{"id":255217,"date":"2025-11-01T10:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T10:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/255217\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T10:14:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T10:14:11","slug":"college-football-week-10-preview-take-our-pregame-quiz-and-catch-up-on-essential-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/255217\/","title":{"rendered":"College football Week 10 preview: Take our pregame quiz and catch up on essential reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been yet another eventful week in college football dominated by the coaching carousel, with LSU making non-stop headlines since firing Brian Kelly<\/a> following last Saturday\u2019s loss to Texas A&M.<\/p>\n

But yes, there is actually football too: Week 10 has taken a left turn with Penn State at Ohio State and Florida vs. Georgia not looking as meaningful as we thought in August, but there\u2019s still plenty to know about the Nov. 1 slate ahead of the first College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday. Test your trivia knowledge and catch up on essential reading below.<\/p>\n

Pregame reads<\/p>\n

\u2022 Justin Williams ranks the top 10 games of the week<\/a>, Manny Navarro makes his oddly specific predictions<\/a> and writers make their picks against the spread<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0No. 9 Vanderbilt at No. 20 Texas (noon ET, ABC): Another week, another big Vanderbilt football game. This is the fourth consecutive Vanderbilt game in which both teams are ranked in the AP Poll; it had played a total of three such games in the previous 67 years (one of which was a loss to Texas last year). After losing at Alabama, Vandy has won back-to-back home games against LSU and Missouri. Now, it goes to Austin to face preseason No. 1 Texas, which is barely hanging onto a ranking at No. 20 after back-to-back close escapes against Kentucky<\/a> and Mississippi State<\/a>. The comeback in Starkville may have been Arch Manning\u2019s finest moment thus far, but he spent the week in the concussion protocol, putting his status in question for Saturday.<\/a> Manning was the preseason Heisman Trophy favorite; he\u2019s nowhere to be found in our staff Heisman straw poll<\/a>, but Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia is third.<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt has never finished in the top 10 or had a player finish in the top 10 of the Heisman vote, but both accomplishments are on the table. As Ralph Russo wrote last weekend, it\u2019s time to forget what you thought you knew about Vanderbilt football<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Penn State at No. 1 Ohio State (noon ET, Fox): It was supposed to be a game of the year candidate between preseason top-three teams. Instead, undefeated Ohio State is a 19 1\/2-point favorite against the reeling Nittany Lions, who are 0-4 in Big Ten play and fired coach James Franklin<\/a>. Penn State lost another heartbreaker<\/a> in its first post-Franklin game under interim coach Terry Smith at Iowa, and both the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes were off last week. Ohio State is hoping to get its run game in gear against ex-defensive coordinator Jim Knowles<\/a>, who joined Penn State after the national championship, while the Buckeyes will be showing off a rebuilt but thriving defensive line under longtime defensive line coach Larry Johnson<\/a>, who coached in Happy Valley from 1996-2013.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0No. 5 Georgia vs. Florida (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC): Billy Napier went 0-3 against Georgia, scoring the same number of points each time (34-20, 43-20, 42-20). Now the Gators head to Jacksonville for the Cocktail Party \u2014 our No. 12 rivalry in Scott Dochterman\u2019s top 100<\/a> \u2014 under interim coach Billy Gonzales, with the Lane Kiffin<\/a> Derby<\/a> seemingly underway. Can it be a get-right game for a middling Georgia defense by Bulldogs standards<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0No. 18 Oklahoma at No. 14 Tennessee (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC): Playoff elimination game, anyone? According to The Athletic\u2019s projections from Austin Mock<\/a>, Tennessee had a 22 percent chance to make the Playoff and Oklahoma had just a 5 percent chance entering the week. Tennessee would rise to 32 percent with a win; Oklahoma would rise to 13 percent. Both would fall below 1 percent with a third loss, making this feel like the bubble game of the week<\/a>. Both are 6-2, so why the difference? The Sooners finish with Alabama, Missouri and LSU, while the Vols have New Mexico State, Florida and Vanderbilt.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0No. 23 USC at Nebraska (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC): Nebraska seemingly ended speculation about Matt Rhule leaving for Penn State with a contract extension<\/a>. Next up: Trying to win a game against a ranked opponent for the first time since 2016 in front of a Blackout crowd<\/a>. USC, meanwhile, is hoping to make a late-season run<\/a> as it clings to an 11 percent chance to make the Playoff in our model<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 17 Cincinnati at No. 24 Utah (10:15 p.m. ET, ESPN): ESPN\u2019s \u201cCollege GameDay\u201d is in Salt Lake City for a key game in the Big 12 race. Cincinnati (7-1, 5-0 Big 12) joins BYU (8-0, 5-0) atop the conference, while Utah (6-2, 3-2) is trying to stay alive after dismantling Colorado last week<\/a>. What\u2019s behind the Bearcats\u2019 breakthrough? Start with quarterback Brendan Sorsby<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In case you missed it<\/p>\n

\u2022 What happened with Brian Kelly and LSU and what\u2019s next? We have you covered, starting with our deep dive into LSU\u2019s $95 million bet gone wrong<\/a>. Also: athletic director Scott Woodward was fired Thursday<\/a> after firing Kelly on Sunday<\/a>, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has complicated the coaching search<\/a> for what should be the best job of the cycle<\/a> and Kiffin is likely atop the wish list of replacements<\/a>, though anything can happen in a high-profile search like this<\/a>. Elsewhere, Notre Dame fans can exhale a bit<\/a>, while the rest of the SEC should be prepared for chaos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Speaking of chaos: Columnist Will Leitch is relishing an unhinged moment in college football<\/a>, Stewart Mandel wonders if there are enough capable coaches to go around<\/a> (especially if rising names are loyal to their alma maters<\/a>) and Ian O\u2019Connor says it\u2019s time for university presidents to step up and top the coaching madness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Here\u2019s what Bruce Feldman and Ralph Russo are hearing about the coaching carousel<\/a>, including updates on Penn State, Clark Lea\u2019s future at Vanderbilt, a top candidate at Oregon State and more. And here\u2019s the buzz Sam Khan, Antonio Morales and Manny Navarro are hearing around the transfer portal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 A month ago, Virginia upset then-No. 8 Florida State in a chaotic finish in Charlottesville<\/a>. Now Virginia is 7-1 and No. 15 and Florida State is 3-4 and unranked. What\u2019s going right for the Cavaliers<\/a>? And what\u2019s going wrong for the Seminoles<\/a>? The ACC has some Playoff chaos agent potential<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Just because Tulane lost Thursday night doesn\u2019t mean you should cross off Jon Sumrall from coaching lists. Chris Vannini spent time in New Orleans to profile a likely future SEC coach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Grace Raynor dives into the emotional highs and lows of being the parents of a college kicker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Last week, our staff ranked the top 25 college football stadiums<\/a>. This week, our Big Ten writers highlighted some underrated and overrated stadiums in the conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 November is here. Scott Dochterman previews some under-the-radar games with CFP implications to keep an eye on<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Indiana topped The Athletic 136 after Week 9<\/a>, and quarterback Fernando Mendoza led our Heisman straw poll<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been yet another eventful week in college football dominated by the coaching carousel, with LSU making non-stop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,594,596,85],"class_list":["post-255217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}