Connelly sizes up college football's best races down the homestretch

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  Bill ConnellyNov 15, 2026, 05:15 PM ET

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  Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

Hey, if they were all classics, we wouldn't appreciate the classics, right?

Week 11 of the college football season gave us an epic in Tucson and an epic struggle in Baton Rouge, but despite some promise here and there -- Illinois driving to take the lead on No. 4 UCLA late? Duke within five of No. 7 Miami in the fourth quarter? No. 18 USC driving to tie No. 9 Indiana midway through the fourth? -- we didn't see many huge shake-ups.

We did cull the playoff field a bit. LSU is done after a last-second loss to Texas; Houston is done after a miserable Friday night in Boulder; South Carolina is done after a Fayetteville face-plant; Kentucky is probably done after falling to Jekyll-and-Hyde Florida. But otherwise, it was mostly status quo for Week 11. There are now six teams with at least a 93% chance of making the College Football Playoff, per the Allstate Playoff Predictor, plus four more over 70%, and with two weekends left before our final championship weekend, quite a bit is already settled.

Not everything is, however. Here are my favorite remaining races for the homestretch.

The last three(ish) CFP spots

Main candidates: Wake Forest, Tennessee, BYU, Texas Tech, Ohio State, Iowa, Kentucky and perhaps Indiana or UCLA with a loss.

We are awash in awesome but incomplete teams this year. Texas, Indiana, UCLA and Tennessee have all positioned themselves pretty well with tremendous defenses, mostly sturdy run games (Texas aside, at times) and major question marks at quarterback. Miami's defense has regressed over the past month, and the offense will be missing Malachi Toney for a little while longer. Utah and Texas Tech give up too many big plays (and Tech has only recently begun to make a sufficient number of them). Alabama's offense moves backward more than I would prefer. BYU is ridiculously physical but not trustworthy from an explosiveness standpoint. Notre Dame's explosiveness is improving, but enough to win four playoff games? Boise State has as much offensive upside as most of the top teams, but the defense stopped defending a few weeks ago.

Amid all these obviously strong but complicated teams are two that I have come to trust above all others. The first is Georgia, which I have been proclaiming as the best team in the country since mid-September and who has responded ruthlessly since a funky, statistically unlikely loss to Auburn. The other ... is Wake Forest.

Jake Dickert's Demon Deacons were solid in September and shifted into another gear entirely in October. Following a loss to Miami, in which they found rhythm and confidence in the second half but couldn't dig out of a 31-7 hole, they took down a strong Louisville team, then hit the gas. They've won their past six games by a combined 313-38. That's an average of 52-6! And while most of these victims were from the ACC's bottom half (FCS' Merrimack was in there as well), that wouldn't matter to folks if the Deacs were wearing Miami's or some other name-brand helmet -- it's clear how awesome they are.

Saturday's victim was SMU, which entered the contest 7-2, holding playoff hopes and having won its past two home games by a combined 110-48. The Deacs led 42-0 at the half, and Dickert, one of the chestiest, most chip-on-shoulder coaches we've seen in quite a while, came out of the break with an all-time quote: "We're not finished with them yet. We came for 60 minutes and they've got nowhere to hide." (He was bluffing: The score after halftime was only 7-7.)

From a pure quality standpoint, the Deacs should be absolute locks for a playoff spot right now. After all, how many times have we heard a CFP higher-up say that the committee has been tasked with selecting the best teams? But in reality, Wake's job is far from done because the CFP committee evidently watches games only on spreadsheets, doesn't care how good a team actually looks and harshly judges teams for not receiving SEC or Big Ten invitations. Despite all the domination, Wake ranked 13th in the CFP rankings coming into this week. The Deacs will move up thanks to No. 11 Kentucky's loss, but their spot in the field of 12 is still tenuous at best. And the competition will be pretty fierce if they can't knock off Miami in the ACC championship game in three weeks. (Technically, Louisville is still eligible for a spot as well, but odds significantly favor a Miami-Wake rematch.)

At this point, we can basically say that six teams are all but certainly in the CFP, and three more are close to locking things up. Georgia, Miami, Utah, Notre Dame, Alabama and Texas all have playoff odds over 93%, per the Allstate Playoff Predictor, and Indiana, Boise State and UCLA are all over 76%. No one is at 100%, obviously, and maybe only seven or eight of these nine teams ultimately make it. But until we see a major upset (or two, or three), let's say they're in for now.

