Tyler Reddick’s pass for the win Sunday was the move championships are made of.

Reddick charged past leader Ryan Blaney in the final turn during a seven-lap shootout to win Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, and grab a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series championship race in two weeks.

Following a caution flag for Kyle Larson’s spin four laps after leader Reddick pitted, the final restart featured Reddick, on two-lap older tires, and Blaney on the front row.

Restarting on the point, Reddick fell back but blew by Denny Hamlin on the final lap and beat Blaney on the 1.5-mile speedway to win for the third time this season by 0.241 seconds. The 23XI Racing driver led 97 laps.

‘We were backed into a corner and had no other choice,’ said Reddick, who stayed out on older tires and caught a fortunate caution with 12 laps to go. ‘I knew we were on a tire deficit, and at Homestead that’s a death sentence. But I don’t care.

‘We did what it took to win this race and are fighting for a championship. … I knew I had to get on his right-side door, and he raced me clean.’

Reddick, whose team is co-owned by Hamlin and Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, joins last week’s winner Joey Logano, who raced to a win at Las Vegas in the opening race of the third round, in the Championship 4. Two berths remain, which will be decided in next Sunday in an elimination race at Martinsville Speedway.

At Homestead, the eight drivers remaining in championship contention all fielded strong cars and five of the eight led multiple laps during the 400-mile, 267-lap race. The top six finishers Sunday were all playoff drivers. Blaney finished second behind Redick, Hamlin third, Christopher Bell fourth, Chase Elliott fifth and William Byron sixth. All but Byron led at least three laps.

The reigning series champion, Blaney said he had a bad final circuit around the South Florida track.

‘I had a great shot to win it and didn’t have a very good last lap,’ the No. 12 Ford racer said. ‘Man, I thought I got into (Turn) 3 hard, and the 45 … it just stuck for him. … That last lap just didn’t play out for us.’

NASCAR AT HOMESTEAD: Full results from Sunday’s playoff race

Last in points at 53 points below the cut line, Elliott took advantage of a strong pit stop near the halfway point of 80-lap Stage 1 and put his No. 9 Chevrolet out front after service had cycled around.

Fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver Larson suffered a flat tire on Lap 47 and brushed the Turn 2 wall with his No. 5 Chevrolet for the second yellow session. While he was able to race his way back to the front, his spin in the closing laps of the third stage cost him a chance to race for the win. Larson finished 13th.

With 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace three seconds behind, polesitter Reddick cruised to another stage win while third-place Elliot and fourth-place Blaney benefited from bonus points, too.

At the 100-lap mark, Elliott, Blaney and Hamlin — three drivers in the bottom four of the Round of 8 — showed the way, while fourth-place Reddick reported issues with his No. 45 Toyota.

In the closing 10 laps of Stage 2, Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota ran down Elliott’s Camaro, and with a faster car, he eventually cleared the Hendrick driver to snatch away the 10 bonus points for his first segment win in 12 races. Elliott, Bell, Reddick and Blaney filled the next four point-getters.

The top group pitted with just under 50 laps remaining. Blaney briefly lost the lead to Elliott after coming in a lap later, but the No. 12 Team Penske Ford racer regained the point.

Meanwhile, Reddick stayed out on older tires, hoping for a caution, but had to pit with 16 laps left while leading.

However, Larson went three-wide and spun after contact with 12 laps to go for the sixth caution period.

LSU joined rival Alabama standing on the cliff of broken dreams, unfilled expectations and squandered opportunity. With one more step … it’s into the abyss.
Texas A&M, after beating LSU, now looks safer than Texas.
Would Tennessee be safe at 10-2? That’s no guarantee.

LSU joined rival Alabama standing on the cliff of broken dreams, unfulfilled expectations and squandered opportunity. With one more step, either team will spiral into the abyss of also-ran bowls.

One of the two will take that plunge Nov. 9, when these rivals will meet in Baton Rouge in what amounts to a battle for fifth place in the SEC – and a College Football Playoff eliminator for the loser.

‘We’ve lost our margin for error,’ LSU’s Brian Kelly said after his team suffered its second defeat by squandering a second-half lead in a 38-23 loss to Texas A&M that left the Aggies as the SEC’s only team without a conference loss.

The crowd of playoff contenders remains rows deep. Nowhere is the competition thicker than in the mercurial, messy and murky SEC.

Two SEC teams tumbled off the ledge Saturday.

Offseason darling Missouri never looked the part of playoff contender, and the Tigers made their bust official by getting plastered, 34-0, by Alabama.

In-season darling Vanderbilt persists as a tricky opponent, a team that started Alabama down its sad path toward the broken-hearts club, but the Commodores won’t be a playoff qualifier, not after losing to Texas.

