No. 1 Miami Falls at Notre Dame, Georgia Routs Ole Miss and Utah Wins the Holy War

They call it Separation Saturday because the pretenders are supposed to fall away. On November 7, they did — all at once. According to NCAA.com, the Week 10 slate delivered seven ranked-versus-ranked games, and by late Saturday night the top of the College Football Playoff picture had been rearranged: Notre Dame knocked off No. 1 Miami 31-24 in South Bend, Georgia dismantled Ole Miss 42-7 in Oxford, Utah beat BYU 28-20 in the highest-ranked Holy War ever played, Tennessee routed Kentucky 34-6 in Knoxville, and Oregon scored 38 unanswered points to beat Ohio State 41-28 in Columbus. The updated CFP rankings arrive Tuesday, November 10 at 9 p.m. ET, and they will not look much like the first edition.

Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Miami 24

Notre Dame built a 24-3 lead and then spent the fourth quarter hanging on for its season. CJ Carr completed 29 of 40 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, according to USA TODAY, and Micah Gilbert caught nine passes for 98 yards and two scores, the second of them three minutes into the second half after a 56-yard Jordan Faison punt return set up a short field. Miami, playing without star receiver Malachi Toney, who is out after an ankle procedure, finally woke up: Darian Mensah threw three touchdown passes after halftime and finished 24 of 43 for 276 yards, with Cooper Barkate catching 10 passes for 92 yards and tight end Elija Lofton seven for 113. The game turned on one ruling with 3:36 left. Mensah appeared to hit Lofton for the tying touchdown, but officials ruled Lofton did not control the ball through the catch — safety Luke Talich, who had earlier intercepted Mensah for just the second time all season, helped force the bobble — and the call stood on review. Miami got one last snap back, down seven, and its hook-and-lateral fizzled. NBC Sports reported that Miami head coach Mario Cristobal told reporters afterward he was “beyond upset” the play was ruled incomplete. Both teams are 8-1; Notre Dame, No. 11 in the first CFP rankings despite sitting fourth in the AP poll, now owns the kind of win the committee cannot wave away.

Georgia 42, Ole Miss 7

This was supposed to be a blockbuster. Georgia turned it into a demonstration. The Bulldogs built a 35-0 lead at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and finished a 42-7 rout of Ole Miss, outgaining the Rebels 481-252, according to USA TODAY. Gunner Stockton threw four touchdown passes, three of them to Talyn Taylor, whose scores included strikes of 58 and 65 yards on a 140-yard night, and Nate Frazier ran for 107 yards on 16 carries as Georgia piled up 295 rushing yards — more than Ole Miss produced in total. Trinidad Chambliss, who terrorized Georgia in last season’s Sugar Bowl, finished 18 of 34 for 170 yards with an interception, according to Online Athens. Georgia is 8-1, Ole Miss falls to 6-3, and with Miami losing in South Bend, the Bulldogs are the obvious new No. 1 when the committee votes on Tuesday.

Utah 28, BYU 20 — the Holy War lives up to it

For the first time in the history of the rivalry, Utah and BYU met as top-10 teams, and the game swung like a pendulum. Utah scored the first 14 points at Rice-Eccles Stadium. BYU answered with 20 straight and led 20-14 at halftime. Then the Cougars never scored again. Devon Dampier accounted for all four Utah touchdowns — 14 of 26 passing for 177 yards and two scores, both to Braden Pegan, plus 87 rushing yards and two more touchdowns on 20 carries — and he even caught a 29-yard pass; Bleacher Report noted Dampier became the first player in NCAA history with a game of at least 150 passing yards, 25 receiving yards, two passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns. BYU outgained Utah 391-328 and still lost, because Bear Bachmeier threw four interceptions against one touchdown on 21-of-35 passing for 272 yards. The last two picks ended it: Trey Reynolds intercepted Bachmeier at the Utah 2-yard line with 4:39 left and the Cougars driving for the tie, and Nate Ritchie picked off a desperation heave into the end zone with two seconds remaining. Utah is 9-0 for the first time since 2008, 6-0 in the Big 12, riding a 15-game winning streak, and it snapped a three-game Holy War losing streak with its first win in the rivalry since 2019. BYU falls to 7-2 and its playoff path narrows to a thread. The Utes travel to No. 22 Arizona next week.

