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  • David Hale, ESPN Staff WriterOct 22, 2023, 02:07 AM ET

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    • ACC reporter.
    • Joined ESPN in 2012.
    • Graduate of the University of Delaware.

There’s a perception among many college football fans that great teams always look — well, great. They win, they win big, and they make it all look pretty easy.

That’s rarely how it works.

Most years, a trip to the College Football Playoff is as much about sustaining and surviving as it is dominating, and even for the best of teams, there’s a game or two along the way that’s just one long, brutal slog.

Saturday had its share of slogs for playoff hopefuls. Ohio State took every punch it saw from Penn State, but refused to stay down. Florida State withstood Duke‘s defense just long enough to break open the dam. Alabama and Tennessee traded blows. Texas coughed up a big lead but held on late. Oregon fell behind early, but made a statement down the stretch. Washington nursed its hangover from last week’s win over Oregon well into the second half against Arizona State, but rallied late — or, at least, waited long enough to see the Sun Devils implode — and remained undefeated.

None came easy, but do you know what they call the guy who graduates last in his class from medical school? They call him doctor. And an ugly win is still a win.

On the other side, USC‘s defense stood tall, then fell short. Penn State’s best hopes fizzled at the mercy of a superstar receiver. And Virginia, a team that’s endured more than any other program in the country, outlasted undefeated North Carolina for one of the most stunning upsets of the season.

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Sione Vaki snatches ankles on way to Utah TD

Sione Vaki snatches ankles on way to Utah TD

Winning is always so much sweeter than a near miss.

So those victory cigars in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, must’ve tasted like some Dreamland ribs. Joe Milton‘s TD pass before the half gave the Volunteers a seemingly momentous 20-7 lead, but Jalen Milroe and the Tide dominated the second half, capped by a 24-yard scoop-and-score TD to put the game away in a 34-20 win.

There have been so many points in which we were perilously close to writing off Alabama’s season and, perhaps, the Nick Saban dynasty. The loss to Texas, the ugliness against USF, the fight to the end against Arkansas, and then Saturday’s battle against the Vols — this is but a shadow of the teams that won games by simply getting off the bus. And yet there’s something entirely rewarding about seeing Alabama scratch and claw and still come out on top. Saban somehow gets to be the elephant in the room and the scrappy underdog all at once. It might be his greatest trick.

The asterisks Duke fans might want to put on the loss to FSU must’ve looked like fireworks to the Seminoles. They trailed into the fourth quarter, but after Duke QB Riley Leonard left following a flare-up of his ankle injury, it was all Seminoles. FSU posted the game’s final 21 points, as Jordan Travis kept the Noles’ undefeated season alive. To watch a Florida State game this year is to endure so many plays that feel like they should’ve been something more, and yet to look back at this 7-0 start, each game has ended with 30 points or more, and each with a victory. It’s a team that feels like it’s yet to hit its potential, and still always finds another gear when it matters most.

Nothing came easily for Oklahoma against UCF. The Sooners missed two early field goals and fell behind 23-17 entering the fourth quarter. Dillon Gabriel rode to the rescue, but UCF still had a chance to tie when it ran a trick play on a two-point try that was blown up in the backfield. The lackluster outing might’ve been enough to dampen some spirits in Norman, but then again, the Sooners are 7-0 and Lincoln Riley has two losses. Life is good.

The Huskies coughed up much of the good will they earned last week against the Ducks, looking entirely lost against woeful Arizona State. Washington turned the ball over four times, but ASU managed only seven points off the takeaways. Michael Penix Jr. played like he was still at Indiana, air mailing one throw after another and looking entirely lost, but he was bailed out by a 90-yard pick six from Mishael Powell. The Huskies ultimately prevailed 15-7, their first win without an offensive touchdown in 22 years. If they’re lucky, anyone who stayed up to watch will wake up Sunday assuming they dreamed the whole thing.

Utah went into its battle with USC using its safety at tailback and, possibly, three kids standing on each other’s shoulders and wearing a trench coat at QB, and it didn’t matter. That safety — Sione Vaki — rushed for 68 yards and caught five passes for 149 yards and two scores, and even after the Trojans battled back from down 14 to take a late lead, the Utes kept fighting. Bryson Barnes‘ 26-yard scramble set up the winning field goal. The win keeps Utah’s playoff hopes alive, despite playing the entire season without Cam Rising, who coach Kyle Whittingham announced would not return for 2023, while reigning Heisman winner Caleb Williams and USC are all but finished.

And if Saturday was all about survival, it was an awful setting for North Carolina. The Tar Heels have now played six games as a top-10 team in the past quarter-century, and they’ve lost five of them.

UNC was a 24.5-point favorite over 1-5 Virginia, fresh off its most impressive win of the season. Drake Maye threw for 347 yards. Tez Walker was a superstar once again. Omarion Hampton ran for 112 yards. It all added up to another devastating loss for UNC, which has consistently earned its reputation as a paper tiger.

Instead, it was Virginia that stood tall Saturday. The Cavaliers hadn’t won an ACC game in nearly a year, and the program had never felled a top-10 team in its long history. Instead, Mike Hollins, who was shot 343 days ago in an act of violence that took the lives of three of his teammates, scored three touchdowns in the 31-27 win. It was a remarkable testament to the willingness to keep fighting, to persevere against all odds, and to deliver something that transcends the standings.

It was fitting that Virginia earned the day’s sweetest win because nothing about the Cavaliers’ long road toward normalcy has been easy.

That’s one of the great lessons of a college football Saturday like this one. Get hit, get back up, keep fighting, and in the end, no one will remember the missteps along the way. They’ll just celebrate the moment it all felt right.

Sometimes all you need is a Marvin Harrison Jr.

Saturday’s showdown between No. 3 Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State was supposed to unveil the blueprints for how the rest of 2023 might unfold at the highest levels of college football power, to deliver a verdict on the Big Ten’s power structure, to assert proof that at least one of these teams can win it all, to affirm a narrative for Ryan Day or James Franklin … to be, in short, as meaningful a game as will be played during the regular season.

Instead, what we can take from Saturday is something we already knew: wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. might be the best player in the country.

Ohio State took the win Saturday, 20-12 over Penn State in a game that was at turns frustrating and physical, ugly and sublime. The Buckeyes are 7-0 with two wins over elite competition. The defense, which marred so much of the Buckeyes’ recent history, was an unmovable force. Day has his team poised, once more, to contend for the biggest of prizes, if only it can also escape its biggest of rivals six weeks from now.

And yet, this was hardly a ringing endorsement of Ohio State’s potential. Quarterback Kyle McCord was wildly inconsistent. The ground game was all but invisible. With WR Emeka Egbuka sidelined, there was a limited supply of real weapons for the Buckeyes. But there was Harrison, who, according to ESPN Stats & Information, had more receiving yards than the rest of the team combined and more yards after the catch than Ohio State’s ground game managed with the ball in its hands.

