big 12 championship game.

This year with true freshman Bear Bachmeier at the helm, they're nearly back to that point from a year ago.

Bachmeier was brilliant against the Cyclones, throwing for 307 yards and two scores and running for 49 more and another touchdown. Even with Iowa State shutting down running back LJ Martin, Bachmeier took the team on his shoulders and carried the Cyclones to a huge win.

Huge games remain after next week's bye. The Cougars travel to Texas Tech on November 8, and then after hosting an up-and-down TCU team, they travel to Cincinnati. So, there are a lot of potholes left on this journey.

But the experts didn't think they'd win on Saturday, and they instead experienced an offensive explosion against a good Iowa State defense.

This is a team not enough folks are talking about on the national scale.

They are anything but a patient bunch in Baton Rouge, and the expectations are extremely high for their beloved LSU Tigers.

You can point to the Nick Saban days, sure, but don't forget Les Miles and Ed Orgeron won national championships, too. When LSU went north to Notre Dame to lure Brian Kelly away from the Fighting Irish in November 2021, the Tigers brass didn't do it to be a middle-of-the-pack SEC team.

Yet, even with talented signal-callers like Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier under center, that's exactly what they've been in the Kelly era.

After falling to 5-3 and 2-3 in the league with Saturday night's lopsided 49-25 loss to Texas A&M, the grumbles are likely to be much more vocal about Kelly's future in Baton Rouge. He also isn't a great fit, with his manufactured accent and bristly personality.

Those things wear thin when you aren't winning big, and Kelly isn't. LSU is just a mediocre team that looked hot at the first of the year but has flamed out. One year, it's defensive issues, and this year, it's the offense.

The common theme is Kelly. 

So, while lots of the talk after Billy Napier was let go at Florida and Sam Pittman was fired at Arkansas may center on the Auburn situation with Hugh Freeze and Mark Stoops at Kentucky, don't scoff at Kelly's uncertain future on the bayou.

Saturday night could be the last straw that ultimately forces him out.

Mario Craver may have upstaged his fellow portal transfer this year at Texas A&M, but if you recall, KC Concepcion was the perceived big pull for the Aggies this offseason.

He's doing just fine as the season progresses. On Saturday night on the Bayou, he was a massive difference-maker—along with quarterback Marcel Reed—in a blowout 49-25 road win against LSU.

Reed made his share of mistakes, throwing two picks including one in the end zone, but he also accounted for four touchdowns and was electric. 

Concepcion, however, made the play of the game in special teams. With the Aggies clinging to a three-point lead in the third quarter, he pulled the game-breaker.

The explosive transfer from North Carolina State fielded a punt, broke two tackles and then outraced all the LSU Tigers on his way to a 79-yard punt return touchdown that gave coach Mike Elko's team some breathing room.

It's Concepcion's second punt-return score on the season, and he has 545 receiving yards and seven scores at receiver, too after catching three passes for 45 yards and a touchdown in Death Valley.

Meanwhile, the Aggies remain unbeaten and on a collision course with the College Football Playoff. This is an exciting team full of big-time players and with a fast, aggressive defense. The sky is the limit, and after Concepcion's momentum-changing return, the Aggies poured it on.

Last weekend, Arizona State shook up the Big 12 by upending previously unbeaten Texas Tech, re-announcing its presence in the conference title race after winning it last year.

Just as quickly, the Sun Devils dove back down in the standings with a 24-16 loss to Houston on Saturday night. 

A frantic comeback with 16 consecutive points fell short when the Cougars thwarted the Sun Devils' potential game-tying drive. Houston missed a clinching field goal in the final seconds, but Arizona State's roughing-the-kicker penalty negated any chance for a last hurrah.

Playing without star receiver Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State couldn't find any offensive weapons, dropping its second league game. But the Cougars instead look like a Big 12 contender after the win, thanks to transfer quarterback Conner Weigman, who had 312 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns.

The Texas A&M transfer outplayed Sam Leavitt in what was a huge game for both teams. While BYU and Cincinnati remain unbeaten at the top of the standings, Houston is right there with the Red Raiders with just one loss.

After BYU and Arizona State were the sleeper surgers last year, the Cougars are that team this season under second-year coach Willie Fritz.

