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Andrea Adelson
DALLAS — For the second straight season, Miami coach Mario Cristobal lamented the “self-inflicted” mistakes that cost the Hurricanes in a conference game in November.
This time, it was a 26-20 overtime loss to SMU on Saturday, a defeat that significantly damaged Miami’s ACC championship and College Football Playoff hopes as the Hurricanes dropped their second ACC game in three weeks and fell to 6-2.
Miami had 12 penalties for 96 yards — including an unsportsmanlike conduct call against defensive end Marquise Lightfoot on the final drive in regulation, when he hit quarterback Kevin Jennings after whistles had blown for a Miami timeout. That penalty helped SMU get into Miami territory and ultimately kick a 38-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.
Carson Beck threw an interception on the goal line on the first possession of overtime, and SMU won it when T.J. Harden scored from 1 yard out, as the SMU faithful stormed the field and took down one goalpost to celebrate the Mustangs’ first home win against an AP top 10 opponent since 1974.
Miami, meanwhile, saw its playoff chances drop to 9%, according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor.
“We didn’t take care of business, and that’s completely on us,” Cristobal said. “If you’re raised the right way, and you got the right stuff inside you, you go right back to work. You don’t know how things shake out. This is certainly a wild college football season, and the focus has to be on us taking care of our business.
“You always give credit to the opponent because that’s a good football team. When you make that many mistakes, it’s on everybody in the organization. You allow yourself to be put in a position where you can get beat, and that’s what happened today.”
Among the many Miami penalties were multiple false starts on offense — something that has become an issue over the past month. Cristobal said SMU was mimicking the Hurricanes’ cadence, and that was problematic for his linemen.
“It’s the things that we’ve made a point of emphasis. but obviously we’re not getting a result so we’re not coaching it, teaching it, and executing it well enough,” Cristobal said. “We had some issues with their stems and movements. We try to report when our cadence is being mimicked, but that didn’t get any traction. That happens in football, so no excuses. There’s not enough discipline as it relates to just holding our water and not jumping.”
As for the penalty on Lightfoot, Cristobal said Miami had called timeout because SMU had fourth-and-9 and the Hurricanes wanted to see how it would be lined up. But Lightfoot never heard the whistle stopping play and continued going toward Jennings.
“He’s just playing football,” Cristobal said. “I’m not sure why that’s called in such a critical situation when we’re trying to stop play, right? It’s really loud. I imagine people should step in and prevent players from moving forward and finishing a play.”
Jennings ended up throwing for a career-high 365 yards with two total touchdowns — despite tweaking an ankle injury that has bothered him for the bulk of the season. He left the game for several plays in the first half before returning, and he was a difference-maker as SMU rallied to win.
The Mustangs could not run the ball for the entire game until overtime came around and they wore down a deflated Miami defense.
SMU coach Rhett Lashlee, who signed a two-year extension earlier Saturday to make him one of the highest-paid coaches in the country, said, “This is a big win for our program and what we’re trying to build.”
As for Miami, it is another season filled with missed opportunities. Last year, Miami was undefeated headed into November and lost two of its final four games — one to Georgia Tech and one to Syracuse. Defensive breakdowns in the final month of the season cost the Hurricanes, so they made a change at defensive coordinator.
But the bulk of the issues on Saturday were on offense, as Miami struggled to move the ball with consistency — thanks in large part to the penalties. With CJ Daniels out, Miami relied on freshman Malachi Toney in the passing game but posed little threat vertically despite playing against an SMU secondary that has struggled at times to limit explosive plays.
What SMU does do well, though, is take the football away. The Mustangs entered the game with 20 total takeaways and added two more against Miami — none bigger than Ahmaad Moses‘ interception in overtime, his second of the game.
“They had a good coverage on for our play,” Beck said. “They got us, and he made a great play on the ball, so props to him.”
Miami is now 4-11 in November or later under Cristobal, the fourth-worst win percentage in the ACC over that span. Asked how his team would respond for the remainder of the season, Cristobal said: “You don’t sit around, throw your hands up and say I don’t know. You just go to work. Like I told the guys, you’ve got to be a grown man and face it.
“When things go wrong, that’s when all the rats start to come out and try to peck at you and all that other stuff. And you’ve got to go tell them to go you-know-what. And go to work and do it emphatically, and do it with some guts, and go fix the things that we have to fix so we can go get better.”
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Jake Trotter
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State hasn’t had a Heisman Trophy winner since quarterback Troy Smith captured the award in 2006.
But heading into the final month of the regular season, the Buckeyes now boast the Heisman front-runner.
Julian Sayin delivered another scintillating performance Saturday in a 38-14 win over Penn State. The sophomore quarterback completed 20 of 23 passes for 316 yards and four touchdowns.