Franklin took the L against another blue blood. He’s 0-10 on the road against top-10 opponents now, which somehow is still not as bad as Penn State was on third down Saturday. But it was hardly a game that illustrated some weakness of coaching or talent or scheme — though there were certainly questions in each area for Penn State. The difference was that Ohio State had Harrison; the Nittany Lions did not.

It was the type of game that Lou Holtz didn’t think Ohio State could win a month ago, and now seems like it might be the only kind of game Ohio State wins.

It was a game with offenses that looked so similar to Michigan State‘s misery that the Michigan Wolverines immediately sent in a team of retired Navy SEALS to infiltrate next week’s practices.

It was the type of game during which Penn State fans had to be wildly screaming for the offense to take a shot, any shot, downfield only to ultimately sink back into their couches, clutching an 8-by-10 photo of Sean Clifford and wondering where things went so wrong.

It was a bulldozer driving into a brick wall, over and over, except for the 11 times the ball found its way into Harrison’s hands. Eleven touches, despite every man, woman and child in the stadium knowing he was the only player on the field who could turn this game. Eleven touches despite Penn State’s defense checking him, pressing him, bumping him, holding him, pushing him down and taking his lunch money. Eleven touches, all of them immensely important, and yet it was a potential 12th that changed the entire tenor of the game, when Penn State was flagged for holding Harrison on a play that might have — should have, if you ask a Penn State fan — been a scoop-and-score for the lead.

If Ohio State’s game plan was as simple as getting the ball to Harrison, Penn State’s was an abject mess — as if Jackson Pollock designed the offensive philosophy.

Witness the Lions’ first-quarter drive, when Nick Singleton ran directly into an overaggressive Ohio State pass rush on back-to-back plays, picking up 16 and 20 yards. What happens next? Drew Allar takes a straight dropback, that aggressive Ohio State pass rush is immediately in the backfield, and the drive stalls.

Witness the Lions’ second-quarter drive, when Allar found something approaching success in the passing game, connecting on consecutive throws to tight ends for gains of 11 and 34. What happens next? A double reverse that the Buckeyes sniffed out like the Wolverines had faxed them Penn State’s playbook before the game.

Witness the Lions … ah, no, there were no more Penn State offensive drives worth mentioning. In the end, Penn State was held without a touchdown for the first time in nearly a decade.

Ohio State, meanwhile, turned to Harrison, who is a superstar. For the second straight year, it turned to JT Tuimoloau down the stretch, and the defensive lineman utterly demoralized what little was left of Penn State’s offense. And the Buckeyes won.

So now the season comes down to the Michigan game once more. Of course it does. It always does.

And so for all the answers this game was supposed to offer, it left in question the one that looms largest in Columbus. Is this Ohio State team capable of beating the Wolverines?

The good news is, this team has Marvin Harrison Jr.

Games of inches

Fans in Houston and Pittsburgh will be spending the next week huddled around footage of their teams’ final drives, dissecting each frame like it’s the Zapruder film after officials robbed both of a chance to win by calling seemingly obvious first downs short of the line to gain.

In Houston, the Cougars came up inches short after Stacy Sneed‘s forward progress seemed to easily pick up a first down at the Texas 9 with 1:57 to play but the run was ruled short nevertheless. Donovan Smith‘s pass on fourth-and-1 fell incomplete, and Houston’s upset bid fell short, 31-24.

It might be a good time to check social media for all the Texas Longhorns fans who were absolutely certain Big 12 refs would be out to get them in their final year in the conference. Instead, the call was a blow to Dana Holgorsen, who was already heartbroken to find out Quinn Ewers had cut his mullet.

Pitt looked to have secured a 17-14 win at Wake Forest when QB Christian Veilleux scrambled to convert a third-and-9 — only the official didn’t see it that way. Instead, Veilleux was ruled down a yard-and-a-half shy of the first, which is where the official said he began his slide.

The great irony here is the slide rule is in place because former Pitt QB Kenny Pickett faked a slide against — you guessed it! — Wake Forest in the 2021 ACC championship game.

Without the first down, Pitt punted, Wake got the ball with a short field, and third-string QB Santino Marucci engineered a six-play TD drive that took just 33 seconds to give the Deacons a 21-17 win.

Pitt fans will now join Miami — which lost two weeks ago after a questionable ruling of a fumble when it could’ve simply run out the clock — at the weekly ACC officiating support group meetings. Coffee’s free, but it’s Pat Narduzzi’s turn to bring doughnuts.

Bad, worse and whatever Arkansas is doing

Wake Forest and Virginia Tech played last week, but it was Week 8 that offered the best opportunities to break out the Frank Beamer meme. Even beyond Ohio State and Penn State’s top-10 rock fight that … um, highlighted? … the day, it was an ugly afternoon for offenses.

It’s common fodder for service academy showdowns to include painfully little offense, but Air Force offered the promise of a surprisingly new narrative when Dane Kinamon broke free for a 94-yard touchdown catch just 12 seconds into the second quarter.

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Dane Kinamon breaks free for 94-yard Air Force TD grab

Dane Kinamon gets behind Navy’s defense and goes the distance for a 94-yard Air Force touchdown.

Unfortunately, that’s the last offense anyone chose to play. Navy finished with 122 total yards. The two teams were 4-of-30 on third down. Several wide receivers fell asleep at midfield. Air Force won 17-6 thanks to a late pick-six. To recap, a game that came with the second-lowest Vegas point total on record for a Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy contest included a 94-yard TD and a pick-six and still went under.

In Arkansas, offensive coordinator Dan Enos has been walking around for weeks humming the opening stanza to “Sound of Silence” and dreaming up new ways to turn KJ Jefferson into George Jefferson.

Jefferson fumbled twice and threw a pick in Arkansas’ 7-3 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday. Impressively, he managed to complete 19 passes for just 97 yards. Kindergarten games of hot potato involve more downfield throwing than that. Mississippi State at least had the excuse of missing starting QB Will Rogers, who technically missed the game due to injury but would’ve been well within his rights to simply take Saturday off to go see the new Scorsese movie instead.

At ECU, the Pirates’ offense is ridden with scurvy. ECU threw 32 passes and managed just 88 yards through the air in Saturday’s 10-7 loss to a nearly-as-inept Charlotte team. We genuinely wonder if 49ers coach Biff Poggi cuts the arms off his sweatshirts or if he gets mad while watching film of his offense and then shreds his clothes like the Incredible Hulk.

In Iowa, all of that is considered the second-best appetizer for a Hawkeyes game (after the preferred pregame meal of an 86-ounce steak and a quarter keg of whole milk).

And those Hawkeyes didn’t disappoint. Which is to say, they were incredibly disappointing.

The game total closed at 30.5, which is also the number of beers you’d need to consume to enjoy the offense in this one, which Minnesota won 12-10. The two QBs combined to complete 20 of 48 throws. The lone touchdown came on a 1-yard run that completed a 46-yard drive. There were 18 punts, and Hawkeyes offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz’s only regret was that there weren’t more. Iowa chose to punt on fourth-and-10 at its own 41 with 2:06 to play, which made sense because each snap on offense for Iowa represented Minnesota’s best chance to score. The Hawkeyes got a stop and forced another punt — and might have scored on a return, if not for Cooper DeJean waving for a fair catch (or perhaps he was just signaling to AD Beth Goetz not to count these points toward Ferentz’s total). And then Iowa quickly threw a game-ending interception because, of course it did.

