The hits keep on coming for Brian Branch.

He was routinely in the spotlight on ‘Sunday Night Football’ in Week 6, but for all the wrong reasons. The Detroit Lions safety is now set to serve a one-game suspension for striking the Kansas City Chiefs’ JuJu Smith-Schuster following last week’s game.

NFL Films added some more fuel to the fire in the days that followed. They posted a promotional video for their show, “Turning Point,” which singled out Branch’s mistakes against the Chiefs. Narrated by ESPN’s Louis Riddick, the video seemingly implied that there was some in-game motivation for the safety’s actions in the aftermath.

It’s not common for NFL Films to frame a video in that way – highlighting one player’s lowlights. The NFL deleted the post and later released a statement on X, explaining their decision to remove the clip.

“NFL Films wants all of its shows to have a distinct voice and point of view,’ it read. ‘In the case of ‘NFL Turning Point,’ that voice and point of view is Louis Riddick’s. He spends time every week with the show’s producers watching each segment and going over the script before narrating them. That particular sequence felt different to NFL Films as part of a 9-minute breakdown of the Lions-Chiefs game than it did as a standalone excerpt on social media. On X, it felt overly critical to Brian Branch so it was taken down.” 

Branch’s teammates were certainly no fan of the video.

“I thought that video was crazy,’ Amon-Ra St. Brown said, via ESPN’s Eric Woodyard. ‘I don’t know why it was released, the reasoning behind it.’

‘Hey @NFLFilms y’all wanna post a bunch of BS and then won’t stand on business? Dan Skipper posted on X. ‘Feel free to go into a deeper dive in some of the other storylines. #soft’

Branch, known for his physicality, is no stranger to discipline from the league. The safety has already been fined three times this season and now added a suspension on top of it.

With a big ‘Monday Night Football’ matchup looming against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Branch will be a notable absence. This is how we got to this point.

Brian Branch suspension

Branch was suspended for one game after starting a fight following the Lions’ Week 6 loss in Kansas City. His appeal of the league’s suspension was denied, meaning he’ll serve it on Monday night in Week 7.

It all started as Branch took exception to an illegal block in the back from Smith-Schuster that went uncalled. He then took aim at Smith-Schuster’s face as others exchanged postgame pleasantries. The receiver was bleeding from a gash on his nose after the incident.

While there appeared to be some in-game motivation for Branch’s actions, the situation boiled over after he appeared to snub a handshake from Patrick Mahomes.

Smith-Schuster appeared to take notice of the act, seemingly taunting the safety. Branch promptly charged, starting the brawl.

“I did a little childish thing,” Branch told USA TODAY Sports. “But I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the plays and the ref don’t catch it, trying to bully me out there.

“But I should’ve never did it. It was childish.”

In the heat of the moment, Branch made a regrettable decision. Now he’ll pay for it with a suspension and missed game check.

Texas A&M is the last undefeated team in the SEC, but faces tough road games ahead.
Miami’s loss to Louisville means the Hurricanes no longer control their path to the ACC championship.
BYU remains the only unbeaten team in the Big 12 after defeating rival Utah.

From a 95-yard scoop-and-score in Durham, North Carolina, to a 100-yard pick six in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to a punt returner saving the day in Lexington, Kentucky, Week 8 of the college football season presented more examples of just how fragile the illusion of game control can be. It is just that aspect of the sport that fuels us here at Overreaction HQ.

Once again we’ll leave the continual spinning of the coaching carousel for others to dissect and concentrate on the changing fortunes of the various playoff contenders.

Here are the top five overreactions from the weekend, starting as we often do in the land of ‘just means more.’

Texas A&M will sweep the SEC

A&M is the last team standing with an unblemished record in the ultra-competitive SEC, and there’s a decent chance the Aggies can keep it that way until the conference championship game. Part of that, of course, is attributable to favorable scheduling. While there are still 10 teams from the league currently ranked in the US LBM Coaches Poll, the Aggies’ first four league victories have come against the eight other unranked squads. Furthermore, though there are five other SEC teams ranked No. 12 or higher, the Aggies will not encounter any of the other four in the regular season.

