Elms' Essentials: Week 10

We have hit the double-digit week mark, people!

That means that the 2025 college football season is officially approaching its home stretch. We’re in November now (cue the mind-blown emoji)! This week, there were a number of teams that began to separate themselves as legitimate College Football Playoff contenders. At this point in the year, it seems like it’s a select handful of teams that are contenders for the title, and then, there’s just…everyone else.

But this is what these late weeks in the season are for: deciding who’s for real and who isn’t. Speaking of which, let’s get into Week 10!

Texas Tech is still mad about its loss to Arizona State

Maybe I’m alone on this, but I’m getting a sense that Texas Tech is still harboring some feelings of discontentment following their heartbreaking loss to Arizona State a couple of weeks back that ended their then-undefeated season. And it seems like they’ve taken out their frustrations on Oklahoma State last week and now Kansas State this week.

There were times in the Red Raiders’ 43-20 win over Kansas State on Saturday where the game hung in the balance, particularly in the first half and during the fourth quarter. But once Texas Tech really got into gear, there was no stopping them.

Behren Morton had a good, albeit not great, game throwing the ball for Tech. He went 21-for-32 for 248 yards, a couple of touchdown passes, and an interception on the first drive of the game. But once he got that out of the way, he played very well over the course of the rest of the game. Morton has shaken off injury problems over the last few weeks and continued his solid, steady play for a wagon of a Red Raiders squad.

Like I alluded to, there were times where Kansas State was in the game. I mean, going on the road and winning in a conference like the Big 12 is never an easy feat. But the game was 29-20 heading into the fourth quarter, and it looked like the Wildcats had all the momentum after they forced a punt on Texas Tech’s first drive of the period.

However, Kansas State turned it over on downs, and they never scored another point again. The Red Raiders put up 14 unanswered points and by the time the game was over, they were cruising to a 23-point victory.

Kansas State is 4-5 and their season is more or less over. There are questions about whether or not they’ll even qualify for a bowl game. But for Texas Tech, they are 8-1 and look to be all the way back to the dominant form they showed at the beginning of the season. They could very well be the most complete team in the Big 12.

Miami can no longer be trusted

When it comes to the College Football Playoff picture, there is now little reason to trust the Miami Hurricanes following this week’s result.

Think back all the way to the season opener (I know, seems like forever ago), where Miami took down Notre Dame at home following a grueling, epic showdown. It seemed like Carson Beck was the perfect quarterback for the Hurricanes’ system. Was this year going to be the year for Mario Cristobal and company?

Narrator: this will *not* be the year for Miami.

I have now lost a ton of faith in Miami following their frustrating and, quite frankly, avoidable 26-20 loss on the road to SMU this past Saturday. There was blame to go around, but a couple of factors immediately stuck out when I watched this game.

One was the one that will be talked about all across the media landscape: Carson Beck’s ugly interception habit reared its head once again. And for good reason: Beck had yet another questionable throw that ended in a brutal interception, which proved to be the throw that (eventually) lost the game for Miami. It was a theme of his from his last season at Georgia.

However, the other factor that should be taken into account is that the Miami defense gave up 365 passing yards to SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings. And Jennings is absolutely a heck of a player, but it spoke to the effort that the Hurricanes’ defense put in: they simply couldn’t get the stops they needed to get.

But this was quite a bad and frustrating loss. And I am of the belief that SMU is a good team that not enough people are talking about. And their head coach just got a hefty extension, keeping him in the DFW area for a while longer.

But this loss spoke more to me about Miami: they still could make the College Football Playoff, but there is little reason to trust this team right now.

Georgia looks like one of the scariest teams in the country

In terms of what team you would *not* want to play in the College Football Playoff, Georgia looks to be at the top of that list.

It’s one of the oldest quips in football: great teams find ways to win tough games. And Georgia found a way to win on the road, in an incredibly hostile environment, against a better-than-their-record Florida team. I mentioned that winning on the road is quite difficult no matter what conference you play in, and the Bulldogs keep finding ways to win games.

Gunner Stockton had another solid performance in this one, as he completed 20 of his 29 passes for 223 yards and two touchdown passes, along with an interception. The amount of growth he has shown from the end of last year to this year has been nothing short of phenomenal.

It isn’t like Florida played particularly badly, although DJ Lagway put up modest numbers and left a little bit to be desired on some throws. Georgia did outgain Florida by nearly 100 yards (361 to 281), and the Bulldogs’ offense looked a bit more in rhythm than the Gators’ did. However, Florida took good care of the ball and Georgia did commit the one turnover of the game, although that was Stockton’s interception in the first quarter.

This game really came down to which team was going to make the plays they needed to in order to take home the win, and that team was Georgia. There’s a reason that the Bulldogs have had the success they’ve had over the past several years: sound recruiting processes, hitting the transfer portal, great offensive and defensive systems, and perhaps the best head coach in the nation.

