Two months in, and can we really be surprised by anything at this point?
This past Sunday, Brian Kelly became the latest casualty in a coaching carousel that’s reached its crescendo, with LSU becoming the latest program – joining Penn State, with James Franklin, and Florida, with Billy Napier – to pay an outrageous amount to make its high-profile leader disappear.
The Tigers’ loss to Texas A&M wasn’t necessarily a surprise; however it’s nature may be as LSU gave up 35 straight points to start the second half, while the team’s vaunted defence coughed up 426 yards, including 220 on the ground. It also served as microcosm for this increasingly-unpredictable SEC season as a whole – one that saw six of seven home teams lose conference matchups in Week 9.
But this wild, wacky season expands well-beyond the SEC.
In the Big Ten, two clear favourites have emerged. As for the ACC and Big 12? Well, they’re as wide open as they’ve ever been – and by all indication, likely to come right down to the wire.
Now, we’re off to November – widely considered the greatest month in the college football season.
Here’s a look at five storylines for Week 10:
Gunner Stockton has been doing it all
Coming into this season, two of the biggest unknowns in the SEC resided in Tuscaloosa and Athens, with a pair of unproven quarterbacks assuming the reins at two of college football’s biggest programs. To this point, Ty Simpson has emerged as a Heisman contender at Alabama, while Stockton isn’t far off at Georgia.
Stockton flashed his passing acumen in a come-from-behind, 44-41 defeat of Tennessee in Week 3, and reasserted himself two-weeks ago, once again in dramatic fashion – a 43-35 win over Ole Miss, where he threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns, leading Georgia from back from nine points down in the fourth quarter to improve to 6-1. To this point, Stockton has passed for 10 touchdowns and run for seven more, committing only two turnovers in the process.
On Saturday, he’ll get his first shot in one of the sport’s great rivalries – against Florida, in Jacksonville, in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, where the Bulldogs have defeated the Gators four straight times and have won seven-of-eight since 2017.
On paper, fifth-ranked Georgia has a major edge, but Florida relished the role of spoiler last season – beating LSU and Ole Miss down the stretch – and have already thrown a wrench into Texas’ playoff plans last month, picking off Arch Manning twice in the fourth quarter of a 29-21 victory. When these teams met last November, the Gators intercepted Carson Beck three times on Georgia’s first eight possessions but couldn’t hold a second half lead in a game the Bulldogs eventually won by two scores.
Kirby Smart’s team has been notoriously slow out of the gate the past two seasons, having trailed at half-time in nine of its last 11 games against Power Four opponents. Georgia will be eager to break that trend, both this weekend and moving forward, with Texas and undefeated Georgia Tech remaining on its schedule.
Fernando Mendoza can stretch his lead in the Heisman race
While Simpson and Stockton are in the hunt, Fernando Mendoza is the current Heisman frontrunner – and he has a chance to create some space at the top this weekend when Indiana visits Maryland.
In Week 9, the Hoosiers beat UCLA 56-6, pumping the brakes on the Bruins’ momentum, and snapping their three-game winning streak. Aiden Fisher’s pick-six on the game’s first drive set the tone, and Mendoza was able to cruise from there, throwing three touchdowns in three quarters before turning things over to his younger brother Alberto – Indiana’s second-string quarterback – in the fourth.
All said, things are looking great in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers are undefeated, without a particularly challenging game remaining on their schedule. Curt Cignetti is 19-2 since taking over before last season, has a rich new contract, and can split his attention with some of his other seasonal interests.
“The costume wasn’t as important to me as getting all the candy.”
Spoiler: Curt Cignetti really liked the houses that handed out Snickers and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups 😋 pic.twitter.com/50AvfRpZx6
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 27, 2025
Saturday’s game feels like just another tune-up for Indiana, which is on a collision course with Ohio State for December’s Big Ten title game. Maryland has struggled to contain opposing passers, having been picked apart by Demond Williams Jr. (275-yards, two touchdowns), Dylan Raiola (260-yards, four touchdowns) and Nico Iamaleava (221-yards, one touchdown) in each of its last three games – all losses.
For Mendoza, it’s another opportunity to stand out, both in the Heisman race, and on the NFL radar. In his latest mock draft, ESPN’s Jordan Reid listed Mendoza as his current pick to go first overall next April, and Mel Kiper listed him third on his latest Big Board rankings.
Ohio State has been on cruise control
Prior to the season, Ohio State’s meeting with Penn State was circled as one of the marquee games of the season – an opportunity for the Nittany Lions to finally break through, ditch their perpetual-bridesmaid reputation and stamp themselves as the Big Ten favourite and a genuine national title contender.
