College football Week 10 takeaways: Big wins for Georgia, Memphis, Pac-12’s elite

College football scores from Week 10, including highlights, analysis and what we learned from every Top 25 game, including Florida vs. Georgia.

This is definitely an odd week for college football fans. This is almost like the calm before the storm with No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama both off this week as they get healthy and rest up before meeting in Tuscaloosa next Saturday.

Joining them on the couch this week were No. 3 Ohio State and No. 5 Penn State as the Big Ten’s two best teams also enjoy an off week before getting back for the stretch run next Saturday.

No. 4 Clemson was the only top-five team in action, but they weren’t even playing an ACC team. The reigning national champions played an FCS opponent in Wofford, which is basically an open week.

The marquee game between top-10 opponents, Georgia and Florida was a bit ugly for much of the game, but Jake Fromm played arguably his best game of the year with some clutch throws to lead the Dawgs to the win over the Gators. The division hasn’t been clinched but Georgia basically did just that in Jacksonville.

The primetime game on ABC turned the spotlight on the Group of 5 where No. 24 Memphis and College GameDay hosted No. 15 SMU who was unable to escape Beale Streat with their perfect record.

With so many top teams off this week, there wasn’t much turmoil in the AP Top 25 or with the College Football Playoff picture, but we were able to learn a few things and you can read those takeaways below.

College football scores for Week 10’s Top 25 games

Michigan beat Maryland, 38-7 in a game that showed Michigan continues to make some things happen offensively. This is a much different Wolverines team since halftime of the Penn State game a few weeks ago. Michigan can run the ball and the defense remains stout. Meanwhile, Maryland is not any good and appears to have checked out.

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So was this a case of Michigan being good or Maryland just being really bad? A little of both. At least, it delivered the highlight of the week with this 97-yard return by Giles Jackson on the opening kickoff with the beautiful skycam from ABC.

Wake Forest beat NC State 44-10 behind three passing and two rushing touchdowns from Demon Deacons quarterback Jamie Newman. Wake quietly is having a fantastic season and while the rest of the ACC outside of Clemson has been lumped in together as being entirely awful, that’s not the case for Dave Clawson’s team who is one of the biggest success stories in college football.

This was an ugly game for Notre Dame for 59 minutes. But that last minute of the game was what the Fighting Irish needed to close out the win. Ian Book got a rushing touchdown after converting on a pair of fourth downs on the game-winning drive with less than a minute. Virginia Tech looked like they would pull off the upset but too many critical penalties in the fourth quarter and Book’s clutch play was enough to do the Hokies in.

Jake Fromm silenced his critics, for at least one week, with a clutch two-touchdown performance in the win over Florida. Georgia controls their destiny in the SEC East and could make a third-straight SEC Championship Game if they can get past Auburn and the rest of their November schedule. Fromm was helped out by the return of Lawrence Cager from injury. The big receiver had seven catches for 132 yards and a touchdown. Meanwhile, Florida’s playoff hopes are dead and their SEC East division hopes are on life support.

Kansas had a sellout which is a testament to what Les Miles has done to instill some hope and enthusiasm on campus. But that’s where the good things end for the Jayhawks. Their in-state rivals put it to them on Saturday as they showed no hangover effect after defeating Oklahoma last week.

Clemson beat Wofford but allowed the Terriers to get a pair of touchdowns, so you have to wonder how much further the Tigers will drop in the AP Top 25. Jokes aside about playing an FCS team, Clemson didn’t have to do much to put this one away. Travis Etienne became Clemson’s all-time leading rusher with 212 yards on only nine carries in the win. The Tigers host Wake Forest in two weeks sandwiched around road games at NC State and South Carolina, but the Demon Deacons are the biggest test all year. That doesn’t happen often.

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Washington jumped out to an early lead over Utah but the Utes began their rally late in the first half and that momentum carried over into the second half where they prevailed. A pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns were enough to down the Huskies and keep their Pac-12 title hopes alive and to stay in the running for a College Football Playoff berth. The Utah defense forced three turnovers and Tyler Huntley and Zack Moss did work on offense.

It wasn’t very impressive for Auburn so they won’t get any style points for the 20-14 win over Ole Miss, but a win is a win. Bo Nix had a rebound performance and Derrick Brown had a few “wow” plays to suggest he could be a potential top-five pick in the NFL Draft. But the way Auburn looked vs. Ole Miss would get them crushed vs. Georgia, Alabama or any good team.

Cincinnati fans can take a deep breath. That was a close one that went down to a kick at the end. Thankfully, for Luke Fickell and Bearcats fans, the kick was good and Cincy held on to stay atop their division in the American. They might also have the inside track on a New Year’s Six bowl berth with SMU losing to Memphis.

College GameDay saw a show in Memphis before the game and then the game delivered in primetime. The Tigers handed the SMU Mustangs their first loss of the year in an offensive explosion that showed Mike Norvell could be one of the best offensive minds in the nation, and most definitely, in the ACC. As for SMU, they still have a shot at the AAC but they’ll need to regroup and hope Memphis suffers a loss down the stretch to let them back in the race.

If this wasn’t rock bottom for Clay Helton at USC, I don’t know what was. USC was embarrassed on offense, defense and special teams as the Ducks looked like a playoff team. The Ducks got three passing and one rushing touchdown from Justin Herbert. And the Oregon defense had three interceptions of Kedon Slovis, including one returned for a touchdown, and Oregon also returned a kick for a touchdown. Oregon should win the Pac-12 North.

Boise State trailed 14-0 early vs. San Jose before pulling away in the second half to improve to 7-1 and stay in the conversation for a New Year’s Six bowl bid. Freshman running back George Holani had a monster game with 126 yards and four touchdowns. Credit the Boise State offensive line for helping pace the way for a Broncos rushing attack that had six total touchdowns and five in the second half alone. If Boise State runs the table, they’ll be in the mix with either Cincinnati, Memphis or SMU from the American for a Cotton Bowl berth.

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