With this latest outing, Sayin jumped Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson and Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza to become the Heisman favorite (+175), according to ESPN BET.
“If Julian continues to play the way that he’s playing, he deserves to be in the [Heisman] conversation, at the very least,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said.
Sayin now has four games this season completing 85% of his passes for more than 300 yards and at least three passing touchdowns; no other quarterback in the country has more than one such game, according to ESPN Research.
“He’s playing at an elite level,” said safety Caleb Downs, who transferred to Ohio State along with Sayin early in the 2024 offseason after Alabama coach Nick Saban retired. “I’m just excited for my guy.”
The top-ranked Buckeyes (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) are trying to win back-to-back national titles for the first time in program history. Sayin, who backed up Will Howard during last year’s championship run, is putting up gaudy numbers in his first season as the starter. He has thrown for 2,224 yards with 24 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
Sayin came into the weekend ranked fifth nationally with a QBR of 87.9. He also leads the country by a significant margin completing almost 81% of his passes; no other quarterback has a completion rate topping 75%.
“The receivers do a great job, and the running backs do a great job in pass protection and it’s really the offensive line giving me time to be able to go through my read,” Sayin said. “So, that’s really a team stat.”
Both Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate caught passes from Sayin for 57 yards apiece, as the two wideouts combined for 247 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Sayin now has eight passing touchdowns of 20 or more air yards, which is tied for third most in the FBS, according to ESPN Research.
“We were aggressive and I thought some of Julian’s deep balls were just excellent,” Day said. “Julian’s really getting more and more confidence every day.”
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Eli Lederman
Texas Tech secured a commitment from one of the top quarterbacks in the 2027 cycle on Saturday night, with a pledge from four-star recruit Kavian Bryant, No. 47 in the ESPN Junior 300.
A dual-threat passer from Palestine, Texas, Bryant is ESPN’s No. 2 overall quarterback in the 2027 class. He picked the Red Raiders over finalists Texas, Florida State, Colorado and SMU.
“They reached out the most,” Bryant told ESPN of Texas Tech. “They came with the best offer and the best opportunity for me to play. I just feel like it’s the best fit.”
Bryant lands as a cornerstone commit in Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire’s 2027 recruiting class.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound prospect is Texas Tech’s first offensive pledge and fourth overall commit in the cycle. Bryant now joins five-star defensive tackle Jalen Brewster (No. 6 overall), who picked the Red Raiders over a group of Big Ten and SEC powers on Oct. 4, as the program’s second top-100 commit in 2027. September defensive line pledges K’Adrian Redmond (No. 154) and Antonio Underwood (not ranked) round out Texas Tech’s collection of commits in the cycle.
The Red Raiders also hold the pledge of five-star linebacker LaDamion Guyton, who debuted at No. 13 in the 2026 ESPN 300 this week after reclassifying from the 2027 cycle last month.
Bryant has emerged as a highly productive quarterback across three seasons as the starter at Texas’ Palestine Westwood High School. He threw for 4,724 and 67 touchdowns to 10 interceptions across his freshman and sophomore seasons, accounting 1,521 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns on the ground over that span. Although Texas Tech was among the programs to offer Bryant in both football and basketball, he plans to focus solely on football at the next level.
Sources told ESPN that Texas, Florida State and Colorado lingered to the very end of the process late this week. But Bryant said no program recruited him more persistently than Texas Tech, highlighting his relationship with Red Raiders offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich as a key element in his decision.
Bryant worked out for Leftwich and McGuire in the summer, then returned to Texas Tech on Sept. 13 as part of a string of visits with each of his finalists this fall.
“They really, really wanted me,” Bryant said. “They watch my film every day. They show me what I’m good at and what I’m bad at, and I just listen. It’s part of why they’re the best.”
Sources expected the Red Raiders to remain aggressive in recruiting top talent in the 2027 cycle, with defensive tackle Georgia Toia (No. 29 overall), wide receiver Julian Caldwell (No. 40) and linebacker Kaden McCarty (No. 91) among their top targets. Now on board with the Red Raiders, Bryant will be tasked with helping to recruit an elite class to Texas Tech.
“I feel like I can go in there and lead a class,” Bryant said. “And whether it’s as a true freshman or the next year, I feel like I can go there and win a national championship.”
Anchored by five-star pledges in Guyton and offensive tackle Felix Ojo (No. 24), Texas Tech’s 2026 class sits at No. 18 in ESPN’s latest rankings for the cycle. The 13th-ranked Red Raiders visited Kansas State on Saturday at 7-1 with the nation’s fourth-ranked scoring offense.
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