- No. 9 Miami’s overtime loss to SMU has significantly hurt their chances for an ACC championship and a College Football Playoff spot.
- Despite having a talented roster, Miami has now lost control of the ACC to other contending teams.
- Other key winners and losers from the weekend, including Oklahoma, Texas, and Clemson.
An overtime loss to SMU dashes No. 9 Miami’s quest for an ACC championship by dropping the Hurricanes behind six teams with one or fewer conference losses, including the two teams that beat them – the Mustangs and No. 17 Louisville.
Failing to even reach the conference championship game threatens to ruin Miami’s at-large College Football Playoff hopes, too, setting up the possibility of a comparison with two- or three-loss Big Ten and SEC contenders with deeper résumés against stronger schedules. It does have a non-conference win against Notre Dame, but that may be enough to save the day against candidates with stronger schedules.
For the second time in three games, the Hurricanes couldn’t overcome a rash of turnovers from quarterback Carson Beck. He tossed four interceptions in the loss to Louisville and another pair in Saturday’s 26-20 defeat, the second coming at the SMU goal line in the first overtime. The senior’s nine interceptions are the most in the ACC.
Near the end of regulation, Miami defensive lineman Marquise Lightfoot’s unnecessary-roughness penalty on a hit of SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings extended the Mustangs’ drive on fourth down and set up the game-tying field goal with 25 seconds remaining.
The thought going into the regular season — one supported by non-conference wins against No. 12 Notre Dame and South Florida — was that Miami was too talented to be undone by the predictable in-game mistakes that had so far defined coach Mario Cristobal’s tenure.
These two recent losses prove the opposite: While the Hurricanes may have the most talent in the ACC, they’ve ceded control of the conference to upstarts such as No. 7 Georgia Tech, No. 15 Virginia and Duke.
And the Mustangs, too. SMU dropped games in non-conference play to TCU and Baylor but still has just one league loss, putting the defending ACC regular-season champions in position to book a return trip to Charlotte in early December.
The Hurricanes, Texas and Clemson top Saturday’s biggest winners and losers:
Winners
Oklahoma
Nearly left for dead after last week’s loss to No. 8 Mississippi, the No. 18 Sooners’ playoff chances will skyrocket after a 33-27 win at No. 14 Tennessee. This is the second ranked win Oklahoma will have to offer the selection committee on Tuesday, joining one against No. 21 Michigan, and is one of the strongest road victories from any team in the Power Four. The Sooners ran for 192 yards, a season-high in SEC play, and had four sacks and eight tackles for loss in holding the Volunteers to just 1.8 yards per carry. While there’s more to prove — and more chances to do so against No. 4 Alabama and No. 20 Missouri — this is a statement win for OU.
Southern California
There was nothing pretty about Saturday night in Lincoln except the final score: USC 21, Nebraska 17. Jayden Maiava completed just 9 of 23 throws for 135 yards and an interception, with the Trojans’ ground game helping to deliver the win with 202 yards on 5.3 yards per carry. But the bigger factor was the USC defense, which couldn’t quite keep Emmett Johnson under wraps but delivered in a big way in the second half to fend off what would’ve been a backbreaking third loss. Games against Iowa and No. 6 Oregon will decide the Trojans’ postseason destination.
Texas
The No. 19 Longhorns are still very much alive in the playoff race after pulling out a 34-31 win against No. 11 Vanderbilt thanks to a career day from Arch Manning, who completed 25 of 33 attempts for 328 yards and three touchdowns without an interception after spending most of this week in concussion protocol. Leading 34-10 heading into the fourth quarter, Texas survived the Commodores’ 21-point surge to secure a key tiebreaker against a fellow at-large playoff contender and remain one of just five SEC teams with fewer than two league losses.
Ohio State
The theory that No. 1 Ohio State would find things a little more difficult against Penn State held true through two quarters, at least, after the Buckeyes committed a crucial giveaway deep in their own territory to help the Nittany Lions cut their deficit to 17-14 at halftime. But it was a rout from there: Ohio State scored touchdowns on three of four drives in the second half, not counting a clock-killing drive on the game’s final possession, to win 38-14 and take another step toward a perfect regular season. Julian Sayin deserves to be near the top of the Heisman Trophy list, coach Ryan Day said afterwards, and it’s hard to argue. Sayin completed 20 of 23 for 316 yards with four touchdowns, marking the fourth time this year he’s completed at least 85.2% of his attempts with three or more scores.