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Iowa’s go-ahead TD wiped off after fair catch call

Cooper DeJean returns punt for a 54-yard Iowa touchdown to grab the lead, but it is taken off the board after DeJean appeared to motion for a fair catch.

The final numbers: Iowa had 127 yards of total offense. It averaged 0.4 yards per rush, which translated into inches is a little more than 14 per carry. A toddler could have fallen over 28 times and performed better. For the season, Iowa has 2,656 punt yards and 1,859 yards of offense.

And somewhere in Des Moines, a clandestine group of Iowa power brokers, clad in hooded robes and huddled around a sprawling oak table beneath a portrait of Hayden Fry, solemnly announces in unison: This is the way.

Coach Dabo Swinney turned some heads this week when he suggested his fan base might be weighed down a bit by folks who didn’t appreciate what it took to win, and he suggested perhaps a loss or two might thin the herd.

Well, he got his wish Saturday, and now the Clemson bandwagon might be just Swinney at the driver’s seat, pounding Mike and Ikes and listening to the “Shrek 2” soundtrack on cassette, because everyone else sees a bus slowly lurching toward a cliff.

Clemson lost to Miami 28-20 in double overtime. Miami played without starting QB Tyler Van Dyke, and it won despite a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit. The Canes’ QB, Emory Williams, had just 15 career attempts to his name, and still Clemson allowed Miami to rush for 211 yards — a total just three other teams had managed against the Tigers since 2017. The turnover woes that Swinney has largely chalked up to bad luck again doomed the Tigers, who coughed up two fumbles and an INT. The new offensive coordinator, Garrett Riley, was supposed to offer salvation for a Clemson attack that had gotten stale in recent years, but for the second time this season, a goal-line playcall left QB Cade Klubnik without an answer when it mattered most.

Clemson is now 4-3, effectively finished in the hunt for the ACC, and will need to win out to keep a streak of 12 straight 10-win seasons alive. After each of the three losses — one a fluky defeat to Duke and two in overtime — Swinney found myriad reasonable explanations. Just as it was in 2022, this Clemson team is but a few plays shy of playoff contention. And yet, the Tigers seem further away now than ever, and the most frustrating part — for those still on the bandwagon and those who’ve kindly evacuated — is there doesn’t seem to be any clear path back onto the freeway.

Week 8 checkdowns

Oklahoma State got 282 yards and four touchdowns on the ground from Ollie Gordon to beat West Virginia 48-34. The Pokes are now 5-2 on the season despite no one actually witnessing them hold a lead in any game this season. Gordon has now run for at least 121 yards in four straight games, the longest streak in the Big 12 since Deuce Vaughn had seven straight from Week 10 of 2021 through Week 2 of 2022.

Wisconsin scored 18 in the fourth quarter to erase a two-TD deficit and beat Illinois 25-21. The Badgers won with backup QB Braedyn Locke, who tossed two touchdowns. Braelon Allen had 145 yards and a score, too. Braedyn. Braelon. Uma. Oprah. (Note: If you’re old enough to get that joke, it’s time to take your cholesterol medicine.)

USF erased a 21-10 fourth-quarter deficit on the strength of 260 rushing yards to knock off UConn 24-21. The good news for UConn fans, however, is the NCAA was going to keep the Huskies out of the playoff anyway. You just can’t fight the system.

Missouri moved to 7-1 behind Cody Schrader‘s 159 rushing yards and two touchdowns, dumping South Carolina 34-12. Afterward, Shane Beamer punched the mascot, set his office on fire and interrupted a local magic show to saw a woman in half.

Memphis used a dominant second half and two TD passes from Seth Henigan to thwart the UAB Blazers 45-21 and retain the Battle of the Bones Trophy.

Afterward, the Tigers returned to Memphis, slathered the trophy in a nice dry rub, then left it to simmer on the smoker for the next 10 to 12 hours.

New Mexico beat Hawai’i 42-21 on Saturday for its first Mountain West win in nearly two calendar years. The Lobos’ last conference victory came Oct. 23, 2021, against Wyoming. Saturday was just the program’s sixth Mountain West win in the past seven seasons.

Heisman Five

The QBs have largely dominated the Heisman talk so far this year, but Week 8 marks the point the race opened up to everyone else.

1. Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr.

At this point, Harrison has proved so impactful despite a lack of consistent production around him that we’re fairly certain he could team up with the brass section from Ohio State’s band, a handful of sixth graders and three guys he found sleeping at the bus station and still win the Big Ten West.

2. Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel

Gabriel took on his former team, UCF, on Saturday and had to sweat out a 31-29 win. Hard to blame Gabriel for the Sooners’ struggles, though. Gabriel threw for three touchdowns, including on each of Oklahoma’s final two competitive drives. Even better, he still flubbed just enough plays to ensure Brent Venables can yell at everyone on Sunday. Best of both worlds.

3. Florida State QB Jordan Travis

Duke’s defense makes nothing easy for opposing QBs, and Travis’ usual contingent of downfield targets simply wasn’t open often Saturday. Still, he completed 27 of 36 throws and tossed two touchdowns, to go with another 62 yards and a score on the ground. Travis has now had multiple TDs in 14 straight games — the longest active streak in the country and the third-longest of the playoff era in the ACC. The two players with longer streaks — Trevor Lawrence (17) and Kenny Pickett (16) — both were Heisman finalists.

4. Washington QB Michael Penix Jr.

It’s entirely possible that Penix had tickets to a show Saturday night, and so he sent a lookalike to play for him assuming anyone could beat Arizona State. That is a more likely explanation for Penix’s performance than suggesting he just stunk. Still, two picks, a lost fumble, and a ridiculous amount of awful throws weren’t enough to sink Washington, and it’s not quite enough to knock him out of our rankings.

5. Oklahoma State RB Ollie Gordon II

There are not a lot of successful Ollie’s out there. The guy who invented the “ollie” in skateboarding. Oliver North for a few months there in the ’80s. Something about liberated oxen. So it’s fair to say that Gordon may already be the most famous Ollie in history, which isn’t enough to warrant Heisman consideration on its own, but paired with his 7 yards-per-carry average and 996 scrimmage yards, it certainly puts him in the conversation.

Wild Stalions

The biggest story leading into Week 8 was the allegation that Michigan was surreptitiously stealing signs and has been since at least 2021. But for all the attention the story got, it’s worth recapping the key details: A low-level staffer with a military background has emerged as a person of interest in the NCAA investigation into Michigan’s alleged sign-stealing operation, sources told ESPN on Thursday.

His name is Connor Stalions.

Let that sink in. If Jim Harbaugh had hired a ninja named Brock Espionage as the team’s director of [REDACTED], it wouldn’t have been any funnier.