None of this is to say things will be easy for the Aggies the rest of the way. Their next two league contests are on the road at LSU and Missouri, both of which will be in full desperation mode in search of quality wins by the time A&M comes to town. Then there’s the regular-season finale against Texas, a rivalry game in which strange things often happen despite what we’ve seen from the punchless Longhorns.

This is also in no way meant to diminish what the Aggies have accomplished thus far. Their September triumph at Notre Dame has held up quite well, and, as mentioned above, sometimes the difference between winning and losing comes down to just a play or two. Even A&M’s own fans would likely admit they’re somewhat fortunate to have their lofty poll position., but they also aren’t about to apologize for it.

Miami is fine

While a single loss isn’t usually a season killer, the Hurricanes’ mistake-filled setback against Louisville Friday night might have been more costly than it appeared initially. For one thing, the ‘Canes can no longer win their own way to the ACC championship game. Three teams remain without a conference loss, and SMU is the only one of that threesome Miami will meet in person. The Hurricanes don’t face Georgia Tech or Virginia, nor do the Yellow Jackets and Cavaliers play each other. If those two run the table – admittedly a long shot given the number of close calls they’ve already survived –, Miami will have to hope its at-large credentials will suffice for playoff inclusion.

On the plus side, Notre Dame has done Miami a solid by continuing to stack wins, and the Hurricanes’ victory against South Florida has also retained its value. So while one loss might indeed not be fatal for the ‘Canes, they’d be advised not to suffer a second one.

Brigham Young will win the Big 12.

The numerically incorrect Large Dozen is also left with just one unbeaten squad, and the Cougars’ most recent triumph of their 7-0 start was undoubtedly the most satisfying as they took down in-state rival Utah. But while winning the Holy War is always nice, BYU has a lot of work to do to secure a spot in the league title game.

Three difficult conference road tests await, starting next week at rested Iowa State which will be highly motivated to snap its two-game skid. BYU must also travel to Texas Tech, very much still in the hunt despite falling from the ranks of the undefeated over the weekend, and to red-hot Cincinnati, currently on a six-game winning streak since dropping its opener to Nebraska. A sweep of those three for BYU might be asking too much, but if the Cougars can manage to take two of those they’ll likely find their way to the title tilt in Arlington, Texas.

UCLA could win the Big Ten

The Bruins ran their improbable winning streak to three this weekend by staving off Maryland with a late field goal. As crazy as it sounds, the Bruins, who began the year 0-4 and are being led by an interim coach, have a path to the Big Ten championship game.

It’s not going to happen, but in the literal sense of the term UCLA does control its own destiny in the conference. All the Bruins have to do is win the rest of their games. That would of course include a victory in the season finale against cross-town foe Southern California. And oh yeah, they’d also need to beat both Indiana and Ohio State on the road. The ride will almost certainly come to an end next week in Bloomington, but there’s an element of optimism among the fan base that has assuredly not been present for a number of years.

The American champ will be in the playoff

Despite the almost unfathomable meltdown by Memphis resulting in a damaging loss to Alabama-Birmingham, conventional wisdom still has it that whoever emerges from the American will be the fifth conference champion to earn automatic inclusion into the 12-team playoff field, a spot which went to Mountain West champ Boise State last year. It was in fact the two-loss Broncos themselves who bolstered that line of argument for the American by knocking UNLV from the ranks of the unbeaten and gaining control of the MWC race. But given Boise State’s season-opening loss at South Florida, it would be behind the Bulls should both win their respective leagues and are likely behind the contenders from the American.

Said American contenders, however, are beginning to pick each other off as we’ve already seen. The conference is still likely in the driver’s seat as long as the champ gets through with two or fewer total losses, but that is anything but a guarantee. One should also not dismiss the possibility of an interloper from the Sun Belt swooping in. James Madison is lurking with just a single loss, and certainly not a bad one at Louisville. However, the Dukes likely won’t have the quality wins needed to stack up at 11-1 unless chaos happens. In short, the remainder of the season figures to be quite interesting in numerous locales.

Indiana hangs on at No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports NCAA Re-Rank 1-136 after Week 8 of the college football season while Alabama makes a big move to No. 3 after nailing down a fourth ranked in in a row.