That leaves only three spots for some combination of Wake Forest, Tennessee, BYU, Texas Tech, Oregon, Ohio State, a rising Iowa and a fading Kentucky. Wake should be almost in the clear -- the Deacs face Georgia Tech (away) and Duke (home) to finish the regular season, and the committee has made it clear that it doesn't want to knock teams out of the field for losing their conference title games -- but nothing's certain just yet. Tennessee is a lock with a win over Lane Kiffin and LSU this coming week, and whoever plays Utah in the Big 12 championship game (either Texas Tech or BYU) will be hard to jostle from the field. Plus, Oregon is charging, and Iowa would almost have a bid sewn up if not for an increasingly baffling loss to Minnesota.

Wake still has minimal margin for error, but as long as the Deacs keep playing as they have been, they won't need any.

The second spot in the last SEC championship game

Main candidates: Texas, Alabama and Tennessee.

A week ago, LSU led Alabama in the third quarter but should have led by more if not for some blown scoring opportunities. The Crimson Tide turned the tables late in the third quarter, dominated defensively in the fourth and eventually pulled away. Meanwhile, Texas trailed at Missouri in the third quarter but should have trailed by more if not for blown scoring opportunities from the Tigers. The Longhorns turned the tables late in the third quarter, dominated defensively in the fourth and eventually pulled away.

Granted, there was no pulling away Saturday, but even as LSU took a 21-10 lead over the Horns midway through the third quarter, it was easy to assume we already knew how this episode would turn out. By that point the Tigers had already thrown a pair of end zone interceptions and missed a 38-yard field goal. It should have been 31-10 or so instead of 21-10, but Texas' defense began to take control, and despite major offensive struggles -- the Horns averaged only 4.1 yards per play, and Arch Manning threw three picks and took four sacks -- the outcome felt inevitable. LSU finished the game with four punts (including three three-and-outs), Texas kicked two field goals, and Raleek Brown scored the winning touchdown with three seconds left.

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Arch Manning, Texas stun LSU 22-21

In 2026, Texas wins these games and LSU loses them. Granted, the Horns lost back-to-back close games of their own until they began to take the game out of Manning's hands and lean more heavily into defense and relative ball control, but they're still 4-2 in one-score finishes this year. LSU is 0-3. Texas will be in the playoff while Lane Kiffin and the Tigers are watching from home.

Texas might also be in the SEC championship game. I know playing a 13th game is a bit of a disadvantage in certain ways, but from the moment Steve Sarkisian hired Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator last winter, it felt like a move designed to get Texas over the Georgia hump. (Sark is 0-3 against Kirby Smart's Bulldogs.) And Saturday got us a big step closer to a Dawgs-Horns meeting in Atlanta.

It's certainly not guaranteed, though. While Georgia is all but certain to make the title game -- which is fitting, as it's the last one and Georgia has made five in a row (and eight of nine) -- the other spot could still go to either Alabama (6-2 in conference play), Tennessee (5-2) or Sark's Horns (5-2).

Texas' remaining schedule: Arkansas, at Texas A&M

Alabama's remaining schedule: Auburn

Tennessee's remaining schedule: LSU, at Vanderbilt

The Horns have the edge because of a head-to-head win over Tennessee and a likely better record than Alabama against common conference opponents. Saturday reminded us that the SEC is still capable of plenty of surprises -- underdogs won three of six games in the conference -- but if the favorites win out, Texas goes to Atlanta. We'll see if there's another plot twist to come. There have been many, no matter how predictable the end stages felt in Baton Rouge on Saturday night.

The Heisman race

Main candidates: Jeremiah Smith, Darian Mensah, Devon Dampier, CJ Carr and Gunner Stockton.

I'll talk more about the Heisman in Tuesday's Heisman of the Week piece (here's last week's), but the race is a finicky creature. Sometimes it's based on two or three great players trying to one-up each other. Sometimes it's a processional toward an obvious conclusion. And sometimes it's a measure of flickering vibes.