That leaves the SEC with seven playoff contenders, and although no rule prevents that many from qualifying for the 12-team playoff, those based in the land of the rational see that there probably won’t be room for more than four SEC playoff qualifiers to emerge from a crowded bubble.

Here’s how I assess the seven SEC contenders’ playoff chances, from best to worst:

1. Georgia (6-1): The Bulldogs reclaimed their perch of power by mangling Texas a week ago. Games against fellow contenders Tennessee and Ole Miss remain, but Georgia can afford one more loss and still make the playoff.

2. Texas A&M (7-1): The Aggies looked the part of pretender in the first half against LSU, but became contender after halftime – and not just playoff contender. SEC champion contender, too. Coach Mike Elko might need to keep juggling two quarterbacks, but the defense is solid.

3. Texas (7-1): The Longhorns survived what would have been a crippling punch from Vanderbilt, but their soft SEC schedule draw would leave them vulnerable to the selection committee’s musings if they lose on Thanksgiving weekend at rival Texas A&M.

4. Tennessee (6-1): The Vols should be favored in every remaining game except a Nov. 16 date against Georgia, but would two-loss Tennessee be a shoo-in for the playoff? Tennessee’s resume will be pinned to its win against Alabama. How many losses will the Tide have come Selection Sunday? A two-loss Tennessee probably would get in, but it can eliminate doubt by beating Georgia.

5. LSU (6-2): The Tigers lead a trio of SEC teams that can’t lose again. They’re one-dimensional. Pass, pass, pass some more, and try to hold on for dear life while on defense. LSU can’t afford any struggles from star quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. See the second-half collapse against Texas A&M, when Nussmeier threw three interceptions.

6. Alabama (6-2): This is as flawed of an Alabama team as any since the early days of Nick Saban’s dynasty, but if the Tide can rally to 10-2, they might force the committee’s hand to take a fifth SEC team. Alabama owns a premier victory – it blitzed Georgia in September – but also suffered the most puzzling loss among contenders, at Vanderbilt.

7. Ole Miss (6-2): The Rebels’ playoff bid isn’t as simple as upsetting Georgia on Nov. 9 – not that anything will be simple about that. They also must survive Arkansas, Florida and the Egg Bowl. What was supposed to be a dream season in Oxford speeds toward a disappointing end.

SEC’s chaos scenario for the College Football Playoff

Six of the seven contenders could finish 10-2 or better, but that stretches the imagination. Five of the seven finishing with no more than two losses, though, resides within reasonable bounds.

To not make things too wacky, let’s assume Georgia beats Ole Miss. Now, engage with me on this scenario:

∎ Georgia takes care of its business and goes 11-1. It’s all set.

∎ Texas A&M loses a second game – at South Carolina, let’s say – but beats Texas. It’s 10-2 entering the SEC championship.

∎ Texas finishes 10-2, with losses to Georgia and Texas A&M.

∎ Tennessee loses to Georgia and rests its case at 10-2.

∎ LSU runs the table and goes 10-2.

Tiebreakers would be required in this scenario to determine the SEC championship game matchup.

If the playoff committee can’t find room for all five teams, who gets cut? An LSU win against Alabama would neutralize the best line on Tennessee’s resume. Texas could be left without any wins against teams that finish ranked in the Top 25, but its two losses would be to top-10 teams.

Best guess? In the scenario I’ve laid out, the SEC receives four bids, and two-loss Texas or Tennessee gets iced out. Both Texas and Tennessee will have played Georgia, so how those games unfolded could split the hair. Or, perhaps LSU would get the cold shoulder because, unlike Texas and Tennessee, it would have two losses despite not facing Georgia. The Tigers, though, own a robust strength of schedule.

Here’s what else I’m eyeing from the ‘Topp Rope’:

Ohio State wobbles, survives, but concerns linger

Ohio State boasts one of the nation’s best collections of running back and wide receiver talent, but someone has to get those receivers the ball, and several someones must open holes for the running backs.

Multiple injuries to Buckeyes offensive tackles are of serious concern, and the line hamstrung the offense in OSU’s 21-17 escape against Nebraska.

‘It’s not good enough,’ Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said of his O-line.

And, if it doesn’t improve, the Buckeyes (6-1) will go as far as their defense takes them and not one step further. OSU’s upcoming games against Penn State and Indiana are landmines.

Three and out

1. After Colorado beat Cincinnati to improve to 6-2, a 10-win season is in play for Deion Sanders. Regardless of where the record lands, his two-year turnaround of the Buffaloes is nothing short of remarkable. Some Gators fans who salivated over Lane Kiffin a month ago soon will shift their envious eye to Coach Prime.

2. Poll voters who aren’t ranking No. 13 Indiana (8-0) in the top 10 are doing this wrong. The Hoosiers keep wrecking opponents. They beat Washington 31-17 while playing with backup quarterback Tayven Jackson. The Ohio State team we saw struggle vs. Nebraska wouldn’t beat the Indiana team that demolished the Huskers the previous week.