The Crimson Tide’s 37-20 win against Tennessee was their sixth in a row overall. That’s enough to lift Alabama ahead of unbeaten Texas A&M, which sticks at No. 4 after struggling to beat Arkansas.

The spot in the top three was opened by Miami’s loss to Louisville. That sends the Hurricanes down five spots to No. 8. Other teams moving up near the top of the re-rank are No. 5 Georgia, No. 6 Oregon and No. 7 Georgia Tech.

Vanderbilt climbs seven spots to No. 10 after beating LSU. The Commodores are 6-1 for the first time in 75 years. Also making a big move is No. 15 Brigham Young, which is up 16 spots after beating Utah 24-21 in the Holy War.

LSU leads the most notable fallers, going down 10 spots to No. 21 after losing for the second time. Memphis plummets to No. 35 after a horrific loss to Alabama-Birmingham. UNLV falls to No. 40 after getting blown out by Boise State and Florida State tumbles 22 spots to No, 75 after losing at Stanford.

There was nearly a new team at No. 136 but Massachusetts gave up a 21-20 lead to Buffalo in the final seconds to remain winless.

Curry College running back Montie Quinn set a new NCAA all-time record by rushing for 522 yards in a single game.
The senior achieved the record on just 20 carries, averaging 26.1 yards per run and scoring seven touchdowns.
Despite the historic achievement, Quinn remains focused on leading his team to a successful season.

Less than 10 miles south of Boston, in Milton, Massachusetts., lies Curry College. A Division III private school with roughly 2,000 undergraduate students at a campus that sits on 131-acres, surrounded by a picture-perfect tree setting.

Perfect would be the best way to describe what occurred on campus Saturday, Oct. 18. 

At Walter M. Katz Field, 2,500 people witnessed one of the greatest performances in college football history. Curry running back Montie Quinn ran for 522 yards, an NCAA record and the first player to eclipse the 500-yard rushing mark. Quinn led a dominant 71-27 homecoming victory for the Colonels over Nichols. 

“I’m just calm and just chill,” Quinn told USA TODAY Sports. “I know I’m a humble person, but like everybody expected me to get excited.

“But the job’s still not finished.” 

Montie Quinn’s NCAA record day

Even if Quinn seems pretty nonchalant about his achievement, there’s nothing boring about how he achieved history. 

The first sign of greatness came on Curry’s second drive of the game, Quinn broke free for a 64-yard touchdown. After that first score, Quinn said he felt “everything that we wanted in our game was going to click.” The momentum continued as he piled up 217 yards and three scores by halftime.

On Curry’s first play of the second half, Quinn ran for an 84-yard score. The game was starting to get out of hand, but coach Todd Parsons decided not to pull his star, noticing something special was happening.

“In the back of my head, I kind of had it in my mind, but you don’t really realize what’s going on,” Parsons said. “He’s breaking all these long touchdown runs, and you’ve kind of figured he’s gonna hit something.”

After three quarters, Quinn was 30 yards away from the NCAA record of 465, set by Heidelberg’s Cartel Brooks in 2013. So what did Quinn do on his first carry in the final frame? Take it 85 yards to the house. Record broken on his longest run of the day, set on his seventh score of the day. Quinn made history with more than nine minutes left in the game and his day was wrapped up.

The final stat line was 522 yards on just 20 carries – an average of 26.1 yards per run — with seven touchdowns. The Nichols Bison spent much of the day watching No. 1 with the guardian cap running past them with eight rushes over 25 yards.

While it was Quinn’s day, he made sure to shout out his offensive line, noting “everybody did their job correctly” in the blowout victory, with the 71 points scored a school record.

Montie Quinn helping build Curry College

Since celebrating after the victory, it’s been a whirlwind for Quinn and Parsons, spending its Sunday speaking to a flurry of reporters. While this may be the first time anyone has heard of Quinn or Curry College, Parsons wants it to be known this is nothing new from his star running back.

Coming into his senior season, Quinn was already the Curry career rushing leader at 4,435 yards. The 1,652 yards he ran for last season are a school record, which he’ll likely break this season with 1,450 through six games. His 53 career rushing touchdowns are a school record and after Saturday, he’s tied for most career touchdowns in team history.

After three straight losing seasons in his first three campaigns, Quinn has led Curry to a 5-1 start, its most wins since 2017.