The 2026 race is clearly in the last of those categories. Six weeks into the season, Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith was an overwhelming favorite; his Heisman odds at DraftKings were -220 (equivalent to a 69% chance). Last week, they had plummeted to +280 (26%). Now, following a workmanlike 11-catch, 117-yard performance against Northwestern -- certainly solid but also only the 61st-most yards from scrimmage of the weekend (tied with Minnesota's Darius Taylor, Air Force's Kemper Hodges and Louisiana-Monroe's Bryson Roland) -- Smith's odds have soared all the way back to -144 (59%).

Current Heisman odds via DraftKings
Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State (-144, equivalent to 59%)
Darian Mensah, Miami (+340, equivalent to 23%)
Devon Dampier, Utah (+720, equivalent to 12%)
CJ Carr, Notre Dame (+1000, equivalent to 9%)
Gunner Stockton, Georgia (+2500, equivalent to 4%*)

(Yes, these odds add up to over 100%. That's how sports books make their money.)

That Carr's odds plummeted from +220 to +1000 after a tidy 20-for-28 performance in a blowout of Boston College tells you just how vibes-y this whole thing is. But it's probably fair that Smith needed only a strong performance to get back on track. It's a reflection of how much the quarterback position hogs the oxygen that Smith's candidacy fell apart in part because Ohio State signal-caller Julian Sayin got hurt and was replaced by freshman Luke Fahey. If we're somehow judging Smith for that, it's perhaps OK to give him double credit for Saturday's performance. He was good.

If Smith wins the Heisman, that's fair. It's supposed to go to the most outstanding player in the sport, and he has always been ridiculous. But with three weeks to go before ballots are due, we have time for three more vibe shifts. And I have some viewing recommendations for any voters reading this.

Gio Lopez, Wake Forest

Lopez is currently sixth in the betting odds at a distant +5000 (2%), but he's up to fifth in Total QBR (which is adjusted for opponent), and he's first since Wake's Week 4 ignition.

Nate Sheppard, Duke

Sheppard was the best player on the field in Duke's Saturday loss to Miami, and he has been in nearly every week of the season. He gained 224 yards from scrimmage -- 66% of Duke's total yardage -- with 131 rushing and 93 receiving. He has gained at least 124 yards from scrimmage in all but one game this season, and when his yardage total was held down (66 against Virginia) he instead threw the winning touchdown pass. He's absurd, and he should easily be in the top five of the Heisman vote. That he's merely on a 7-3 team is holding him back, but that should make everything he's doing even more impressive.

Aiden Flora, Iowa State

In 1996, Iowa State's Troy Davis finished second in the Heisman voting while playing on a 2-9 Cyclones team. He gained 2,249 yards from scrimmage with 21 touchdowns that season; no one will ever touch that degree of difficulty, but ISU's Aiden Flora is trying. He has gained more than 200 yards from scrimmage in five games following Saturday's 254-yard eruption in a 41-13 blowout of Cincinnati. He scored on a 77-yard burst in the first quarter but otherwise gained his yards with consistency -- of his 32 touches, eight gained at least 10 yards and 18 gained at least 5. Perhaps even more impressive: Only one lost yards.

The race to the oddest Big Ten championship game pairing imaginable

Main candidates: UCLA and Indiana (with Oregon and Ohio State looming)

If you own a time machine, once you've gone back to clean up history, prevent wars and buy Apple stock, you should go back in time about 10 years, find a random college football fan and tell them the 2026 Big Ten championship game is going to be between Indiana and UCLA. Tell me what their reaction was.

We're not there yet, but we're getting close. On Friday night at the Rose Bowl -- in front of a season-high 45,800 fans! -- UCLA moved to 10-0 for the first time since 1998 by quite simply doing UCLA things. The Bruins' defense held Illinois to 240 total yards, stopped 46% of the Illini's snaps for zero or negative yards and forced three turnovers, while the offense got gains of 54 and 63 yards from receiver Aidan Mizell and a bunch of tough running from Wayne Knight. Quarterback Ty Dieffenbach played his best game of the season from a Total QBR standpoint, but he also missed part of it with an elbow injury, and Illinois still got the ball with a chance to take the lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Illinois' last eight snaps generated minus-5 yards, however, and UCLA won 22-14. This isn't a pretty team despite the pretty home stadium, but the Bruins are one win from a first (and last) ever Big Ten championship game appearance. They're probably also one win from clinching a first-ever CFP berth.