3. My latest ‘Topp Rope’ playoff projection: Georgia (SEC), Oregon (Big Ten), Clemson (ACC), Brigham Young (Big 12), Boise State (Group of Five), plus at-large selections Texas A&M, Tennessee, Texas, Ohio State, Indiana, Notre Dame, Miami. Next up: Penn State, Iowa State, LSU, Alabama, Kansas State, Pittsburgh, SMU.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. The ‘Topp Rope’ is his football column published throughout the USA TODAY Network. Subscribe to read all of his columns.

With nine weeks in the books on the 2024 college football season, the College Football Playoff picture has become slightly clearer on who will — and who won’t — make the 12-team field.

No. 3 Penn State and No. 4 Ohio State kept their unofficial ‘locks’ of making the College Football Playoff — per odds on BetMGM — intact in Week 9, as the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes staved off upsets to Wisconsin and Nebraska.

Perhaps the most notable change to CFP odds that came out of Week 9 is the drop in LSU’s odds of making the postseason. The Tigers’ upset loss to then-No. 14 Texas A&M has Brian Kelly’s squad at +225 odds of making the 12-team playoff.

The 2025 College Football Playoff will be the first time in the history of the playoff where the playing field will expand from beyond four teams.

This drastic change to the CFP will give the four highest-ranked conference champions a first-round bye and the next highest-ranked conference champion an automatic bid before filling in the remaining teams with at-larges. It will also see the first home games in playoff history, as seeds 5-8 host seeds 9-12 on campus.

Here’s the latest on who are the favorites to make the 2025 College Football Playoff:

College Football Playoff odds

Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Sunday, Oct. 27

Oregon has the best odds on BetMGM to make the College Football Playoff, at -3000. The Ducks are followed by Georgia at -1600 and Ohio State at -1000.

Per BetMGM’s odds, the 12-team College Football Playoff would be made up of three teams from the SEC, three from the Big Ten and two from both the ACC and Big 12. Boise State would also make it, as well as Notre Dame.

Here’s who has the top 12 best odds to make the 12-team 2025 College Football Playoff:

Oregon (-3000)
Georgia (-1600)
Ohio State (-1000)
Texas (-900)
Penn State (-650)
Miami (-600)
Clemson (-185)
Notre Dame (-175)
Tennessee (-175)
Boise State (-175)
Iowa State (-140)
BYU (-125)

Week 8 is in progress, which means we’re approaching the halfway point of the 2024 NFL season. By now, teams and their fans have a pretty clear understanding of whether they are contenders or looking ahead to next season.

Part of looking ahead is anticipating the 2025 NFL Draft. Last year’s class featured a historic run of offensive players, including a record number of quarterbacks selected in the first 12 picks and a record-tying number of wide receivers selected in the first round.

That likely won’t be the case in the upcoming draft. Here’s how the order looks as Week 8 games finish – and some of the top prospects in the class.

NFL draft 2025 order 

Here’s the order following the early slate of Week 8 Sunday games:

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Carolina Panthers
Tennessee Titans
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Jacksonville Jaguars
Cleveland Browns
Miami Dolphins
Las Vegas Raiders
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
Cincinnati Bengals
Los Angeles Rams
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Arizona Cardinals
Los Angeles Chargers
Dallas Cowboys
Chicago Bears
Indianapolis Colts
Denver Broncos
Seattle Seahawks
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Philadelphia Eagles
Buffalo Bills
Washington Commanders
Pittsburgh Steelers
Minnesota Vikings
Houston Texans
Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions
Kansas City Chiefs

NFL draft 2025 top prospects

Here are eight of the consensus top prospects in the upcoming draft.

CB Travis Hunter, Colorado

Hunter could easily play cornerback or wide receiver in the NFL but projects better at corner. He has a near-ideal frame for the position and excels in man-to-man and zone assignments with great ball skills. His athleticism and tackling also make him a reliable difference-maker against the run. He likely would’ve been a top-three wide receiver in this class and can offer value on that side of the ball for a team needing help at the position.

DT Mason Graham, Michigan

Graham uses his 6-foot-3, 320-pound frame with ideal leverage to play equally well against the run or pass. He has the strength to shed blocks or hold up against double teams at the point of attack. The NFL Draft hasn’t had an interior defensive lineman taken in the top five since Quinnen Williams in 2019. Graham is that kind of player and could break that streak.

WR Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona

McMillan is an impressively smooth athlete at 6 feet, 5 inches tall and 210 pounds. His catch radius is one of the best in the class and he is a weapon in the passing game after the catch. His big frame makes him a mismatch against smaller defensive backs or slower linebackers. He’s not a vertical threat, but he’s able to convert contested catches, similar to Atlanta Falcons wideout Drake London.

