College Football 5 Thoughts: Iowa’s CFP Case, Indiana’s Schedule, and Is the Heisman Race Over?

This was supposed to be the college football weekend that changed our lives forever, and it was … ehhhhh, okay. However, there were plenty of great moments you missed, and several big storylines to come out of the first weekend in November. Here are our five thoughts on the college football weekend that was.

College Football 5 Thoughts After Week 10

– The Big Weekend that wasn’t
– Is Iowa a College Football Playoff team?
– The CFP 9-3 debate
– Is the Heisman race over?
– The weekend’s funky Indiana quirk?

The Biggest Weekend of the Season Was Great, Just Not for The Games You Think

This was the weekend we were all waiting for with all of the monster college football matchups fans dream of, and then (cue the sad trombone).

Miami vs Notre Dame turned out to be fantastic, and the Utah 28-20 win over BYU was wild, but the SEC monster matchups were fizzled messes. Georgia destroyed Ole Miss 42-7, Tennessee and reality crushed Kentucky 34-6, and LSU failed to show up for its own party against Alabama in a 31-13 loss.

Throw in the Oregon ending of Ohio State football for the season, and quarterback Aidan Chiles not being able to go for Northwestern in a blah 24-10 loss to Iowa, and this all was one big disappointment, unless you dove a little deeper.

It was a better weekend than you might think. Here are a few reasons why.

– Arizona stayed in the Big 12 and College Football Playoff chase with a wild score, a recovered onside kick, and another score to beat TCU 29-28 late Friday night.

– Michigan State got five field goals and held Michigan scoreless until late, in a weird 15-6 Spartan victory that got zero national attention because no one saw it. The world was watching Miami-Notre Dame.

– Texas Tech‘s 53-48 win over West Virginia is why you stay up late and watch every game. The two combined for 1,220 yards in one of the wildest back-and-forth fights of the season.

Is Iowa Really a College Football Playoff Team Now?

Get ready for this debate, because SEC fans are about to lose their minds.

The College Football Playoff committee has never left out a 10-2 or better team from the Power Four for a team with three losses before the conference championships. It’s not a rule, but it’s an easy call for the committee. 10-2 is a good, strong marker, which is partly why Texas didn’t get in last year, even though one of its three losses was to a monster Ohio State.

Whether you want to believe it or not, there are only two major conferences, the SEC and the Big Ten. One of them has won three straight national titles, and the other hasn’t beaten a team from any conference other than its own in the CFP since the end of the 2022 season.

But try selling Iowa to a skeptical nation. At the moment, its best win is 30-0 over Wisconsin, or the 14-point win over Northwestern, or possibly even the victory at Michigan. The two losses were a blowout against Ohio State and a 13-10 slugfest at Minnesota. And the best non-conference win was 16-13 against Iowa State – yippee.

But now, after the win over the Wildcats this weekend, Iowa has Purdue, at Illinois, and Nebraska to close. It will be favored in all three games, but none of them are sure things. If the Hawkeyes win out, they’ll be 10-2, and likely one of just three Big Ten teams – Indiana and UCLA the others – with fewer than three losses. This all leads to …
– Is the Heisman race over?
– The weekend’s funky Indiana quirk?

The College Football Playoff’s 9-3 Debate

Again, it has never happened before. Certainly, no team with three losses was close to the College Football Playoff in the four-team era, and no team that was 9-3 before the conference championships has been able to crank the code so far in the 12-team CFP format.

But this year, if the College Football Playoff committee sticks with its precedent of choosing teams that go 10-2 – or 10-3 after a conference championship loss – or better, there might be just two or three available SEC teams.

Should a three-loss Texas get in over an Arizona if the Wildcats beat Utah and win out to end with a 10-2 record? Or what about Wake Forest if it loses at SMU, or gets to the ACC Championship at 11- 1 and loses a second time to Miami?

At the moment, five SEC teams are 7-2 or better. Georgia seems fine, but would Alabama have earned a spot in the CFP if it loses to Auburn and goes 9-3? How about 7-2 Tennessee if it gets tripped up by Texas A&M this weekend in College Station, or to LSU?

And then there’s Texas. It’s 7-2, with losses to middle-of-the-pack Florida and Oklahoma teams, but it has wins over Ohio State, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Missouri? What if it loses at LSU this weekend?

Get ready, because the 9-3 talk will be a thing.

Is the Heisman Race Over?

Seriously, who else is there at the moment besides Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr?

Carr has been solid this season, and he has done some fine work, but in this popularity contest known as the Heisman race, it’s about the big moments and big games that matter. Carr threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns in the 31-24 win over Miami. He’s fantastic, but is that one game enough?

This season, maybe.

There isn’t a slam-dunk like Fernando Mendoza was last season, and there isn’t a crazy-great guy like Travis Hunter who captured America’s imagination (I still can’t believe he won it over Ashton Jeanty, but I digress).

Maybe Georgia’s Gunner Stockton. Maybe Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell if he goes off and wins the SEC Championship. Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith will be a finalist, just because he actually is the best player in college football, but … nah. Not at this point.

Miami’s Darian Mensah would have won it on Saturday night had he led Miami to the comeback win, but now, he’s another certain finalist who won’t win it.

Utah quarterback Devon Dampier? Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker? Dampier is worthy, Mestemaker sort of isn’t, but it’s the second week of November, and there’s little national name recognition.

Boston College, SMU, at Syracuse. That’s what Notre Dame and Carr have left. Three above-average performances in easy wins might just lock down the best individual award in all of sports.

This Weekend’s Funky Indiana Schedule Quirk

Last week, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti caused a bit of a stir when he poked the College Football Playoff committee bear for not giving the Big Ten enough credit. It’s what he does, he’s amazing at it, and as the best coach in college football, he’s allowed to pop off, and it works.

But a funny thing happened this weekend when it came to the Hoosiers, and they didn’t even play. Their schedule respectability took a nosedive.

Indiana doesn’t exactly push the envelope in non-conference play – North Texas, Howard, and Western Kentucky this year – but I’ll defend that. You’re crazy not to play as light a slate as possible, and why? You use those games to tune up, and Indiana doesn’t have an extra loss and appears to be a lock for a third straight trip to the College Football Playoff. But back to this weekend.

Here’s Indiana’s Big Ten schedule. Northwestern, Rutgers, Nebraska, Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota, USC, Washington, and Purdue. See if you can spot the issue … time’s up.

Michigan lost at nine at home to a Big Ten-winless Michigan State team, and the other five teams it beat Northwestern (24-10 to Penn State), Rutgers (31-10 at Wisconsin), Nebraska (24-13 at Illinois), Ohio State (41-28 to Oregon), and Minnesota (34-20 to UCLA) all lost by double-digits.

Not a single Big Ten team the Hoosiers have beaten, and one they didn’t beat, won this weekend, and three got trucked at home.

And it gets weirder. USC didn’t play this week, but the two other teams remaining on the Hoosiers’ schedule also flopped this weekend. Washington lost at home to a blah Penn State team, and Purdue lost to a miserable Maryland squad that just underwent a coaching change.

(Here’s the punchline – I think Indiana will end up 11-1, beat UCLA in the Big Ten Championship, and get at least the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff.)

– The Big Weekend that wasn’t
– Is Iowa a College Football Playoff team?
– The CFP 9-3 debate
– Is the Heisman race over?
– The weekend’s funky Indiana quirk?