B/R's 2025 College Football Winners and Losers from Week 10

To steal a phrase from our beloved March Madness, "survive and advance" time has arrived in the 2025 college football season.

Winning, right now, is more important than aesthetics.

Fortunately for most contenders, Week 10 was friendly. Only three Top 25 teams fell to unranked opponents, keeping the drama meter relatively low.

But it certainly wasn't zero.

Early-season darling Miami plummeted back to a familiar place, and Georgia Tech saw its undefeated year end. Houston faded a bit further from the Big 12 radar, too. Additionally, inside the Group of Five, two results cracked open the American and Mountain West races.

We explored all of those storylines and more throughout Saturday's action.

Heading into Week 10, the crowded race in the conference still had a pair of unbeaten teams in league play. UTSA and North Texas put an emphatic end to that reality, smacking Tulane (48-26) and Navy (31-17), respectively.

As a result, the conference is a mess—our favorite kind, too!

Two teams will reach the American title game, we know that. As far as who, though, your guess is as good as anyone's.

Memphis, Navy, North Texas, Tulane, USF and East Carolina all have one-loss records with three or four conference games remaining. In addition, there are four matchups left between that group of six programs.

Given that the champion of the American is most likely to make the College Football Playoff, buckle up for a wild, meaningful November.

Literally from the first snap of the SEC contest, Vanderbilt had a challenging time trying to slow the Texas offense.

Arch Manning snapped a swing pass to Ryan Wingo, who shook a couple of defenders and raced down the sideline for a 75-yard touchdown. Missed tackles were a common theme for Vandy in the 34-31 loss to the Longhorns.

And, really, that was a generous final.

Texas soared to a 24-3 advantage behind a resurgent day from Arch Manning. He threw for 328 yards and three scores, helping the Horns pile up 428 yards—the second-highest total Vanderbilt has allowed in 2025.

Vandy remains in the CFP picture at 7-2, but a second SEC loss means the Commodores have no margin for error left.

Not since 1974 had the program earned a top-10 victory at home, but SMU snapped that 51-year streak on Saturday.

Miami outplayed the Mustangs for much of the ACC battle. However, a barrage of self-inflicted mistakes—and, yes, a controversial late sequence from the officials—doomed the Hurricanes in a 26-20 overtime loss.

SMU certainly doesn't need to apologize for hanging in and capitalizing.

The triumph ended a great week in style for SMU, which signed head coach Rhett Lashlee to an extension a few days earlier. The agreement will stave off interest in the former Miami offensive coordinator this coaching cycle.

Although the Mustangs need a little help elsewhere, they're now 4-1 in ACC play and a lingering threat in the conference race.

Remember when Clemson opened the season as a top contender for the national championship? I bought the hype.

Fast-forward two months, and 2025 has become a nightmare.

As with Miami, you can point to questionable late officiating in Clemson's loss. But, similar to the 'Canes, that didn't actually decide the game. Clemson straight-up imploded in a 46-45 loss, falling to 3-5 on the season.

The defense surrendered 361 yards and four scores to Duke quarterback Darian Mensah, and Clemson gave up a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown, too.

"I might get fired today," Swinney told reporters after the game. [Athletic Director] Graham [Neff]'s right there. I wouldn't blame him."

That probably won't happen. But, well, check back on Sunday, just in case.

Julian Sayin has always been in the Heisman Trophy race, yet he's leaving Week 10 with a convincing argument to hold the "favorite" label.

Sayin had a quiet performance in his debut—a 14-7 victory over Texas—as the Buckeyes' quarterback. Since then, he's consistently put up strong numbers and helped Ohio State cruise to blowout wins.

Along the way, most importantly, Sayin has shifted from a player the Bucks are winning with to someone who is carrying the team.

The trend continued on Saturday in a 38-14 stomping of Penn State. He connected on 20-of-23 attempts for 316 yards and four touchdowns, elevating his season totals to 2,186 yards and 23 scores for 8-0, top-ranked Ohio State.

Sayin has a real opportunity to become the first OSU player since Troy Smith in 2006 to claim the coveted award.

Ever so quietly, Houston put itself in a solid position to compete in the Big 12 while the calendar flipped to November.

So much for that dream, unfortunately. West Virginia came to town and sprung a shocker on the 22nd-ranked Cougars, collecting 246 yards and four touchdowns on the ground in a 45-35 final.

Now, let's be careful to not overstate the impact of the result.

Willie Fritz has done a fantastic job early in his Houston tenure. Even having the Cougars mentioned as a Big 12 threat this late is meaningful, so falling a bit in the standings won't be crushing to the program.

As the fan base eagerly awaits the arrival of 5-star QB Keisean Henderson, though, the Cougars would have loved to be ahead of schedule.

That hardly could've gone worse, huh?

Last season's Group of Five representative in the CFP, Boise State headed into the weekend at least on the radar. Following a 30-7 dismantling at the hands of Fresno State, however, that's no longer true.

Boise quarterback Maddux Madsen left in the first quarter due to a right leg injury, and he only returned to the sideline on crutches. In stepped Max Cutforth, a sophomore with 12 career pass attempts before Saturday's loss. He tossed two interceptions in what was simply a rough situation to enter.

The loss drops the Broncos to 6-3, and there's no way to defend them as a CFP contender any longer. Boise, even should it recover to win the Mountain West, will be hard-pressed to catch the champion from the American.