CB Will Johnson, Michigan

If not for Hunter, Johnson would be a slam-dunk choice as the top cornerback prospect in the class. He has the ideal size for the cornerback position at 6-foot-2 and 202 pounds. His length matches that size, and he uses that well in both man and zone coverage schemes. He also stands up well in run defense and can be a useful blitzer.

Edge James Pearce Jr., Tennessee

Pearce Jr. is an outstanding athlete off the edge at 6 feet, 5 inches tall and 242 pounds. Though his sack production hasn’t materialized in 2024, he had 9.5 last season to lead the SEC. His long arms give him an advantage off the edge, and he can turn speed to power at will. He’ll likely need to add some size to hold up against the run in the NFL, but he has the athletic floor to contribute quickly in pass-rush scenarios.

OT Kelvin Banks Jr., Texas

Banks Jr. is the top tackle prospect in this class and is likely to stay at the position in the NFL. He could also excel inside at guard. His footwork in pass protection is among the best in the class, and he has the requisite athleticism to stay in front of rushers or be useful in combo blocks. He is sometimes inconsistent in sustaining blocks in long-developing plays, but that’s a small knock compared to his impressive tape.

Edge Mykel Williams, Georgia

Williams had an outstanding game in the Bulldogs’ win over Texas with two sacks and a forced fumble. The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Williams has impressive power and can set the edge against the run and rush the passer. He must improve his hand skills and pass rush plan at the next level. Like Pearce Jr., his floor is pretty high in the NFL. He may not end the year with outstanding numbers thanks to Georgia’s rotation at edge, but he’s worth the investment.

OL Will Campbell, LSU

Campbell’s one of many top offensive tackles in college who don’t have the arm length to stay at that position at the NFL level. If that bears out, Campbell will be the top guard prospect. His polished footwork and hand placement make him a plus in run blocking and a reliable pass blocker. He’s the first offensive lineman in LSU history to earn the top playmaker honor – he wears that Number 7 as a patch due to offensive lineman number restrictions – and earned it last season on a team with the likes of Jayden Daniels, Brian Thomas Jr., and Malik Nabers.

The Indiana Fever announced Sunday that they have parted ways with Christie Sides after two seasons in Indianapolis.

‘We are incredibly thankful to Coach Sides for embracing the challenge of leading us through an integral transition period over the last two seasons, while also positioning us well for future growth,’ Fever President of Basketball Operations Kelly Krauskopf said in a statement.

‘While decisions like these are never easy, it is also imperative that we remain bold and assertive in the pursuit of our goals, which includes maximizing our talent and bringing another WNBA championship back to Indiana.’

The Fever finished with a 13-27 record in Sides’ first season and, through the WNBA draft lottery, received the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft, which they used to select Clark.

With Clark winning WNBA rookie of the year honors, the Fever improved to 20-20 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2016 before they were swept in the first round by the Connecticut Sun.

Deion Sanders now has proof. His experiment at Colorado has worked. He showed it Saturday night when his Colorado football team beat Cincinnati, 34-23, giving the Buffaloes the minimum number of wins this season to become eligible for a postseason bowl game at 6-2.

This milestone comes just two seasons after he arrived to revive the worst college football team in America in December 2022.

‘That’s not the end goal for us,’ Sanders said afterward. ‘That’s the beginning.’

It still validates a rebuilding strategy that had never been seen before in major college football.

∎ As head coach, he overhauled the roster with an unprecedented influx of 51 scholarship transfer players in 2023, retaining just nine returning scholarship players last year out of a roster limit of 85.

∎ Then he flipped the roster again with 39 new scholarship transfers after his team finished 4-8.

∎ He even retooled his coaching staff this year after his top two assistant coaches left for other jobs.

Now, after just 20 games of testing, he has undeniable evidence that it produced the preliminary result he wanted – a bowl game, with even bigger accomplishments still possible this season, including a Big 12 Conference championship.

‘We want so much more,’ Sanders said.

What else did Deion Sanders say?

The latest win at sold-out Folsom Field in Boulder again was led by his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, along with Travis Hunter, the two-way star. Shedeur set a school record with 15 consecutive completions to start the game before finishing 25-of-30 passing for 323 yards and two touchdowns. Hunter caught nine of those passes for a career-high 153 yards and both of those touchdowns. Hunter also recorded two tackles and four pass breakups on defense in his first full game since he injured his shoulder two weeks ago.

‘Travis is the best college football player in the country,’ Deion Sanders said. ‘We all know that. Why are we even deliberating over that?’

By that definition, Hunter should win the Heisman Trophy. And he might. But Shedeur doesn’t get nearly the same buzz as a top candidate for the award despite being considered the top NFL prospect at quarterback.

‘I just want Travis to win it, of course,’ Shedeur Sanders said. ‘That will be almost like I won, because I threw him the ball.’

