Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, Notre Dame-Clemson and More High-Stakes Week 10 CFB Games

This weekend in college football, we’ve got old trouble spots trying to reclaim their pain-in-the-butt status for some of college football’s biggest names, an unexpected matchup that could decide who plays in the ACC title game, the possible finale of an in-state rivalry and Washington’s first trip to USC since the Lane Kiffin era.

TCU at Texas Tech (Thursday, 7:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports 1): The Horned Frogs have won the last four games in this series, and Texas Tech hasn’t beaten TCU in Lubbock since 2013. 4-4 TCU is desperate to stay above .500 and almost certainly needs this win to have a shot at making a bowl, with Texas, Baylor and Oklahoma as their last three opponents. Texas Tech will be trying to avoid its first three-game losing streak since 2020; a loss means it has to sweep Kansas, UCF and Texas to become bowl-eligible. 

Colorado State at Wyoming (Friday, 8:00 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network): When this rivalry was first played in 1899, it became immediately heated, with one official slapping the rule book out of the hands of another (who happened to be a Colorado State professor) and telling him he “did not give a damn for the rules.” Then there was the time Colorado State showed up to the game in an unorthodox fashion and started a brawl before opening kickoff. Wyoming has dominated the series as of late, winning six of the last seven. A win gets the Cowboys bowl-eligible for the third season in a row; assuming they secure an invitation, that will be the first time they go to a bowl in three straight years. 3-5 Colorado State would like to break a trend of bad November play stretching back to 2017. It's only 4-16 in this month since the start of that season, a big reason why the Rams haven’t made a bowl since that year.

Kansas State at Texas (Saturday, 12:00 PM Eastern, Fox): Kansas State used to give the Longhorns a ton of headaches, starting from the first time they met as Big 12 members in 1998. The Wildcats won that game 48-7, holding Ricky Williams to 43 yards and forcing four Texas turnovers. After Kansas State’s win, it won nine of the last 13 games against the Longhorns. But Texas has turned the tide since then, winning six in a row since 2017. This is the first time both teams enter the game ranked since 2012 when Kansas State won and secured a share of the conference title. The stakes are just as high this year; both teams are tied (with Iowa State and both Oklahoma schools) for the lead in the conference.

Texas A&M at Ole Miss (Saturday, 12:00 PM Eastern, ESPN): Since A&M joined the SEC in 2012, this series has had a ton of close games — six of the ten matchups have been decided by one score, and only one (Ole Miss’s 23-3 win in 2015) has featured a team winning by more than two scores. The 7-1 Rebels showed up at No. 10 in the first playoff ranking, which puts them in position to grab a spot even if they don’t make the SEC Championship should some real chaos happen in the rankings above them. At 5-3, the Aggies don’t have to worry about finishing last in the SEC West for the second year in a row (thanks, Arkansas), but a loss would make this five seasons out of Jimbo Fisher’s six in College Station where A&M drops at least three conference games.

Notre Dame at Clemson (Saturday, 12:00 PM Eastern, ABC): Clemson, currently 4-4, hasn’t been below .500 in November since 2008 — the year Tommy Bowden resigned midseason and Dabo Swinney became the interim head coach. The Tigers are also at risk of losing three games in a row for the first year since 2010 when they barely made it to a bowl game. This will be Notre Dame’s first trip to Clemson since 2015. The Fighting Irish came within a two-point conversion of sending that game to overtime after falling behind 21-3 in the second half.

The Irish, who lost to Louisville earlier this season, haven’t dropped multiple games to ACC opponents since their disastrous 4-8 year in 2016 when they were defeated by Virginia Tech, NC State and Duke, none of whom were ranked at the time. 

Jacksonville State at South Carolina (Saturday, 12:00 PM Eastern, ESPNU): Having already reviewed Jacksonville State’s history of peskiness against Power 5 opponents, let’s consider that the Conference USA Gamecocks have the chance to complete one of the best FBS debuts ever. At 7-2, a ten-win season is still within reach, which only 1997 Marshall has accomplished among the many teams who’ve jumped up a division over the decades. South Carolina’s deeply unpleasant year has mostly been thanks to losses away from Columbia (Florida’s the sole loss that came at home). A bowl game is still possible for the SEC Gamecocks if they can beat Jacksonville State and win the three games following: Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Clemson.

Army vs. Air Force (Saturday, 2:30 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network): Air Force already took a step towards retaining the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy two weeks ago by beating Navy, and Army has tended to be the team the Falcons have less trouble with. Since 1997, Air Force has a 20-6 record against the Black Knights. A win moves Air Force to 9-0, their best start since the 1985 season. Army, meanwhile, is in the middle of a five-game losing streak, and it hasn’t lost six in a row in one season since 2007. 

