We’ve entered the final month of the regular season, leaving the best teams in the country just a handful of opportunities to solidify their College Football Playoff résumés. The potential pool for the field of 12 is growing smaller every Saturday—and that group will shrink even further in Week 10.
Three SEC teams face potential elimination games this weekend as three losses almost certainly marks the death knell for any at-large bid hopeful. LSU bowed out of the equation last week (and sent Brian Kelly packing in the process), but it’s Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee on the chopping block this Saturday. The Longhorns, possibly without Arch Manning, welcome in streaking Vanderbilt, while the Sooners head to Rocky Top to play the Vols. For all three programs, wins are no longer welcomed; they’re necessary.
Elsewhere, Miami and USC hope to stay afloat on the road in two locations that feature raucous home crowds and boom-or-bust opponents. Plus, the Group of 5 races thickens as Tulane tries to cling to its new standing in pole position.
Let’s take a closer look at the eight best games to watch to kick off November.
No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores (7–1) at No. 20 Texas Longhorns (6–2)
The clock nearly struck midnight for the Longhorns last week when they needed backup quarterback Matthew Caldwell to come in for an injured Manning and throw a touchdown pass to survive a continuously frisky Mississippi State team in overtime. And Texas might need Caldwell to start at home against the Top 10 Commodores with Manning still in concussion protocol. Vanderbilt is vulnerable, having just played one of its worst games of the season in a slog of a home win against Missouri. But the Dores did what good teams do and found a way to come out on top with defense and an 80-yard touchdown run from Makhilyn Young. A win Saturday would complete the SEC paradigm shift. Vanderbilt would take one step closer to the CFP; Texas would be one step closer to the ReliaQuest Bowl.
No. 10 Miami Hurricanes (6–1) at SMU Mustangs (5–3)
Miami got the sort of dominating victory it needed after a loss to Louisville, smothering Stanford last week. The Cardinal had just eight first downs and 144 yards of offense in the 42–7 loss. But the Canes must remain perfect now that they’re a step off the pace in the ACC and this week presents one of the team’s two toughest games still on the schedule. Remember when SMU was in the CFP less than a year ago? It sure feels a lot longer than that—and the Mustangs just lost their biggest head-scratcher yet, a 13–12 stunner on the road at Wake Forest. SMU came up with five takeaways and it still wasn’t enough as a dismal 2.8 yards per carry and 4 of 17 on third-down conversions left Rhett Lashlee’s team ripe for an upset. The run game just hasn’t been there for the Mustangs—and QB Kevin Jennings in particular—which won’t get better vs. Miami, a top 10 run defense.
No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners (6–2) at No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers (6–2)
SEC eliminator game No. 2 features the other member of the Red River Rivalry. Oklahoma just couldn’t produce enough offense or hold Trinidad Chambliss in check to close out Mississippi last Saturday, the result being that the Sooners are now on the brink with trips to Tennessee and Alabama next on the schedule. In fairness to the offense, it was Oklahoma’s worst defensive game thus far, allowing 431 yards and 34 points to the Rebels—both season highs. The issue is, if the Sooners’ defense isn’t lights out, the offense doesn’t have enough firepower to keep up. The good news for Oklahoma is if there was ever a game for John Mateer to take the unit to a new level, it would be against Tennessee. The Vols have allowed 30-plus points four times this season and rank 112th in the country in scoring defense (30.88 points per game), ranking above only Arkansas in the SEC. But if we’ve already seen the ceiling for Oklahoma’s offense and the defense can’t hold on, that would be a wrap for the Sooners.