Deion Sanders urges voters not to rank his team

‘Coach Prime’ has his own theory about why his son isn’t getting more consideration for the Heisman.

‘They don’t even mention him for the Heisman,’ Deion Sanders said of Shedeur. ‘He’s not even mentioned? Oh my bad, he’s my son. That’s why.’

This us-against-the-world mindset is part of what drives the turnaround, too. It’s also why Deion Sanders urged voters not to rank the Buffs in the Top 25 after this win. He’d rather his team feel like a disrespected underdog starving for more.

‘We don’t even want to be ranked,’ he said. ‘Don’t rank us, please. We don’t like that. We’d rather be in the back in the dark, you know, just chilling.’

How big of a deal is bowl eligibility for Colorado?

Before his arrival, Colorado was 1-11 in 2022, including 10 games in which the Buffs got beat by at least 23 points. This will be only their third bowl game since 2007, including the pandemic year of 2020, when the Buffs got drubbed in the Alamo Bowl and finished 4-2.

‘It’s big for us because it’s big for the fans,’ Shedeur Sanders said. He also said the Buffs are ‘nowhere close’ to their peak.

‘It’s just a great badge of honor for now, but we’ve got bigger aspirations,’ he said.

By gaining bowl eligibility, Deion Sanders fulfilled a preseason promise to get his team to a bowl game to honor their 99-year-old superfan, Peggy Coppom. Sanders said she is battling COVID but was energetic on the phone after the game when she was called in front of the team.

‘We told her she is going to a bowl; now we want to make sure she goes to the best possible bowl,’ Sanders said.

Can Colorado make a run for the Big 12 title?

BYU (8-0) and Iowa State (7-0) are still undefeated, but the Buffs are one game behind them with a 4-1 record in league play. They have an off weekend next week before a Nov. 9 game at Texas Tech (5-3).

Colorado still has problems to overcome down the stretch. Shedeur Sanders said he was ‘banged up’ afterward and was looking forward to healing during the off weekend. His team also got a little sloppy at the end and let Cincinnati cut Colorado’s lead to 31-23 with less than four minutes left after trailing Colorado 31-14 in the third quarter.

Two unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties in the fourth quarter also soured Sanders’ mood a bit afterward.

‘We shouldn’t have let that game get that close,’ he said.

Quarterback recruit visits Colorado again

The Buffs still only allowed one quarterback sack for the second straight game. A year ago, Colorado allowed the second-most sacks in the nation with 56, leading Shedeur to finish the season with a fractured back. Deion Sanders brought in a new offensive line to replace the old one.

‘We’re making progress,’ said offensive lineman Justin Mayers, a transfer from Texas-El Paso. ‘The goal is to limit the number to zero as an o-line and make a substantial difference from last year.’

Colorado already has and now enters the final month of the regular season on a roll. On Saturday, Sanders also had an eye toward next year. One of the top quarterback recruits in the nation, Julian ‘JuJu’ Lewis, attended the game on a recruiting visit. Lewis has committed to play at Southern California next year, but Sanders is trying to change his mind to replace Shedeur after he leaves for the NFL.

It didn’t hurt that Lewis got to see the Buffs become bowl-eligible in front of a sold-out crowd (53,202) on national television (ESPN). And it might get even better from there.

‘That’s just the beginning of what we desire around here,’ Sanders said.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

The early slate of Week 8 Sunday games features multiple divisional matchups, including in the AFC South. The division-leading Houston Texans hosted the Indianapolis Colts for the second matchup between the teams this season.

In the third quarter, Texans leading wide receiver Stefon Diggs left the game with a knee injury. Here’s what happened and his status.

Stefon Diggs injury update

Diggs hurt his knee running a route in the third quarter against Kenny Moore. It was a non-contact injury after he planted his knee while making a cut inside.

He hurt his right knee on the play, the same knee he injured in 2021 and 2016 and missed time both years.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Will Stefon Diggs return?

Diggs was able to walk off the field under his own power to the locker room.

Diggs is questionable to return after that injury. The team has not provided any updates on his availability. Even though he was able to walk to the locker room, Diggs may have suffered more damage and could be out for an extended period of time.

Stefon Diggs stats

Through seven games, Diggs had 42 catches for 415 yards and three receiving touchdowns. He also has two rushes for 12 yards and a touchdown as well.

Prior to his injury, Diggs had five catches for 81 yards against the Colts.

Texans WR depth chart

With Diggs and Nico Collins out with injuries, here’s the rest of the wideouts on the active roster:

Tank Dell
Xavier Hutchinson
Robert Woods
John Metchie III

The predicament Mark Stoops finds himself in as Kentucky flounders this season should be familiar.

Though Kentucky basketball is in a different universe than Kentucky football, Stoops should have learned a lesson from his frenemy, John Calipari. And the lesson is this: If a coach stays anywhere long enough, the fan base will almost certainly grow tired of you. 