The operation, which was described by a source as “elaborate,” has given Michigan all the insider info it’s needed to beat teams like Bowling Green, Rutgers, Nebraska and Indiana. Those wins can’t just be luck.

Still, we have to assume that at some point last week, Stalions was marched into Harbaugh’s office, where the furious Michigan coach was hunched over his desk, eyes bulging, face red.

Harbaugh: “Dammit Stalions, give me one good reason I shouldn’t have your employee badge and khakis right now!”

Stalions, coolly: “Because, sir … I get results.”

And he’s right! Without Stalions’ alleged advance scouting, surely Michigan wouldn’t have escaped rival Michigan State 49-0. It would’ve been more like 49-3. And instead of throwing for four touchdowns, J.J. McCarthy might’ve thrown for three and rushed for one. And certainly there’s no chance the Spartans would’ve been held to just 190 yards of offense. We have every confidence that, in an honestly played contest, Michigan State gets to at least 200 on a garbage-time scramble on fourth-and-26.

Meanwhile, in a bunker buried deep beneath the Big House, Harbaugh and his staff gather around a table surrounded by monitors showing the all-22 from Buckeyes games. A cacophony of frustration erupts among coaches.

Suddenly, a shadowy figure who looks strangely like James Franklin enters and hands Harbaugh a sealed envelope. Harbaugh opens the letter and slides out a single sheet of paper. It reads: “Marvin Harrison Jr. is really good.”

Under-the-radar game of the week

Like everyone in Las Vegas, UNLV likes to live dangerously.

The Rebels moved to 6-1 on the season (and 3-0 in the Mountain West) thanks to a 25-23 win over Colorado State that saw four lead changes in the second half of the fourth quarter alone.

Colorado State led 13-3 at the half. UNLV stormed back to take a 19-13 lead with 7:36 left in the fourth. Then the fireworks began.

Colorado State scored on a 20-yard TD to take a 20-19 lead.

UNLV booted a 46-yard field goal to go back up 22-20.

Colorado State drove into Rebels territory and kicked a field goal, taking a 23-22 lead with 44 seconds to play.

UNLV took over at its own 34 with 40 seconds to play and no timeouts, but QB Jayden Maiava completed balls for 5, 4, 21 and 20 yards to get within field goal range, and Jose Pizano drilled a 28-yarder with 3 seconds to play to secure the win.

Colorado State has now blown an eight-point lead and lost in double OT to Colorado, erased a 30-10 fourth-quarter deficit against Boise State to win 31-30, and traded leads with UNLV throughout the fourth quarter Saturday.

Usually in Las Vegas, that kind of heart-skipping drama comes with a few free drinks.

Under-the-radar play(s) of the week

Boston College and Georgia Tech defensive backs named A(h)mari took turns one-upping each other for sheer athleticism in Atlanta on Saturday.

First, BC’s Amari Jackson grabbed a one-handed pick like he was nabbing a fly out of the air with chopsticks, then returned it 30 yards for a touchdown.

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BC CB makes jaw-dropping, one-handed pick-six

Boston College’s Amari Jackson picks off Haynes King and returns it for a touchdown.

Not to be outdone, Georgia Tech’s Ahmari Harvey elevated like Michael Jordan, hung in midair like he was in “The Matrix” and pulled down an interception in the end zone, too. Three plays later, Yellow Jackets QB Haynes King scored on a 71-yard run.

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Ahmari Harvey elevates to pick off Boston College in the end zone

Ahmari Harvey intercepts Thomas Castellanos deep pass in the end zone to give Georgia Tech the ball back.

After that, however, the defenses didn’t do quite so much, as BC’s Kye Robichaux ran for 165 yards, added 54 more receiving and scored twice in the Eagles’ 38-23 win.

Out of their Rut

In 2021, Rutgers proved that the best ability was availability by sliding into a bowl game after Texas A&M opted out of playing, despite its 5-7 regular-season record.

Aside from bowling by default, however, it’d been a bit of a dry spell for the Scarlet Knights, who hadn’t won six games in a year since 2014.

Welcome back to the big time — or, at least, slightly better than mediocrity — Rutgers!

Gavin Wimsatt ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as Rutgers thumped Indiana 31-14, getting win No. 6 on the season to secure a bowl bid. It’s the program’s eighth bowl season in 15 years with Greg Schiano at the helm. In its other 94 years of existence, it’s made exactly four bowl games.

It’s probably fair to note that no one Rutgers has beaten so far has a winning record. And, it’s perhaps worth mentioning that the next four games on the docket — Ohio State, at Iowa, at Penn State, Maryland — are all against schools that currently do have a winning record.

So go ahead and book those flights to Detroit. The Quick Lane Bowl awaits, and it’ll be — well, it’ll be cold. But you’re from New Jersey. You’ll be fine.

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Guardians’ Clase, Ortiz indicted for pitch rigging

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Guardians' Clase, Ortiz indicted for pitch rigging

Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were charged with fraud, conspiracy and bribery stemming from an alleged scheme to rig individual pitches that led to gamblers winning hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to an indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors Sunday.

Ortiz was arrested Sunday morning in Boston and will appear in court Monday, according to prosecutors, and Clase is not in custody.

Prosecutors at the Eastern District of New York, the Brooklyn-based United States Attorney’s office that levied similar charges against NBA player Terry Rozier and multiple coaches in late October, said in the indictment that Clase arranged with a bettor as early as May 2023 to throw specific pitches for balls so the gambler could place prop bets and profit. Ortiz, prosecutors said, joined the scheme in June 2025, and between the two, gamblers won at least $450,000 wagering on their pitches, while Clase and Ortiz were given kickbacks for their participation.

Clase and Ortiz each could face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud conspiracy, 20 years for honest services wire fraud conspiracy, 20 years for money laundering conspiracy and five years for conspiracy to influence sporting events by bribery, according to prosecutors.

“The defendants deprived the Cleveland Guardians and Major League Baseball of their honest services,” Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, said in a statement. “They defrauded the online betting platforms where the bets were placed. And they betrayed America’s pastime. Integrity, honesty and fair play are part of the DNA of professional sports. When corruption infiltrates the sport, it brings disgrace not only to the participants but damages the public trust in an institution that is vital and dear to all of us.”

In a statement to ESPN, Ortiz’s attorney Chris Georgalis denied the charges, saying his client “has never, and would never, improperly influence a game — not for anyone and not for anything.” A message to Clase’s attorney seeking comment has not been returned.

Clase, a three-time All-Star and two-time Reliever of the Year, and Ortiz were placed on non-disciplinary paid leave by MLB in July after betting-integrity firms flagged irregular wagering on a pair of pitches thrown by Ortiz in June.

While the pervasiveness of legalized gambling has upended the sports world, the allegations against Clase and Ortiz are the most severe for the sport since Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban for betting on baseball in 1989. MLB’s rules against gambling on the sport are strict, and Clase and Ortiz could face lifetime bans similar to the one delivered last year to San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano, who placed nearly 400 bets on baseball.

In a statement, MLB said: “MLB contacted federal law enforcement at the outset of its investigation and has fully cooperated throughout the process. We are aware of the indictment and today’s arrest, and our investigation is ongoing.” The Guardians in a statement said they were aware of the charges and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement and MLB.

