A crowd of 42,228 showed up for the huge UNLV-Boise State game on Friday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. In 22 previous home games there, UNLV had topped 30,000 just three times, peaking at 35,193. The Rebels surpassed that previous high by 20% this week.
A crowd of 53,082 showed up for Indiana's big win over Washington. It was the second straight sellout, and the rest of the Hoosiers' home games are sellouts as well. They appear all but guaranteed to set a full-season home attendance record.
A crowd of 108,852 showed up for Texas A&M's 38-23 comeback win over LSU. It was the third-largest crowd ever at Kyle Field and the largest in three years. The Aggies moved to 5-0 in SEC play, and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that their home finale against Texas in a few weeks will draw reasonably well, too.
As a college football public, we head into November completely engaged. According to the Allstate Playoff Predictor, 26 teams still have at least a 5% chance of reaching the first 12-team College Football Playoff, a list that includes Indiana (68.6%), Texas A&M (46.6%) and UNLV (8.7%), not to mention the likes of Boise State (60.5%), BYU (57.2%), Iowa State (45.6%), Army (21.5%) and Pitt (20.4%).
Yes, the national title favorites remain awfully familiar -- the Predictor gives the best title odds to Texas, Ohio State, Georgia and Alabama -- and Week 9 didn't deliver too many surprises: While Ohio State flirted with disaster against Nebraska and Texas needed a great defensive effort to survive a trip to Vanderbilt, the only ranked teams that lost fell to higher-ranked teams.
But even if we have fallen off the chaos pace set by seasons like 2007 and 1984, the playoff itself has given this season a delightfully messy edge. And considering basically everything we tend to remember from a given season happens in November, lord only knows where this season is taking us.
Let's craft a Playoff Chaos road map. November gives us five Saturdays, and each one could feature some decisive results when it comes to the teams looking to land one of the 12 golden playoff tickets. Let's walk through what awaits us with a week-by-week guide to the rest of the regular season.
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Playoff contenders | Surprising results | Heisman winner of the week
10 favorite games | Midweek playlist
Playoff contenders
First things first: Let's lay out which teams have a greater than 2% chance at making the CFP, according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor.
ACC/Notre Dame: Miami (89.6%), Notre Dame (58.6%), Clemson (32.4%), SMU (29.8%), Pitt (20.4%)
Big 12: BYU (57.2%), Iowa State (45.6%), Kansas State (38.9%), Colorado (7.0%)
Big Ten: Oregon (87.0%), Penn State (84.2%), Ohio State (72.6%), Indiana (68.6%), Illinois (3.9%)
Group of 5: Boise State (60.5%), Army (21.5%), Tulane (10.5%), UNLV (8.7%), Navy (4.4%), Louisiana (2.6%), Memphis (2.5%)
SEC: Georgia (84.7%), Texas (75.3%), Tennessee (67.8%), Alabama (53.2%), Texas A&M (48.6%), LSU (21.2%), Ole Miss (19.3%), Missouri (7.5%)
There are basically three paths toward a playoff bid: power-conference titles, at-large bids and the Group of 5's slot. (Yes, the Group of 5 could technically get more than one bid if two of its teams rank higher than the champion of one of the other conferences, but the odds of the Big 12 producing a three-loss champion or something of that sort are growing smaller by the day. Odds are good that the G5 is getting one bid.)
Seven conferences still have at least one team in the running, which is exciting, and if you're a fan of one of the 22 power-conference teams on the list above, you enter November with multiple rooting interests. Not only are you hoping for whatever breaks are required to reach your conference's championship game, you have other potential at-large teams to root against from other conferences. Suddenly, Week 10's SMU-Pitt game matters to an Ole Miss fan, and Week 11's Indiana-Michigan game matters to a Clemson or Alabama fan.
Each of the next five weeks features at least 17 games involving the 29 teams above, and each week features at least nine games in which the CFP contender at hand is favored by less than 14 points according to SP+. There are strong chances for wild swings in playoff odds every single week.
