Terry Wymer, a longtime college basketball official, the Executive Director of Collegiate Officiate Consortium, and Coordinator of Officials for the Big Ten and Mountain West, died Saturday, Oct. 18 at age 66.

‘It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of our dear colleague and friend, Terry Wymer,’ the Collegiate Officiating Consortium said in a statement. ‘Terry’s leadership, integrity, and passion for the game set the standard for all of us.

‘Terry brought out the best in those around him – whether mentoring new officials, working with our coaches, or simply sharing a laugh in the locker room. His impact on the officiating community will be felt for years to come, and his absence leaves an unmistakable void in our industry.

‘We extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his wife, Teresa, and his children Luke, Eric and Rachel.’

In addition to his work with the Collegiate Officiating Consortium and the Big Ten, Wymer oversaw official assignment in the Horizon League, MAC, Mountain West, and Summit League.

However, as Castellanos was about to slide, Stanford safety Mitch Leigber came in and hit the quarterback. It was a rough hit and Leigber was called for targeting as Castellanos remained down on the ground.

The Florida State singal-caller was on the field for over a minute as team personnel attended him. He eventually got up but he did not return to the game.

True freshman Kevin Sperry stepped in for the Seminoles, but he was unable to lead Florida State to victory as it lost 20-13.

What injury did Tommy Castellanos suffer?

Florida State coach Mike Norvell did not address Castellanos’ injury postgame, so it is unclear what injury his quarterback suffered.

Regardless, it could be an injury that sidelines Castellanos, which could be a tough blow for the Seminoles. After starting the season 3-0, Florida State has lost four straight games, all of which were conference games. The Seminoles were the No. 8 team in the US LBM coaches poll in Week 5 but have fallen out of the poll and out of ACC contention.

Castellanos was a major contributor to Florida State’s hot start and he has thrown for 1,607 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions. He also is second on the team in rushing with 319 yards on the ground and five scores.

Who is Florida State backup QB?

Sperry is the backup quarterback for Florida State and he relieved Castellanos after his injury.

A true freshman, Sperry was a three-star quarterback from Texas, according to 247Sports, and committed to Florida State after originally committing with Oklahoma.

He appeared in two games this season heading into the week, mostly in mop-up duty in wins over East Texas A&M and Kent State. He was 8-for-10 for 125 yards and two touchdowns in the two games.

After coming in relief for Castellanos, Sperry went 4-for-7 for 69 yards, along with 17 on the ground from three carries.

If Ty Simpson can keep doing for Alabama what Bryce Young did in 2021, he’ll be a prime candidate for Heisman Trophy.
Alabama quarterback relishes victory against Tennessee, the state where he grew up.
Nick Saban’s cigar strategy serves as inspiration for Ty Simpson.

TUSCALOOSA, AL – Nick Saban’s final Alabama team to play for a national championship did not resemble those that came before it. The 2021 Crimson Tide were not especially ruthless or overwhelming, but they could be magical, because they had Houdini as their quarterback.

Now, Kalen DeBoer’s got a magic man of his own, a third-down maestro named Ty Simpson. Like Young before him, Simpson is helping paper over some of Alabama’s cracks. And if you think the Tide can compete for a national championship, it’s Simpson who makes that theory possible.

He’s the engine behind this six-game Alabama win streak that continued with a 37-20 shredding of No. 11 Tennessee, a result that pushed the Vols to the brink of playoff elimination and buoyed the Tide as an SEC frontrunner.

Simpson needed only three offensive plays to uncork brilliance. He stood in his own end zone on 3rd-and-13, and a safety looked more likely than a conversion after a pair of Tennessee pass rushers pinned him in.

With 607 pounds of defensive linemen harassing him, Simpson calmly danced into a crease of space and ripped a completion to Josh Cuevas.

First down.

Magic, man.

The South’s officially got a Heisman contender to counter Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin.

Ty Simpson relishes beating Vols

Simpson, a Tennessee native, couldn’t deny this win in the Third Saturday in October rivalry tasted just “a little bit sweeter” than those that came before this. Alabama and Tennessee were his top two schools as a five-star recruit coming out of Westview High in Martin, Tennessee.

The Vols were navigating a coaching change after the Jeremy Pruitt debacle. Simpson committed to Saban, then mostly sat for three seasons as a backup behind Young and then Jalen Milroe. He’d thrown just 50 career passes before this season.