Now, it looks like coach Kenny Dillingham's Sun Devils are going to fade into the background. They haven't built the roster up yet where they can afford to lose a player like Tyson (or Leavitt, like in a 42-10 loss to Utah earlier this year) and overcome it.

Beging Texas Tech last year seemed huge for confidence and conference hopes at the time, but this was a gigantic dud as an encore.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs just can't quite get over the SEC hump, but Saturday's collapse is going to hurt for a long time.

They had preseason top-ranked Texas on the ropes with a 17-point fourth-quarter lead but crumbled only to lose 45-38. They fall to 0-4 in the SEC, but two of those setbacks were to ranked opponents in overtime.

Back on September 27, the Bulldogs led Tennessee throughout but beat them 41-34 in the extra session. After getting hammered by Texas A&M, the Bulldogs couldn't beat Florida last week in a two-point loss.

It looked like they'd break through Saturday, but it wasn't to be. Arch Manning led a touchdown and field goal drive, then Ryan Niblett's 79-yard punt return evened it up to force overtime.

Even after Manning went out in overtime with an injury, senior backup Matthew Caldwell threw a 10-yard scoring pass to Emmett Mosley V on what was originally ruled incomplete on a fingertip catch. It was controversially overturned, and the Texas defense did the rest.

It was a tailor-made upset in Starkville, and SEC Network cameras caught plenty of pain on Bulldogs fans' faces. They have been so close this year under second-year coach Jeff Lebby, but they just can't find a way to win.

Had they done it Saturday, it would have sent shockwaves through the sport.

It's unheard of to think about ESPN's College GameDay on the West End of Nashville to take in a Vanderbilt football game as a showcase this late in the season.

The Commodores didn't disappoint on the national stage, either.

With the nation watching, the 10th-ranked Commodores got a late touchdown run by star quarterback Diego Pavia and then survived a last-second Hail Mary hurrah from freshman quarterback Matt Zollers that was caught by Kevin Coleman Jr. at the 1-yard line but just short of the goal line to beat No. 15 Missouri, 17-10.

It was a defensive slugfest that saw the game tied at 3 at halftime, and while coach Eli Drinkwitz's team had several scoring opportunities throughout the game, VU found a way to turn back the Tigers.

The only reason Zollers was in the game at all is because, on one of those botched scoring chances, Mizzou quarterback Beau Pribula was injured on a fourth-down goal-line run that fell short.

He was placed in an air cast in what appeared to be a gruesome injury. Zollers—a true freshman who was highly regarded coming out of high school—played well in relief, completing 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards and a score, but Vanderbilt's defense did enough.

Despite just 129 passing yards and an interception and 20 rushing yards as Mizzou tried to bottle him up, Pavia made just enough plays, and the Commodores' defense looked like a championship-caliber group.

VU just keeps marching toward the playoff.

The latest turn in UCLA's topsy-turvy season transpired Saturday with the Bruins heading to second-ranked Indiana.

The Hoosiers snuffed out all those feel-good vibes from the Bruins' three-game winning streak that immediately followed their firing of head coach DeShaun Foster with a 56-6 domination in Bloomington.

All the feel-good videos of first-time offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel, the resurgence of quarterback Nico Iamaleava and the program's turnaround under interim head coach Tim Skipper evaporated in a crimson-and-cream cloud, and it happened quickly.

Iamaleava's first pass of the game was intercepted by linebacker Aiden Fisher and returned 25 yards for a touchdown to put No. 2-ranked IU on the board, and the Hoosiers never looked back.

The Bruins' win over Penn State was stunning, and victories over Michigan State and Maryland proved UCLA had improved dramatically, but Indiana is a national title contender, so the blowout shouldn't be surprising.

If anything, it's probably a sign of things to come for the Bruins whose remaining schedule is brutal with Nebraska, Ohio State, Washington and USC awaiting.

A crash back down to earth began Saturday.

When Pat Narduzzi inserted Mason Heintschel into the starting role against Boston College, it was a major surprise.

The week before when he pulled Eli Holstein after two interceptions against Louisville, he replaced him with Cole Gonzales. Then, suddently, Heintschel got the call against Boston College.

The true freshman has turned the Panthers' season around. Saturday, the Panthers whipped North Carolina State 53-34, thanks to another brilliant performance by Heintschel, but at this point, it shouldn't be a surprise.

