SEATTLE — Another sold-out crowd went into its customary “Ju-lio!” chant in Sunday’s eighth inning, but this one felt louder, deeper, more desperate, almost as if you could feel the anticipation that comes from 24 years without a playoff home win in his city. Julio Rodriguez, the Seattle Mariners‘ beloved center fielder and one of the sport’s best producers over these last three months, responded by hitting the line drive that drove in Cal Raleigh for the go-ahead run, then arrived at second base, punched the frigid October air, flexed for 47,371 T-Mobile Park fans and, mostly, fed off their energy.

“I kind of looked around a little bit,” Rodriguez said after powering a nail-biting, 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers. “I could see everybody jumping around, and that made me feel really good. It was an awesome moment.”

Facing Tigers ace Tarik Skubal with the possibility of going to Detroit down two-games-to-none in this best-of-five American League Division Series, the Mariners rode an impressive pitching performance and two Jorge Polanco home runs to take a two-run lead heading into the eighth inning. And after Josh Naylor’s error paved the way for Spencer Torkelson’s game-tying double, the Mariners, one of baseball’s hottest teams since reaching their nadir in early September, responded yet again. Raleigh hit a one-out double off Kyle Finnegan, Rodriguez did the same, and Andres Munoz, asked to take down two innings for the first time in six years a night earlier, closed it out in the ninth.

For the first time since Oct. 15, 2001, site of the decisive game of that year’s ALDS, the people of Seattle could witness a playoff win first-hand.

“For us, it means a lot to give the fans what they deserve,” Munoz said. “I’ve been here for a little bit, and they deserve this.”

Skubal knows the Mariners’ struggle well. Long before solidifying himself as the AL’s greatest pitcher, Skubal pitched at nearby Seattle University, the only Division-I school that would offer him a scholarship. As a way to help pay it forward, and inspire kids hoping to follow his path of going from a ninth-round pick to a Cy Young, Skubal invited the entire Seattle University baseball team to watch him pitch.

The Tigers were coming off a gritty effort in which they utilized seven pitchers in 11 innings to practically steal Game 1. Skubal, five days removed from a 14-strikeout masterpiece in the wild-card round, hoped to put his Tigers on the brink. But Polanco got in his way. In the fourth, Skubal left a 2-0 slider out over the plate and Polanco lined it into the Mariners’ left-center-field bullpen, resulting in the first home run Skubal had allowed on that pitch since May 20. In the sixth, Skubal got ahead into the count, 1-2, but Polanco worked it full, then got a middle-middle sinker at 99 mph and sent it 369 feet.

“It’s a good at-bat,” Skubal said. “Two good swings on baseballs, and that’s how I five up runs tonight. I thought my stuff was really, really good. I thought my execution was great. But that’s the game of baseball.”

Polanco navigated the worst season of his career in 2024, putting up a .651 OPS after the Mariners acquired him from the Minnesota Twins. He spent a lot of that year playing hurt, ultimately undergoing surgery on his left knee shortly after the team’s season ended. The Mariners, scrambling for infield help in February, brought him back on a deal that would pay him $7 million in 2025 and saw him morph into one of their best performers down the stretch.

From the start of July to the end of September, Polanco slashed .282/.348/.551, ranking 11th in the majors in OPS. And when the Mariners needed a win most, he became the first player in four years — Paul Goldschmidt on Aug. 25, 2021 — to hit two home runs in one game against Skubal.

“He’s such a good baseball player,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a grinder. All year long he’s been having great at-bats, coming clutch in so many situations. And today, to have hit two homers against the best pitcher in the game right now — it’s awesome. There is not enough words to describe what he means to the team.”

Luis Castillo, a man known to feed off the home crowd in Seattle, got the Game 2 assignment and needed 51 pitches to record the game’s first six outs. A short start, coming off a night in which the Mariners taxed their bullpen, seemed likely. But Castillo completed the third and fourth innings with just 18 pitches. In the fifth, Mariners manager Dan Wilson confronted the same situation that presented itself the prior night: fifth inning, traffic on the bases, left-handed hitter Kerry Carpenter up, lefty reliever Gabe Speier warming in the bullpen.

“Déjà vu all over again,” Wilson said.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Wilson entrusted George Kirby to face Carpenter a third time and watched him surrender a two-run homer. This time, he turned to Speier, who struck out Carpenter to end the fifth, then cruised through the middle of the Mariners’ lineup in the sixth. Eduard Bazardo followed by stranding a runner in the seventh. Matt Brash seemed primed to do the same in the top of the eighth, but Riley Greene’s grounder, a potential inning-ending double play, ricocheted off Naylor’s glove at first base. Five pitches later, Torkelson deflated an entire city with a game-tying double down the right-field line.