He’s something of a throwback in this transfer age, as a quarterback who stayed put and developed before becoming a starter as a fourth-year player at the school where he signed.

Credit Saban for landing Simpson. Credit Kalen DeBoer developing him into the SEC’s top-rated passer.

‘I love coach DeBoer,’ Simpson said. ‘I’d go to war with that guy.’

Ty Simpson excels with dad, Jason, in attendance

The Simpson family went 2-0 on this day. Simpson’s dad, Jason, coaches Tennessee-Martin in the Championship Subdivision. That job makes it difficult for him to attend his son’s games.

Tennessee-Martin’s game kicked off against Gardner-Webb in North Carolina six hours before Alabama’s game against the Vols started. Jason Simpson coached the Skyhawks to a 37-7 victory, then hopped on a plane to Alabama.

Simpson knew his dad planned to pull off the unique doubleheader of coaching, then cheering, but he didn’t know when he’d arrive. He made it to the stadium before kickoff.

“Sure enough, I’m warming up on the sideline, and I know his voice from anything,’ Simpson said, ‘and he says, ‘Hey, Ty,’ and I look around and there he was It was just awesome to see him there, honestly.”

“He means the world to me,” Simpson added. “That’s my best friend.”

Ty Simpson enjoys a cigar in the Nick Saban way

Simpson led scoring drives of 91 and 99 yards. Did I mention he’s emerging as a Heisman candidate? He even fashioned himself as a lead blocker when Ryan Williams ran off tackle on a reverse for a first down.

Simpson smoked Tennessee’s shoddy pass defense, but as for the postgame tradition of lighting a cigar after beating the Vols, well, Simpson took his cue from Saban, who famously abstained from smoking but did “chew on one” after his final win against Tennessee.

“When coach Saban was here, he was talking to me about the tradition, and he was like, ‘I don’t even smoke it. I just let it sit in my mouth.’ I kind of take that type of energy,” Simpson said, “but I definitely am going to keep (that cigar) for a while.”

A fine souvenir, indeed. With more performances like this one, perhaps Simpson will capture a souvenir of a different sort in New York City.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

The Big 12 remains unpredictable, as Arizona State’s win over Texas Tech shakes up the conference.
There’s a new rushing king in NCAA after a Division III player ran for the most yards ever in a college football game.

Nothing in life is certain − especially in the Big 12.

The conference proved it’s one of the most outrageous ones in the country with another week that completely flipped the script of who are its top contenders.

For much of the season, it looked like Texas Tech was the top dog with a dominant 6-0 start. But last year’s champion Arizona State had something to say about that, and with quarterback Sam Leavitt back, the Sun Devils put themselves back in the picture with a 26-22 win over the Red Raiders.

Just like that, the narrative has changed. Now, it looks like Brigham Young is the top team at 7-0, the only undefeated team left in the conference. But given how crazy this conference is, will the perfect start last long?

Meanwhile, everything we thought we knew heading into the season is making us look like fools. In the preseason USA TODAY Sports Big 12 rankings, BYU was No. 11. Cincinnati − at No. 12 − is 6-1 and joins the Cougars as the only teams at 4-0 in conference play. Houston is also in the running at 6-1.

It’s the wild, wild west in the Big 12, and every week it’s consistently reminding us how beautiful chaos can be, and that’s why it leads the best and worst things from Week 8 in college football.

Best: Little Poppa Pump

It’s hard living up to your dad when they were an athlete, let alone a ‘Genetic Freak,’ but Jacksonville State receiver Brock Rechsteiner is doing a pretty good job of it.

The last name may sound familar, as Rechsteiner’s father is Scott Rechsteiner, better known as Scott Steiner, legendary WWE Hall of Fame wrestler. Steiner was known as ‘Big Poppa Pump’ for his ridiculously sized muscles and his signature flex.

In some midweek football, Rechsteiner paid homage to his dad, hauling in a touchdown and celebrating it with his dad’s trademark flex.

Worst: Wisconsin’s zeros

Scoring is the name of the game, but Wisconsin hasn’t gotten the memo as the Badgers’ horrid 2025 continues. Wisconsin hosted Ohio State and was shut out 34-0. Even worse, it came one week after it lost to Iowa, 37-0.

In summary, Wisconsin has been outscored 71-0 the past two games, shut out in two consecutive contests for the first time since 1977. Fifteen days without scoring is rough, and the count is approaching midnight for Luke Fickell in Madison.