In a 23-page indictment, prosecutors outlined a scheme perpetrated by Clase, the 27-year-old right-hander regarded as one of the best relief pitchers in baseball. According to prosecutors, Clase would regularly throw balls instead of strikes and sliders rather than cutters on the first pitch of at-bats in which bettors would wager on the individual pitches to be balls or under a specific miles-per-hour threshold. The proposition bets, according to the indictment, would often be stacked in a parlay, leading to greater winnings.

Clase provided money to bettors to gamble on his behalf, texted with bettors during games and later was joined in the scheme by Ortiz, a 26-year-old right-hander who joined the Guardians in a December 2024 trade, the indictment said.

The earliest example, according to the indictment, came in a May 19, 2023 game between the Guardians and New York Mets, in which Clase relayed information that he would throw a pitch faster than 94.95 mph. Bettors, prosecutors said, won $27,000 on that pitch. Weeks later, bettors added a leg to a parlay for a pitch to be a ball slower than 94.95 mph — and won $38,000 when Clase spiked a slider at least 5 feet in front of home plate.

By April 2025, the indictment said, Clase “requested and received bribe and kickback payments in exchange for agreeing to throw specific pitches.” One day after throwing a pitch that hit the grass in front of home plate — about 10 feet short — Clase texted one bettor asking if he had gambled on the pitch, according to the indictment. When the bettor affirmed he had, the indictment said, Clase asked for money to be sent to the Dominican Republic — where Clase, Ortiz and the bettor are from — “for repairs at the country house.”

During the three years of the alleged scheme, prosecutors said, one bettor placed 16 parlays in which one leg was Clase throwing a ball. Of the eight pitches involved in those bets, seven were successful. The eighth was a pitch in the dirt swung at by Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages.

Ortiz’s involvement started June 15, 2025, according to the indictment, when he agreed with Clase that he would be paid $5,000 to throw the first pitch of the second inning for a ball. Clase, prosecutors said, received $5,000 for arranging the alleged fraud. Two bettors wagered a total of $13,000 on the pitch, the indictment said. When Ortiz received a payment of 90,000 Dominican pesos — approximately $1,400 — Clase directed him to lie about the purpose of the money if asked and say “this payment is for a horse,” according to prosecutors.

“Okay, perfect,” Ortiz said.

On June 27, 2025, Ortiz agreed to throw the first pitch of the third inning for a ball in exchange for $7,000, the indictment said. Bank security footage captured Clase withdrawing $50,000 in cash, of which he gave $15,000 to one of the bettors, who was in Cleveland that day, to wager on the pitch, according to prosecutors. The bettors placed $18,000 on the pitch, which was far outside the strike zone, according to the indictment.

Georgalis disputed the indictment’s findings in his statement.

“As Luis’ defense team extensively explained and documented to the government before these charges were brought, Luis’ payments and other transfers of money between him and individuals in the Dominican Republic were for lawful activities,” the statement read. “Notably, the indictment completely lacks any alleged evidence connecting Luis to these alleged bettors or demonstrating any purposeful involvement in a scheme.

There is no credible evidence Luis knowingly did anything other than try to win games, with every pitch and in every inning. Luis looks forward to fighting these charges in court. The government’s case is weak and circumstantial. He will defend himself, and he will be prevail.”

Clase has made more than $12 million over a major league career that has spanned seven seasons and was scheduled to make $6.4 million in 2026. Ortiz’s salary in 2025 was $782,600.

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AP Week 11 poll reaction: What’s next for each Top 25 team

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3 hours ago

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November 9, 2025

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AP Week 11 poll reaction: What's next for each Top 25 team

Nov 9, 2025, 02:25 PM ET

In one of the wildest finishes of the season, Indiana managed to keep its undefeated season alive with a late drive against Penn State. Most other teams in the top 10, though, won with little trouble. In the only top-10 vs. top-10 matchup, Texas Tech dominated BYU. And after its quarterback left the game with an injury, Virginia lost to Wake Forest in a low-scoring affair.

What does it all mean for the AP Top 25? Let’s break down the rankings.

Stats courtesy of ESPN Research.

All times Eastern.

Previous ranking: 1

2025 record: 9-0

Week 11 result: Defeated Purdue 34-10

Stat to know: Ohio State is 51-1 against unranked opponents under Ryan Day.

What’s next: Saturday vs. UCLA, 7:30 p.m., NBC

Previous ranking: 2

2025 record: 10-0

Week 11 result: Defeated Penn State 27-24

Stat to know: Saturday’s win was Indiana’s first on the road against Penn State.

What’s next: Saturday vs. Wisconsin, noon, Big Ten Network

Previous ranking: 3

2025 record: 9-0

Week 11 result: Defeated Missouri 38-17

Stat to know: Texas A&M is the only team this season with three road wins against AP-ranked opponents.

What’s next: Saturday vs. South Carolina, noon, ESPN

Previous ranking: 4

2025 record: 8-1

Week 11 result: Defeated LSU 20-9

Stat to know: Alabama has won eight straight after losing their opener at Florida State.

What’s next: Saturday vs. Oklahoma, 3:30 p.m., ABC

Previous ranking: 5

2025 record: 8-1

Week 11 result: Defeated Mississippi State 41-21

Stat to know: Georgia’s 20-point win is its largest in a road conference game since its 2023 win at Tennessee.

What’s next: Saturday vs. Texas, 7:30 p.m., ABC

Previous ranking: 7

2025 record: 9-1

Week 11 result: Defeated The Citadel 49-0

Stat to know: Ole Miss is 23-2 against nonconference opponents under Lane Kiffin.

What’s next: Saturday vs. Florida, 7 p.m., ESPN

Previous ranking: 6

2025 record: 8-1

Week 11 result: Defeated Iowa 18-16

Stat to know: Kicker Atticus Sappington was 3-for-3 on field goals including a go-ahead 39-yarder with three seconds remaining.

What’s next: Friday vs. Minnesota, 9 p.m., Fox

Previous ranking: 9

2025 record: 9-1

Week 11 result: Defeated BYU 29-7

Stat to know: Texas Tech has won nine of its first 10 games for the first time since 2008.

What’s next: Saturday vs. UCF, 3:30 p.m., Fox

Previous ranking: 10

2025 record: 7-2

Week 11 result: Defeated Navy 49-10

Stat to know: Notre Dame is the first team to start 0-2 and then win seven straight since Washington State in 2016.

What’s next: Saturday at Pittsburgh, noon, ACC Network

Previous ranking: 13

2025 record: 7-2

Week 11 result: Idle

What’s next: Saturday at Georgia, 7:30 p.m., ABC

Previous ranking: 11

2025 record: 7-2

Week 11 result: Idle

What’s next: Saturday at Alabama, 3:30 p.m., ABC

Previous ranking: 8

2025 record: 8-1

Week 11 result: Lost to Texas Tech 29-7

Stat to know: The loss to Texas Tech was BYU’s worst loss by points over the past two seasons.