Besides, if Madsen is out for an extended time, a league title isn't likely, either.

The early window on Saturday featured a few surprises with SMU's upset of Miami, WVU's triumph at Houston and Duke clipping Clemson.

As for the mid-afternoon slate? Not much!

Georgia held off rival Florida—more on that in a moment—to headline a 6-for-6 run within the AP Top 25. Indiana and Texas Tech rolled to conference victories, Notre Dame powered through a shaky trip to Boston College and ACC hopefuls Virginia and Louisville also won the road.

None of those victories sealed a spot in a conference title matchup. None of those wins solidified someone as an elite team.

But, unlike Miami and Houston, the results kept those six programs in the hunt. At this stage of the season, that's a critical takeaway on Saturday.

Ohhh, but Florida had a chance. In the first game under interim coach Billy Gonzales, the Gators made it very uncomfortable for No. 5 Georgia.

Florida led 10-7 in the opening frame, never trailed by more than seven points and jumped to a 20-17 edge in the fourth quarter. After that go-ahead score, UF forced a three-and-out. The nerves, for UGA, were real.

From there, the upset bid unraveled.

Georgia made a critical 4th-and-1 stand in the red zone, then covered 82 yards on seven plays for Chauncey Bowens' go-ahead touchdown run. The defense forced a turnover on downs, and UGA successfully bled the last three minutes. Two third-down conversions iced UGA's 24-20 escape.

Florida, given its frustrating year, absolutely would have loved to disrupt the Dawgs' pursuit of SEC and national crowns.

Instead, the Gators are 3-5 and trending toward missing a bowl.

During the Brent Key era, Georgia Tech has been incredible when playing Top 25 opponents. But these unranked teams remain a nuisance.

North Carolina State left no doubt in this upset.

Georgia Tech entered with season-worst totals of 443 yards and 29 points allowed. But on Saturday in Raleigh, the Yellow Jackets saw CJ Bailey account for 374 yards and three touchdowns. Jayden Scott rushed for 196 yards and a score as NC State amassed 583 yards in the 48-36 takedown of Tech.

From a big-picture sense, Georgia Tech is still in decent position to make CFP noise. The team is 8-1 with Pitt (7-2) and rival Georgia (7-1) left on the docket.

But that familiar phrase—margin for error—makes another appearance. Georgia Tech cannot afford to drop another ACC game, and upsetting UGA wouldn't necessarily be enough to atone for a pair of ACC losses on a CFP résumé.

Survive and advance, baby.

Very little from the 21-17 victory at Nebraska will be adorning USC's highlight reel for the season. Sure, the Trojans busted out a flea-flicker in the fourth quarter, and that 43-yard completion set up their game-winning score. That was neat.

Beyond that, yikes. Jayden Maiava's other 22 passes resulted in a dismal 92 yards, and USC's running game basically just kept the Trojans afloat.

Nevertheless, a win is a win! That's what matters, especially in November.

USC, which hosts Northwestern next weekend, has a great chance to be 7-2 entering a key back-to-back against Iowa and at Oregon. Although the Trojans' CFP odds are slim, they—because of this escape in Lincoln—are not zero.

It was nice knowing you, Hugh.

Already on a sizzling hot seat, the beleaguered third-year coach did himself zero favors with a 10-3 loss to Kentucky. Even worse, at home.

Freeze and his staff turned to Ashton Daniels this week, benching Jackson Arnold. The switch did nothing of substance, though, as Daniels went 13-of-28 for 108 yards before AU tried to mount a comeback with Arnold.

Obviously, you know the outcome. Not good.

The logical expectation is that Freeze, come Sunday, will no longer be employed at Auburn. He's due a buyout of $15.4 million, which is quite modest in today's era of bloated termination numbers for head coaches.

If that indeed was Freeze's last game, he'll leave with a 15-19 record.

If you look solely at the final box score, you could be forgiven for believe that Tennessee won. Oklahoma gave up 456 yards and went 7-of-14 on third and fourth downs while managing 351 with a 4-of-10 mark on offense.

How else do you change the game? Turnovers.

Standout pass-rusher R Mason Thomas returned a fumble 71 yards for a touchdown, and both Peyton Bowen and Robert Spears-Jennings picked off passes that set up field goals for OU in the opening half.

Three takeaways, 13 points. Oklahoma's two giveaways led to seven UT points, resulting in a plus-six margin for the Sooners.

And there's a basic explanation of a 33-27 final.

You don't have to perfect. You don't always need to be good, either, as OU showed. But in those moments of subpar play, you must be opportunistic.

After falling to Texas Tech and BYU earlier this season, Utah faced a crucial moment in Week 11. In short, the Utes had to beat Cincinnati.

Mission accomplished. Emphatically.

Utah overwhelmed the 17th-ranked Bearcats, who headed to Salt Lake City boasting a perfect mark in Big 12 action. Utah totaled 480 yards in a 45-14 thumping to stay alive in the College Football Playoff discussion.

When the initial CFP Top 25 is released on Tuesday, Utah will be a fascinating team. The losses are real. You cannot ignore them. Yet in seven wins, the Utes have outscored their opponents 325-70. That is spectacular.

Maintaining this level of performance during a closing stretch of Baylor, Kansas State and Kansas will be difficult. Only the K-State matchup is at home, too.

Among two-loss teams, though, few look as dangerous as Utah.