Best: Upset win in first game

With UAB firing Trent Dilfer, offensive coordinator Alex Mortensen was named interim coach of the 2-4 Blazers. The name might sound familiar, as he is the son of late NFL reporter Chris Mortensen, who died in 2024.

Mortensen’s first game came against undefeated Memphis. The Tigers were expected to roll past UAB, but Mortensen had other plans. He led the Blazers to break their three game skid and stun Memphis 31-24, handing it its first loss of the season and completely throwing off the Group of Five race for a College Football Playoff spot.

The interim coach got a proper Gatorade bath afterward, and you can’t help but think dad is proud to see this one.

Worst: Disaster trick plays

Southern California coach Lincoln Riley is known to be an innovative play caller, but there was nothing spectacular about what happened that likely sealed the Trojans’ loss to Notre Dame.

Down with a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter, USC tried a reverse play with receiver Makai Lemon trying to make a pass. However, no one was open for Lemon. He still appeared like he was trying to get the ball out, but the Notre Dame defense rushed him. He got hit and fumbled the ball away in a critical mistake.

The risky call backfired, and all Riley could say about it was ‘stupid call, stupid call.’ USC ended up losing 34-24.

Best: A Calgorithm troll of Belichick

The hits continue to keep landing for North Carolina, as the Tar Heels fumbled away their first ACC win of the Bill Belichick era against California.

Rightfully, the Golden Bears had some fun with it, and made sure the North Carolina coach could see it. Inside the stadium, the scoreboard displayed a statement of Cal mascot Oski’s commitment to the program, a great jab at the odd statements from the Tar Heels and Belichick regarding their relationship.

Worst: UMass remains a mess

With Oregon State’s win over Lafayette, only two winless teams remain in FBS: Sam Houston and Massachusetts. UMass had a chance to change that in Week 8, but completely dropped the ball.

Up 21-20 with just over a minute left, the Minutemen intercepted Buffalo and looked like they were about to pick up a W. However, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for celebrating pushed the offense back, and the Bulls were able to get the ball back after forcing a punt.

Forty seconds after getting what Umass thought was game-sealing interception, Buffalo found the endzone to take the lead and eventually a win.

Make that 357 days since Massachusetts has tasted victory. Hopefully, the pain ends soon.

Best: Oklahoma State vibes

Obviously, things aren’t going well for 1-6 Oklahoma State, but you wouldn’t know based on the parties going on in the stands at Boone-Pickens Stadium.

Last week, fans in one section went viral for being shirtless and waving their shirts in the air. It returned against Cincinnati, but joining in on the fun were a group of bananas. During the game, while shirts were waving in the air in one section, the bananas decided to form one epic conga line.

The Cowboys lost 49-17 for their sixth loss in a row, but when you’re having fun, who cares? Plus, Oklahoma State clearly started something after shirtless fans were seen doing the same thing at Wisconsin and UCLA.

Worst: Phantom flags

Referees always get a hard time for allegedly ‘robbing’ your favorite team, but sometimes calls are made or missed that you can’t help but scratch your head at. That was the case in UCLA vs. Maryland.

The Bruins picked up a big run for a first down, but it was called back after an official threw a flag on receiver Kwazi Gilmer for block in the back. There was just one problem: Gilmer didn’t touch any player.

Best: Scary face paint

We get players like to paint their face as a form of intimidation, but James Madison linebacker Gannon Weathersby took it to the next level. He sported a not just intimidating, but straight up frightening look that could only be described as a somehow, more evil Joker.

Wouldn’t want to run up to this linebacker.

Worst: Penn State’s coaching search

Not only did the Nittany Lions lose to Iowa for their fourth straight loss, but the search for a new coach isn’t off to a great start.

For some reason, there was a belief Penn State would be able to lure Nick Saban out of retirement. It sounds ridiculous, and thankfully, Ms. Terry was on ‘College GameDay’ to shut down that crazy thought.

The other popular pick is Matt Rhule, a former Penn State linebacker. However, after his Nebraska team got beat down by Minnesota, not sure if that’s what Nittany Lion fans are wanting in a coach to take them to the elite level.

Best: Breaking an NCAA record

No matter what level it is, breaking an NCAA record is a remarkable achievement worth of acknowledging. That happened at the Division III level in a stat line you got to see to believe.