Indiana, meanwhile, did what Indiana increasingly does: Figure out a way. Curt Cignetti's Hoosiers were far less efficient than USC in Bloomington on Saturday, and they suffered five tackles for loss and three three-and-outs as they figured out how to move the ball with a new starting quarterback (Grant Wilson) and without injured running back Turbo Richard. Both teams suffered missed field goals and turnovers in a messy first half, but trailing 20-13 midway through the fourth quarter, USC drove the length of the field and appeared ready to tie the game. Then Isaiah Jones picked off a Jayden Maiava pass at the goal line, Wilson hit Charlie Becker for a touchdown bomb, Jamari Sharpe picked off Maiava again, and that was that. Indiana won nearly every play of the last 6½ minutes and won 27-13. It's what the Hoosiers do.

Indiana is basically one foot away from a 26-game winning streak, and while the Hoosiers have learned every possible lesson about how hard it is to repeat -- either as conference or national champion -- here they are, on the doorstep of another conference title game berth and a return to the CFP. They still need to win at Washington and beat Purdue at home to lock up the former and feel totally fine about the latter, but they'll be favored in both games, and no matter how wobbly they look at times, no one has earned the benefit of the doubt more than IU.

If IU does slip up (or UCLA slips up twice), either Oregon or Ohio State -- or, via minuscule odds, Iowa -- could still sneak into the conference title game. But it's Hoosiers-Bruins until someone proves they can prevent it. What a world.

Three epic G6 title races

We're probably getting Liberty vs. Jacksonville State in Conference USA, and the Pac-12 (Boise State vs. either Texas State or San Diego State) and Sun Belt (Louisiana Tech vs. either James Madison or Georgia Southern) have whittled their potential title winners quite a bit. But luckily we have three nonsense races to keep track of for another couple of weeks.

American Conference

Main candidates: Memphis, UTSA, North Texas (and maybe Army, East Carolina and UAB)

A week after having its own playoff hopes severely wounded by a blowout loss at Florida Atlantic, UTSA turned around and did grave damage to North Texas' hopes. The Roadrunners led 21-3 at halftime and withstood a brief rally before cruising 35-16. Mean Green quarterback Tayven Jackson suffered a shoulder injury in the third quarter -- he had been spectacular this season, and his prognosis doesn't look great.

With UNT falling, we enter the final two weeks of the competition with three teams at 5-1 in American play (Memphis, North Texas and UTSA) and three more at 4-2 (Army, East Carolina, UAB). Three games remain between these competitors -- UTSA at UAB and East Carolina at Army in Week 11, UAB at North Texas in Week 12 -- and while the three 5-1 teams have far better odds at this point than the 4-2 teams, no one is an absolute favorite.

MAC

Main candidates: Western Michigan, Toledo, Buffalo, Ohio and Miami (Ohio)

I basically ask for one thing from the MAC in a given season: chaos. I'd say having four teams tied at 5-1 (Buffalo, Ohio, Toledo and Western Michigan) with 4-2 Miami (Ohio) only a game back qualifies. Ohio couldn't hold on to a 17-0 lead over Miami on Tuesday night, watching backup quarterback Drew Bellisari come in and engineer a stunning 34-0 run. That kept the RedHawks just barely in the race, while Ohio is stuck in a logjam with three teams that won their midweek MACtion encounters.

WMU and Toledo seem most likely to reach the title game, but with only two games remaining between these five competitors -- Miami at WMU and Toledo at Ohio in Week 13 -- the race could be decided by whoever avoids upsets. That always proves a bit tricky in the MAC.

Mountain West

Main candidates: New Mexico, North Dakota State, Wyoming, Air Force and UNLV

New Mexico needed to beat UNLV on Saturday night to keep pace in the CFP race -- it seemed the Lobos were the most likely team to take advantage if Boise State slipped up at some point. Instead, they got Jackson Arnold'ed. Their shaky offense couldn't put UNLV away despite taking a 17-7 lead into the fourth quarter, and a dynamite defense finally slipped, allowing TD drives of 95 and 65 yards. UNLV took the lead with a 44-yard Arnold touchdown and held on to win.

The Lobos won't be in the CFP, and now they have to work to make it to the Mountain West championship game. At 5-1 in conference play, they're jammed in with 6-1 Wyoming, 5-2 North Dakota State, 4-2 Air Force and 4-2 UNLV, and they finish up with two more games against contenders -- Wyoming (away) in Week 12, Air Force (home) in Week 13. NDSU needs only to beat 0-6 Northern Illinois to get into the clubhouse at 6-2, so the most likely title game is the Bison facing the Wyoming-UNM winner. But there's still room for another couple of plot twists.