My oh my, how things have changed.
By now, you’re familiar with the story: An overtime loss to Oregon, followed by unthinkable defeats to UCLA and Northwestern, and two weeks ago, a fourth-straight loss on the road against Iowa.
James Franklin is gone, Penn State is cooked, and Ohio State has a seemingly drama-free pass through to their end-of-season meeting with Michigan – likely its only challenge on that aforementioned road to facing Indiana in the conference championship.
To this point, the Buckeyes have steamrolled opponents with seven straight wins to open the season, including four in the Big Ten, punctuated by a 34-0 pummeling of Wisconsin in Week 8 at Camp Randall. Julian Sayin has been incredibly efficient, completing 80% of his passes – as it stands, the highest-ever rate by a passer in NCAA history, ahead of Bo Nix’s 77.4 mark in 2023 – along with 19 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Ohio State’s defence has also been the best in all of college football this year, allowing the least total yards (216.1) and an FBS-low 5.9 points per game.
Penn State’s four losses have come by a combined 13 points, so Saturday might not be the type of stat-padding endeavour typical of an opponent that’s 0-4 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions have held opposing quarterbacks to less than 200 passing yards in each of their last three losses, though they haven’t had to deal with an offence with skill players – Sayin, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, to name a few – that resemble anything like Ryan Day’s.
Oklahoma and Tennessee meet in a playoff elimination game
The SEC picture and playoff conversation will get some clarity by the end of Saturday. Oklahoma and Tennessee meet in Knoxville, in what’s essentially an elimination game for a pair of two-loss teams that have lost momentum after quick starts to the season.
John Mateer hasn’t been nearly as dynamic since returning from thumb surgery in just 17 days, losing to Texas in his first game back, then enduring an up-and-down afternoon last Saturday in a 34-26 loss to Ole Miss. It’s impossible to say whether his struggles are singularly related to that injury, but the reality is undeniable: Mateer’s transition from Washington State to the SEC hasn’t been nearly as seamless as it initially appeared it might be. In four games against conference opponents, he’s thrown just three touchdown passes with three interceptions, and averaged 100 less passing yards per game (211.5, compared to 314.7) than he did in three games against non-conference teams.
At Tennessee, Joey Aguilar’s issue hasn’t been moving the ball – rather, it’s been protecting it. The Vols’ transfer quarterback leads all SEC passers with 2,344-yards (including 1,591 in five conference games), but has thrown six picks – including a combined three in losses to Georgia and Alabama. Turnovers were a troubling trend for Aguilar at Appalachian State last season as well, where he led the nation with 14 interceptions thrown.
If the Vols can emerge on Saturday, there’s a path to a 10-2 record and a playoff spot. They still have a remaining non-conference game against New Mexico, and their only opponent that’s currently ranked is Vanderbilt in Week 14 – but they get the Commodores at Neyland Stadium, where they’re 22-2 since 2022.
Is anybody beating Georgia Tech this season?
The ACC has taken the tone of the Big 12, in that anything can happen on any given week. But to this point, there’s been one constant – Georgia Tech winning.
The Yellow Jackets opened their conference schedule with a dramatic walk-off win over then-favourite Clemson in September, and have mostly cruised since, aside from an uneasy overtime road win against Wake Forest in Week 5. NC State, Boston College and Pitt are the only remaining obstacles in their pursuit of an undefeated ACC season, and an annual in-state meeting with Georgia in Week 14 stands out as the most considerable challenge to them going 12-0.
Georgia Tech enters this weekend as the seventh-ranked team in the nation – its highest slot in the AP Poll since 2009 – behind sixth-year senior Haynes King, who has emerged as one of the best dual-threat players in all of college football. King’s 12 rushing touchdowns are tied for the most amongst FBS quarterbacks, but he’s also proven more-than-capable of stretching the field when needed – against Wake Forest, he had 264 total yards and three scores in the second half, and last week he passed for a season-high 304 yards in a 41-16 win over Syracuse.
“𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥.”#HaynesforHeisman x #StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/4SJMfYfrkZ
— Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) October 28, 2025
Last season, King was at his best on the biggest stages – leading Georgia Tech to a season-opening win over Florida State in Dublin, then returning from injury to account for 413 total yards and five touchdowns in a narrow loss to Georgia in the finale.
At his current rate, he’ll get more opportunities on bigger platforms, with the Yellow Jackets firmly holding an inside track to the conference title game and the playoffs.
