College football coaches are not democratically elected leaders and are not hereditary monarchs per se, but they have much more in common with the latter than the former.
When hired, every coach in the country is asked to uphold a set of dynastic values and to instill that set of values in his assistants and players. This is not an easy task and many fail. Smooth transitions from one diet to another are rare.
The airtight coaching transitions of this century have been easy to spot: Bob Stoops to Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma, Urban Meyer to Ryan Day at Ohio State. After Saturday, we may have to add another to the list: Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, giving way to Morgan Scalley.
I hope your team went from 0-0 to 1-0 on a cool, clear Saturday across most of the country. Welcome to the live winners and losers of week 10.
Winner: Notre Dame Avenger
It’s not entirely accurate to say that the Fighting Irish are gone No no doubt, but they left little enough doubt to give their fans a good night’s sleep a year after a loss to Miami cost coach Marcus Freeman’s team a CFP berth. Notre Dame dominated the trench battle throughout the evening, forcing quarterback Darian Mensah into a professional 24-for-43 performance (and a rare interception). Mensah and the Hurricanes turned a 24-3 deficit into a dogfight in the second half, but collectively couldn’t spell injured star receiver/force multiplier Malachi Toney – or Fighting Irish quarterback CJ Carr, for that matter. Boston College, SMU and Syracuse stand between Notre Dame and the playoffs.
Loser: the audience watching Michigan State-Michigan
If you watched this, you may be entitled to compensation. Neither Spartans coach Pat Fitzgerald nor Wolverines coach Kyle Whittingham will get any votes for a Michigan job shortly after Michigan State’s 15-6 victory, in which the Spartans nearly shut out the Wolverines by an average of four yards per play. Some questions for Michigan: a) would coach Kyle Whittingham dump offensive coordinator Jason Beck to save himself, and b) at what point would the quarterback in exile Would Bryce Underwood have a second chance? The Wolverines’ next two weeks (Oregon on the road! UCLA!) are a nightmare, but a down Ohio State team is a terrible thing to waste.
Winner: Boise State without Maddux Madsen
The Broncos’ win over Texas State last Saturday was sneakily one of the best games of the year in college football — the Bobcats scored 42 points in the second half and lost 46-45 — but came at a price. Boise State lost quarterback Maddux Madsen, a holdover from the team’s 2024 Fiesta Bowl run, to a knee injury. No matter: Backup Max Cutforth carved up Colorado State on Saturday, completing 16 of 19 passes for 317 yards and four touchdowns in a 64-38 victory. Broncos coach Spencer Danielson seems to genuinely love his job and shuns Power 4 overtures, but it’s high time he’s recognized as one of the Group of 6’s elite coaches.
Loser: Tulane
It is incredibly It’s rare for a college football program to fire a coach after one year for poor performance, a fate that Whittingham, California’s Tosh Lupoi and others appear to be courting. No coach, however, has received as ominous an administrative threat as Tulane’s Will Hall, who lost 60-10 at home to Tulsa on Saturday. Athletic director David Harris called the Green Wave’s performance “unacceptable and well below the standard we have come to expect in recent years.” What a difference 11 months makes for a program with three 10-win seasons in the last four years.
Winner: Morgan Scalley
The Utes’ 28-20 win over BYU on Saturday — their first, surprisingly, since 2019 — cemented Utah as a national title contender and Scalley’s coaching job as one of the most stunning of the season. Yes, the Utes started the year ranked 21st, but losing your wildly successful coach of two decades is a significant disruption — not to mention the fact that installing Scalley was, and remains, a bit of a reputation roll of the dice. Utah didn’t play its best game, but got just enough from quarterback Devon Dampier to see the Cougars fight back (four interceptions, 11 penalties for 80 yards). Arizona looms large on Saturday after a miracle win Friday night against TCU.
Loser: Matt Rhule
Nebraska, which entered this week at No. 18 in ESPN’s Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings, has underperformed its leading indicators so much that Rhule’s situation appears untenable, even with a $63 million buyout. Illinois (once again thriving under coach Bret Bielema) beat the Cornhuskers by double digits on Friday in a game where they outscored Nebraska by 50 yards. Quarterback Anthony Colandrea is averaging 5.1 adjusted yards per attempt in his last two games, which is concerning even before accounting for the fact that he led the Mountain West in that category in 2025. Nebraska needs two of three from Rutgers, Ohio State and Iowa to make a bowl game, which doesn’t seem a given.
Winner: UCLA
Coach Bob Chesney’s team feels like Indiana 2024, even without the James Madison connection. The Bruins aren’t in the business of annihilating good teams — their biggest win against a team with a winning record was a 10-point victory over Wisconsin — but know how to get the job done under duress. Case in point: Saturday against Minnesota, where backup quarterback Ty Dieffenbach threw two 75-yard touchdowns to receiver Aidan Mizell to turn a tie early in the fourth quarter into a 34-20 victory. The Golden Gophers’ 20 points were the most points scored against UCLA since Sept. 19.
Loser: Ryan Day
In a more luxuriant era for Ohio State under Day’s tenure, a systemic shock like last Saturday’s loss to USC would have served as a prelude to a cathartic beatdown. In 2026, it served as a prelude to a cathartic loss for Oregon, which turned an early 14-0 deficit into a 41-28 laugh. Forget injured quarterback Julian Sayin: the Buckeyes defense completely folded, leaving Ducks quarterback Dylan Raiola to complete 25 of 40 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns. The last time Michigan and Ohio State played as both unranked teams seems like a possibility: 1987.
Winner: Texas
November in the SEC will largely consist of CFP playoff games, and the Longhorns impressed in the first one. With wide receiver Cam Coleman out and defensive end Colin Simmons recovering from an injury, Texas relied on quarterback Arch Manning, who delivered one of his most complete performances of Season 26. Manning scored Missouri for 297 yards and three touchdowns, likely ending the CFP hopes of a team with a very good win (Florida). The Longhorns are one win over LSU next Saturday, a far cry from true CFP optimism after missing the field in 25,
Loser: Lane Kiffin, against Alabama, several times
ABC’s Chris Fowler told viewers before the game that Kiffin had never beaten the Crimson Tide as head coach, and Kiffin did his best to change his luck by entering Tiger Stadium with an entourage that included LSU products Shaquille O’Neal, Angel Reese, Paul Skenes and (for some reason) actor Kevin Costner. The Tigers led in the final minute of the third quarter, but Alabama’s defense dominated a final frame marked by increasingly elaborate celebrations on the field by defensive coordinator Kane Wommack. The loss is salt in the wound for Kiffin after CBS Sports’ John Talty biography released earlier this fall detailed at length how much Kiffin wanted the Crimson Tide job when coach Nick Saban retired. LSU’s maiden voyage under their new coach could easily end with the Tigers losing five games; after Texas, LSU travels to Tennessee on November 21.
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