“Just keep going,” Raleigh recalled thinking. “In the playoffs, you have to have a short memory.”

Raleigh, the franchise catcher coming off a historic 60-homer season, responded by turning on a splitter out over the plate and drove it toward the right-field wall. Rodriguez, arguably the game’s best player since the All-Star break, followed by turning on another splitter in almost the exact location and lining it down the left-field line, bringing Seattle back to life.

“It was awesome,” Rodriguez said. “These are things I dreamed of as a kid.”

Mariners fans waited 21 years after that 116-win 2001 season for their baseball team to get back into the playoffs. When they finally did, in 2022, the Mariners won back-to-back wild-card games in Toronto but suffered two brutal ALDS losses in Houston, came back home, played 18 innings and lost 1-0, ending a promising season. The next few years were mired by late-season collapses that left them out of the playoffs, which only added more pressure on a 2025 team widely considered the most talented of this generation. Raleigh called getting that first home playoff win “a nice weight to get off the guy’s shoulders.”

They hope for several more.

CONCORD, N.C. — Shane van Gisbergen won his fifth consecutive race on a road or street course Sunday with a victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where reigning Cup Series champion Joey Logano narrowly moved on to the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs in a nail-biter with Ross Chastain.

Logano found himself in a close race against Chastain, who was below the cutline and in danger of elimination until Logano failed to put together a strong enough race on the hybrid road course/oval at Charlotte.

Chastain seemed to have Logano on the ropes until a last-lap collision with Denny Hamlin sent Chastain spinning. He crossed the finish line backward in 21st, one spot behind Logano.

An animated Hamlin on pit road complained to his No. 11 crew that he was not made aware of the situation and would not have passed Chastain had he known it would benefit three-time Cup Series champion Logano.

“I didn’t know anything about anything on that last run, I wasn’t very good,” Hamlin said. “I saw (Chastain) and I didn’t know anything about anything going on. I didn’t know. I thought I was racing for about 18th. I just wish I knew so I could have been either prepared or made a different decision.”

The field was cut from 12 drivers to eight after the race. Logano’s fate was never really considered as most believed the final slot in the playoff field would go to a driver below the cutline and only if van Gisbergen was finally stopped.

Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell both put tough challenges on van Gisbergen, but the New Zealander emerged from a car-slamming battle with Larson through the turns with 14 laps remaining and took the lead for good with 11 laps remaining.

That eliminated any shot for Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing, or Austin Cindric of Team Penske, claiming the final playoff position. Chastain of Trackhouse Racing remained in the hunt, though, as Logano could never get his Penske Ford running well enough to secure his spot in the playoffs.

“Everybody was telling me how close it was going to be there. We’re still in. We’re still alive, baby,” Logano said as he reveled in a loud chorus of fan booing. “I knew it was within a point there and I knew we were going to be tied there at the end and Ross was going to do whatever he had to do to make it happen.

“If you want drama, the playoffs bring it every time. What an entertaining finish there. We’ve still got a shot.”

It was similar to a year ago when Logano left Charlotte eliminated from the playoffs, only to learn hours later while having dinner with his family that Alex Bowman had been disqualified and Logano was back in the field. He went on to win the Cup Series championship.

Logano made a late pit stop for fresh tires, Chastain did not, and Chastain was forced to race the final stretch trying to make his old Goodyears last long enough to get into the round of eight.

“Unforced errors, it’s just terrible,” Chastain said of two early race speeding penalties that made him want to “start the whole day over.”

“It’s heartbreaking for almost 200 employees at Trackhouse,” Chastain said. “It’s not acceptable, just completely unacceptable. To get here and fail is a terrible feeling. I will wake up tomorrow and get right back to work.”

The eight drivers moving on to the third round of the playoffs are Ryan Blaney and Logano of Penske, Chase Elliott, Larson and William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports, Hamlin, Bell and Chase Briscoe of Joe Gibbs Racing.

Chastain, Cindric, Reddick and Wallace were eliminated — which takes both of the Michael Jordan-owned cars out of title contention.

On Oct. 26, 1985, UTEP pulled one of the biggest upsets in WAC history, holding BYU’s Robbie Bosco to 15-for-35 passing with four interceptions and upsetting the No. 7 Cougars — the defending national champions — in a 23-16 shocker. BYU had won 30 of its previous 31 games heading into the game, and UTEP had begun the season 0-6.