Curry College defeated Nichols College 71-27, and the story was the play of running back Montie Quinn. The senior running back ran for an astonishing 522 yards, the most rushing yards in one game in NCAA history, breaking the previous record of 465 yards set in 2013. It’s the first time a player has ran for at least 500 yards in an NCAA game.

That was on top of him scoring seven rushing touchdowns, a school record.

What a fantastic game and a performance Quinn won’t ever forget.

TORONTO — Trey Yesavage will climb a big league mound for just the sixth time when he starts Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 18, the Toronto Blue Jays’ season riding on his 22-year-old arm. Yet even at such a tender time of his career, he needn’t be reminded how fleeting the moment can be.

Yesavage, the 2024 draftee who ascended four minor league levels to reach Toronto by September, has lived a career’s worth of emotions in just two weeks. No-hit the Yankees and strike out 11 over 5 ⅓ innings in his playoff debut?

Hey, this game is fun!

Cough up five runs to bury the Blue Jays in a 2-0 hole, forcing them to save their season in Seattle? Not so much.

Yet in this whirlwind major league apprenticeship, Yesavage is surrounded by sages, amazed to see Mad Max Scherzer’s shtick in person, wide-eyed at how loud Rogers Center roars its approval, and startled to discover that this career he’s only now launching can be so tenuous.

It took a conversation with Kevin Gausman, the Blue Jays’ 34-year-old ace, to gain that perspective.

‘This opportunity does not come up very often,’ Yesavage said a day before his Game 6 assignment against the Seattle Mariners, who hold a 3-2 ALCS lead and can advance to their first World Series with one win.

‘I was talking to Gausman the other day, and I said, ‘What’s the furthest you’ve made it in the playoffs? And he said, This is the furthest I’ve gone.’ And he’s been playing this game for a long time.

‘So I’m very blessed to be in this situation, and I only want to win and keep playing for myself, but for the guys that have not seen this part of baseball before.’

Gausman, who debuted as a 22-year-old in 2013, might not be thrilled by Yesavage painting him as Old Man Baseball, but the point remains: As quickly as the world is moving for Yesavage right now, there’s no guarantee that fortune will come back around.

Game 6 should be a fascinating peek into the young man’s skills, and psyche. His domination of the Yankees in Game 2 of the AL Division Series was so startling, so storybook. His parents were crying in the stands. He took a curtain call on a gorgeous, roof-open day at Rogers Centre.

And the Blue Jays moved on, with home field advantage and a shot at the World Series.

Both of those concepts faded quickly the next time Yesavage took the mound.

A walk, a hit batter, and a Julio Rodríguez rocket of a three-run home run buried the Blue Jays before they came to bat. Yesavage’s velocity dipped. He pieced together three scoreless innings but failed to get an out in the fifth. The 10-3 loss stunned Toronto, and only its thunderous bats awakening in Seattle made this a series.

What now?

‘He’s pitched in a lot of big games,’ says manager John Schneider. ‘He’s pitched in big regular season games, he’s pitched in big postseason games and he’s handled himself well. So again, I don’t want to put all of the pressure on Trey. He’s the starting pitcher. We’re going to have nine guys in the lineup that got to do their job and guys that got to do their job on defense too. So we got all the confidence in the world that he’ll have the right mindset.

‘He’s got to go out and do what he does.’

The Blue Jays and Mariners have the stage all to themselves, what with the Dodgers awaiting in the World Series. For Yesavage, it is a far cry not just from the fact he was an East Carolina junior just 16 months ago, but also that he started the season at low Class A Dunedin.

But he climbed every run on the ladder to get here. By now, most of his peers have wrapped up instructional league, or are getting a last gasp of summer in the Arizona Fall League.

Yesavage will pitch in front of 45,000 fans and a massive North American viewing audience. Rare, and hopefully for him, not ephemeral.

‘Obviously this has been the longest I’ve thrown,’ he says of a neverending 2025. ‘But the organization throughout the entire minor league system monitored my pitch count, my innings, so I’m not as fatigued as I would be if that wasn’t the case.

‘So I’m in a very good spot where I’m at.’

With a chance to take himself and his teammates closer to the next plateau.

TORONTO – Some 24 hours after shaking the city of Seattle with one swing of lumber, Eugenio Suárez was still sorting through the hundreds of text messages from family and friends amazed and inspired by his go-ahead grand slam that sent the Mariners to the brink of their first World Series.