Week 10 (Oct. 29-Nov. 2)
(Note: Games between teams both ranked in the AP poll are in bold.)
No. 4 Ohio State at No. 3 Penn State (SP+ projection: Buckeyes by 1.5)
No. 17 Pitt at No. 20 SMU (SMU by 4.9)
No. 1 Oregon at Michigan (Oregon by 12.5)
No. 2 Georgia vs. Florida (UGA by 12.5)
Louisville at No. 8 Clemson (Clemson by 7.9)
Texas Tech at No. 10 Iowa State (ISU by 13.7)
No. 11 Texas A&M at South Carolina (A&M by 6.2)
No. 25 Memphis at UTSA (Memphis by 9.5)
Louisiana at Texas State (Tuesday) (UL by 0.3)
Navy at Rice (Navy by 12.3)
Primary plot lines: What's the Big Ten title hierarchy? And who is the ACC sleeper?
We'll get a good feel for the Big Ten's hierarchy this coming weekend, with Oregon facing a dicey (if also quite winnable) road trip and, of course, the conference's other two top-five teams facing off in Happy Valley.
With Pitt facing SMU, we'll also basically whittle the contenders list in the ACC down from four to three. SP+ currently gives Miami a 55% chance of winning the league, but Clemson (20%), SMU (15%) and Pitt (6%) all have a puncher's chance. Virginia Tech (3%) and Louisville (1%) might as well, but they're obviously further back. Between Miami's easy Week 9 win over Florida State and an impressive performance from Pitt against Syracuse, Clemson's title odds dropped by 7% without the Tigers playing a game. You've got to win the bye weeks, Dabo Swinney!
With Kansas State playing Houston and BYU on bye, the Big 12 steps aside this week and lets others -- most likely the ACC -- take the chaos mantle. Week 9 was basically the typical Big 12 week: Lots of wild things happened, and BYU (which won at UCF, 37-24) and Iowa State (which didn't play) remained unbeaten. Four of seven games were decided by 5 or fewer points, and all of them finished within 13 -- you really can't ever take your eyes off a Big 12 game -- but without a major upset, the stakes basically remained the same: BYU (34% title chance, per SP+), Kansas State (30%) and Iowa State (27%) remain nearly equal favorites, and Colorado (5%) continues to lurk (and look increasingly good).
This week also gives us one of the most reliably nutty rivalry games on the docket, by the way: Ole Miss at Arkansas. The No. 18 Rebels are projected favorites by 14.4 points; they already have two losses and might not be able to afford a third, which means they also can't afford to look ahead toward their Week 11 matchup with Georgia. Not when the Hunter Henry Bowl awaits.
Week 11 (Nov. 5-9)
No. 2 Georgia at No. 18 Ole Miss (SP+ projection: UGA by 4.5)
No. 14 Alabama at No. 16 LSU (Bama by 5.4)
No. 8 Clemson at Virginia Tech (Clemson by 3.3)
No. 10 Iowa State at Kansas (ISU by 4.6)
No. 12 BYU at Utah (BYU by 1.6)
Michigan at No. 13 Indiana (Indiana by 8.9)
No. 21 Army at North Texas (Army by 11.4)
Oklahoma at No. 23 Missouri (Mizzou by 8.4)
Navy at South Florida (Navy by 9.6)
Primary plot lines: Who's making the SEC championship game? And which potential SEC at-large teams are going to make it to the finish line at 10-2 or better?
The Big Ten and SEC have traded the spotlight back and forth throughout the season, and it's the same thing here. After a huge Ohio State-Penn State game in Week 10, the focus goes back to the SEC in Week 11, when four of its current seven teams ranked 18th or better in the AP poll pair off and play.
