Week 10’s matchups brought us a pair of ACC upsets and a host of explosive performances.
NC State handed then-No. 8 Georgia Tech its first loss of the season and Miami lost its second conference game as SMU fans stormed the field and celebrated by bringing down the goalpost.
Despite multiple setbacks for Arizona State, the Sun Devils aren’t giving up as quarterback Jeff Sims delivered under the bright lights in place of Sam Leavitt. And while Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith is having another big season, fellow Buckeyes wide receiver Carnell Tate is having a breakout season that shouldn’t go unnoticed.
Does Georgia Tech still have a chance to be a College Football Playoff contender? Can Sims continue to deliver in the final month of the regular season? Will Ohio State have two Biletnikoff finalists?
Our college football experts break down key storylines and takeaways from Week 10.
Jump to:ACC’s wild raceOhio State’s dynamic duoWhy not SMU? | ASU not giving upSDSU success story
A look at the ACC in the final month
Florida State and Clemson, the two schools that filed lawsuits against the ACC because they believed they deserved more revenue from the conference than other schools, are a combined 7-9, afterthoughts in the ACC race and irrelevant in the College Football Playoff picture. Miami had another October to forget after its loss to SMU — and the most important month of the season has just begun.
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Georgia Tech’s loss at NC State exposed what some had already questioned — the validity of the team as a true playoff contender. And Pitt, which earlier lost to 3-6 West Virginia but has reeled off five straight wins, has a chance to wreak further havoc on the conference. The Panthers can be one of the season’s biggest CFP spoilers with three straight games against Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Miami.
What began as a season full of optimism and potential has devolved into what’s looking increasingly like a one-bid league. This could be the second straight season the ACC’s champion is ranked outside of the playoff committee’s top 12 on Selection Day. There’s still time for the picture to change, but right now it appears the only direction for the ACC to go is up. — Heather Dinich
Ohio State has more than one elite wideout
The Biletnikoff Award, presented annually to college football’s most outstanding receiver, could wind up going to an Ohio State wideout — and it might not be sophomore Jeremiah Smith.
Smith’s teammate, Carnell Tate, is making his own case for the Biletnikoff with a breakout junior season.
In Saturday’s 38-14 win over Penn State, the dynamic duo combined for 11 catches on 11 targets for 247 yards and three touchdowns.
Tate hauled in a 45-yard touchdown, tying him for third in the FBS with five receiving touchdowns on throws of 20 or more air yards, according to ESPN Research.
Smith himself is having another big season, highlighted by yet another one-handed touchdown grab off a tipped pass Saturday. He now has 24 touchdown catches since the beginning of last season, the most among active FBS players.
But Tate, who has been rocketing up 2026 NFL draft boards, now has four games of 100 receiving yards plus a receiving touchdown, tied for the most in the FBS.
Receivers from the same team have never been Biletnikoff finalists in the same season. That might change. — Jake Trotter
Why not SMU?
In the hours after SMU beat Miami 26-20 in overtime, coach Rhett Lashlee posed a simple question on social media with photos showing SMU’s field stormed and goalposts taken down:
Why not SMU?
Why not SMU? https://t.co/1HFwohaEtY
— Rhett Lashlee (@rhettlashlee) November 2, 2025
While technically that statement is a question, it felt more like an answer to the news that broke hours before the game. Lashlee inked a two-year contract extension to stay at SMU through 2032, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in the country and taking him out of the running for what others might perceive to be more high-profile jobs.
Why not SMU?
In this new college football era, there is little need to run off to a blue-blood school to prove something. Curt Cignetti delivered that message a few weeks ago when he, too, inked a contract extension to stay at Indiana. Lashlee is the latest to reiterate it. In both instances, their respective schools took a chance on them, they have the resources to win, they are happy, and they can make the playoff and compete for championships without having to leave.
Think about what Lashlee has going for him at SMU: virtually unlimited financial resources thanks to a donor base committed to doing anything and everything it takes to win; a fertile recruiting ground that has not only allowed him to recruit Texas high school players but bring in transfers eager to come back and play closer to home; and immediate proof his team can not only compete but win playing in a power conference. SMU made the ACC title game in Year 1 and earned its first-ever playoff bid. Under Lashlee, SMU is 13-1 in ACC regular-season games — even though it’s on the ground floor of making its transformation from the Group of 5 to a Power 4 team.
What he brings to the table was on full display Saturday against Miami, a team that has as many ACC championship game appearances as the Mustangs. The Hurricanes might have been the higher-ranked team and have had the more talented roster, but Lashlee kept Miami guessing with creative playcalling. His players never relented, playing with heart, toughness and physicality, willing themselves to stay in the game every time Miami threatened to take control.
So of course, SMU fans stormed the field when T.J. Harden crossed the goal line in overtime. This is a program that has hungered for relevance over the past four decades, and now it has it. But maybe more importantly, the Mustangs have a coach who is committed to them and currently unwilling to walk away to a bigger name school. Because, ultimately, why not SMU? — Andrea Adelson
Jeff Sims, Arizona State not giving up
Arizona State had a great season in 2024, winning the Big 12 and making its first College Football Playoff appearance after being picked to finish last in the conference. The Sun Devils also had a charmed season in 2024, as a lot of things went their way.
This season, good fortune has not found coach Kenny Dillingham and his team. Injuries have piled up pretty much from the start, and the biggest news came Friday as Dillingham announced starting quarterback Sam Leavitt, the Big 12 preseason Offensive Player of the Year, would miss the rest of the season following surgery for a lingering foot issue. Star wide receiver Jordyn Tyson and others were already sidelined for the Sun Devils, who had a signature win against Texas Tech but also went to Iowa State with three losses.
Veteran Jeff Sims would start in place of Leavitt. Sims began his career as a promising dual-threat quarterback at Georgia Tech before transferring to Nebraska and then Arizona State. He had not won a start since 2022, went through different offenses and coordinators and endured more difficult on-field moments than celebratory ones. The Jeff Sims experience had been a rough one.
But Sims never gave up on his career, and on Saturday he delivered for ASU. Sims had 228 rushing yards and two scores — eclipsing Arizona State’s single-game quarterback rushing record by nearly 100 yards — and added 177 passing yards and a touchdown. He also had three turnovers, which have been a problem throughout his career, but the good outweighed the bad.
“That was the definition of battling, man,” an emotional Dillingham told CBS after the game. “That kid chose to stay here; be a part of this team. Crazy.”
Dillingham is giving Sims and the entire team a week off before they reconvene for the stretch run. Arizona State hasn’t had it easy, but Sims and the Sun Devils aren’t going away. — Adam Rittenberg
How about San Diego State?
Perhaps the most under-the-radar success story of the season is happening in San Diego, where coach Sean Lewis has San Diego State in contention for a playoff spot in his second year. Lewis left his post as the coach at Kent State following the 2022 season to become Deion Sanders’ first offensive coordinator at Colorado — only to be demoted midyear before landing at SDSU. Now, after going 3-9 in Year 1, he has the Aztecs thriving.
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SDSU is 7-1 (4-0 in the Mountain West) with its lone loss at Washington State in Week 2. In their past six games, the Aztecs have allowed more than 10 points just once and have held their opponents without a touchdown in four games this season. Whoever wins the American Conference is probably the favorite to reach the playoff at this point, but if SDSU wins out to finish 12-1, there will be a worthwhile debate about who should go.
The Aztecs still have three teams that are already bowl eligible left on their schedule: Hawai’i, Boise State and New Mexico. — Kyle Bonagura