Barring a complete collapse, Georgia is trending towards having a spot in the College Football Playoff locked up. And no one will want to play the Bulldogs in the postseason. What else is new?

There was no trap game for Indiana

Indiana football is something else, man.

Going into the Hoosiers’ road test against Maryland, I was of the opinion that this was a potential trap game for Indiana. Going on the road in the Big Ten is never easy (are you noticing a theme in this article?). Maryland, although they had lost their last three games, had started 4-0. And the crowd was jumping.

Yeah, Indiana just laughed in the Terps’ faces and dropped a fifty-burger in front of a stunned crowd in College Park.

The game did not get off to an ideal start for Indiana, as Heisman frontrunner Fernando Mendoza threw an early interception and the Hoosiers’ offense struggled against an aggressive Maryland defense.

However, once Indiana shook the nerves off and fully settled in, it was all gas, no brakes from there. And it was all downhill for the Terrapins from there.

Mendoza’s stats don’t necessarily jump off the page like most of his games have this season. He only attempted 21 passes and completed 14 of them for 201 yards, a touchdown, and the aforementioned interception.

However, the running game was Indiana’s strong suit in this game. They tore apart Maryland’s defense on the ground, running for 367 yards as a team. Kaelon Black racked up 110 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, while Roman Hemby added 88 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough for you? Khobie Martin totaled 80 yards and a score on 11 carries.

The Hoosiers’ running game did, quite literally, whatever they wanted with the Terps after about a quarter of getting settled in and adjusting to what the Maryland defense was showing them. Indiana straight up just did whatever they wanted to the Terrapins’ defense. By the time the game ended, the Hoosiers had 55 to Maryland’s 10.

Even Fernando Mendoza’s younger brother Alberto got in on the fun!

For Maryland…woof. The Terps are now 1-4 in Big Ten play and that 4-0 start seems like it was a generation ago. And for the Hoosiers, they are a killing machine designed solely to dominate football games. Just another boring day destroying a conference opponent for Curt Cignetti and company.

John Mateer has been painfully average since returning from injury

But wait, Joe, you might be saying, Oklahoma won the game!

Yes, that’s true. The Sooners won this game at home 33-27 over Tennessee, and they outlasted a solid, yet turnover-filled, performance from Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar.

However, one of the stories of this game was how frustratingly mediocre John Mateer has looked since returning from his hand injury. Of course, his first game back was a miserable performance in the Red River Rivalry game against Texas, but it seems like he has never seemed to shake that off.

In this game against Tennessee, Mateer completed 19 of his 29 passes for just 159 passing yards. He did not throw a touchdown but he did throw an interception that came close to upending Oklahoma’s momentum in the fourth quarter. To his credit, he did help lead his team to the win in the end, so that’s really all that matters. But something has just seemed off about him ever since his injury.

Admittedly, this was a good win on the road for the Sooners that kept their College Football Playoff hopes alive, but the road doesn’t get any easier from here. They’ve got No. 4 Alabama up next on the schedule, followed by Missouri at home and LSU on the road to end the regular season.

Oh, and did I mention that the game against ‘Bama is in Tuscaloosa? Mateer better figure it out quickly, and if he doesn’t, it will be a wildly disappointing season in Norman.

And last but not least…

Utah needs more national respect

It seems like the Utes aren’t getting talked about enough as a national contender, are they?

Well, I will take it upon myself to change that. Because after Utah’s 45-14 thumping of Cincinnati in Salt Lake City, they deserve more attention in the national media.

Utah played a bit like Indiana played in their win over Maryland: the passing game was just okay, but the running game for the Utes was absolutely relentless. Quarterback Devon Dampier completed just over half his passes for 213 yards, two scores, and an interception. Again, good, but nothing spectacular.

However, the Utes ran all over Cincinnati’s defense. Utah ran for 267 yards as a team, and running back Wayshawn Parker ran for 104 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Dampier himself was also busy on the ground, running for 78 yards on 14 rushes. NaQuari Rogers and Byrd Ficklin each found the end zone, and the Bearcats’ defense was helpless to stop the Utes’ rushing attack.

And as for the other side of the ball, the Cincinnati offense, which came in as perhaps the hottest in the country, was largely pitiful in this game. Out of the 33 passes that Brendan Sorsby threw in this one, he completed just 11. For those counting at home, that is approximately a 33.3% completion percentage. Rough.

The fact of the matter is that Utah’s defense manhandled the Bearcats’ offense throughout the game and stonewalled all of the momentum that Brendan Sorsby and company had built up over the last several weeks. Cincy is by no means dead in the Big 12 race (neither is Utah, obviously), but now that the Utes own the tiebreaker, there is no doubt that this was quite a frustrating game for the Bearcats.

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