Until Saturday, that was the last time a team that was 0-4 or worse had knocked off a top-10 opponent. But almost 40 years after that wild upset at the Sun Bowl, a sparse Rose Bowl crowd witnessed an upset of similar circumstance. UCLA’s 42-37 win over Penn State was the most stunning result of the 2025 season to date, and combined with Florida’s 29-21 win over Texas in The Swamp — a much more normal upset, as far as those things go — it severely wounded the College Football Playoff odds of what were the top two teams in the preseason AP poll

The rest of Week 6 was more about missed upset opportunities than shockers, but taking down the preseason top two is quite the paradigm shifter. Let’s look back at the most important developments of Week 6.

The biggest upset in 40 years (by one definition, at least)

UCLA 42, No. 7 Penn State 37

Each week in my Friday preview column, I search for what I call the Chaos Superfecta, in which I look for four carefully curated games with pretty big point spreads and mash them together into a much more upset-friendly number. This past Friday, I declared that we would be taking down a Big Ten favorite, noting that there was only a 55% chance that Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois and Nebraska all would win. As it turns out, I wasn’t aiming high enough. UCLA’s pregame win probability, per SP+, was 2.1%; the Bruins’ upset was actually too chaotic to be considered for the Chaos Superfecta.

We know how huge upsets tend to play out. The losing favorite turns the ball over too many times (usually with a healthy dose of bad luck), settles for too many field goals and bottoms out on third or fourth down. They win a majority of the plays but lose the wrong ones.

Penn State did lose a fumble to start the second half, and the Nittany Lions’ combined 5-for-12 performance on third and fourth down wasn’t terrible but wasn’t amazing either. But the Nittany Lions produced a 52.6% success rate*, well above the national average of 44.8%, and they averaged a healthy 6.3 yards per play.

(* Success rate: How frequently an offense is gaining 50% of necessary yardage on first down, 70% on second and 100% on third and fourth.)

Drew Allar, so maligned for big-game performances through the years, was quite good, completing 19 of 26 passes for 200 yards and rushing 10 times (not including one sack) for 89 yards. Aside from an early three-and-out, PSU moved the ball well all game until an all-timer of a fourth-and-short stop by UCLA’s defense in the final minute.

The culprit, instead, was a Penn State defense that has been as good as virtually any in the nation over the past four seasons.

Since the start of 2022, only five teams have gained at least 430 yards on the Nittany Lions: No. 5 Michigan and No. 2 Ohio State in 2022, No. 11 Ole Miss in 2023, No. 1 Oregon in 2024 … and UCLA on Saturday. That’s the same UCLA team that gained just 326 yards on New Mexico in Week 3 and 220 against Utah in its season opener.

Well, I guess it wasn’t the same UCLA. This one had Jerry Neuheisel calling plays after offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri followed fired head coach DeShaun Foster out the door this past week. Neuheisel’s notice was short enough that he hadn’t even mastered the headset yet.

UCLA OC Jerry Neuheisel had never practiced with the headset before today’s game – but it all worked out 😂 pic.twitter.com/oVelZaEa7c

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 5, 2025

Neuheisel called the game like UCLA played it: with nothing to lose. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava has spent much of his career looking as though he’s torn between showing off his athleticism and trying to be a pro-style QB prototype by staying in the pocket and making plays with his arm. That has resulted in far too much indecision and far too many sacks over the last season and a half. But he was unlocked Saturday, taking his customary three sacks but otherwise rushing 13 times for 150 yards and three touchdowns. He moved the chains on third down four times with his arm and four times with his legs.

The Bruins sliced down the field for a touchdown to start the game, recovered a surprise onside kick and took a 10-point lead before Penn State could actually touch the ball. They outgained the shell-shocked Nittany Lions by a 285-92 margin in the first half, in part because PSU got the ball only three times, and took a 27-7 lead into halftime. But when the Nittany Lions scored a touchdown, then blocked a punt for another score, to cut the lead to 27-21 midway through the third quarter, it was fair to assume what was going to happen next: Here’s where the slow-starting favorite shifts into gear and wins by two touchdowns, right? Even ESPN’s in-game win probability model shifted to favor the Nittany Lions.

Instead, UCLA immediately drove 75 yards for a touchdown, and when PSU scored in response, UCLA went another 75 yards for a score. Things got tense late, and the Nittany Lions, down 42-35 in the final minute, had a chance to tie the game up. But Scooter Jackson led a host of defenders in stuffing Allar on fourth-and-2, and the Bruins saw out the unbelievable upset.