No. 23 USC Trojans (5–2) at Nebraska Cornhuskers (6–2)
The last time the Cornhuskers beat an opponent ranked in the AP Top 25? 2016. But there’s no time like the present! And fresh off of an ugly win over Northwestern to muddy the Big Ten standings, the Cornhuskers have a huge opportunity against USC. The roadmap to a victory over the high-flying Trojans is difficult to see, but Nebraska comes into the games as only a slight underdog. The USC offense remains the most explosive in the country, averaging an FBS-best 7.89 yards per play and 530 yards per game. With skill players like Makai Lemon, Ja’Kobi Lane and King Miller (who’s filled in seamlessly for injured star Waymond Jordan), the Huskers don’t have the defense to fully keep the Trojans in check. That means a lot will fall on the shoulders of quarterback–running back tandem Dylan Raiola and Emmett Johnson, both of who bounced back from shoddy showings against Minnesota to power Nebraska past Northwestern. The only potential issue for success for the Nebraska offense will be protecting Raiola, who’s already been sacked 26 times this season—one fewer time than he was in 13 starts in 2024.
The Big 12 game of the week features the conference front-runner, Cincinnati, against the league’s most intriguing team, Utah. The Utes don’t have a quarterback controversy on their hands, but backup Byrd Ficklin dazzled in place of an injured Devon Dampier in last week’s 53–7 rout of Colorado. The freshman racked up 291 yards of offense, including 151 on the ground, and three total touchdowns en route to being named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week. On the other side, Cincinnati will be without lead running back Evan Pryor but still has Tawee Walker to man the backfield. Plus, dual-threat quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who is tied with Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza for an FBS-leading 27 total touchdowns, may be one of the most underdiscussed quarterbacks in the country. The Bearcats are in the driver’s seat to make the Big 12 championship, but in the league of chaos, expect the unexpected.
Group of 5 Playoff Race WatchNavy Midshipmen (7–0) at North Texas Mean Green (7–1)
Just like last season, Navy is plodding along and stacking up wins, and now finds itself undefeated past the halfway point in the season and with everything to play for. The Midshipmen will get their chance to be tested with matchups against three of the other top four teams in the American Conference and Notre Dame preceding their annual game with Army. Blake Horvath, who leads the team in passing (1,063 yards, seven touchdowns) and rushing (814 yards, 6.8 yards per carry, 12 touchdowns), is back for his senior season with his sights set on avenging last season’s second-half slide. That will begin Saturday with a difficult road test at North Texas. The Mean Green, whose only loss came in a 63–36 drubbing vs. South Florida, are actually favored by almost a full touchdown. It’s the Navy defense that must be up for the task against North Texas freshman quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who threw for a conference-record 608 yards in last week’s shellacking of Charlotte.
Memphis Tigers (7–1) at Rice Owls (4–4)
Count me as someone who wrote off Memphis after a horrendous loss to UAB two weeks ago. Then the Tigers stormed back from down 14 points to shock South Florida and put themselves back into the conference title race. Ryan Silverfield’s program has everything right in front of it with matchups against league leaders Navy and Tulane still on the docket, but to get there, it must get past a road trip to Rice. The Owls don’t have much to write home about, but junior running back Quinton Jackson had one of the best single-game performances of the season in the conference last week, amassing 248 yards and four total touchdowns on 24 touches. Rice very well may need him to replicate that output if it hopes to pull off the upset.
Last but certainly not least is a matchup that features perhaps the most heavily discussed G5 team in recent weeks: Tulane. Head coach Jon Sumrall has done his best to dismiss the coaching carousel rumors connecting him to one of the various SEC vacancies as rat poison, while his team tries to navigate a playoff push, but the noise is only getting louder. That doesn’t bode well for a team that’s already pushed its luck this season with one-score home wins against East Carolina and Army going into a road matchup with UTSA. The Roadrunners may be under .500 but are usually just very hot and ridiculously cold. (They scored 61 points in three quarters against Rice only to allow 55 points to North Texas the following week.) The way to limit Tulane seems to be to try and hold the Green Wave’s diverse run game in check, particularly when it comes to mobile QB Jake Retzlaff. Army (141 yards, 4.9 yards per carry, one touchdown) and East Carolina (96 yards allowed, 3.8 YPC, zero TDs) were largely successful; Northwestern (269 yards allowed, 6.4 YPC), Duke (156 yards allowed, four touchdowns) and Tulsa (185 yards allowed, four touchdowns) were not.