Stoops, much like Calipari, has stayed in at Kentucky longer than anyone thought. He makes $9 million a year and is among the 10 highest-paid coaches in the country, largely because he’s turned down multiple opportunities to leave. You’d probably stay too for that kind of contract, the theory being that life will be good if you win seven or eight games. Unlike most fan bases in the SEC, Kentucky fans are never going to expect a national championship in football. 

But after 12 years, has it grown stale? Should Stoops have said goodbye before Kentucky fans turn on him the way they did Calipari? 

It’s a legitimate question after Kentucky dropped to 3-5 with a decisive 24-10 loss at home to Auburn, which was previously winless in the SEC. Unless the Wildcats pull a big upset somewhere down the stretch, they will miss a bowl game for the first time since 2015. 

Kentucky administrators will argue that even if Stoops never comes close to an SEC title, he’s worth the money because they remember how bad the football program was before he arrived.

That’s a fair argument, but it will also fall on deaf ears. Yes, you can say that the coach who follows Stoops will be worse for Kentucky. But after so many years living in that 7-6 range, why is it so hard to imagine a world where someone else could do a bit better? 

Stoops has raised the floor significantly at Kentucky and has been handsomely rewarded for it. Fans should and will celebrate that. But you’re never going to convince them that paying Stoops $9 million a year is the only path to having a nice, competitive football program – the same way fans eventually concluded that Calipari wasn’t the only coach who could win championships there. 

Maybe that’s correct, and maybe it’s not. But when you stay in one place too long, those are the conversations that start to take place. 

Stoops can be forgiven for a bad season, which this clearly has become. But after a dozen years, it’s easy to lose a fan base’s enthusiasm for struggling to make minor bowl games and losses to South Carolina, Vanderbilt and a bad Auburn team. 

By the end, Stoops and Calipari didn’t really get along. The power struggle between a perceived underachiever on the basketball side and an overachiever on the football side resulted in tension that sometimes even spilled out into public view. 

But now, Stoops has pretty much become Calipari on a smaller scale – and may ultimately have learn the same lesson about passion and loyalty in the Bluegrass State. 

That’s why Kentucky is No. 1 in the Misery Index, a weekly measurement of which fan bases are feeling the most angst.

HIGHS AND LOWS: Winners and losers from Week 9 in college football

Four more in misery

Oklahoma State: What’s gone on in Stillwater this season is really strange. Oklahoma State went 10-4 last season and returned enough of that team to be picked third in the Big 12, including a lot of first-place votes. And after Saturday’s 38-28 loss at Baylor, which marked the first time in Gundy’s career that he’s had a five-game losing streak, his diagnosis was that players “need to do some soul searching.”

It’s hard to know exactly what that means or if Gundy is signaling some kind of locker room issue or lack of focus, but a team with this much experienced talent should not be 3-5 and dead last in the Big 12 standings. Something is off. 

Gundy is in an interesting phase of his career. He’s still relatively young at age 57, but this is his 20th season at Oklahoma State. He’s had a ton of success at a tough place, but so many things have changed around him including player compensation and the makeup of the Big 12. They’re not even playing Bedlam anymore after Oklahoma’s departure to the SEC. 

And honestly, in Gundy’s post-game press conference Saturday, there wasn’t much fire. He was very low-key and matter-of-fact about how poorly this season is going. 

Gundy has been good enough for long enough that maybe it’s an anomaly. But he didn’t seem like a guy who was too bothered about being in the midst of his worst stretch ever. 

Maryland: Recruiting was the primary reason the Terrapins hired Mike Locksley as the head coach nearly six years ago. Despite a 2-26 record in his first head coaching job at New Mexico, his connections to players in the Washington, D.C., area plus a three-year stint in Nick Saban’s coaching redemption car wash made him the obvious choice. 

And it hasn’t been a bad choice, if the goal was to make Maryland a passably competent program that could win some games against bad teams and avoid embarrassing the school. Maryland has posted three consecutive winning seasons and could do it again, even though this season has been a mild disappointment at 4-4. 

The bigger issue is that Maryland just seems stuck, with no chance at upward mobility under Locksley. Over the past month the Terps have lost to Indiana, Northwestern and now Minnesota in a 48-23 shellacking. Has Locksley given Maryland fans any indication the program will break out of this mediocre cycle over the course of six years? No. In fact, they’ve never managed to even post a .500 record in the Big Ten. Is that enough for a program that sits in the middle so much talent? 