What’s next: Saturday vs. TCU, 10:15 p.m., ESPN

Previous ranking: 15

2025 record: 8-2

Week 11 result: Defeated Auburn 45-38 (OT)

Stat to know: Vanderbilt is 8-2 for the first time since 1941.

What’s next: Nov. 22 vs. Kentucky

Previous ranking: 16

2025 record: 8-1

Week 11 result: Idle

What’s next: Saturday at Boston College, 3:30 p.m., ACC Network

Previous ranking: 17

2025 record: 6-2

Week 11 result: Idle

What’s next: Saturday at Baylor, 7 p.m., ESPN2

Previous ranking: 18

2025 record: 7-2

Week 11 result: Defeated Syracuse 38-10

Stat to know: Carson Beck had a receiving touchdown against Syracuse, joining Cam Ward as the second Miami QB to have a receiving touchdown in the past 20 years.

What’s next: Saturday vs. NC State, 3:30 p.m., ESPN

Previous ranking: 20

2025 record: 7-2

Week 11 result: Defeated Northwestern 38-17

Stat to know: USC is now 6-0 against Northwestern.

What’s next: Saturday vs. Iowa, 3:30 p.m.

Previous ranking: 21

2025 record: 7-2

Week 11 result: Idle

What’s next: Saturday at Northwestern, noon, Fox

Previous ranking: 14

2025 record: 7-2

Week 11 result: Lost to Cal 29-26 (OT)

Stat to know: Both of Louisville’s losses this season have come in OT.

What’s next: Friday vs. Clemson, 7:30 p.m., ESPN

Previous ranking: 12

2025 record: 8-2

Week 11 result: Lost to Wake Forest 16-9

Stat to know: The loss to Wake Forest was Virginia’s first against an unranked opponent as an AP top-15 team since 2003.

What’s next: Saturday at Duke, 3:30 p.m., ESPN2

Previous ranking: 23

2025 record: 6-3

Week 11 result: Idle

What’s next: Nov. 15 vs. New Mexico State, 4:15 p.m., SEC Network

Previous ranking: 25

2025 record: 7-1

Week 11 result: Idle

What’s next: Saturday vs. Arizona, noon, FS1

Previous ranking: NR

2025 record: 7-2

Week 11 result: Idle

What’s next: Saturday vs. Notre Dame, noon, NBC

Previous ranking: NR

2025 record: 8-1

Week 11 result: Defeated Marshall 35-23

Stat to know: JMU has started 6-0 in conference play this season. That’s its best start to conference play as an FBS team.

What’s next: Saturday vs. App State, 3:30 p.m., ESPN+

Previous ranking: NR

2025 record: 7-2

Week 11 result: Defeated UTSA 55-23

Stat to know: South Florida has had six straight games with 450 or more yards of total offense, tied for the longest streak in the FBS this season.

What’s next: Saturday at Navy, noon, ESPN2

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Projecting the CFP top 12: Who’s No. 2?

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7 hours ago

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November 9, 2025

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Projecting the CFP top 12: Who's No. 2?

Following the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season, selection committee chair Mack Rhoades wanted to make sure reporters understood the most integral part of the ranking process.

“We’ve watched the games,” he said on the weekly teleconference. “Let me repeat that; we watch the games.”

That won’t make it easier to decide who should be No. 2 on Tuesday night: Indiana, which escaped a 3-6 Penn State team, or Texas A&M, which soundly beat a CFP top-25 team in Mizzou. A deeper dive into the statistics and résumés of both undefeated teams — plus the context of why the group ranked them No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, last week — will factor into their discussions. It might be a bigger debate than how far No. 7 BYU should fall this week after a 29-7 loss to No. 8 Texas Tech.

Here’s a prediction of what the selection committee will do when it reveals its second of six rankings Tuesday night (7 ET, ESPN).

Jump to:
Ranking | Bracket

Projecting the top 12

Why they could be here: Ohio State earned its fourth Big Ten road win of the season Saturday, albeit against a 2-8 Purdue team that hasn’t won since Sept. 6 against Southern Illinois. The Buckeyes entered Saturday ranked No. 33 in strength of schedule, according to ESPN Analytics, but No. 1 in game control and No. 3 in strength of record. “So it was certainly close [between Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M], but when we looked at film, and we’re blessed to have committee members and coaches that do a lot of film work, we just felt like Ohio State had a slight edge when we think about offensive line play and then a slight edge defensively,” Rhoades said after the first ranking release Tuesday. “That was really the outcome. Ohio State has some, I’m going to call them explosive players, that probably stood out as well.”

Why they could be lower: It would be difficult for the committee to justify dropping the Buckeyes below Indiana after the Hoosiers were fortunate to escape Penn State with a win Saturday, but undefeated Texas A&M continues to make a case for the top spot. The Aggies, who entered the week ranked No. 1 in strength of record, earned another CFP top-25 win at Mizzou on Saturday.

Need to know: Ohio State entered Week 11 with the best chance in the country to reach the playoff (99.2%), the best chance to earn the No. 1 seed (41.1%) and the best chance to win it all (27%).

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 29 at Michigan. It’s the only CFP top-25 team left on Ohio State’s regular-season schedule. The Buckeyes are trying to avoid a fifth straight loss to their rivals.

Why they could be here: The road win against Penn State isn’t going to help the Hoosiers’ résumé much, but they narrowly avoided putting their first-round bye in jeopardy. Indiana should remain safely in the top four, thanks to a double-digit road win against No. 9 Oregon and another CFP top-25 win at Iowa. The Hoosiers beat two teams that were in a nailbiter Saturday before Oregon won on a game-winning field goal at Iowa. Penn State and Iowa are the only opponents Indiana hasn’t defeated by double digits. The historic 63-10 win against 6-3 Illinois is another respectable résumé booster, even though it’s not against a CFP top-25 opponent.

Why they could be lower: Texas A&M continues to make a push to move up after its 38-17 win at Mizzou on Saturday. The Aggies entered Week 11 ranked higher than Indiana in strength of schedule and strength of record.

Need to know: Both of Indiana’s remaining opponents — Wisconsin and Purdue — have six losses. The Hoosiers entered Week 11 with the best chance in the Big Ten to reach the conference championship game.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 28 at Purdue. It’s on a Friday night against an in-state rival — and Indiana still has at least a 97% chance to win, according to ESPN Analytics.

Why they could be here: With Saturday’s win at Mizzou, the Aggies have won three straight SEC road games to go along with their Sept. 13 win at Notre Dame. The committee will discuss, though, that Missouri was without injured starting quarterback Beau Pribula, and the Aggies easily handled freshman quarterback Matt Zollers, who was making his first start. Texas A&M entered Week 11 ranked No. 18 in defensive efficiency, behind Ohio State (No. 3) and Indiana (No. 2), and that played a role in the committee’s decision last week. “What we saw in A&M is a really, really good football team,” Rhoades said Tuesday. “They went into Death Valley, I thought dominated a good LSU team. You have a dynamic playmaker at quarterback, Marcel Reed. He can beat you with his arm. He can beat you with his feet. Impressive win, certainly going on the road, South Bend. I think you’re talking about really small margins when you think about the difference between Ohio State, Indiana and A&M, and then I think statistically, when we looked at A&M defensively, they’re just lower than both Ohio State and Indiana. We had to make a hard decision, and you’re trying to find separators, and that was a separator for us.”