Even if you had told me in advance that UCLA would win this game, I would have given “Allar plays well, but the defense gets torched, and the Nittany Lions lose at the line of scrimmage on almost every key occasion” betting odds of about +1000. Penn State was without injured star linebacker Tony Rojas, but my goodness, the school didn’t spend unearthly sums of money prying defensive coordinator Jim Knowles away from Ohio State to give up 42 points to UCLA.

This was only James Franklin’s third loss as a favorite of 14 or more points at Penn State – he’s now 56-3 in such games, a 0.949 win percentage that is better than almost any team’s in the country. Maybe the Nittany Lions were just due an absolute nonsense performance; maybe no one can limit uncertainty to such an upset-proof degree.

Regardless, this is a devastating loss. With back-to-back games against Ohio State (second in SP+) and Indiana (third) coming up in November, the Nittany Lions were already looking at probably needing to at least split those games to feel good about their playoff chances. Now they probably have to beat both the Buckeyes and Hoosiers, and with their SP+ rating falling off a cliff following Saturday’s result, they’re projected to have only a 1.6% chance of winning out to reach 10-2.

This was the all-in year for Penn State, with the school ponying up not only for Knowles but also to keep stars such as Allar, running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton and defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton in town for one more season. Now their most likely record, per SP+, is 7-5, and their Big Ten title odds are currently 11th in the conference, lower than those of even Iowa or Maryland.

Big Ten title odds, per SP+
Ohio State 26.9%
Oregon 25.8%
Indiana 17.7%
Michigan 9.7%
USC 5.1%
Washington 4.3%
Illinois 3.6%
Nebraska 2.9%
Iowa 1.3%
Maryland 1.2%
Penn State 0.6%

Oof.

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Florida over Texas, aka the rise of the disappointing QB

Florida 29, No. 9 Texas 21

One of the stories of September was how many high-upside quarterbacks were falling miles short of expectations. When I ranked all the power-conference quarterbacks last week, Texas’ Arch Manning ranked 41st, Clemson’s Cade Klubnik ranked 54th, UCLA’s Nico Iamaleava ranked 58th and Florida’s DJ Lagway ranked 61st. All were mega-blue-chip recruits, Klubnik and Iamaleava had piloted playoff teams last season, Lagway had flashed signs of true-freshman brilliance down the stretch and Manning began this season as the betting favorite for the Heisman. All were among the bottom 40% of P4 QBs.

On Saturday, Iamaleava torched Penn State, and Klubnik went 22-for-24 for 254 yards and 4 touchdowns as Clemson absolutely pasted North Carolina. Lagway, meanwhile, drastically outdueled Manning as Florida toppled Texas.

Against what was the No. 1 defense in the country, per SP+, Lagway completed 21 of 28 passes for 298 yards and two scores, and after suffering far too many sacks and turnovers in September, he threw one pick with no sacks. Jadan Baugh rushed for 107 yards, and blue-chip freshman Dallas Wilson caught six passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns, including this utterly ridiculous 55-yarder.

The Gators averaged 7.0 yards per play with a 48% success rate against a defense that seemed even more elite than Penn State’s. Only two turnovers and two field goals kept Florida under 30 points. Lagway has consistently pressed this season, trying far too hard to make something happen for a struggling team. On Saturday, he was wonderfully in control.

Manning, meanwhile, had yet another frustrating game. He did complete passes of 22, 26, 33, 38 and 42 yards, with a 36-yard run to boot, but he was just 16-for-29 for the game and threw two picks with six sacks. He continues to lose his footwork and misfire on loads of passes when pressured, he continues to get absolutely no help from his offensive line, and he continues to trust his athleticism too much to bail him out of trouble.

Texas has played five games this season: three against teams ranked 97th or worse in SP+ and two against teams ranked 33rd or better. Texas is 3-0 against the former but 0-2 against the latter. Life in the SEC gives the team plenty of chances to stockpile marquee wins if it gets its act together. But the Longhorns have fallen to 20th in SP+, thanks to an offense that currently ranks 53rd, and saying they still have 5-0 Oklahoma, 5-0 Texas A&M, 4-1 Georgia and 5-1 Vanderbilt on the schedule sounds far more threatening than hopeful. At this point, the Longhorns’ most likely projected record is 7-5, and they’re currently 10th on the SEC title odds list.

SEC title odds, per SP+
Ole Miss 17.0%
Alabama 15.5%
Oklahoma 15.5%
Missouri 11.7%
Texas A&M 9.9%
Georgia 7.3%
Tennessee 6.0%
LSU 5.7%
Vanderbilt 3.3%
Texas 2.8%

The Horns will have a shot at an immediate rebound against Oklahoma in Dallas this coming Saturday, but any hope Texas fans can derive from their team likely facing Sooners backup quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. is offset by the fact that OU ranks second in defensive SP+, 16 spots higher than the Florida defense that just made Manning’s life hell.