“Obviously people are taking notice, and what he did yesterday has never been done before, but he’s been doing this for four years now,” Parsons said. “He’s done a great job of putting himself on the map and helping build this program back up.”

The big day still hasn’t set in for Quinn or Parsons, other than the fact Quinn’s father, Dennis, keeps reminding his son “almost every second of the day” of his accomplishment.

“I feel like soon I’ll take some time and just think about all the stuff that I accomplished,” Quinn said.

Even though it will take time for Parsons to fully realize how special the performance was, he wants it to serve as a reminder anything can be accomplished at any level of college sports. He believes it will help the schools recruitment and prove you don’t need to be a Division I athlete to be special.

“Hopefully, student-athletes kind of see the platform that they can create for themselves at any level and have success,” he said.

It will be hard to top Quinn’s day, but he has his eyes set on a special season, as Curry tries to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008.

“We have a lot more to prove, and everything is just getting started,” Quinn said.

Keep up with the latest news and analysis from college football’s top two conferences: Check out our Big Ten Hub and our SEC Hub to get school-by-school coverage from across the USA TODAY Network.

The Commanders fell to 3-4 and could have trouble making it back to the playoffs given a difficult upcoming stretch.
Jalen Hurts sparked the Eagles against the Vikings by repeatedly throwing deep to DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown.
The Raiders’ shutout loss to the Chiefs reinforced how far the team has to go to compete in the AFC West.

Week 7 in the NFL was a study in the league’s polarities.

Things got off to a rousing start when the Joe Flacco-led Cincinnati Bengals defied expectations by taking down the AFC North-leading Pittsburgh Steelers in dramatic fashion. But the excitement didn’t carry over to the early portion of Sunday’s action, as the Los Angeles Rams’ rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars in London would be a harbinger of an early slate that repeatedly exposed the disparity between the league’s haves and have-nots. But a week rife with lopsided affairs still ended up producing an all-time comeback with the Denver Broncos’ stunning victory over the New York Giants.

Here are the biggest winners and losers from Week 7 in the NFL:

Winners

Jalen Hurts

Trying to project where the Philadelphia Eagles and their volatile offense are headed is a dangerous game, as the unit has lacked consistency even from drive to drive. But the passing attack’s performance in a 28-22 win over the Minnesota Vikings felt like it held significance beyond a one-off outing. Hurts achieved just the third perfect passer rating (158.3) in a game in Eagles history, and he did so by airing out shots downfield to DeVonta Smith (nine catches, 183 yards, 1 TD) and A.J. Brown (four catches, 121 yards, 2 TDs). Optimism might be tempered given the unit’s previous missteps in building on success this season, and running back Saquon Barkley sure could use a get-right game of his own as he continues to seek his first 100-yard performance of 2025. But another troublesome showing would have pushed this group into panic territory, and Hurts ensured the team wouldn’t sink to a third consecutive loss.

Denver Broncos’ fourth-quarter wake-up call

Luck? Skill? Scoring 33 points in the fourth quarter after being shut out through the first 45 minutes of action unquestionably requires heaping portions of both. But the Broncos’ historic turnaround in a thrilling 33-32 escape against the New York Giants ensured that a day intended to honor late franchise great Demaryius Thomas won’t soon be forgotten. Late regroupings have become an uncomfortable way of life for Sean Payton’s crew, which also rallied to topple the Eagles two weeks ago and squeezed out a win against the New York Jets last Sunday in London. But the Broncos still sit atop the AFC West at 5-2 despite not playing anywhere close to their best football, and Bo Nix’s breakthrough bodes well for an offense that has too often been limited by the quarterback’s play this season.

Kansas City Chiefs’ receiving corps

‘Everybody Gotta Eat,’ indeed. Kansas City’s offensive mantra manifested on the field upon Rashee Rice’s return from a six-game suspension, with nine different players catching a pass from Patrick Mahomes in a 31-0 rout of the Las Vegas Raiders before the starting quarterback’s exit in the third quarter. Rice got in the mix early with two short touchdowns, but the real benefit of his presence is a compounding effect for a receiving corps that finally got its top trio on the field – albeit a year-plus later than the coaching staff and front office initially envisioned. Now, a unit that was so thoroughly maligned throughout September appears to be in prime position for the stretch run of the season.