Texas-San Antonio: This time last year, most people in college football had Jeff Traylor penciled in for a bigger job. The former Texas high school coach had gone 12-2, 11-3 and then 9-4 last year after making the move from Conference USA to a tougher American Athletic Conference. Surely someone would lure him away. But for a variety of reasons, including a poor interview with Texas A&M, Traylor had nowhere to go and returned to San Antonio. At the time, UTSA fans thought that was great news.  Today? They’re not so sure. If this is UTSA’s first losing season under Traylor – and it might be, as the Roadrunners are 3-5 – Saturday’s 46-45 loss to Tulsa will be a huge part of the story. UTSA led this game 20-0 early in the second quarter, 35-7 at halftime and 45-32 with five minutes to go. Somehow, though, Tulsa put together a 10-play, 75-yard drive in fewer than three minutes and an 8-play, 92-yard drive in 61 seconds to take the lead. Sure, UTSA is rebuilding. But when you lose a game in that fashion, the Roadrunners won’t have to worry about losing Traylor anytime soon. 

Missouri: Despite SEC commissioner Greg Sankey engaging in early College Football Playoff lobbying by floating the idea of eight teams getting into the 12-team field, natural selection is a real thing in college football. And Missouri is basically extinct as a contender after a 34-0 loss to Alabama. 

What a disappointment. After starting at No. 11 in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll, the Tigers have absorbed 31- and 34-point losses to the two best teams on their schedule, with their 41-10 wipeout at Texas A&M earlier this month proving to be a harbinger of their mediocrity. Missouri fans are not the SEC’s most demanding, but after going 11-2 last year and returning a lot of key skill players, they came into this year with arguably as much optimism as they’ve had in a generation. Instead, there’s a legitimate chance they’ll go 10-2 and feel like it’s been a disappointment because they’ve fattened up on bad teams and won’t have any win that gives them credibility with the College Football Playoff selection committee. 

Miserable but not miserable enough

Mississippi State: We are looking at one of the worst SEC teams in recent memory, and that includes decades of bad football from the likes of Vanderbilt and Kentucky. We saw this possibility developing when the Bulldogs lost by 24 points at home to Toledo in Week 3, but there hasn’t even really been much of a glimmer of competitiveness since. Mississippi State is 0-5 in the SEC with an average margin of 16.4 points following a 58-25 loss at home to Arkansas. The Bulldogs also rank in the 120s nationally in total defense. Jeff Lebby will get some time to right the ship if for no other reason than his predecessor, Zach Arnett, lasted just one season. You can’t change head coaches every year, even though Mississippi State fans might want to at this point. 

Southern Mississippi: Firing head coach Will Hall last week was a necessary catharsis for Golden Eagles fans after his record sunk to 14-30, including this year’s freefall to 1-6 and a total inability to compete against Sun Belt opponents like Jacksonville State (44-7), Louisiana-Monroe (38-21) and Arkansas State (44-28). The question for Southern Miss’ administration now, though, is what it will take to stabilize a program that has underperformed dramatically since 2020, winning just 17 of 56 games. Southern Miss was one of the best and most consistent programs outside the power conferences from the late 1970s until 2011. Southern Miss fans expect more, and getting lapped by its regional peers in the Sun Belt is an embarrassment for which there is no excuse. 

Liberty: There won’t be many bigger upsets this year than the Flames losing 27-24 on Wednesday night to Kennesaw State. As we wrote a few weeks ago in the Misery Index, Kennesaw State had been comfortably the worst team in Bowl Subdivision largely because they weren’t ready for this level of football after rushing to move up from FCS in last year’s realignment shuffle. In fact, just a week earlier, Kennesaw State lost 14-5 to a Middle Tennessee team that is now 2-6. So maybe Liberty, which came into the game 5-0 and nearly a four-touchdown favorite, didn’t take the Owls seriously and committed nine penalties for 100 yards in a sloppy performance. No matter what happened, though, it’s a costly loss. Had Liberty won Conference USA with an unbeaten record, it would have been a contender for the Group of Five’s playoff bid. With this huge blemish on the record, that’s almost certainly not possible now. 

Rutgers: We have reached the point where Greg Schiano 2.0 is trending toward failure. Though he was the best coach in program history from 2005-11, bringing relevance to a program that had languished for decades, his return has been underwhelming. After Friday’s 42-20 loss at Southern Cal, Rutgers has gone from 4-0 to 4-4 this season amidst injuries and an underperforming defense. More concerning is that Schiano’s Big Ten record is now 10-31. There just hasn’t been a ton of progress from Year 1 to Year 5. Meanwhile, Rutgers doesn’t have a full-time athletics director because Pat Hobbs resigned in August amid murky circumstances that include a school investigation into a possible inappropriate relationship with the gymnastics coach, as NJ.com reported earlier this month. Rutgers is one of the toughest jobs in the Big Ten, but none of what’s happened this year points to getting back in the mix. 