Why they could be higher: Though Indiana was fortunate to escape Penn State with a win, Texas A&M went on the road and beat the committee’s No. 22 team soundly, scoring 24 points in the second half against Mizzou.

Need to know: Texas A&M entered Saturday with a 56.7% chance to earn a first-round bye but had less than a 50% chance to beat Texas in the regular-season finale.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 28 at Texas. It’s the only ranked opponent remaining on the Aggies’ schedule, and their last road game.

Why they could be here: If the Tide didn’t start any higher in the first ranking, it’s unlikely a home win against LSU on Saturday will boost them above any of the undefeated teams. The head-to-head win will keep them above Georgia, though, as the committee’s highest-ranked one-loss team. The Tide’s road win against the No. 5 Bulldogs is one of the best in the country — arguably better than any win the teams above them can claim — but their season-opening loss to Florida State is holding them back. The Oct. 11 victory at Mizzou is still good, even if the Tigers fall out of the top 25 this week, and the committee will recognize Bama beat Mizzou when starting quarterback Beau Pribula was healthy. The Tide also have a CFP top-25 win against Tennessee, which had a bye this week. “I’m not sure, when you look at a résumé, anybody had a better stretch of four games,” Rhoades said of the Tide on Tuesday. “When you think about Alabama, really, really impressive, two of those wins on the road. Going into Athens, one of the hardest, toughest environments to be able to get out of there with a win. There was certainly discussion about the Florida State loss early on, but just felt like that four-game stretch — which by the way, historical in the SEC. Nobody has beaten four straight ranked teams without a bye.”

Why they could be lower: It would be hard for the committee to justify any movement up or down this week, given the teams around them won, the head-to-head results and last week’s ranking.

Need to know: Alabama’s strength of schedule was No. 4 in the country heading into Week 11 — better than every team ranked ahead of it. The Tide was No. 5, though, in strength of record, trailing the committee’s top three teams.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 15 vs. Oklahoma. This is the last ranked opponent Alabama will face.

Why they could be here: Georgia didn’t need a second-half surge at Mississippi State, after rallying from a tie or from behind during its previous three games. The committee likes what it sees from Georgia, but it has to account for head-to-head results, which is why Georgia should continue to be sandwiched between Alabama and Ole Miss again Tuesday night. “I think Gunner Stockton at quarterback has really progressed,” Rhoades said Tuesday. “It certainly feels like they have more confidence in him, doing a lot more with him. Again, he’s another maybe similar to Marcel Reed where he can beat you with his arm, he can beat you with his feet. The head-to-head against Ole Miss, obviously we took that into account. We absolutely took into account the loss at home versus Alabama.”

Why they could be lower: It would be surprising to see the Bulldogs move Tuesday night, given that nothing drastic happened around them.

Need to know: Georgia will play its last SEC game of the season Saturday against Texas, as it finishes the month against Charlotte and rival Georgia Tech.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 15 vs. Texas. The Longhorns beat Vanderbilt on Nov. 1 and enter this game on a four-game winning streak. They also had a bye to prepare for the trip to Athens, while Georgia is coming off a road win against Mississippi State.

Why they could be here: A lopsided win against The Citadel won’t impress the selection committee, but the Rebels already earned their respect in the first ranking. Ole Miss will still be ranked behind Georgia because of its head-to-head road loss to the Bulldogs on Oct. 18. The Rebels entered Saturday with a slight edge over Texas Tech in strength of record, but with greater separation in strength of schedule, where Ole Miss was No. 25 and Texas Tech was No. 58. The committee will also consider the Rebels’ road defeat to Georgia is a better loss than the Red Raiders’ road setback to Arizona State, which has lost two of its past four games.

Why they could be lower: Texas Tech earned a CFP top-10 win Saturday when it beat previously undefeated BYU. Ole Miss’ best win was Oct. 25 at No. 12 Oklahoma.

Need to know: The Rebels’ 45-10 win against Tulane on Sept. 20 continues to enhance their overall record strength, even though it’s not a CFP top 25 win. The Green Wave earned an important win at Memphis on Friday, keeping their playoff hopes alive. Tulane also beat Northwestern and Duke this season, and the committee pays attention to opponents’ opponents (yes, you read that right).

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 28 at Mississippi State. The Egg Bowl isn’t a gimme, even after the Bulldogs were beaten soundly Saturday by Georgia. A loss could mean a first-round road trip instead of a home game for Ole Miss — or getting bumped out of the bracket.

Why they could be here: The Red Raiders looked like the best team in the Big 12 on Saturday, and the committee will likely reflect that in its second ranking. The double-digit win against previously undefeated BYU is better than Oregon’s best win, but the loss to Arizona State could play a role in the committee keeping Texas Tech behind Ole Miss. Still, the committee factors in injuries to key players, and the Red Raiders were without starting quarterback Behren Morton (knee) on the road in their close defeat to the Sun Devils. “The loss at Arizona State without Behren at quarterback, Arizona State wins that late, so we do talk about quality wins,” Rhoades said Tuesday. “We also talk about quality losses.”

Why they could be higher: The selection committee also rewarded Texas Tech for its road win against No. 13 Utah. On Saturday, Texas Tech earned its ninth victory by at least 20 points this season, showing the committee its ability to win convincingly consistently. The Red Raiders’ defense held BYU to its fewest points in any game over the past two seasons.

Need to know: Texas Tech and BYU are still the most likely matchup in the Big 12 title game. According to ESPN Analytics, Texas Tech has a 93% chance to reach it, BYU is second with a 55% chance and Cincinnati is third (19%). If BYU captures the Big 12, Texas Tech could claim a regular-season win against the eventual Big 12 champ, which would help boost its résumé and the case for playoff inclusion as the league runner-up.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 29 at West Virginia. The Red Raiders have at least an 80% chance to win their two remaining regular-season games, but this one is slightly more difficult than against UCF because it’s on the road at a difficult venue.

Why they could be here: The Ducks got a much-needed résumé boost with Saturday’s win at Iowa, their first against a CFP top-25 team. Rhoades had said last week that Oregon had the lowest record strength of any team in the committee’s top 10. Saturday’s win also showed the group some impressive depth and grit, with the Ducks winning on the road in horrible weather and without multiple injured starters, including three of their top receivers. The question is whether Iowa will still be a top-25 team Tuesday now that the Hawkeyes have three losses.

Why they could be higher: Oregon has been passing the eye test, ranking in the top five in offensive and defensive efficiency entering Saturday. With the exception of the two close road wins at Iowa and Penn State, the Ducks have dominated their opponents, ranking No. 4 in the country in game control — trailing only Ohio State, Indiana and Texas Tech.