Mississippi State
Mississippi State rallied from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter and beat Arkansas 38-35 for its first SEC win since beating the Razorbacks just over two years ago. Blake Shapen’s 18-yard touchdown with 38 seconds left gave the Bulldogs the lead and erased the pain of weeks of close-but-not-quite SEC losses to Tennessee (41-34), Florida (23-21) and Texas (45-38). A week ago, Mississippi State led the Longhorns by 17 points in the fourth quarter. The win doubles as the first in the SEC for second-year coach Jeff Lebby, who seemed in over his head last season but has done a good job quickly bringing the Bulldogs out of the bottom of the conference and is one win from a bowl game
New Mexico
Count the Lobos’ Jason Eck among the most successful first-year coaches in the Bowl Subdivision after New Mexico topped UNLV 40-35 on the road to lock in the program’s first bowl bid since 2016. With one more win — Colorado State, Air Force and San Diego State cap the regular season — Eck will become the first UNM coach to post a winning season in his debut since Marv Levy in 1958. (Yes, that Marv Levy.)
Losers
Georgia Tech
Losing 48-36 to North Carolina State opens up the possibility of No. 7 Georgia Tech’s nightmare scenario: losing once in ACC play, losing the regular-season finale to No. 6 Georgia and then losing in the ACC championship game to fall short of an at-large playoff appearance. After pulling off a few comebacks — Clemson and Wake Forest, most notably — to mount the program’s best start since 1966, the Yellow Jackets drew within a touchdown at 38-30 heading into the fourth quarter but couldn’t get stops against an N.C. State offense that racked up 583 yards and averaged 8.7 yards per play. The defensive letdown couldn’t even be salvaged by Haynes King, who might’ve helped his Heisman case despite the loss by throwing for 408 yards with another 103 yards on the ground.
Colorado
After he spent this past week sleeping in the office following a blowout loss to Utah, one wonders if or when Deion Sanders will ever go home again after Colorado trailed 38-7 at halftime and lost 52-17 to Arizona. Across these past two games, the Buffaloes have been outscored 81-7 in the first half. Sanders made a quarterback change just before halftime against the Wildcats, switching out starter Kaidon Salter for backup Ryan Staub and then freshman Julian Lewis, who quickly threw a 59-yard touchdown pass. As should’ve been expected, Colorado has taken a significant step back this season.
Hugh Freeze
The Hugh Freeze era could end as soon as Sunday after Auburn officially hit rock bottom with a 10-3 loss at home to Kentucky. The Tigers made a quarterback change and still couldn’t find the end zone: Ashton Daniels started in place of Jackson Arnold and completed 13 of 28 attempts for just 108 yards and an interception. Arnold entered the game late but couldn’t do any better. The offense has been abysmal throughout Freeze’s tenure, but that’s just one primary culprit for his eventual dismissal. A bigger issue has been his inability to put together a competent roster capable of playing with the best teams in the SEC. Or the worst, either, based on Saturday.
Clemson
Clemson was dropped from the at-large picture by the end of September, eliminated from ACC contention by the end of October and now, one day into November, is in danger of missing a bowl game for the first time since 2004 and posting a losing record in conference play for the first time since 1998. Things have deteriorated with incredible speed — nearly as quickly as the Tigers gave away four second-half leads in a 46-45 loss to Duke. Down by a touchdown and starting 94 yards from the end zone with 5:14 to play, the Blue Devils scored on a 3-yard run with 40 seconds left and then converted the two-point try to land the program’s first win in Death Valley since 1980. Now 3-5, Clemson needs to take three of four against Florida State, Louisville, Furman and South Carolina to reach bowl eligibility.
Vanderbilt
The loss to Texas now demands a perfect close to the regular season to book an at-large playoff berth. More specifically, the Commodores need No. 14 Tennessee to avoid another loss leading into the finale to give them the best chance at boosting their postseason résumé. Another fallout from Saturday is the damage done to Diego Pavia’s quest for the Heisman, even if the senior went toe-to-toe with Manning by throwing for 365 yards, running for a team-high 43 yards and accounting for four touchdowns.
Michigan State
Up 17-10 after a short touchdown run with just under two minutes to play, Michigan State sent the ensuing kickoff out of bounds to give Minnesota a short field, gave up the game-tying score with 29 seconds left and then lost 23-20 in overtime to drop a sixth consecutive game for the first time since 2016. The decision to replace quarterback Aidan Chiles with backup Allesio Milivojevic was a good one, as the redshirt freshman went for 311 yards and a score; this was just the Spartans’ fourth 300-yard passing game in the past four seasons. The loss casts significant doubt on coach Jonathan Smith’s chances of getting another year, especially with options such as former Notre Dame and LSU coach Brian Kelly potentially available.