Per my SP+ strength of schedule measure, Georgia has had the hardest schedule in the country to date, having already faced three teams ranked 14th or better in SP+, all away from home. The Bulldogs beat Clemson on a neutral site, lost at Alabama and beat Texas at home; after a week off, they now face three straight teams ranked 21st or better. In Week 11, after theoretically coming off a win over Florida in Jacksonville, they'll play their third SP+ top-10 team of the season on the road (Ole Miss). This game will almost certainly mean more to the two-loss Rebels than the one-loss Dawgs, but it could be pretty difficult to reach the SEC title game with two conference losses.
Elsewhere, two Big 12 favorites will take on awkward road trips. Iowa State will head to Lawrence to face a Kansas team that has managed to lose six games by a total of 30 points this season and still ranks in the SP+ top 50 despite a 2-6 record. BYU, meanwhile, will face a desperate Utah team in Salt Lake City. The Utes are almost certainly worse than their current No. 39 SP+ ranking -- the offense has been bottoming out too quickly for SP+ to keep up -- but they will almost certainly bring their A-game in an attempt to spoil their Holy War rivals' Big 12 title dreams.
From the perspective of at-large bids, Michigan-Indiana is also huge. The Hoosiers will be semi-comfortably favored (unless they've just lost at Michigan State), but this is their second-most likely regular-season loss. A lot of SEC fans will be shouting "Go Blue!" for this one.
Also: Midweek MACtion starts this week! The league isn't going to produce a CFP contender, but four teams currently have between an 18% and 24% chance of winning the league, per SP+. If you like mess, you're going to enjoy MACtion even more than normal this year.
Week 12 (Nov. 12-16)
No. 7 Tennessee at No. 2 Georgia (SP+ projection: UGA by 6.3)
No. 8 Clemson at No. 17 Pitt (Clemson by 3.1)
Cincinnati at No. 10 Iowa State (ISU by 10.4)
Kansas at No. 12 BYU (BYU by 8.4)
No. 16 LSU at Florida (LSU by 3.5)
No. 19 Boise State at San Jose State (BSU by 11.4)
No. 23 Missouri at South Carolina (Mizzou by 1.4)
Tulane at Navy (Navy by 1.3)
South Alabama at Louisiana (UL by 7.8)
Primary plot lines: You name it. We'll get further clarity in the SEC race, we'll find out if Pitt is a playoff contender, and we'll get a lovely elimination game in the Group of 5 (and, perhaps, AAC) race.
SP+ currently projects six teams to have between a 9% and 27% chance of winning the SEC: Texas (26.7%), Texas A&M (24.7%), Georgia (15.7%), LSU (11.1%), Alabama (10.8%) and Tennessee (9.3%). Granted, I think it's underselling Georgia because of the Dawgs' whole "do the bare minimum against lesser teams, and watch as that lowers their SP+ ratings" shtick. Still, with Tennessee-Georgia coming on the heels of LSU-Bama and Georgia-Ole Miss in Week 11, we're going to have a very good idea of who's heading to Atlanta for the SEC championship game after this week (if we didn't already).
Pitt gets its big showcase opportunity in Week 12 as well, at least as long as the Panthers haven't fallen off by this point. I'm done doubting. They've won three games as projected underdogs, and they've overachieved against SP+ projections in six of seven games. And they pulled an absolute magic act in Week 9, scoring 41 points while gaining just 217 yards on 44 snaps. It's amazing what three pick-sixes in a single half will do.
Syracuse QB Kyle McCord has a night to forget as he throws five interceptions, including a trio of pick-sixes, in a blowout loss to Pittsburgh.
Clemson's Cade Klubnik probably isn't throwing three pick-sixes in a half, but even if the Panthers have lost to SMU or Virginia by this point, a win here would make Pitt an extremely viable ACC (and, therefore, CFP) contender.
In the G5 race, Tulane-Navy will indeed function as an elimination game of sorts. SP+ has been slow to trust Tulane, due in part to a good amount of turnovers luck, but the Green Wave have still won five in a row; a week after leaning on their defense in a 24-10 win over Rice, they strapped on their track shoes and outlasted North Texas, 45-37. Navy, of course, no-showed in a humbling 51-14 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, but if either of these teams wins out, it'll be right in the G5 hunt. That's doubly true if Boise State falls at San José State -- it's the most likely potential loss for the Broncos between now and the MWC championship game.