Tennessee 34, Kentucky 6

Kentucky arrived in Knoxville 7-1, ranked No. 6 by the committee, and left with its lowest point total of the season. Tennessee, in its Dark Mode uniforms, led just 13-6 entering the fourth quarter, then scored 21 points in the final 15 minutes to win 34-6 — its 20th win in its last 21 home games against the Wildcats, according to Knox News. The Vols ran 37 times for 240 yards and three touchdowns; DeSean Bishop carried 25 times for 109 yards and two scores, and Daune Morris opened the scoring with a 66-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. Quarterback George MacIntyre needed only 125 passing yards because the defense owned the night: eight tackles for loss, led by linebacker Arion Carter’s 13 tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks. Kentucky never reached the end zone — its first game all season without a touchdown — and was held scoreless in the second half. Tennessee (7-2, 4-2 SEC) now has two top-10 wins and plays at Texas A&M on November 14; Kentucky falls to 7-2.

Oregon 41, Ohio State 28; Alabama 31, LSU 13; Texas 34, Missouri 20

The collapse of the day happened in Columbus. Ohio State led Oregon 14-0 at Ohio Stadium behind two first-quarter touchdowns from Bo Jackson, then allowed 38 unanswered points — the most a Buckeyes team has conceded in a row since 1999, according to theScore — and lost 41-28. It is Ohio State’s second straight defeat, and at 6-3 its playoff hopes are, in NCAA.com’s assessment, in serious jeopardy. In Baton Rouge, Alabama justified the committee’s controversial No. 5 ranking for it, beating LSU 31-13 at Tiger Stadium; USA TODAY noted it was another major road win for a résumé that keeps getting stronger, and theScore pointed out that Kalen DeBoer is now 9-0 in his career coming off a bye. Alabama is 7-2, LSU 6-3. Texas, meanwhile, handled its business on the road, beating Missouri 34-20 in Columbia, and Oklahoma went into Gainesville and upset Florida 23-7.

UCLA 34, Minnesota 20 — 9-0 for the first time since 1998

The strangest closing act of the day belonged to UCLA. Minnesota tied the game 17-17 early in the fourth quarter at Huntington Bank Stadium, and then Ty Dieffenbach found Aidan Mizell for a 75-yard touchdown. Minnesota kicked a field goal. UCLA ran one play: Dieffenbach to Mizell, 75 yards, touchdown again. The New York Post reported Dieffenbach finished with a career-high 303 yards on just 8 completions in 16 attempts, with three touchdowns; Mizell’s two bombs were his only catches of the day, worth 150 yards, and Wayne Knight added 109 rushing yards and a touchdown behind a defense that held Minnesota to 296 total yards and 91 on the ground, according to UCLA Athletics. Bob Chesney has the Bruins 9-0 for the first time since 1998 — UCLA has now outscored opponents 110-39 in fourth quarters this season — and the Bruins come home to face Illinois on Friday night at the Rose Bowl.

Around the country

The rest of the verified Saturday finals: Boise State 64, Colorado State 38; Tulsa 60, Tulane 10; Baylor 42, Iowa State 31; Duke 41, NC State 3; Wake Forest 77, Merrimack 0; North Carolina 38, UConn 21; Florida State 31, Boston College 24; Clemson 18, Syracuse 13; Maryland 34, Purdue 29; Liberty 30, New Mexico State 14; Utah State 17, Fresno State 10; Hawai‘i 17, UTEP 14; Arizona State 20, Colorado 10; Iowa 24, Northwestern 10. In the FCS, No. 1 Tarleton State beat No. 22 Abilene Christian 40-27 to stay undefeated, No. 12 Lamar handed No. 2 Stephen F. Austin its first loss of the season 45-28, and Montana running back Eli Gillman broke Cooper Kupp’s Big Sky record for total touchdowns in a 57-24 win over Portland State, according to NCAA.com. Two HBCU title races also tightened on Saturday in coverage elsewhere on Previously today: Virginia Union at Virginia State settled a CIAA championship-game berth, and Benedict and Central State played for an SIAC title berth.

The night’s last ranked game was its wildest. Texas Tech led West Virginia 41-27 at halftime in Lubbock, gave up 21 straight points in the third quarter, and still escaped 53-48: Thomas Castellanos hit Kenny Johnson for a 5-yard go-ahead touchdown with 2:44 left, and a safety on West Virginia’s final possession — quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. tripped in his own end zone after a Trey White sack — sealed it, according to On3 and the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Hawkins finished with 303 passing yards, 104 rushing yards and four total touchdowns in the loss; Texas Tech is 8-1. Two late kickoffs were still in the fourth quarter at the final check, with Wyoming leading UNLV 41-28 in Las Vegas and Texas State leading Oregon State 35-7 in Corvallis. Whatever those finals say, the verdict on Week 10 is already in: the top of this sport got sorted in one Saturday, and Tuesday’s rankings are going to be an argument.