Wyoming: The Super Bowl of Stink took place Saturday in Laramie, and the home team didn’t disappoint. Wyoming, under first-year coach Jay Sawvel, dropped to 1-7 after a 27-25 loss to 2-6 Utah State. It’s a pretty wild season given that Wyoming hasn’t had a losing season since 2015 if you don’t count the 2-4 COVID year in 2020. In fact, this is looking more like the Vic Koenning era when Wyoming went 5-29 over a three-year stretch.  

Mike Elko never said Jimbo Fisher’s name. He didn’t have to. His words after Texas A&M beat LSU came off as quite a zinger.
Texas A&M sits all alone atop SEC standings after beating LSU.
Mike Elko’s in-game quarterback change to Marcel Reed pays off.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Jimbo Fisher talked a mile a minute throughout six disappointing seasons at Texas A&M. He spewed more hot air than half the folks on Capitol Hill.

Throughout Fisher’s tenure as Aggies head coach, he portrayed a fast-talking, wheeling-and-dealing auctioneer who masqueraded as a football coach.

All boots, but no cowboy.

More importantly, his Aggies play differently.

They block, and they tackle, and they protect the football, and they’re resilient.

They win.

Two months into Elko’s first season, he’s made Fisher’s persistent shortcomings look even worse.

Elko laid waste to Fisher Saturday night after No. 14 Texas A&M rallied past No. 7 LSU, 38-23, at a roaring Kyle Field.

‘This is a real program. It’s not fake,’ Elko said after a win that positioned the Aggies (7-1) alone atop the SEC standings. ‘It’s not a politician running this program, talking fast and BS’ing everybody. This is a real program.’

Yowza. Now, that’s a quote.

Eyebrows shot up when Elko said that.

Elko, who previously worked under Fisher, never spoke Fisher’s name. To these ears, though, his words sounded like a direct shot at his predecessor and former boss.

Or, perhaps it slipped out as an unintentional jab, but anyone who heard Elko’s phrasing must have pictured Fisher, the motormouth who scooted off last fall with a $77 million buyout and not a single season with 10 victories.

Elko, in his first season, is on pace for 10 wins before Thanksgiving.

What gives?

‘Elko era, that’s really what’s going on,’ said the Aggies’ BJ Mayes, who intercepted LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier twice during a second-half comeback that crippled the Tigers’ playoff hopes.

Mayes, a transfer defensive back, never played for Fisher, so he can’t speak to that.

But, he can speak to Elko. He’s happy to, in fact.

‘He’s a no-tolerance type of coach, you feel me?’ Mayes said.

Tough love looks good on Texas A&M.

Who needs patience? Not Mike Elko or Texas A&M

Patience remains the loser’s battle cry, and Elko obliterates the fictional narrative that a program takes years to turn. He previously won 16 games in two seasons at Duke, and if you don’t think that qualifies as a warp-speed elevation, Google Duke’s history.

If Elko’s Aggies can beat rival Texas next month – and why should anyone think they can’t? – they’ll probably be playing in the SEC championship game, something Fisher never did.

The Aggies never lacked for talent during the Fisher era, nor did they lack for funds once donors could funnel money to athletes via NIL deals.

They did lack for production, particularly on offense. Fisher once earned acclaim as a quarterback whisperer, but he’d spent all of his pearls of wisdom before he came around these parts.

‘When I got here, the whole rhetoric about this program was, ‘NIL and mercenaries and selfishness.’ To see where we are now … you don’t see those things,’ Elko said. ‘That’s a credit to those kids in the locker room. It’s a credit to their character.’

Absolutely, it is.

Reserve a little credit for the coach, too.

Awards aren’t handed out in October, but after this victory, Elko enjoys front-runner status for SEC coach of the year.

Mike Elko changes Texas A&M’s culture – and its quarterback

Elko installed more toughness – mental and physical – to accompany Texas A&M’s talent.

‘He knows the game, and he changed the culture,’ quarterback Marcel Reed said.

Fisher’s Aggies perfected the art of the narrow loss.

Elko’s Aggies find ways to win.

On Saturday, that meant winning with two quarterbacks who combined to complete eight passes.

The Aggies’ defense got nasty and rattled Nussmeier in the second half, after LSU’s quarterback tormented Texas A&M in the first half. Elko deftly changed quarterbacks in the third quarter, benching Conner Weigman in favor of Reed.

When Weigman plays at his best, his passing ability gives the Aggies their highest offensive ceiling. He was far from his best against LSU. The Tigers persistently harassed Weigman, and when he wasn’t succumbing to sacks, he was throwing incompletions.

Midway through the third quarter, LSU led 17-7.

‘There was no panic on our sideline,’ Elko said.

Still, he recognized the Aggies needed to change the triggerman.

Reed’s skill set differs from Weigman’s. He’s a read-option maestro, and he used deception and speed to twist the Tigers into knots.

‘I started a spark,’ Reed said.

Now, fire catches behind a coach who says fewer words per minute than his predecessor, while the Aggies’ record speaks volumes.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.