Mike Vrabel

The Tennessee Titans are responsible for plenty of strange scenes this season. The most bizarre, however, might be the home-field crowd chanting Vrabel’s name toward the end of a 31-13 blowout win by the New England Patriots coach, who was in his first game back at Nissan Stadium since he was axed as the team’s coach after the 2023 season. Vrabel downplayed the payback element in the run-up to the tilt, making clear he took no joy in the dismissal of struggling successor Brian Callahan. But if the best revenge is living well, then there’s no question that the midseason Coach of the Year front-runner came out ahead of the franchise he led for six years. Former Titans standout Harold Landry III got in on the redemption act, too, bagging Cam Ward for one of New England’s five sacks on the day.

Chris Olave’s price tag

As the NFL trade deadline draws closer, it doesn’t appear as though there will be a robust group of sellers – or moveable targets. One exception, however, could be the New Orleans Saints, who can more easily focus on the long-term outlook than other teams, especially after a 26-14 loss to the Chicago Bears dropped the team to 1-6 in Kellen Moore’s first season. But will Olave, the silky smooth vertical threat, be among the assets up for bidding? The Athletic reported over the weekend that the team is working on an extension for him, and he continued to reinforce his value to the franchise Sunday by notching five catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns. That effort marked the first career multiple-touchdown outing for the fourth-year receiver. With so few building blocks in place, it’s understandable that the Saints would be reticent to move him, even though he’d fetch a nice return in a deal. No matter where he ends up, however, Olave looks to be in a favorable spot to set up a payout that extends will beyond his fifth-year option in 2026.

Micah Parsons

The Green Bay Packers pass rusher’s full impact hasn’t been captured in the box score this season. That all changed Sunday. On a day when many of his teammates appeared to be still shaking off the effects of a delayed arrival on the road trip, Parsons was downright essential. His career-high three sacks more than doubled his season output, and his five quarterback hits were nearly half of his team’s total (12). Sure, facing Jacoby Brissett, a veteran backup who’s not exactly known for being nimble, helped allow Parsons to tee off on the Cardinals. But this is the kind of dominance that can propel not only the Packers – who stand at 4-1-1 despite not playing up to par in the last month – but also Parsons in the Defensive Player of the Year race.

Losers

Washington Commanders

Much of the skepticism regarding the staying power of last year’s surprise entrant in the NFC championship game centered on whether Washington was headed for a regression to the mean when it came to its good fortune, particularly on the injury front. So far, that concern has proven prescient, with the Commanders encountering plenty more turbulence in Year 2 under Dan Quinn. Availability of its top players has certainly been a problem, as a team that entered Sunday’s 44-22 defeat to the rival Dallas Cowboys without its top three receivers later lost quarterback Jayden Daniels to a hamstring injury. But Quinn acknowledged after the game that injuries weren’t the driving force behind the result, with the coach instead pointing to miscues from the veteran-laden roster (including 11 penalties for 118 yards) and a defensive performance that has prompted a full-scale evaluation of what changes needed to be made. Most troubling for Washington: With matchups against the Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions coming up next – and two showdowns with the Eagles set for the final three weeks – it won’t take much for the season to spin off its axis, even if Daniels’ injury doesn’t sideline the signal-caller for long.

Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel

A 31-6 embarrassment at the hands of the Cleveland Browns was a fitting way to wrap up things up after Tagovailoa pointed the finger at his teammates – and perhaps coaches – for the team’s lack of leadership. After all, haven’t unforced errors – particularly by the quarterback – been the recurring theme of this catastrophe of a season? That certainly continued Sunday, when Tagovailoa – who was later benched for newly promoted rookie backup Quinn Ewers – threw three interceptions for the second consecutive game. McDaniel, meanwhile, estimated his team was responsible for ‘probably 20 plays that were self-inflicted wounds.’ Desperation is setting in for the embattled coach, who threw out the puzzling proposition that Miami could change its playing style if it had to. Multiple reports indicated that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross would resist an early firing, but things are looking awfully dire for an organization speed-running its own implosion.