It was his closest associates that meant the most – a note from his pastor, a salute from his wife, messages from his brothers, his mom and dad, to say nothing of the dozens of former teammates fortunate enough to cross paths with Suárez during a 12-year career across four franchises.

Now, Suárez stood in an empty Rogers Centre, some teammates flinging a football around to stay loose, others peppering the seats with batting practice home-run balls during an off day workout Oct. 18, a natural comedown from the stunning events of Game 5 in this bumpy American League Championship Series.

For the Mariners, who have two shots to vanquish the Toronto Blue Jays and capture their first AL pennant, Game 6 will represent an inflection point: Can they bottle the energy that stunning eighth-inning rally created and carry it forward?

Or will the capricious momentum swings of this series – it’s gone Mariners-Mariners-Blue Jays-Blue Jays-Mariners in the win column – threaten to make Suárez’s epic blast a historic footnote?

Suárez knows what needs to be done.

“We got to keep that same energy,” Suárez tells USA TODAY Sports. “We gotta keep that electric moment and bring it here. Not try to do much, stay in the momentum, enjoy the process and try to play hard and play good baseball here in Toronto and see what happens tomorrow.”

And perhaps that defining Game 5 will continue to inform what unfolds in Game 6 and, if the Blue Jays survive, Game 7: Whether the victors can ride that momentum and, perhaps equally important, if the losers can flush the residue of that sudden collapse before it sinks them for good.

One day later, the clubs’ paths showed little sign of diverging.

‘I don’t think there was much sleeping’

There are quiet flights and funereal flights, happy flights and raucous flights, and when competing teams in a playoff series are three time zones apart, perhaps it’s all of the above.

Yet you just can’t have an eighth inning like Game 5 – Cal Raleigh tying the score with a home run in his first right-handed plate appearance this ALCS, a pair of walks, a hit batter and then Suárez posterizing Canada – and expect to come down quickly.

“I don’t think there was much sleeping,” says Seattle right-hander Logan Gilbert, who will get the assignment to start the potential clincher. “After a game like that it’s tough.

“But like I said, you got to ride the momentum when it’s there.”

And oh, what momentum.

Suárez is in his second stint with Seattle, acquired in July in the middle of a 49-homer campaign, and he was around for the 2022 season when they broke a two-decade playoff drought.

That year brought no shortage of delirium. And then there was Game 5, and a T-Mobile Park roar the likes nobody had seen when Suárez found the right field seats.

“Never. Never. That was electric. I can’t explain how loud it was. And that’s awesome,” says Suárez. “That is all that matters. That is why you play baseball.

“That is why you play in October. You’re happy to see your fans enjoy the moment like that.”

Rogers Centre is known for its hockey arena level of insanity when the moment strikes. Yet that would require moving on from a Game 5 in which the Blue Jays were six outs from taking a 3-2 lead back home.

Instead, after manager John Schneider opted for lefty reliever Brendon Little, the series flipped.

Little threw 15 pitches, one of which Raleigh popped into the left field stands for a game-tying homer. Ten more were balls, producing two walks and leaving Seranthony Dominguez with an inferno he had no way of dousing.

Given nearly 24 hours to reflect, Schneider remained convicted in his decision.

“I can sit here and say it’s not a mistake, and you guys will all write that I said it’s not a mistake, and I’ll get crushed on social media for saying that. I get it,” says Schneider from his dais at Rogers Centre. “I trust my players. I trust my players. In hindsight, I had a couple other options to do. That’s what I decided to do.

“So, again, I have all the information that I need, and I don’t think I made a mistake. Players have to go perform. There is always risk when you put a player in a situation that he won’t get the job done. That’s part of the game.

“But no, I stick by my players, I stick by my decision, I leave them behind me.”

It’s a laudable position, even if Blue Jays fans might prefer a mea culpa. But Schneider also can’t control the downstream effect on his players if Game 6 goes sideways quickly.

Iconic moment, or footnote?

Suárez’s slam is such recent history that it’d seem difficult to contextualize. But we already know how this will go: Advance to the World Series, and the moment is further immortalized. Win it, and Suárez might find a street adjacent to T-Mobile Park named after him some day.

“That’s an all-time game,” says Gilbert. “Like, we’ll be talking about that decades from now. And just to be a part of it, like, be there to watch as a fan, almost, is crazy. We’re still a long ways away.