The race for 6-6 -- or why bowls remain amazing

By my count, there are currently 21 teams with 5-5 records plus 17 more at 4-6. I'm sure that for some of the teams on these lists -- Michigan, Florida State, Texas A&M -- eking out a .500 record will do nothing to filter the stink of a disappointing season.

But for others, bowl eligibility would represent clear progress after a poor stretch, both for power-conference programs such as Stanford or West Virginia and for recently downcast mid-majors such as Middle Tennessee. And for some it would mean the world. UMass is 5-5 with two wins over FCS opponents, meaning the Minutemen need to beat Akron and Bowling Green to be assured of a first-ever FBS bowl bid, but there's a chance one win would do it. Regardless, it would be the first sign of genuine progress and traction in 15 years at the FBS level.

I know that with 12 more teams getting sucked into the CFP vortex starting next year, we're likely to end up with fewer bowls if only because there will be fewer bowl-eligible teams. But I hope the bowl ecosystem remains as healthy as possible because it really is a mile marker of sorts for a lot of programs.

It's also a chance to watch exciting young players for the last time before the long offseason begins. Iowa State is 5-5, for instance, and one more win would potentially give us one more chance to watch Aiden Flora. And my goodness, please, Oregon State -- get to 6-6 so we can watch Jesse Legree on national television one more time.

The hope of a bowl had to have helped with motivation levels for Kansas, which entered Saturday just 3-6 after a string of heartbreaking losses but unleashed one of the most impressive performances of the day in a 37-14 win over West Virginia. Against an offense that had just scored 45 points on Texas Tech, the Jayhawks dominated, limiting the Mountaineers to 79 first-half yards and cruising to a 30-7 halftime lead. The road to 6-6 is still awfully tricky -- their last two opponents are BYU (home) and Oklahoma State (away) -- but they can beat anyone in the conference if they play like that again.

Bowls can also be a reward for a team that was listless early but kept fighting to find traction. Or a team such as Fran Brown's Syracuse, which deserves a December vacation trip simply because of the level of nonsense entertainment it has provided us. Eight of the Orange's 10 games have been decided by one score, and after starting the year 2-4, they've won three of four in increasingly wild fashion.

Against NC State in Raleigh on Saturday, they trailed 31-20 with less than six minutes and didn't even have the ball. But they scored on a leaping pick-six from big Tunmise Adeleye, forced a three-and-out, then scored with less than a minute left on a drive that featured a deflected catch from Justus Ross-Simmons on fourth-and-3. (Ross-Simmons was rewarded with both the touchdown and ensuing 2-point conversion.) Syracuse recovered a fumble with 11 seconds left to seal a dizzying win. And now, if the Orange beat Boston College on Saturday, they'll lock up at least a .500 finish after last year's 3-9 collapse.

Most bowl stories are great stories. I hope we still get a lot of them even in an era of a 24-team playoff that few asked for.

My 20 favorite games of the weekend

1. No. 2 Utah 40, No. 23 Arizona 39. Arizona led in the second half at BYU and Texas Tech and led Utah with three minutes left, but the Wildcats lost all three games. Brutal.

2. No. 6 Texas 22, No. 21 LSU 21. A season of epic missed opportunities in Baton Rouge.

3. Division II: No. 17 Benedict 52, Kentucky State 45 (OT). Calling this a "favorite" might not be quite right -- this one was pretty mortifying. Looking for its first SIAC title, Kentucky State used a 31-7 run to take a commanding 38-21 lead into the fourth quarter. But then everything went horribly wrong. Within five minutes, Benedict kicked a field goal, returned a blocked punt for a touchdown and used an interception to set up a short game-tying TD drive.

KSU immediately scored on an 82-yard touchdown run, but Benedict tied the game again with 3:11 left. KSU's Jaden Hale recovered a muffed punt at the Benedict 17 to seemingly set up the game-winning points, but here comes the mortifying part: The Thorobreds ran the clock down inside 10 seconds left but didn't spike the ball, didn't get the field goal unit out in time and called a timeout ... that they didn't have. Ten-second runoff. Overtime.