Week 13 (Nov. 19-23)
No. 13 Indiana at No. 4 Ohio State (SP+ projection: OSU by 12.0)
No. 9 Notre Dame vs. No. 21 Army (Notre Dame by 14.7)
No. 3 Penn State at Minnesota (PSU by 12.2)
No. 10 Iowa State at Utah (ISU by 2.8)
No. 11 Texas A&M at Auburn (A&M by 5.2)
No. 12 BYU at Arizona State (BYU by 5.7)
Cincinnati at No. 15 Kansas State (K-State by 13.3)
No. 17 Pitt at Louisville (Louisville by 2.7)
No. 18 Ole Miss at Florida (Ole Miss by 12.0)
No. 20 SMU at Virginia (SMU by 13.1)
UNLV at San Jose State (UNLV by 6.7)
Primary plot lines: Which road favorites fall? And is this a Big Ten elimination week?
Both Indiana and Ohio State are dealing with key injuries right now. The well-rounded Hoosiers beat Washington without quarterback Kurtis Rourke (injured thumb) on Saturday and could work past both Michigan State and Michigan without him at 100% in the coming weeks. But beating Ohio State? That might be a bit much for backup Tayven Jackson. Granted, the Buckeyes looked awfully vulnerable Saturday, with a remodeled offensive line -- one without star left tackle Josh Simmons, who's out for the season -- struggling mightily against Nebraska. Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson averaged only 2.7 yards per carry against the Huskers, and if Ohio State can't run, it might be difficult to beat Penn State in Week 11. That could make the IU-OSU game a Buckeyes elimination game of sorts.
Week 13 will also give us Army's big moment in the spotlight, against Notre Dame in Yankee Stadium. Notre Dame looks fantastic right now and blew out Navy on Saturday, but SP+ likes Army quite a bit more than Navy.
Look at that above list one more time, by the way: Of the current top 20 teams, seven are only reasonably favored against unranked foes on the road in Week 13 (plus, Alabama is a 15.1-point projected favorite at Oklahoma). There's no way all of them win. Last-second chaos potential? Absolutely.
Also: I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention that this is when the 28-team Division II playoffs and 40-team Division III playoffs begin. Adopt a team -- you know I'll have recommendations -- and follow along.
Week 14 (Nov. 26-30)
No. 6 Texas at No. 11 Texas A&M (SP+ projection: Texas by 5.9)
No. 15 Kansas State at No. 10 Iowa State (K-State by 0.3)
South Carolina at No. 8 Clemson (Clemson by 9.5)
No. 9 Notre Dame at USC (Notre Dame by 8.0)
Oklahoma at No. 16 LSU (LSU by 12.3)
No. 17 Pitt at Boston College (Pitt by 9.1)
California at No. 20 SMU (SMU by 8.4)
Arkansas at No. 23 Missouri (Mizzou by 7.1)
No. 25 Memphis at Tulane (Thursday) (Tulane by 1.7)
Navy at East Carolina (Navy by 7.4)
Primary plot lines: What a spectacular time for the Texas-A&M rivalry to return to our lives. (Also: South Carolina and USC have shots at massively memorable rivalry upsets.)
This being almost five weeks away, we obviously don't have a good feel for what the rankings will look like by this point. But we do know that (a) Texas and Texas A&M are the top two SEC title favorites at the moment, per SP+; and (b) Kansas State and Iowa State are the No. 2 and No. 3 favorites in the Big 12. For the Lone Star Showdown and/or Farmageddon, this could be the first of two straight weeks with games between the rivals, or it could be a win-and-you're-in elimination game.