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Missed opportunities in Tallahassee and Tuscaloosa

Turnovers have been at the root of many upsets through the years, but turnovers also prevented a couple of underdogs from making favorites sweat Saturday.

No. 10 Alabama 30, No. 16 Vanderbilt 14

A lot of Saturday’s Bama-Vandy game in Tuscaloosa played close to the typical upset script. Alabama moved the ball with ruthless efficiency overall but suffered a few negative plays and an ill-timed turnover and scored touchdowns on just one of its first five red zone trips. The Crimson Tide let Diego Pavia and Vanderbilt hang around in exactly the type of way teams often end up ruing. But unlike last season, Vandy couldn’t hold up its end of the upset bargain.

Pavia lost a fumble at the Bama 8 as the Commodores were attempting to expand an early 7-0 lead, then Pavia was picked off by Keon Sabb at the Bama 7 early in the fourth quarter, when Vandy, down 20-14, had a chance to take the lead again. As efficient and gutsy as Pavia can be, you can’t waste opportunities like that. Bama scored 10 late points to pull away.

Now, Bama was easily the superior team. The Tide outgained the ‘Dores by 153 yards and 0.9 yards per play, with a better success rate (49.3% to 46.3%) and more big plays (gains of 20-plus on 10.1% of their snaps to Vandy’s 5.6%). Jam Miller, who missed most of September because of injury, rushed 22 times for 136 yards, and Ty Simpson‘s primary receiver trio — Ryan Williams, Germie Bernard and Isaiah Horton — combined for 15 catches and 246 yards. But they left the door ajar with their red zone failures, and it felt almost surprising when Vandy didn’t take advantage.

In the past two weeks, Bama has beaten Georgia for a second straight year and avenged last year’s loss to Vandy. The challenges are only beginning — the Tide’s next two opponents (Missouri and Tennessee) are each in the SP+ top 10, and both LSU (17th) and Oklahoma (fifth) will visit Tuscaloosa in November — but these were two huge hurdles to clear, and they’re in good shape in the SEC race because of it.

No. 3 Miami 28, No. 18 Florida State 22

Through the first four games of 2025, Florida State might have had the best scripted plays in college football. Over the first 15 plays of a game, the Seminoles were averaging 10.5 yards per play, first in the country. For that matter, their first four snaps Saturday night gained 51 yards as they quickly drove into Miami’s red zone. But the momentum ceased. Over their next 37 snaps, they averaged just 3.5 yards per play with two turnovers. And after a third turnover, they found themselves down 28-3.

Without the turnovers, however, they might have had a chance. The FSU defense did its part, more or less, losing receivers Malachi Toney and CJ Daniels for a quartet of big gains but otherwise allowing just 3.3 yards per play over 55 snaps and forcing five punts with three three-and-outs. Miami scored just enough that, when FSU’s offense finally got going late, the Noles couldn’t quite catch up, but without the self-inflicted wounds, the ending might have been much more interesting. Regardless, after a tough overtime loss to overtime masters Virginia last week — the Cavaliers beat Louisville in OT as well Saturday — FSU didn’t give itself a shot at a rebound opportunity.

At the heart of FSU’s sudden regression has been a relative loss of form for quarterback Tommy Castellanos. Even as the Noles began the season brilliantly, I couldn’t shake the memory of last year, when Castellanos followed a brilliant start at Boston College with a collapse.

Castellanos’ first three games of 2024: 83.5 Total QBR, 64.8% completion rate, 9.5 yards per dropback, 8.5% sack rate

Rest of the season: 17.9 Total QBR, 59.8% completion rate, 5.9 yards per dropback, 11.6% sack rate

Castellanos and offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn fit beautifully together, and his ceiling is higher at FSU than it was at BC. But after an almost perfect three-game start, it appears opponents are once again adjusting well to his unique skill set. Virginia and Miami both hemmed him in and forced him to throw more passes instead of scrambling for downfield yards, and it limited his effectiveness.

Castellanos’ first three games of 2025: 92.5 Total QBR, 71.1% completion rate, 13.8 yards per dropback, 0.0% sack rate

Last two games: 58.9 Total QBR, 55.8% completion rate, 6.3 yards per dropback, 4.9% sack rate

It’s still baffling that Bama didn’t understand the assignment in the season opener and allowed Castellanos to repeatedly escape the pocket, but Virginia and Miami put him in more awkward situations. FSU should still score plenty of points and win plenty of games — SP+ gives them a 66% chance of finishing 8-4 or better, which is a massive rebound after last year’s 2-10 collapse. But any hopes of an ACC title charge or playoff bid are pretty much toast.