Las Vegas Raiders

What exactly do the Silver and Black actually do well? Ever since the Josh McDaniels days, there’s been no clear answer beyond ‘put Maxx Crosby on the field.’ The arrivals of Pete Carroll and Geno Smith were supposed to change all that, giving Las Vegas at least some semblance of baseline competence. But the Raiders have now lost by 31 or more points for the second time in three weeks, and there are no discernible signs of progress. The offense is downright lifeless, with the three first downs representing the second-lowest single-game total for any team in the Super Bowl era. With Crosby exiting the game due to back and knee injuries, the defense offered little resistance to a Chiefs attack that coasted to 30 first downs and 434 yards – totals that no doubt would have been higher had Andy Reid not pulled back in the final quarter. Maybe a bye will allow for some needed reflection, but with the likes of the Jaguars, Broncos and Cowboys awaiting on the other side, it’s difficult to spot more than one or two additional potential wins left on the schedule.

Viewers of Carolina Panthers vs. New York Jets

Anyone who elected to tune into a game featuring the NFL’s last winless team probably should have known better than to expect a seamless viewing experience. Yet the Fox broadcast of the Panthers’ 13-6 win over the Jets featured an odd wrinkle: fuzzy audio commentary that more closely resembled an old-timey radio broadcast. Between the offensive ineptitude and the sound quality, the whole experience could have had a throwback quality … if, you know, the matchup hadn’t featured a team that only came into existence in 1995.

Justin Fields

Jets coach Aaron Glenn explained the second-half benching of his starting quarterback by saying after the game ‘we needed a spark at that time.’ Given that 36-year-old journeyman Tyrod Taylor was the figure tasked with igniting that spark, maybe Glenn just wanted to see something different after yet another game of futility. The Jets’ coaching staff had held firm in its backing of Fields after his calamitous outing in London last week against the Denver Broncos, but Sunday felt like a sharp turn. And while Taylor threw two interceptions, the passing attack looked far more capable of threatening defenses downfield. Maybe Glenn is finally seeing what was readily apparent to so many others: moving forward with Fields, even in a lost 0-7 season, isn’t a viable option.

Los Angeles Chargers

Leave it to Derwin James to sum up what went wrong for the Bolts in a 38-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. ‘We looked like (expletive) today,’ the star safety said. ‘We looked like trash today. We gave up 40 points in our own stadium.’ Well, almost. But when a defense gives up 6.9 yards per play, things have a way of feeling even worse than they are. Los Angeles’ defense looked as putrid as its mustard-esque uniforms, with the unit yet again unable to hold its ground against a top rushing attack. And despite Justin Herbert throwing for a career-high 420 yards, the offense couldn’t claw all the way back after his two costly interceptions. Having dropped three of the last four games, this Chargers team looks a long way off from a typical Jim Harbaugh production, with no easy answers on how to figure out a return to form.

Carson Wentz and Isaiah Rodgers

Tough day for a pair of former Eagles against their old team. Wentz did manage to pass for 313 yards and had a few key runs, but two early interceptions – including a pick-six to Jalyx Hunt thrown when Jalen Carter was barreling down on the quarterback – put Minnesota in a massive hole. He also repeatedly came up short when the Vikings needed him the most, as the offense went just 1-for-6 in the red zone. Rodgers, meanwhile, was roasted on Smith’s 79-yard touchdown bomb and then victimized by Brown on a 45-yard sluggo route by Brown that sealed the game. Wentz is still dealing with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder, but he could be called on again with the Vikings facing a short week before facing the Chargers on Thursday.

Spencer Rattler

The second-year signal-caller had been impressively discerning through his first six starts this season, standing alone as the only quarterback with 200 pass attempts to have one or fewer interceptions. But in facing his former coach in Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen on Sunday, Rattler came undone with a four-turnover game. Chicago punished him early and racked up four sacks and seven hits on the day. From there, Rattler seemed to do some uncharacteristic pressing, as he airmailed a pick to Bears safety Kevin Byard that derailed any legitimate hopes of a comeback. Rattler has been one of the few bright spots for New Orleans this season, so this shouldn’t threaten his standing. But he can’t afford to have this become his standard.