“Like, we’re nine long innings away from where we want to be, and I think everybody gets that.”

And if they fall short?

Well, the blast may never be a footnote in Seattle, but then again, you don’t hear much these days about Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius electrifying Yankee Stadium on consecutive nights with ninth-inning, game-tying home runs in the 2001 World Series.

The Yankees lost in seven games. These Mariners can ensure Suárez’s place in history is magnified.

“The playoffs is so momentum-based that I think you have to ride with the momentum, and moments like Geno’s home run, Cal’s home run, that stuff’s huge,” says Gilbert. “But actually in the moment, the adrenaline’s great for your body, your sharpness in your mind, that kind of stuff, but you don’t ever want to try too hard in the moment.

“I know that sounds kind of weird, but you have to know that even in the biggest moment in the playoffs, you have to do the exact same thing the same way that you’ve been doing the whole season.”

Another SEC loss should make this a crisis point for LSU and coach Brian Kelly’s underwhelming tenure.

The Commodores are 6-1 for the first time in 75 years and in the thick of the College Football Playoff conversation. LSU can make other plans.

After months of unwarranted hype leading into the regular season, the offense is an enormous disappointment. The Tigers averaged 6.6 yards per play against Vanderbilt but couldn’t put together sustained drives, with a handful petering out in Commordores’ terrirtory and resulting in four field-goal attempts.

Defensively, the program has made big gains under second-year defensive coordinator Blake Baker but still comes up short against ranked teams. LSU gave up 239 rushing yards on 5.3 yards per carry and had no answer for quarterback Diego Pavia, who had 246 yards of total offense and three touchdowns.

Vanderbilt’s win snapped a 10-game losing streak in the series.

Kelly is certainly an acquired taste. But the taste goes down easier when he’s winning football games — Notre Dame was willing to accept the red-faced nonsense for a dozen years as part of the cost of 113 wins and eight ranked finishes.

LSU does not and will not have the same patience. The last LSU coach to lose to the Commodores resigned less than two months later; Kelly definitely won’t resign, but he’s headed toward the exit in his fourth season.

LSU, Vanderbilt and Georgia lead the biggest winners and losers from Saturday’s college football action:

Winners

Georgia

Down 35-26 heading into the fourth quarter, No. 7 Georgia closed on a 17-0 run to beat No. 5 Mississippi and reassert itself as an SEC bully. This is the second time this season the Bulldogs have won an SEC shootout, after a victory at No. 11 Tennessee, showing how this team can adapt to different styles and beat high-tempo teams — a major asset when looking ahead to the types of teams Georgia could face in the playoff. The big star was quarterback Gunner Stockton, who had the most productive passing game of his career with 26 completions in 31 attempts for 289 yards and four scores. He added 59 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Alabama

The winning streak is up to six games, and now four in a row against ranked competition. No. 6 Alabama beat No. 11 Tennessee 37-20 thanks in large part to a 99-yard pick-six at the end of the first half that flipped momentum into the Crimson Tide’s corner. That 14-point shift helped the Tide keep the Volunteers at bay in the third quarter and allowed the defense to key on Joey Aguilar, who averaged just 6.1 yards per attempt.

Georgia Tech

No. 12 Georgia Tech returned a fumble 95 yards for a score and cobbled together enough offense in the fourth quarter to beat Duke 27-18 and move to 7-0 for the first time in 59 years. The Yellow Jackets trailed 10-7 late in the third quarter but took over from there, eventually putting the Blue Devils away with a pair of long touchdown drives with under five minutes to play. Tech is 4-0 in the ACC for the first time in 27 years and set to continue climbing in Sunday’s new US LBM Coaches Poll.

Notre Dame

Brigham Young

The No. 14 Cougars are quietly marching toward an at-large playoff bid after moving to 7-0 with a 24-21 rivalry win against No. 22 Utah. Outgained by about 100 yards, BYU benefited from a plus-two edge in turnover margin and played cleaner football overall, though the offense struggled on third down. Not flashy but effective, playing sound and fundamental football has been the Cougars’ style all season and could carry this team to the Big 12 championship game.

Diego Pavia

His performance against LSU lifts Pavia back into the Heisman Trophy conversation after he struggled in a loss to No. 6 Alabama. More than just about his numbers, Pavia’s case for national hardware is built on the way he’s helped transform one of the weakest programs in the Power Four into a legitimate national contender. He shows grit and the ability make plays at the biggest moments.

