Week 9’s slate of electric matchups brought Top 25 upsets, dominant wins, big losses and a coach being shown the door.
Texas A&M handed LSU its third loss of the season in a 49-25 victory for the Aggies in Baton Rouge. Following that blowout loss, LSU decided to part ways with head coach Brian Kelly on Sunday after three full seasons and eight games of 2025.
Texas A&M is focusing on its dynamic offensive trio that has provided explosive plays, especially in its big road matchups, and Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer, who was once a Heisman Trophy favorite, is looking for ways to bounce back from the Sooners’ 1-2 record since his return from a hand injury.
What’s next for LSU? Could Texas A&M’s explosiveness be the answer to it potentially landing a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff? Can Mateer find his groove again in the final month of the season?
Our college football experts break down key storylines and takeaways from Week 9.
Jump to:How good is Oregon? | A&M’s explosivenessSooners, Mateer teetering | Future in Boulder
So … how good is Oregon?
The Ducks were flat — to put it kindly — in their 21-7 win against a now 2-6 Wisconsin team that’s on a perpetual did-they-fire-the-coach-yet watch. The weather was horrible. Dante Moore’s nose was a bloody mess. And yet … it opened the door to question how good this team really is.
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Oregon’s best win was Sept. 27 in double overtime at Penn State, which at the time seemed impressive. The College Football Playoff selection committee isn’t going to penalize Oregon for winning this game — but it’s not going to do it many favors, either.
The Ducks have beaten FCS Montana State, Oklahoma State and Oregon State, which are a combined 2-14. Rutgers, Penn State and Wisconsin are a combined 9-14. That leaves … 5-3 Northwestern as the best team they’ve beaten.
So if the selection committee takes a really hard look at the Ducks — and how some of their statistics have been padded by lopsided wins against Montana State (59-13), Oklahoma State (69-3) and Rutgers (56-10) — could Oregon be one of the first ranking’s biggest surprises — for all the wrong reasons? — Heather Dinich
Explosiveness is Texas A&M’s championship ingredient
Texas A&M’s road wins against Notre Dame and LSU unfolded in different ways. The Aggies rallied late for a dramatic win in South Bend, and pulled away with 35 unanswered points in Baton Rouge.
But the victories have a common thread: explosive plays. Lots of them, made primarily by quarterback Marcel Reed and wide receivers KC Concepcion and Mario Craver. Against Notre Dame, Reed had 360 passing yards while averaging 21.2 yards per completion, as Craver gashed the Irish for 207 yards and a touchdown, and Concepcion added 82 receiving yards on only four receptions.
Reed accounted for four touchdowns (two passing, two rushing) Saturday at LSU, including a dazzling 41-yard dash on the Aggies’ opening drive. Concepcion had a 79-yard punt return touchdown and a 15-yard scoring catch, and Craver led the Aggies with four receptions. Freshman Ashton Bethel-Roman added an electrifying one-handed catch that went for 47 yards. Texas A&M averaged 16.8 yards per completion and seven yards per play in the win.
“That’s the biggest thing that we talked about having to do to flip where we were trying to go,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said after beating LSU. “If you look at the teams that have won the SEC, the teams that have gone far in the playoffs, they have explosive playmakers on offense that can take a game over. And we felt like it was critical when I took over that we added those elements. It was really, really important.”
Texas A&M has developed Reed into one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks. It also showed aggressiveness in the portal by adding Concepcion (NC State) and Craver (Mississippi State), who impressed Aggies defenders last season. As the team gathered to saw ’em off, Reed, Concepcion and Craver were together. They’re the nucleus of an offense set up to contend for championships. — Adam Rittenberg
Sooners, Mateer suddenly teetering
Through the first month of the season, John Mateer was the best quarterback in the country, emerging as the Heisman Trophy favorite.
But then he had to undergo surgery on the thumb of his throwing hand. And since his Oct. 11 return, he hasn’t been the same.
In the past three weeks, Mateer ranks just 72nd in QBR (56.4) — a 20-point drop from his first four games of the season. In turn, the Sooners have lost two of three.
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After a hot 5-0 start, highlighted by a win over Michigan, this looked as if it would be a breakthrough season for fourth-year head coach Brent Venables. But with Saturday’s 34-26 loss at home to Ole Miss, the Sooners are 2-2 in the SEC — with a daunting remaining conference schedule ahead, including a trip to No. 14 Tennessee next weekend.
The Sooners have yet to score more than 26 points in a conference game since joining the SEC last year.
To finish strongly, Mateer and first-year offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle will have to rediscover their groove. If they do, OU could hang around in the playoff picture. Otherwise, this once-promising season could begin to spiral down the stretch. — Jake Trotter
What does the future look like in Boulder?
In 2023, Colorado coach Deion Sanders sat in a postgame news conference after a humiliating 42-6 loss to Oregon and made a confident proclamation.
“One thing I can say honestly and candidly: You better get me right now,” Sanders said. “This is the worst we’re gonna be. You better get me right now.”
It was Sanders’ first year in Boulder and one of several memorable sound bites he has delivered as the Buffaloes’ head coach, but that prediction hasn’t exactly worked out. Saturday night, Colorado was wholly uncompetitive in a 53-7 thrashing by Utah during which the Utes led 43-0 at halftime. In the first half, Colorado had minus-18 yards of total offense and had given up 398.
“This is probably the worst beating I’ve ever had except when my momma whooped me as a kid,” Sanders said.
So, now what? Colorado’s uptick last year to a 9-4 finish was buoyed by Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, and now the Buffs (3-5, 1-4 in the Big 12) are back to being competitively irrelevant. There is still a lot more interest in Colorado football than before the coach arrived, but the program has failed to capitalize on the buzz in a meaningful way.
Even the most ardent supporters of Coach Prime are going to have a hard time staying optimistic. This was the type of loss that points to comprehensive dysfunction, and that’s not something that can be solved through the transfer portal. — Kyle Bonagura