Need to know: Oregon has at least a 70% chance to win each of its remaining games (Minnesota, USC and at Washington), according to ESPN Analytics, but it’s still unlikely to reach the Big Ten title game. The Ducks’ head-to-head home loss to the Hoosiers is a major reason.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 22 vs. USC. The Trojans are 7-2 with one Big Ten loss and opportunities to climb in the ranking. A win at Oregon would flip the script in the conference pecking order, and if USC can beat Iowa Saturday, this game will be the Trojans’ Super Bowl.

Why they could be here: Notre Dame had no trouble dismantling an overmatched Navy team that was playing without injured starting quarterback Blake Horvath. It was Notre Dame’s seventh straight win since starting the season 0-2. The committee considered that those two losses in last week’s first ranking were by a total of four points to two CFP top-25 teams, including No. 3 and unbeaten Texas A&M. The committee was also impressed with Notre Dame’s 34-24 win against USC on Oct. 18, and that will continue to resonate with the Trojans improving to 7-2 after Friday’s win against Northwestern. Rhoades said Notre Dame had been “much, much better defensively” of late. “You look at their backfield, Jadarian Price, Jeremiyah Love, probably the best backfield in the country when you think about one-two punch,” Rhoades said. “Going into the Southern Cal game, they lost their starting center for the year, and they were able to overcome that and run for a bunch of yards, again, against Southern Cal.”

Why they could be lower: This all depends on how far BYU drops. The Cougars will most likely be at No. 10 above Notre Dame and the two-loss pack of teams, or at No. 12, and below OU and Texas but above Utah. If the Cougars drop to No. 12, Notre Dame would get a slight promotion by default this week.

Need to know: Notre Dame still has the best chance of any team to win out, according to ESPN Analytics.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 15 at Pitt. The Panthers might be playing the best of any team in the ACC during their five-game winning streak. They also had a bye week to prepare for the Irish.

Why they could be here: The Longhorns had a bye after earning a top-12 spot in the first ranking. Texas has won four straight, including CFP top-25 wins against Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. Vandy needed overtime to beat a 4-6 Auburn team Saturday, but that win should continue to help the Longhorns’ résumé. The Oct. 4 loss at Florida remains a stain on that résumé, though. The Longhorns’ 14-7 season-opening road defeat to No. 1-ranked Ohio State isn’t what keeps Texas out of the playoff.

Why they could be lower: It depends on how far BYU falls after losing 29-7 to Texas Tech on Saturday. BYU’s lone win against a CFP top-25 team was a 24-21 decision at home over Utah on Oct. 18. BYU entered Week 11 ranked No. 45 in strength of schedule, while Texas was No. 11. BYU didn’t lose to Florida, though — its lone defeat is to a CFP top-10 team.

Need to know: No team has a better opportunity to impress the selection committee in the final three weeks of the season than Texas, which will face two CFP top-five teams in No. 5 Georgia and No. 3 Texas A&M. If Texas splits those games and finishes as a three-loss team, it could still be ranked in the top 12 but might not make the playoff. It would be a similar situation to what happened to three-loss Alabama last year, which finished No. 11 on Selection Day, but was excluded from the playoff to make room for ACC champion Clemson. If Texas wins both games, it could jump Notre Dame and put the Irish in a similarly precarious position at No. 11 or No. 12.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 28 vs. Texas A&M. It certainly won’t be easy to win at Georgia on Saturday, but the Longhorns had a bye week to prepare for it while the Bulldogs were on the road. Texas will face in-state rival Texas A&M on a Friday night in the regular-season finale, the second top-five team it will face in a three-week span.

Why they could be here: The Sooners had a bye but are stuck behind Texas because of their head-to-head loss to the Longhorns on Oct. 11. Wins against Tennessee and Michigan, though, have them within range of making the 12-team field, and it helped that the committee ranked the Vols No. 25 as its highest-ranked three-loss team.

Why they could be lower: The selection committee probably wouldn’t shuffle this order, considering Texas and Oklahoma were off this week, but OU could stay at 12 in the second ranking if the committee keeps BYU in the top 10.

Need to know: If the playoff were today, Oklahoma would still be bumped out of the field during the seeding process to make room for the ACC champion, which is still projected to be ranked outside of the committee’s top 12 but guaranteed a spot as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 15 at Alabama. The Sooners will be in a must-win situation in Tuscaloosa, as the rest of their résumé likely won’t be enough to compensate for a third loss, given that they’re already on the bubble in the eyes of the committee.

Why they could be here: The Cougars have a good win (Oct. 18 against Utah) and an eyebrow-raising defeat (Saturday). Texas Tech is a good team, but how BYU lost to the Red Raiders will matter. BYU was outplayed, and its offense was stifled: 67 rushing yards, 3 turnovers, 4.9 yards per pass, while converting just 3 of 14 third downs. A drop behind two-loss Texas and Oklahoma isn’t unreasonable. The Cougars have three wins against teams with fewer than four losses: Utah (7-2), Arizona (6-3) and East Carolina (6-3). But they entered Saturday ranked No. 45 in strength of schedule — significantly behind Notre Dame (23), Texas (11) and Oklahoma (13). The loss to Texas Tech opens the door for the committee to reevaluate BYU’s body of work. The committee would still likely honor BYU’s head-to-head win against Utah, though, giving the Cougars a safety net to stay in the top 12.

Why they could be higher: It was BYU’s first loss of the season, on the road, and to a top-10 team leading the nation in defensive efficiency.

Need to know: If BYU runs the table and reaches the Big 12 title game, it would clinch a spot in the playoff with a win. What happens if the Cougars finish as a two-loss runner-up with a second lopsided loss to Texas Tech? Where they’re placed in the committee’s second ranking Tuesday night will provide some insight and show how much margin for error they might have. If they land at No. 12 on Selection Day, even as the Big 12 runner-up, they’d be excluded to make room for the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion, which is projected to be South Florida out of the American Conference.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 22 at Cincinnati. The Big 12 race isn’t over yet, and Cincinnati might have something to say about it — unless the Bearcats play the way they did during a 45-14 loss at Utah. Cincinnati still has the third-best chance to reach the Big 12 title game behind Texas Tech and BYU.

Bracket

Based on the rankings above, the seeding would be:

First-round byes

No. 1 Ohio State (Big Ten champ)
No. 2 Indiana
No. 3 Texas A&M (SEC champ)
No. 4 Alabama

First-round games

On campus, Dec. 19 and 20

No. 12 South Florida (American champ) at No. 5 Georgia
No. 11 Georgia Tech (ACC champ) at No. 6 Ole Miss
No. 10 Texas at No. 7 Texas Tech (Big 12 champ)
No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oregon

Quarterfinal games

At the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl Presented by Prudential and Allstate Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

No. 12 South Florida/No. 5 Georgia winner vs. No. 4 Alabama
No. 11 Georgia Tech/No. 6 Ole Miss winner vs. No. 3 Texas A&M
No. 10 Texas/No. 7 Texas Tech winner vs. No. 2 Indiana
No. 9 Notre Dame/No. 8 Oregon winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State

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