ACC title odds, per SP+
Miami 32.9%
Duke 15.7%
Georgia Tech 13.4%
Virginia 12.4%
Louisville 9.4%
SMU 6.6%
Pitt 5.2%
Florida State 1.2%

FSU fans probably would have probably welcomed an 8-4 record before the season began, but the win over Bama set a bar too high for the Seminoles to clear.

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Cincinnati over Iowa State and the new Big 12 race

No. 11 Texas Tech 35, Houston 11

Hey, guess what: Texas Tech looked fantastic again. Even while settling for too many field goals (like Alabama), the Red Raiders still led previously unbeaten Houston by at least 12 points for the game’s final 46 minutes, more than doubled the Cougars’ yardage (552-267) and cruised to victory. They’re projected favorites by double digits in every remaining regular-season game, per SP+, and have a 36% chance of reaching 12-0. They have better conference title odds than any other power-conference team.

Big 12 title odds, per SP+
Texas Tech 38.2%
BYU 12.7%
Cincinnati 10.0%
Utah 9.8%
Arizona State 7.2%
TCU 5.1%
Arizona 5.0%
Iowa State 4.4%
Kansas 3.9%

Overall, the Big 12 slate was as chaotic as ever, with three games decided by one score — including a last-second goal-line stand for Kansas (27-20 over UCF) and a last-minute field goal for Baylor (35-34 over Kansas State). Unbeaten BYU didn’t look amazing against West Virginia on Friday night but never really had to sweat either, and Baylor, TCU and Kansas were able to overcome early-season losses and remain in the title race.

Cincinnati 38, No. 14 Iowa State 30

Iowa State couldn’t remain unbeaten, however. The Cyclones allowed points on all of Cincinnati’s first-half drives, fell behind 31-7 and couldn’t get closer than nine points until the final two minutes. Cincy’s Evan Pryor and Tawee Walker combined for 167 rushing yards in the first half alone, quarterback Brendan Sorsby did Sorsby things (214 passing yards, 64 rushing yards), and Cincinnati won its fourth straight game since a Week 1 heartbreaker against Nebraska. This wasn’t a flawless performance — the Bearcats committed a mind-numbing run of penalties early in the fourth quarter and gained just 53 yards in their first 16 second-half snaps before putting the game away with a long Caleb Goodie touchdown — but it established their spot in the title race, and if the defense can more frequently perform as it did in the first half Saturday, they could remain in the race for a while.

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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:

Old Dominion: up 5.2 adjusted points per game (ranking rose from 65th to 50th)

Ball State: up 4.6 points (from 129th to 126th)

UConn: up 4.5 points (from 77th to 66th)

Florida: up 4.3 points (from 47th to 33rd)

New Mexico State: up 4.2 points (from 128th to 121st)

Pitt: up 4.1 points (from 41st to 30th)

UCLA: up 4.1 points (from 100th to 87th)

Northwestern: up 4.0 points (from 80th to 71st)

Akron: up 3.7 points (from 131st to 128th)

Notre Dame: up 3.6 points (from 19th to eighth)

Florida, UCLA and Northwestern all enjoyed course corrections after strong performances, and SP+ was particularly impressed with what Notre Dame did to Boise State – by the stats, the Irish’s 28-7 win looked like a 33-point win. But can we talk about Old Dominion for a second? Quarterback Colton Joseph is averaging 15 yards per completion and 8.3 yards per carry and is up to 17th in Total QBR, and the 5-1 Monarchs’ only blemish was a competitive loss against Indiana. They beat Virginia Tech, and their average score against three non-power conference-opponents is 41-7. They play James Madison in two weeks in what is quickly becoming one of the biggest Group of 5 games of the season.

Moving down

Here are the 10 teams whose ratings fell the most:

Penn State: down 6.4 adjusted points per game (ranking fell from fourth to 16th)

Mississippi State: down 5.0 points (from 27th to 43rd)

Minnesota: down 4.5 points (from 45th to 60th)

Vanderbilt: down 4.1 points (from 11th to 21st)

Boston College: down 4.1 points (from 75th to 86th)

Oklahoma State: down 4.1 points (from 103rd to 116th)

North Carolina: down 4.0 points (from 86th to 101st)

Coastal Carolina: down 4.0 points (from 123rd to 129th)

Iowa State: down 3.9 points (from 26th to 37th)

Florida International: down 3.9 points (from 121st to 127th)

We saw a number of terribly disappointing teams continuing to fall this week — Boston College, Oklahoma State, North Carolina, Coastal — but it probably isn’t a surprise to see which team leads this list. Penn State still ranks 16th overall but only because it takes a while to fall from near the top.