Missouri at Georgia (Saturday, 3:30 PM Eastern, CBS): The single time Missouri beat Georgia, in 2013, they also won the SEC East. (Mizzou repeated as division winners the next year but lost to Georgia 34-0 at home. Look, the East has had some gross years.) Since then, the best the Tigers have managed are some Bulldog scares — a 9-6 game in 2015, 28-27 the following year and a 26-22 Georgia win last season. But Missouri’s currently at its highest AP ranking (No. 14) since the 2014 team that defended its division title and has a chance to go 8-1 for the first time since that 2013 breakthrough season in the SEC. If Georgia wins, they’ll have gone three years without a loss to a division opponent and will have nearly locked up another East title. That would be their sixth in seven seasons — more than Tennessee has since the SEC split into divisions in 1992.

Oklahoma at Oklahoma State (Saturday, 3:30 PM Eastern, ABC): Oklahoma State’s not on any future schedules for the Sooners after they move to the SEC next season, so this may be the last Bedlam game for some time. A Cowboys win would be a nice parting gift for a series that’s been very lopsided in favor of the Sooners, who have won 19 of the last 24 meetings. The loser will find itself scrambling to get back into Big 12 championship contention and, in Oklahoma’s case, would likely kill their hopes of making the Playoff. 

Virginia Tech at Louisville (Saturday, 3:30 PM Eastern, ACC Network): If you predicted before the season that this game would decide who would be second in the ACC after ten weeks, I strongly encourage you to use your predictive powers for more productive ends. Virginia Tech has lost five of its last six games against ranked ACC opponents; the exception was a win over No. 10 UNC in 2021, which is part of a bigger UNC pattern. Despite their contention in the ACC, the 4-4 Hokies still need wins to get to bowl eligibility. Lose this game and they’ll need to beat two of Boston College, NC State and Virginia. Louisville, meanwhile, just got its highest Playoff ranking since 2016, and an eighth win would already make this as successful as any Cardinals season after that one.

Kansas at Iowa State (Saturday, 7:00 PM Eastern, ESPN): The Jayhawks just got their first top-25 ranking in the history of the College Football Playoff and would love to stay there with win number seven. That would be the best season since 2008 for Kansas and more wins than their last four coaches had in their entire Lawrence tenures. 2008 was also the last time Kansas beat the Cyclones on the road. Iowa State has a shot at its first four-game win streak since 2020 and would be bowl-eligible with a victory after a very rough 2-3 start to the season. It would also keep the Cyclones tied for the Big 12 lead and likely keep Kansas as one of two original Big 12 members to never make the conference title game. (The other is Texas Tech.)

Washington at USC (Saturday, 7:30 PM Eastern, ABC): The last theoretical meeting for these two teams would have been the 2020 Pac-12 Championship, which Washington had to pull out of when COVID-19 left them with insufficient roster numbers. Consequently, USC hasn’t won this game since 2016 and hasn’t beaten Washington in the Coliseum since 2011, when Lane Kiffin was still the coach of the Trojans. A loss would drop USC to 0-3 against ranked opponents in the regular season with currently-ranked Oregon and UCLA still on the schedule. The last time the Trojans lost to four ranked teams before bowl season was 2012. 8-0 Washington is off to its best start since 2016 … when USC dealt them its first loss of the season after nine straight victories. A USC win opens up several interesting scenarios for the conference championship spots, while Washington winning would mean the Huskies only need to win two of their last three games to make it in.

LSU at Alabama (Saturday, 7:45 PM Eastern, CBS): An LSU win would make for the first time the Tigers have beaten Alabama in consecutive seasons since 2010 and 2011 and create a potential three-way tie atop the SEC West between Alabama, Ole Miss (who lost to the Crimson Tide but beat LSU), and the Tigers. The last three LSU teams that beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa all played in the national championship game; the 2019 and 2007 teams won the title, and the 2011 lost a rematch to Bama in the BCS Championship. The 2019 defeat is the only home November loss the Crimson Tide have suffered in the last ten seasons. A win would be Nick Saban’s 13th triumph over LSU since he arrived in Tuscaloosa. Ole Miss, Arkansas, and Auburn combined have 17 wins against the Tigers in that same stretch. 

Boise State at Fresno State (Saturday, 10:00 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network): Two features have defined the Boise State-Fresno State rivalry since 2013. First, this game happens just about as often in the Mountain West championship (four times) as it does in the regular season (six meetings). Second, neither team enjoys a stretch of dominance over the other. Boise’s won two games in a row a few times but not a third, and Fresno State hasn’t managed to follow one victory over the Broncos with another. With both teams 3-1 in conference play, a rematch in the MWC title game is possible, if not all that likely, though I’m sure either would be perfectly happy to just knock the other out of title contention altogether here. There’s a giant milk can trophy awarded to the winner as well. Let’s see how Boise head coach Andy Avalos feels about that!

Maybe he’s practicing minimalism or something.