Shad Khan

The Jacksonville Jaguars owner has seen his franchise flop at Wembley Stadium in a more dramatic fashion than it did in Sunday’s 35-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. But the setback was certainly a reality check for a team that was trying to capture a bit of the Rams’ magic by installing Liam Coen and James Gladstone at the helm. Overcoming 13 penalties is an imposing task for any outfit, but the inability of Trevor Lawrence and the passing attack to get anything going left the Jaguars essentially rudderless as the Puka Nacua-less Rams broke away thanks to five Matthew Stafford touchdown passes. And unlike last season, there’s no second leg for Jacksonville to make another impression on the London audience.

The Big Ten has the two most complete teams, though the SEC has more depth.
Indiana, Ohio State, Alabama, and Texas A&M are projected to receive first-round byes.

I don’t want to ruin the suspense for the good people on the College Football Playoff selection committee, but here we are staring at the inevitable. 

I ask you, who is beating Ohio State or Indiana? 

More to the point, what team is beating Ohio State or Indiana — other than, you know, Ohio State and Indiana?

In fact, the Buckeyes and Hoosiers could both be unbeaten in the Big Ten championship game and ranked No .1 and No. 2, and the only change in the final College Football Playoff poll will be – no matter the outcome – who’s No. 1 and who’s No. 2?

Because but for the new CFP seeding rules, the loser of the Big Ten championship game (under that specific scenario), would’ve been moved to the No. 5 seed and forced to play a first-round game. 

Which, of course, is utterly ridiculous.

While the Big Ten certainly isn’t as deep as the SEC – in fact, not close – it has, far and away, the two most complete teams in college football. That’s where we are heading into the last week of October, where the CFP elimination games begin.

From here until the first week of December, playoff hopes will be crushed. Others will breathe another week longer. 

A look at this week’s College Football Playoff projection: 

1. Indiana: It sounds crazy, but have we already seen the best of the Hoosiers? It can’t get much better than punishing top-10 wins against Illinois and Oregon. Or maybe that’s the appetizer. Next: UCLA. 

2. Ohio State: The elite defense has played the No. 80 (Texas), No. 62 (Ohio), No. 34 (Washington), No. 37 (Illinois), No. 79 (Minnesota) and No. 134 (Wisconsin) scoring offenses in college football. I’m just sayin. Next: Idle. 

3. Alabama: The beautiful underlying theme: Alabama fans are enjoying this unknown drama much more than a rout-filled Nick Saban season. Next: at South Carolina. 

4. Texas A&M: I don’t want to be the wet blanket for the Texas 8&5 crew (of which I was once a charter member), but this schedule (and the Aggies) looks a whole lot like Texas 11&1. Next: at LSU.

5. Georgia: It’s a different team every week, and it’s time to admit they’re just not what they once were. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the gutty, gritty play of QB Gunner Stockton. Next: Idle.

6. Mississippi: This Rebels offense with last year’s Ole Miss defense wins this year’s national title. There, does that make everyone in Oxford feel better after blowing the Georgia game? Next: at Oklahoma.

7. Oregon: A talented team whose best players are young and learning. Ducks are a year away from a deep CFP run. Next: Wisconsin. 

8. Oklahoma: The offense looks like it’s slowing down because now there’s tape on QB John Mateer and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, and because SEC defenses are, you know, really fast and talented. And adjust. Next: Mississippi.  

9. Miami: Every year. Every single year we get sucked in. Now we’re looking for the other loss(es) to drop. Next: Stanford.

10. Texas Tech: At the end of the season when Tech is 11-1, you’ll look at the schedule and remember, right, that loss at desperate Arizona State was without starting QB Behren Morton. Next: Oklahoma State.

11. Vanderbilt: This may be difficult to hear, but the Commodores may not lose again. And they’ll be Indiana, circa 2024 — except for wins against ranked teams. Next: Missouri. 

12. South Florida: Bulls could lose again, win the AAC and still be the highest-ranked Group of Five champion. Next: at Memphis.

The field

First-round byes: Indiana, Ohio State, Alabama, Texas A&M.

First-round games

South Florida (12) at Georgia (5)

Vanderbilt (11) at Mississippi (6)

Texas Tech (10) at Oregon (7)

Miami (9) at Oklahoma (8)

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.