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Who won the Heisman this week?

I am once again awarding the Heisman every single week of the season and doling out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, 9 for second, and so on). How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting?

Here is this week’s Heisman top 10:

1. Nico Iamaleava, UCLA (17-for-24 passing for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 150 non-sack rushing yards and 3 TDs against Penn State).

2. Julian Sayin, Ohio State (23-for-27 passing for 326 yards and 3 touchdowns against Minnesota).

3. Eli Heidenreich, Navy (8 catches for 243 yards and 3 touchdowns against Air Force).

4. Luke Altmyer, Illinois (19-for-22 passing for 390 yards and a touchdown, plus 20 non-sack rushing yards against Purdue).

5. Jakobe Thomas, Miami (5 tackles, a sack, an interception, two pass breakups and a forced fumble against Florida State).

6. Colton Joseph, Old Dominion (17-for-30 passing for 315 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus 67 non-sack rushing yards and a TD against Coastal Carolina).

7. Blake Horvath, Navy (20-for-26 passing for 339 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 130 non-sack rushing yards and a TD against Air Force).

8. Ty Simpson, Alabama (23-for-31 passing for 340 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT, plus 21 non-sack rushing yards against Vanderbilt).

9. Carnell Tate, Ohio State (nine catches for 183 yards and a touchdown against Minnesota).

10. DJ Lagway, Florida (21-for-28 passing for 298 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT against Texas).

Iamaleava was the obvious choice this week, but Sayin is starting to make an admittedly easy job — throwing to Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate — look really, really easy. In four games since the Buckeyes’ win over Texas, he has completed 88 of 106 passes (83%!) for 1,187 yards, 14 touchdowns and 3 picks, none in the past two games. He can still be fooled occasionally (which makes sense since he’s a redshirt freshman), but it’s becoming increasingly rare.

Honorable mention:

• David Bailey, Texas Tech (3 tackles, all TFLs, 2 sacks, a forced fumble and a QB hurry against Houston).

• Carson Beck, Miami (20-for-27 passing for 241 yards and 4 touchdowns against Florida State).

• Hank Beatty, Illinois (5 catches for 186 yards and a touchdown against Purdue).

• Jordan Gant, Akron (32 carries for 176 yards, plus 28 receiving yards and a touchdown against Central Michigan).

• Mason Heintschel, Pitt (30-for-41 passing for 323 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus 42 non-sack rushing yards against Boston College).

• Cashius Howell, Texas A&M (3 tackles, all sacks, and a pass breakup against Mississippi State)

• Cade Klubnik, Clemson (22-for-24 passing for 254 yards and 4 touchdowns against North Carolina).

• Jam Miller, Alabama (22 carries for 136 yards and a touchdown, plus 8 receiving yards against Vanderbilt).

• Naeten Mitchell, New Mexico State (10 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 pass breakups and a pick-six against Sam Houston).

Through six weeks, here are your points leaders:

1. Ty Simpson, Alabama (24 points)
2. Luke Altmyer, Illinois (16)
3T. Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss (15)
3T. Taylen Green, Arkansas (15)
5. Jayden Maiava, USC (12)
6T. Jonah Coleman, Washington (10)
6T. Nico Iamaleava, UCLA (10)
6T. Fernando Mendoza, Indiana (10)
6T. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt (10)
6T. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (10)

With four top-10 appearances in the past five weeks, Ty Simpson, the No. 4 overall betting favorite, has built a bit of a cushion for himself as we approach the midway point of the season. (Betting favorite Carson Beck has yet to make an appearance on our list, which is odd.) Meanwhile … hello there, Luke Altmyer! He has finished second and fourth in the past two weeks while going a combined 39-for-48 for 618 yards and 3 touchdowns. Since getting stomped by Indiana, the Illinois offense has been nearly unstoppable.

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My 10 favorite games of the weekend

1. UCLA 42, No. 7 Penn State 37. Obviously.

2-3. FCS: Georgetown 27, Morgan State 24; Division II: West Liberty 47, West Virginia State 41. The smaller-school ranks gave us a pair of Hail Mary-esque finishes this week.

First, after watching an early 14-0 lead turn into a late 24-21 deficit, Georgetown’s Dez Thomas II found Jimmy Kibble for a 49-yard score to take down Morgan State at the buzzer.