Also, if you're a fan of the Chaos Superfectas in my Friday columns, I should note that with the current odds, SP+ says there's only a 38% chance that Clemson (72% win probability against South Carolina), Notre Dame (69% against USC), Alabama (86% against Auburn) and Ohio State (88% against Michigan) all beat their underdog rivals. And I didn't even throw in Tennessee (83% against Vandy) or Oregon (89% against Washington). Someone will have either their playoff seeding or their season ruined at the hands of a rueful rival in Week 14.
Also: The 24-team FCS playoffs begin this weekend. Hell yes.
The five most surprising results
Here are the five results that were furthest away from their respective SP+ projections. Call them either surprises or bad projections, I guess.
Kennesaw State 27, Liberty 24 (projection: Liberty by 27.4). It was looking pretty dire for KSU -- the Owls were 0-6 and staring a potential 0-12 season in the face. I was already crossing my fingers that they could maybe take down FIU in Week 13. Instead, they just beat the defending Conference USA champs. That also works!
Miami (Ohio) 46, Central Michigan 7 (projection: Miami by 8.9). Make up your mind, RedHawks! Miami underachieved against SP+ projections three times in its first four games and fell as low as 108th. Now the RedHawks have overachieved in four straight, by an average of 16.6 points, to rise back into the 80s with a solid shot at the MAC crown.
Cal 44, Oregon State 7 (projection: Cal by 7.2). Cal had lost four straight games by a total of 9 points. That's really hard to do. And the Bears took out a lot of frustration on a nose-diving Oregon State.
Old Dominion 47, Georgia Southern 19 (projection: GS by 1.7). Another slow starter is making noise. ODU fell as low as 114th in SP+ during a 1-4 start, but three straight increasingly impressive wins have moved the Monarchs to 91st and into first place in the Sun Belt East.
Ohio 47, Buffalo 16 (projection: Ohio by 3.1). Buffalo has fallen into a tailspin, and Ohio is now one of three teams tied for second in a wide-open MAC race. Midweek MACtion is going to be wild this year.
Who won the Heisman this week?
I am once again awarding the Heisman every single week of the season and doling out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, 9 for second, and so on). How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting?
Here is this week's Heisman top 10:
1. Jarquez Hunter, Auburn (23 carries for 278 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 19 receiving yards against Kentucky).
2. Travis Hunter, Colorado (9 catches for 153 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus two tackles and four pass breakups against Cincinnati).
3. Taylen Green, Arkansas (23-of-29 passing for 314 yards, 5 TDs and 1 INT, plus 79 rushing yards and a touchdown against Mississippi State).
4. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado (25-of-30 for 323 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus a rushing touchdown against Cincinnati).
5. Miller Moss, USC (20-of-28 passing for 308 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus a rushing touchdown against Rutgers).
6. Suntarine Perkins, Ole Miss (11 tackles, 5 TFLs and 3 sacks against Oklahoma)
7. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon (18-of-26 passing for 291 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT, plus a rushing touchdown against Illinois)
8. Fernando Mendoza, Cal (27-of-36 passing for 364 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 25 rushing yards -- and a touchdown catch from himself! -- against Oregon State).
9. Max Brosmer, Minnesota (26-of-33 passing for 320 yards and 4 touchdowns against Maryland).
10. Tre Stewart, Jacksonville State (21 carries for 210 yards and a touchdown, plus 24 receiving yards against Middle Tennessee State).
Two games into 2024, Colorado was 1-1 and 79th in SP+, coming off of a humbling 28-10 loss to Nebraska. And the moment we officially wrote the Buffaloes off, they went to work. They've overachieved against SP+ projections in every game since and are now 37th with a bullet. And stars Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders were both absolutely brilliant in Saturday night's 34-23 win over Cincinnati.
Hunter played almost literally every snap, scored a back-breaking TD late in the first half and broke up a career-high four passes. He's unreal. And he would have been an easy No. 1 this week if not for Jarquez Hunter's Cadillac Williams impression. He had runs of 50, 46 and 45, the latter of which gave Auburn a two-TD lead it wouldn't relinquish in a season-saving 24-10 win at Kentucky.
