College football takeaways: Lasting impressions from Week 10
It was a wild week in college football. A Malachi Toney-less Miami lost a tight game in South Bend to Notre Dame. Will the Hurricanes bounce back with their star receiver still sidelined for at least a month?
LSU was blown out by Alabama, leaving the Tigers needing to win out and probably get some extra help to make it into the College Football Playoff. Another team that entered the season with sky-high expectations, Ohio State, is also sliding. Which has disappointed more?
After his Utes beat BYU to remain undefeated, should Utah quarterback Devon Dampier be getting more attention in the Heisman race?
And which team should be on upset alert?
Our college football experts are here to break things down.
Which is the more surprising early CFP elimination -- LSU or Ohio State?
I'd give the Buckeyes a hall pass after they lost star quarterback Julian Sayin to a throwing-arm injury in a 19-15 victory at Indiana on Oct. 17. That still doesn't explain why Ohio State's defense has played so poorly since then, giving up a combined 71 points in its past two defeats to USC and Oregon. That said, LSU's early exit has to be more surprising because there was such a buildup to Lane Kiffin's arrival in Baton Rouge. The Tigers spent more than $54 million to fire former coach Brian Kelly and his staff, paid Kiffin $91 million over seven years to lure him away from Ole Miss, and invested an estimated $40 million to $50 million to assemble a roster that includes transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt, offensive tackle Jordan Seaton and defensive end Princewill Umanmielen. What do the Tigers have to show for it in Year 1? A 6-3 record that might get worse with games against No. 7 Texas at home and No. 13 Tennessee on the road. -- Mark Schlabach
How much is Miami going to miss Malachi Toney the rest of the season?
Miami clearly figured out how to play without Toney in the second half of its 31-24 loss to Notre Dame, using receiver Cooper Barkate and tight end Elija Lofton to close a 24-3 deficit to within one score with six minutes remaining. That plan should not surprise anyone, as Barkate was quarterback Darian Mensah's No. 1 receiver at Duke last season, and the Hurricanes have been touting Lofton and his athleticism since his arrival as a freshman three years ago.
Both players had season highs in catches and receptions. Barkate had 10 catches for 92 yards and two scores, while Lofton had seven catches for 113 yards and a score -- and nearly caught the game-tying touchdown pass. "Besides how good of a player he is, he's a real leader on the team, so losing him was a hurt to the team," Barkate said of Toney after the loss. "But it's a next-man-up mentality, and he wanted us to go out there and play like he was out there."
Miami will be heavily favored to win its final three home games without Toney, starting Saturday against Duke, with Virginia Tech and Boston College to follow. Despite the loss, the Hurricanes still have a 98% chance per the Allstate Playoff Predictor to make the College Football Playoff. Ideally, they won't find themselves in as deep a hole as they did against the Irish and can get back to the balance they love to have with the run game. They had 43 passes to 28 runs as a function of the way the game went. But they proved to themselves in the second half that they have the talent on offense to hold on until Toney returns in four to six weeks. -- Andrea Adelson
Should Devon Dampier be getting more awards attention?
Toney's injury and losses by Miami and Ohio State do make you wonder if the Heisman Trophy race is a bit more wide open with four weeks to go. Notre Dame's CJ Carr is probably the new front-runner, but there's a real opportunity now for Dampier, Keelon Russell, LaNorris Sellers, Drew Mestemaker and others to rise up and punch their ticket to New York City. Dampier isn't high on the national leaderboard for total offense or QBR with his 2,533 total yards and 27 total TDs, but he's putting together quite the highlight reel and added more big-time throws and runs to it against BYU, not to mention an incredible 29-yard catch. He should be a serious contender in the Heisman race going forward as one of this season's most impactful players regardless of his stats, especially if his Utes keep rolling and are 12-0 entering the Big 12 title game. -- Max Olson
Georgia, Texas or Tennessee: Which team should be on upset alert in Week 11?
Georgia feels like a machine at this point. I'm willing to write off the Auburn loss as an aberration. And I'm not sure I trust LSU to really challenge Texas. I was bought in on the Tigers coming out of the bye week and they laid an egg against Alabama. Lane Kiffin will have his hands full trying to get his team up off the mat now that it has three losses and needs a lot of things to go its way to get back in the playoff race. So I'll say Tennessee here, even though I don't believe that much in Texas A&M. The reason is two-fold. One, the Vols don't have a ton of margin for error with the way they play. It's basically defense and running the football. It's a winning formula, to be sure, but it won't blow you away. Bottle up DeSean Bishop and what's their counter? The passing game just isn't set up for a lot of quick strike attacks. Two, Tennessee enjoys a huge home-field advantage and will be missing that going on the road to College Station. -- Alex Scarborough