HAIL MARY TO KIBBLE FOR THE WIN!#HoyaSaxa #HoyaBold #DefendTheDistrict #SISU https://t.co/CLGmxgiUPv pic.twitter.com/C2VrowGbMW

— Georgetown Football (@HoyasFB) October 4, 2025

Then, at the end of a 40-point fourth quarter that had already given us an 80-yard Antevious Jackson-to-Hunter Patterson touchdown pass, Jackson found Osama Hurst for 40 yards to turn a tie game into a West Liberty win.

BALLGAME! West Liberty beats West Virginia State on the final play of the game – a 40-yard TD pass from Antevious Jackson to Osama Hurst. Hilltoppers 47, Yellow Jackets 41. #MECFB pic.twitter.com/8exKcZ1yLF

— Mountain East Conf. (@TheMountainEast) October 4, 2025

4. Arkansas State 31, Texas State 30. Oof, Texas State. The Bobcats’ defense mostly shut Arkansas State down for three quarters and took three separate leads in the fourth. But ASU drove the length of the field to tie each time, and when Lincoln Pare scored to give Texas State the lead with a minute left, Tyler Robles missed the PAT after a poor snap. That opened the door, and Jaylen Raynor‘s short touchdown with seven seconds left — plus Clune Van Andel‘s PAT — gave the Red Wolves an upset win to start Sun Belt play.

5. Baylor 35, Kansas State 34. OOF, K-State. The Wildcats have now lost four games by a combined 13 points. They led this one 31-17 with nine minutes left and were driving to basically put the game away, but Jacob Redding‘s 66-yard pick-six with 4:28 left gave the Bears a sudden lead. Luis Rodriguez‘s 22-yard field goal made it 34-32 KSU, but Connor Hawkins bombed in a 53-yarder at the buzzer, and Baylor moved to 2-1 in Big 12 play.

6. Washington 24, Maryland 20. I’m not going to lie: I stopped paying attention to this one when Maryland went up 20-0. Apparently Maryland did too.

7-8. Division III: No. 5 Wisconsin-La Crosse 23, No. 10 Wisconsin-Whitewater 20 (2OT); No. 17 Wisconsin-Oshkosh 21, No. 12 Wisconsin-River Falls 17. You know how I’m always nagging you about keeping up with the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in Division III? If the first week of this year’s title race is any indication, the nagging isn’t going to cease anytime soon. The conference featured a pair of ranked-versus-ranked matchups, and both were thrillers.

After nearly 60 minutes of defensive dominance in Oshkosh, the offenses perked up late. Kaleb Blaha’s 2-yard run with 1:21 left capped a 92-yard drive and gave River Falls a 17-14 lead, but Oshkosh drove 66 yards in eight plays, and Quentin Keene’s 7-yard strike to Clayton Schwalbe gave the Titans a last-second win. But that was the mere undercard: The headliner in Whitewater, played in front of 20,167 — the second-largest on-campus crowd ever for a Division III game — saw La Crosse overcome a 17-0 halftime deficit and send the game to overtime with a late Gabe Lynch touchdown. Overtime was a field goal festival, but after Christian Powell recovered a strip-sack fumble, La Crosse earned a big walk-off road win with a 36-yard field goal from Michael Stack.

9. FCS: Western Carolina 23, Wofford 21. I should have probably given Western Carolina’s Taron Dickens a spot on the Heisman list above. He did, after all, complete 46 straight passes Saturday, an NCAA single-game record. Granted, they were mostly short passes — he finished 53-for-56 for 378 yards — and he needed every one of them to overcome three long Wofford touchdowns. But Marcus Trout‘s 34-yard field goal with 23 seconds left assured Dickens’ record day wasn’t in vain.

10. Division II: No. 8 Augustana 29, Sioux Falls 28. Sioux Falls was on its way to both a top-10 upset and a win in the Key to the City rivalry as the Cougars led 28-10 heading into the fourth quarter. But Augustana charged back, with two Richard Lucero Jr. touchdown passes sandwiching a 52-yard Jake Pecina field goal. Lucero’s 24-yard strike to Isaiah Huber gave Augie the lead with 1:18 left, and USF’s last-minute desperation drive stalled out near midfield.

Honorable mention:

11. Kansas 27, UCF 20

12. Buffalo 31, Eastern Michigan 30 (OT)

13. No. 24 Virginia 30, Louisville 27 (OT)

14. Division II: Ferrum 28, Shorter 25

15. FCS: Dayton 35, Morehead State 28

16. Troy 31, South Alabama 24 (OT)

17. Western Kentucky 27, Delaware 24 (Friday)

18. Florida 29, No. 9 Texas 21

19. Division II: Minnesota State-Moorhead 40, Minot State 37 (OT)

20. Navy 34, Air Force 31