Honorable mention:
• Rasheem Biles, Pitt (12 tackles, 1 sack, 1 35-yard pick-six and 2 QB hurries against Syracuse).
• Makhi Hughes, Tulane (30 carries for 195 yards and a touchdown, plus 8 receiving yards against North Texas).
• Colton Joseph, Old Dominion (20-for-26 passing for 304 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus 73 rushing yards and a touchdown against Georgia Southern).
• Cooper Legas, Tulsa (18-for-33 passing for 333 yards and 5 touchdowns, plus 75 non-sack rushing yards against UTSA).
• Damien Martinez, Miami (15 carries for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 21 receiving yards against Florida State).
• Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona (10 catches for 202 yards and a touchdown against West Virginia).
• Corey Rucker, Arkansas State (12 catches for 193 yards against Troy).
• Kaimon Rucker, North Carolina (8 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 3 sacks and an interception against Virginia).
Through nine weeks, here are your points leaders:
1. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State (41 points)
2. Cam Ward, Miami (40)
3. Travis Hunter, Colorado (26)
4. Dillon Gabriel, Oregon (22)
5. Jalen Milroe, Alabama (18)
6T. Miller Moss, USC (15)
6T. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado (15)
8T. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss (14)
8T. Kurtis Rourke, Indiana (14)
10. Cam Skattebo, Arizona State (12)
We enter November with a pretty clear four-man race. Someone like Jaxson Dart could reenter the conversation by torching Georgia or something, but Jeanty, Ward, Hunter and Gabriel lead both the horse race -- Jeanty and Ward still hold a healthy advantage there -- and the betting odds. The order is different, though: Current ESPN BET odds favor Gabriel and dropped Jeanty to a not-so-distant fourth overall.
That probably says something about how hard it is for a mid-major running back to keep up in a race like this. Jeanty rushed for 128 yards, caught three passes and scored the game-winning touchdown in Boise State's biggest game of the year and lost ground! He still leads the points race, however, and the points race winner has yet to lose an actual Heisman vote.
My 10 favorite games of the weekend
1. Kennesaw State 27, Liberty 24 (Wednesday). Why just win some random game when you can score your first-ever win as an FBS team by handing Liberty its first-ever Conference USA loss and completely wreck whatever CFP chances the Flames might have had?
A victory for the ages
— Kennesaw State Football (@kennesawstfb) October 24, 2024
📺 @ESPN#GoldStandard | #SeeUs pic.twitter.com/StcFxZs8uE
2. No. 17 Boise State 29, UNLV 24 (Friday). Every quarter was different from the one before. A particularly intense UNLV ran the show early but settled for two field goals and missed one, then BSU used a 17-0 run to take a comfortable halftime lead. UNLV came right back with a pair of TDs in the third quarter, but BSU locked it down late, scoring on a 75-yard drive, forcing a punt and then eating up the last eight minutes with ball-control brilliance. This was a hell of a game.
3. No. 16 Kansas State 29, Kansas 27. After losing five straight games by a combined 28 points, Kansas looked to be salvaging its season: The Jayhawks blew out Houston last week and stormed back from 16-7 down to take a 27-23 lead into the fourth quarter. But they just couldn't apply the dagger, and Jalon Daniels' fumble set up Chris Tennant's 51-yard winner.
4. Tulsa 46, UTSA 45. TIMBERRRRRRRR...
That's what it looks like when you trail by 28 at halftime, still trail by 6 when you get the ball back at your 8 with 1:55 left and charge 92 yards in one minute for the winning score.
5. FCS: Youngstown State 41, No. 7 North Dakota 40 (OT). This one had nine lead changes, and neither team led by more than 7 at any point. Andrew Lastovka's 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds left forced overtime for YSU, and Tyshon King's short score gave the Penguins the lead. When Simon Romfo and Bo Belquist connected for a score in response, UND went for the win with a 2-point conversion. And the YSU defense ate it up.
