Instant reaction to Week 10 developments …
1. And then there were four …
The first Saturday in November was the last Saturday before the release of the College Football Playoff rankings, and results on the field brought a major twist to the selection committee’s task.
Three of the top-10 teams in the AP poll lost. The Big 12 ate its own, as the conference is prone to do, and the SEC produced one close call after another.
With Week 10 in the books, four undefeated teams remain in major college football: Ohio State, Indiana, BYU and Texas A&M.
Meanwhile, Penn State is winless in the Big Ten, Virginia is alone atop the ACC, and Vanderbilt is looking down at Tennessee in the SEC.
How will the committee make sense of the mayhem? Our guess: poorly. But we’ll sort out the rankings upon their release Tuesday afternoon (5 p.m. ESPN).
Let’s start our weekend review at the bottom, which is currently located in Boulder.
2. Wipeout after wipeout
It took two-and-a-half years, but the college football world finally can assess Colorado coach Deion Sanders’ performance without the aid of the best player in the sport (Travis Hunter) and his son (Shedeur Sanders) at quarterback.
The picture is not pretty.
The Buffaloes were blown off the field Saturday evening by Arizona, which jumped to a huge early lead and rolled to a 52-17 victory.
The loss came one week after a 53-7 face-plant against Utah, meaning the Buffaloes have been outscored 105-24 in the past two Saturdays. (It’s like 2022 all over again.)
They are 3-6 and must win out to secure a bowl bid. The odds are steep considering the all-system failure currently unfolding. The quarterback play is awful, the defense is a turnstile and the disciple is waning: CU committed 14 penalties against Arizona.
So gruesome is the state of affairs that Sanders barred his players and coaches from post-game interviews for the first time in his tenure.
“Don’t attack the coordinators. Come at me. Don’t attack the players. Come at me,” Sanders said.
It’s a terrible look for Sanders and the Buffaloes and hints at a program dissolving before our eyes. Add his well-documented health issues to the on-field mess and it’s increasing difficult to envision Sanders coaching beyond this season.
3. Clawing back to relevance
On the opposite sideline at Folsom Field, there was immense relief.
Prior to arriving in Boulder, Arizona lost back-to-back games in excruciating fashion: in overtime to BYU and on a last-second field goal at Houston.
The double-whammy turned Saturday into a tipping-point game for the Wildcats generally and coach Brent Brennan specifically after his ghastly first season in Tucson.
Following the blowout — “We’re gonna enjoy the plane ride home,” Brennan said — the Wildcats (5-3) need just one victory in their final three games to secure a bowl berth.
Exactly how many wins Brennan needs to secure his return for the 2026 season is another issue entirely.
Athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois has avoided specifics since issuing a (dreaded) statement of support for Brennan after last season.
But we can offer and educated guess: The combination of visible improvement — the Wildcats look competent and have been competitive in all but one game (at Iowa State) — and a postseason berth seemingly would solve the Brennan matter at just the right time.
With the coaching carousel spinning at warp speed and a slew of big-budget schools searching for new leadership (LSU, Florida and Penn State, to name three), this would be a bad year for the Wildcats to enter the market for a new coach.
By December, there could be 20 vacancies at Power Four schools. If the Wildcats can avoid swimming with sharks, the program — and their budget — would be better off.
4. Digging deep
The most impressive victory in the Big 12 on Saturday did not unfold in Boulder.
Or in Houston, where lowly West Virginia unleashed a stunner.
Or even in Salt Lake City, where Utah handed No. 17 Cincinnati its first conference loss.
Rather, it materialized in Ames and came courtesy of Arizona State.
When last seen, the Sun Devils were losing at home to Houston and in jeopardy of falling out of the conference race at the start of the stretch run.
But they mustered a first-rate performance Saturday, beating Iowa State 24-19 without starting quarterback Sam Leavitt and star receiver Jordyn Tyson and a slew of other core players. (Leavitt is out for the rest of the season with a foot injury.)
Fueled by backup quarterback Jeff Sims, who rushed for 228 yards, the victory jumped onto the short list of the best wins of coach Kenny Dillingham’s tenure and undoubtedly resonated with the SEC and Big Ten schools in the market for new coaches this winter.
Dillingham is a Phoenix native and an ASU alumnus and prioritized longevity over dollars when restructuring his contract last year. We don’t expect him to leave for another gig, even if there are vacancies at Auburn and Florida State, where Dillingham worked previously (as offensive coordinator).
But there could be enough interest in his services to warrant a proactive approach from the Sun Devils.
Another extension? Perhaps.
More cash for the coaching staff? Maybe.
Worth monitoring? Absolutely.
5. Bay Area black hole
While the Arizona schools won on the road, the Bay Area schools stayed home … and lost.
Stanford wasn’t competitive against Pittsburgh with a 35-20 defeat that could have been much worse: The Panthers threw two interceptions in the end zone and fumbled on the 3 yardline.
As a result, the Cardinal (3-6) are on the brink of postseason elimination yet again: They must win all three remaining games, starting with a trip to North Carolina next weekend, followed by visits from Cal and Notre Dame.
Barring a minor miracle, this will be the sixth consecutive season (excluding 2020) that Stanford has been home for the holidays.
It has been quite the downturn from a program that went to 10 bowl games in a row from 2009-18.
Up the road, a sizzling start has given way to a floundering finish.
It wasn’t long ago that Cal was 3-0 and resembling a contender in the mediocre ACC. Since then, the Bears (5-4) have dropped four of six and are hurtling toward a difficult decision with coach Justin Wilcox.
Why? Because general manager Ron Rivera is on-the-record saying that he would define a successful season as “eight, nine wins.”
Unless the Bears beat Louisville (7-1), Stanford and SMU (6-3), they won’t clear Rivera’s bar, and Wilcox’s job could be in jeopardy.
This is his ninth season in Berkeley. Many of those were spent with difficult institutional challenges that made six wins a challenge.
But Cal has allocated significant resources to the football program — to the point that Wilcox is justifiably being held to a higher standard.
The on-field performance has thus far fallen well short.
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