Boise State

Boise State’s 56-31 destruction of previously unbeaten UNLV is a statement win that settles the pecking order at the top of the Mountain West. Running back Dylan Riley had 201 yards on 13.4 yards per carry for the Broncos, who next get a breather against Nevada before another two key conference games against Fresno State and San Diego State. The Rebels’ loss is good news for the American, which can breathe a little easier when it comes to the playoff knowing the Mountain West won’t put forth an unbeaten champion.

James Madison

The Dukes’ numbers on offense in a 63-27 win against Old Dominion deserve a mention: JMU threw for 313 yards, ran for 311 yards, averaged 7.9 yards per play and had possession for over 40 minutes in dominating this matchup of Sun Belt favorites. Quarterback Alonza Barnett III had 295 passing yards on 11.8 yards per throw with two touchdowns and another 153 yards on the ground and four rushing scores.

Losers

Mississippi

The loss in Athens isn’t fatal by any means, though things could get interesting if the Rebels lose next week at No. 13 Oklahoma. While this feels like a missed opportunity because of how Georgia pulled away in the fourth quarter, the bigger concern comes from how easily the Bulldogs were able to win in the trenches. Georgia ran for 222 yards and gave up just 88 yards on 3.7 yards per carry. Another issue is the play of quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who had his worst game of the year in completing just 52.8% of his throw with a touchdown, though he also ran for two scores.

Clemson

You can stop waiting for Clemson to find another gear and surge back to the top of the ACC. Playing without an injured Cade Klubnik, the Tigers lost 35-24 to SMU to fall to 3-4 on the year and 2-3 in conference play, ending any chance they had of matching last year’s second-half surge into the playoff.

Wisconsin

No one expected Wisconsin to beat No. 1 Ohio State. Scoring a point would’ve been nice, though. One week after getting shut out at home by Iowa for the program’s first shutout loss in Camp Randall Stadium since 1980, the Badgers were blanked 34-0 by the Buckeyes to suffer back-to-back home shutouts for the first time since 1968. This is a bleak, bleak time for Wisconsin as the wildly disappointing Luke Fickell era winds to a close.

Memphis

Alabama-Birmingham fired coach Trent Dilfer and then beat No. 20 Memphis 31-24 one week later. That’s probably not a coincidence. Memphis drove to the UAB 1-yard line with seconds left but drew a pair of false-start penalties before quarterback AJ Hill’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete. This is a complete disaster for the previously unbeaten Tigers, who had pushed around Florida Atlantic and Tulsa to start American play and clearly overlooked the Blazers, one of the league’s worst teams. Now with this loss in hand, Memphis still has to face three of the conference’s best teams in No. 23 South Florida, Tulane and Navy.

Maryland

In the past three weeks, Maryland allowed Washington to score 21 points in the fourth quarter of a 24-21 loss, let Nebraska drive the length of the field for the game-winning touchdown with a minute left in a 34-31 loss, and then gave up a 23-yard field goal to UCLA with three seconds left and lost 20-17. Worse yet, the Terrapins had just tied the game with 44 second to play on a Malik Washington touchdown pass but then gave 68 yards in five plays to set up the Bruins’ field goal.

Expectations were raised for Arch Manning after he had arguably his best performance last week against Oklahoma.

However, Manning struggled in No. 17 Texas’ 16-13 win over Kentucky in Week 8 on Saturday, Oct. 18 at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky. Manning completed less than 50% of his passes and was limited as a runner in the Longhorns’ win.

Texas managed just 179 yards of offense and ran 55 plays total. As a runner, Manning was limited to 11 rushes for negative one yard. The Longhorns finished with 47 total yards rushing.

Here’s a look at Manning’s stats today vs. Kentucky:

Arch Manning stats today vs. Kentucky

Here’s a full look at Manning’s line on Oct. 18 vs. Kentucky:

Completions: 12
Attempts: 27
Percentage: 44%
Passing yards: 132
Touchdowns: 0
Interceptions: 0
QB Rating: 85.5
Rush attempts: 11
Rushing yards: -1
Yards per carry: -0.1

Kalen DeBoer dressed in his black assassin’s hoodie, and Alabama zapped another ranked opponent. This time, Tennessee fell victim.
If Ty Simpson keeps playing like this, he’ll be a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Interception swings game to Alabama.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Must be the hoodie.