In the win over the Wolfpack, the former No. 44-rated quarterback and 721st-rated overall player in the class completed 28-of-48 passes for 423 yards and three touchdowns. He is a straight-up gunslinger who isn't afraid to make the big play.

After last week's struggle against Syracuse, which was his only mediocre game of the year, Heintschel was again the star of the show. He really blew Saturday's game open with an 84-yard scoring strike to Cataurus Hicks, and he just keeps making plays.

So far this season, the Oregon, Ohio, native has now thrown for 1,243 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions. Offensive coordinator Kade Bell has full belief in him, and it shows.

An end-of-season stretch against Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Miami will be brutal, but Pitt has a chance with him under center.

As the Big Ten searches for that fourth relevant team to go along with Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon, the two teams most likely to carry that mantle squared off in Seattle.

Unranked Washington looked like a much more deserving team than No. 23-ranked Illinois in a 42-25 win. The Fighting Illini looked like the team that was demoralized by Indiana earlier this year.

In Bret Bielema's tenure, the Illini built its reputation on defense, but that is far from the strongest area on the '25 rendition and that showed again Saturday. But even as Demond Williams Jr. carved them up, star senior Illini signal-caller Luke Altmyer struggled on the big stage again.

Altmyer threw a pair of interceptions to help the Huskies build what became an insurmountable lead, and Illinois didn't churn out yards on the ground, either. Meanwhile, Williams dazzled. You can see that the sophomore is going to be a star despite his uneven season so far.

He finished with 346 all-purpose yards (280 passing) and accounted for four touchdown passes in the win. 

The loss takes Illinois out of the national picture once again, and everybody is wondering if coach Jedd Fisch's Huskies are on the cusp of something. 

This could be a nine- or 10-win season. With Wisconsin, Purdue and UCLA only standing in the way before an end-of-year battle at home against Oregon, the Huskies could at least be a tough out for the Ducks.

Illinois began the season with Big Ten championship game aspirations in Altmyer's last season, but the team that showed up Saturday looked closer to unraveling.

Maybe Friday night's ACC showdown schedule is the new Pac-12 After Dark. One could say the recent slate has been ACC-xciting.

That was the case again this week as California traveled across the country to take on a Virginia Tech team that already has fired its coach this season. The Hokies wound up winning 42-34 in double overtime.

Remember, the Friday night slate already gave us Virginia's wild-and-wacky, double-overtime 46-38 win over then-eighth-ranked Florida State that started the Seminoles' slide. Last week, Louisville upset No. 2 Miami 24-21, and California survived North Carolina, 21-18.

On Friday night, there were a pair of late fourth-quarter missed field goals (one from each team) to force overtime. Then, Tech quarterback Kyron Drones took over to give the Hokies their third win of the year and crush the Bears' hopes of being a conference sleeper.

Drones had a 17-yard touchdown run in the first overtime and then threw a 7-yard scoring strike to Takye Heath and ran in the two-point conversion in the second session and VT's defense held off Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele's Bears offense to win the game.

At this point, if the ACC is playing on Friday night, you should tune in.

With the way this season has gone, no coach's job is safe at any time. For the first time in a while, hot-seat coaches are dropping like College Football Playoff contenders.

After Auburn's 33-24 road win over Arkansas, you'd think Hugh Freeze's job is safe—at least for now. Of course, Florida fired Billy Napier after last week's win over Mississippi State, so anything is possible, but the Tigers showed some signs of life.

It didn't look that way early on as the Razorbacks used a 21-point second quarter to take a double-digit lead into halftime. Kani Walker's 89-yard pick six of Jackson Arnold with 48 seconds remaining was a dagger.

But Freeze benched Arnold in favor of Ashton Daniels, who managed the game enough to lead the Tigers to five second-half field goals. Mostly, though, it was about Arkansas and quarterback Taylen Green self-destructing.

Green was intercepted three times, and Rayshawn Pleasant's 49-yard pick six put the Tigers ahead with 9:15 left in the game, and the Tigers defense did the rest.

Whether Daniels is a long-term solution remains to be seen, and Freeze still has an uphill battle to keep his job with games against Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Alabama remaining, but benching Arnold may buy him some time.

What's Auburn going to do with it?