Incredible finish‼️
— NCAA FCS Football (@NCAA_FCS) October 27, 2024
The Penguins get the stop and edge out North Dakota in overtime!#FCSpic.twitter.com/onPRKs97F8
6. No. 5 Texas 27, No. 25 Vanderbilt 24. Vandy couldn't pull another top-five upset, but damn, did the Commodores make Texas work. The Longhorns' defense had to make stop after stop to get the job done but forced three turnovers and held VU under 200 yards until a last-minute touchdown drive.
7. TCU 35, Texas Tech 34. I remarked to a friend before this game that neither of these teams knew how to be anything less than brilliant or horrific at all times. They both proved me right by alternating between brilliant and horrific all game. TCU started with a 14-3 burst, Tech responded with a 28-0 run, and TCU scored 21 of the game's last 24 points, the last 7 of which came on this absolute explosion from Eric McAlister.
TCU takes the lead in the fourth quarter as Eric McAlister flies down the sideline for an 84-yard touchdown.
8. FCS: Brown 23, Cornell 21. Brown hasn't enjoyed a winning season since 2013, and James Perry entered 2024 with just a 12-28 record as head coach at his alma mater. But the Bears moved to 2-1 in Ivy League play and 3-3 overall by spotting their visitors a 21-3 lead over the game's first 47 minutes, then scoring 20 unanswered points. Christopher Maron's 29-yard field goal at the buzzer gave them a dizzying comeback win.
9. Memphis 33, Charlotte 28. Charlotte isn't good, per se, but the 49ers are feisty. And Memphis just couldn't shake them. The Tigers watched a 21-7 fourth-quarter lead disappear to 21-21 before the teams traded four scores in the last two minutes. Charlotte took a 28-24 lead with 1:20 left, but Roc Taylor's 24-yard touchdown just 49 seconds later made it 31-28, and Memphis scored on a safety in the final seconds.
10. Division III: Waynesburg 44, Allegheny 41. The weekend's best popcorn flick came at the D3 level, where Waynesburg beat Allegheny for the first time ever. Allegheny used back-to-back defensive touchdowns to take a sudden 41-33 lead with four minutes left, but Tyler Richmond tied the game on a 62-yard reception with 2:31 left, and after picking off a fourth-down pass, the Jackets set up Drew Pinkerton for a winning field goal that you can watch from GOALPOST CAM.
Drew Pinkerton puts Waynesburg 3 points ahead with 15 seconds left on the clock. pic.twitter.com/qbR4Eigcxu
— JRM_Sports (@JRMxSports) October 27, 2024
Honorable mention:
• Arkansas State 34, Troy 31
• Ball State 25, Northern Illinois 23
• Louisville 31, Boston College 27 (Friday)
• No. 22 SMU 28, Duke 27 (OT)
• FCS: No. 3 South Dakota State 20, No. 4 South Dakota 17
The midweek playlist
The football never stops, and between now and Friday's preview, we've got six games, four of which will play serious roles in either a conference title race or the G5 playoff race.
Louisiana at Texas State (Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2). The winner of this one becomes the de facto Sun Belt West favorite and an odds-on conference favorite. SP+ projection: UL by 0.3.
Jacksonville State at Liberty (Wednesday, 7 p.m., CBSSN) and Kennesaw State at Western Kentucky (Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2). After Liberty's shocking loss to KSU, SP+ now projects the Flames and WKU as Conference USA co-favorites -- WKU is at 41% to win it, and Liberty is at 36%. But if Liberty tops Jax State (16%) on Wednesday, the Flames might move right back to the front of the line. SP+ projections: LU by 8.6 and WKU by 28.4.
Tulane at Charlotte (Thursday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN). Tulane still needs help to score the G5's CFP auto-bid, but the Green Wave have won five in a row and now travel to face the team that almost eliminated Memphis from the race in Week 9. SP+ projection: Tulane by 19.0.