Saturday Night Five: Utah's statement, USC's recovery, Pac-12 mayhem, Bay Area blues and a look ahead to the loaded Week 10

Instant reaction to on-field developments from Week 9 … 1. Statement Saturday The final weekend before the initial College Football Playoff rankings featured a slew of dominant performances by teams with playoff hopes but lingering questions. Nobody was more impressive than No. 6 Utah, which had not registered a quality road win all season. That changed with a 49-25 obliteration of Cincinnati one week after the Bearcats hammered Texas Tech. The Utes are 8-0 for the first time since 2010 — that's before they joined the Pac-12 — and have won 14 consecutive games, the longest streak in the nation. Next week, they host one-loss BYU in what could be the holiest of Holy Wars. USC also sent a message — that its season isn't over, despite two losses, and Lincoln Riley's tenure isn't finished. One week after a whimper of a loss at Wisconsin, the unranked Trojans handled No. 2 Ohio State in a fashion rarely seen. Not surprisingly, the Buckeyes looked fallible on offense with rookie quarterback Luke Fahey, but the story was the other side: USC's offense, which managed all of seven points at Wisconsin, slapped Ohio State around for 30. It was a signature win for Riley, now in his fifth season, despite the Buckeyes not being at full strength with Julian Sayin's injury. And yet, it feels like he's one loss from termination papers being served. 2. Scintillating Saturday Week 9 did not produce the same level of mayhem that we witnessed the previous two Saturdays, but five ranked teams lost to unranked opponents: No. 2 Ohio State, No. 19 SMU, No. 20 Northwestern, No. 24 Oklahoma State and No. 25 Wisconsin. Several games were absolutely riveting, including Indiana's overtime victory over Minnesota that featured 60-yard field goals by each team in the final 19 seconds of regulation — a feat of feet believed to be unprecedented in the sport's history. Not to be outdone, the Big 12 produced a doozy as Iowa State outlasted Oklahoma State 51-49, with the winning field goal coming as time expired and the teams combining for 1,114 yards of total offense. It was Big 12 pinball straight out of 2015. But in our view, the game of the day came late at night, with No. 20 Boise State delivering a dizzying, come-from-ahead, then come-from-behind 46-45 victory over Texas State. The Broncos led 28-3 at halftime, but Texas State scored 36 consecutive points — this was in Boise, folks — to take an 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Boise State responded with three touchdown passes by backup quarterback Max Cutforth, who replaced injured starter Maddux Madsen in one of the best QB2 performances of the season. In all, the teams combined for 53 points in the final 20 minutes of game time. The victory preserved Boise State's pursuit of a College Football Playoff berth. If the Broncos (7-1) win out, they should receive the automatic bid reserved for the top team in the Group of Six. 3. Surreal Saturday The Hotline spent 14.5 hours watching games, from the 9 a.m. kickoff of Arizona-Texas Tech to the 11:30 p.m. finish of Oregon State-Fresno State. All told, we watched all or parts of 17 games. And at several points, we weren't sure whether to believe our eyes. There was Oregon's offense, rising from the dead behind Dylan Raiola to score 34 points in a victory over Northwestern that prevented the Ducks' season from cratering completely. There was Colorado, lowly Colorado, defeating Kansas State in overtime for the Buffaloes' first Big 12 victory of the year and only their second conference win since the start of the 2025 season. Perhaps Deion Sanders' team has life left, after all. There was quarterback Demond Williams — remember him? — coming off the bench to rescue Washington's sagging season. UW's former starter replaced Elijah Brown and led the Huskies to a 17-10 victory at Nebraska in which their only two touchdowns (a Williams pass and a Pick Six) came 15 seconds apart in the fourth quarter. Williams made big plays from the pocket in pressure situations, a rarity in his UW career. And finally, there was Oregon State's high-powered offense, struggling to score touchdowns in a 38-22 loss at Fresno State that was even more lopsided than the score suggests. The result was also a stunner of the first order. The Bulldogs' defensive line controlled scrimmage, sacking OSU quarterback Braden Atkinson five times and holding receiver Jesse Legree to seven catches for 70 yards. In their toughest test since the Week 2 loss to Texas Tech, the Beavers were completely overmatched. For the first time, they looked like the team we expected to see all along. 4. Same ol' Saturday A slew of performances looked remarkably familiar, for better or worse. BYU did BYU things, making just enough plays to survive a close game at home. The 27-20 victory over Arizona State included another major gaffe by Big 12 officials that helped the Cougars and prompted a statement from the conference office acknowledging the error. A few weeks ago, BYU's upset of Notre Dame was declared final even though one second remained on the clock. Saturday afternoon, the officials awarded the Cougars a touchdown that should not have counted. The end result is a top-10 ranking record for BYU entering the Holy War. Another recognizable outcome: Arizona falling short in a big game on the road. The Wildcats lost by 11 points earlier this season at BYU and by eight Saturday at Texas Tech. With a victory in Lubbock, they would have been in solid position for a berth in the Big 12 championship game. Instead, the Wildcats need to win out and get help from the tiebreaker. And let's not forget about the Bay Area schools, which were whacked on the road in ACC play yet again. Cal faltered at NC State 31-10 and has now been outscored 63-0 in the second half of its past two games. Stanford lost at Louisville 52-24 in what constituted an improved showing away from home. The Cardinal is 0-4 on the road this season with the losses by a total of 161 points. We would provide the records for Cal and Stanford games played in the Eastern Time Zone since they joined the ACC, but the Hotline is a family publication. 5. Saturday of Saturdays The best lineup of the season is fast approaching. If you have plans outside the house, cancel them immediately. If you haven't reserved couch space, do it now. The Week 10 matchups will have mammoth repercussions for conference championship races, College Football Playoff rankings and the Heisman Trophy race. Using the current AP rankings, here are the A-list matchups for the first Saturday of November: No. 1 Miami at No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 3 Georgia at No. 12 Mississippi, No. 9 BYU at No. 6 Utah and No. 10 Alabama at No. 15 LSU. Then add No. 9 Kentucky at No. 16 Tennessee and No. 11 Texas at No. 23 Missouri as choice secondary offerings. And that list doesn't include what initially looked like the best game of them all: Oregon at Ohio State, which has devolved into the Backup QB Bowl featuring multi-loss teams. Fortunately for TV viewers, there is at least one colossal matchup in each of the three primary broadcast windows. The early window (9 a.m.) features the Holy War. The afternoon window (12:30 p.m.) has Alabama-LSU. The primetime window (4:30 p.m.) offers Miami-Notre Dame. And true junkies craving a reason to watch the fourth window (7:30 p.m.) have the option to turn on one of the nation's best stories, Oregon State, at home against Texas State. *** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to [email protected] or call 408-920-5716 *** Follow me on the social media platform X: @WilnerHotline