Couldn’t just be that Kalen DeBoer has become the best big-game coach in the country.

Seriously. Look it up. Peep his record against ranked opponents. It’s mind-bogglingly brilliant.

Couldn’t just be that DeBoer’s got Alabama playing like it intends to spend the first Saturday of December in Atlanta, competing for an SEC championship. And it couldn’t just be that he’s got his quarterback playing like he’ll be in New York City the following week.

Nah, it must be that “black hoodie of death.”

A mere seven weeks ago, Alabama and its coach were the butt of the joke.

Now, he’s Darth DeBoer. His No. 6 Crimson Tide just zapped a fourth straight ranked opponent, felling No. 11 Tennessee 37-20 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Alabama fans were ready for a bloodletting after DeBoer’s second season as the GOAT’s heir started with a pathetic performance in a loss at Florida State.

Boosters were grumbling, and the mood was such that one fan played the Powerball with hopes of winning so she could personally cover DeBoer’s buyout that tops $60 million and run him out of town. Seriously.

Better save those shekels. If Alabama keeps this up, this season will include bonuses, not buyouts, for DeBoer.

From Penn State to LSU and lands in between, what opposing fan bases would give for a coach with DeBoer’s 19-3 career record against ranked opponents, or his now 14-2 record in that assassin’s hoodie. All other game-day attire has been retired. DeBoer ought to burn that red polo he wore against Florida State, but he protected the precious hoodie from cigar smoke while players enjoyed a puff, as is tradition after the Third Saturday in October rivalry.

‘I told the guys not to get any ashes on it,’ DeBoer quipped.

Alabama, Ty Simpson continue march toward SEC championship game

Inside the messy SEC, only Texas A&M remains undefeated, but who wants to take on Alabama? It’s toppled Georgia and halted the nation’s longest home winning streak. It regained its honor against Vanderbilt. It survived Missouri. It mauled Tennessee.

Nobody should take wins like these for granted in perilous times like these, inside this unforgiving conference, not when Texas needs overtime to survive Kentucky, and Texas A&M is pushed to the brink by Arkansas and LSU’s losing to Vanderbilt.

These aren’t the 2022 Vols, and their pass defense is especially vulnerable. Quarterback Ty Simpson took full advantage, deftly passing for 253 yards. Tennessee fits into that middle glob of SEC teams that are pretty good, but not great. Alabama’s established itself onto a higher tier.

No, I’m not declaring Alabama “back,” because what does that even mean? Nick Saban’s dynasty is finished. This six-game win streak doesn’t change that. What this does do is establish Alabama as a top playoff contender, maybe even the SEC’s best national championship contender.

Anyway, Alabama’s not winning with the joyless murderball style that became the hallmark of Saban’s peak. This is a quarterback-fueled uprising.

Simpson’s playing as well as any quarterback south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and his wide receivers are some of the finest this side of Columbus, Ohio.

On Alabama’s first drive, Simpson faced peril. Two pass rushers had him pinned in — or so it seemed. He danced in the end zone to buy time, then fired a strike to Josh Cuevas to move the chains on third down. That entire first drive — a 91-yard march — became a master class of quarterbacking by this veteran who sat behind Bryce Young, then Jalen Milroe, and waited his turn to become a star in a transfer age. He went from a preseason question mark to a midseason premier asset.

Tide turns to Alabama on pivotal interception

Good as he was, Simpson’s arm didn’t deliver this victory.

This one swung on a 14-point twist on the final play before halftime. Tennessee’s Joey Aguilar flipped a pass toward the end zone, where Miles Kitselman was running an out route toward the pylon.

If Aguilar’s pass had found its mark, the Vols would have gone to their locker room trailing by just two points, having stolen the momentum. Instead, Alabama cornerback Zabien Brown stole the football.

Aguilar’s pass lacked the required zip, and it sailed to Kitselman’s back shoulder instead of leading him. Brown jumped the route, pried the pigskin from the sky and won a 99-yard footrace to the opposite end zone. A would-be seven points for Tennessee became seven for Alabama.

And the Tide hooped and hollered on their way to the locker room, and their fans pumped their red and white pompoms, and Tennessee was toast.

“Love it,” DeBoer said in his radio interview on his way to the halftime locker room.

Keep beating rivals like this, wearing that black hoodie, and maybe these rabid fans in this football-crazed state will even learn to love him back.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.