The result was preordained at that point. Benedict scored on the first play of OT, KSU went four-and-out, and the Tigers won their third SIAC title in five years. Oof.

4. FCS: No. 17 Illinois State 34, No. 3 Youngstown State 33. Last year, Illinois State eked out an at-large bid in the FCS playoffs and rolled all the way to within a play of the national title. The Redbirds' playoff hopes were growing wobbly again following a blowout loss at North Dakota last week, and they trailed explosive Youngstown State by 13 early in the fourth quarter. But they scored twice to take the lead, and when YSU took it back with 2:13 left, ISU drove 73 yards in 12 plays, and QB Beckham Pellant scored the game winner with nine seconds left.

5. Bowling Green 33, Kent State 28. Everything almost went to hell for Bowling Green. The Falcons led by 13 heading into the fourth quarter, but Dru Deshields' TD run gave Kent State a 28-27 advantage with 2:00 left. But after starting the game with a 70-yard TD, Nakai Amachree raced 48 yards to give BGSU a 5-point lead, and Nick Sawyer picked off a pass in the end zone to seal the victory in another MACtion classic.

6. Division II: Clarion 43, Millersville 42. Things got wild in Division II this weekend. Mekhi Ashby's 67-yard run gave Millersville a 42-14 lead with 11:02 left, but Tyreeck Hall returned the ensuing kickoff for a TD, and QB Jase Ferguson took over: He scored on a 26-yard run, threw two touchdown passes and scored the game-winning 2-point conversion with 34 seconds left.

7. Syracuse 34, NC State 31. Maybe the silliest Syracuse win in a season full of silly Syracuse wins.

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Syracuse Orange vs. NC State Wolfpack: Full Highlights

8. NAIA: Madonna 37, Defiance College 35. Big comeback? Check. College kickers? Check. Madonna trailed 35-14 late in the third quarter but charged back with three straight touchdown passes from Kolter Smith. But after the third, a holding penalty nullified the PAT, and Caiden Thomas missed the retake. Trailing 35-34, the Crusaders made one last stop, Smith completed three more passes, and Thomas redeemed himself with a game-winning 27-yard field goal.

9. No. 24 Boise State 46, Oregon State 41. With New Mexico and North Texas both falling, Boise State might have been able to lose this one and remain the favorite to land the Group of 6's guaranteed playoff spot. But thanks to freshman Rasean Jones, that wasn't an issue. His rugged 26-yard TD catch gave the Broncos a 12-point lead with 6:16 left, and when OSU responded -- as the Beavers did all evening -- Jones made a huge catch on third-and-12, then a huge run on third-and-7 -- to ice the game. Final tally for Jones: 239 yards from scrimmage, three TDs and a BSU win.

10. Texas State 37, Fresno State 35. Fresno State overcame a two-touchdown deficit and had a chance to close the door, but Jayden Mandal threw an interception, Davian Jackson put TXST back ahead, and Mandal lost a fumble in the final minute. That's not Kentucky State levels of pain, but ouch all the same.

11. Missouri State 27, New Mexico State 21 (OT). Walk-off pick-six!

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Joel Boamah's 88-yard pick-six wins it for Missouri State in OT

12. FCS: No. 24 Abilene Christian 34, No. 6 Austin Peay 31. Courtland Simmons' 75-yard TD gave Austin Peay the lead with 2:45 left, but ACU drove 69 yards and scored the game winner with 18 seconds left.

13. NAIA: Ave Maria 48, Southeastern (Fla.) 45 (OT). After trailing by 10 on five occasions, Southeastern took its first lead with 1:54 left, watched Ave Maria take it back in the final minute, then forced overtime with a last-second field goal. All that just to lose in OT.

14. UNLV 21, New Mexico 17. It's been a tumultuous season (and career) for Jackson Arnold. This run had to feel amazing.

15. Division III: Marietta 44, Mt. St. Joseph 43. Marietta's Joe Tenta threw for 420 yards and five touchdowns, and three of those TDs came in the final 13 minutes as the Pioneers calmly erased a 43-23 deficit. They got the ball back at their 3 with 1:11 left, and Tenta won it five completions later.

16. Division II: UNC Pembroke 21, No. 22 North Greenville 14. Tie game late in the Conference Carolinas Bowl? Go deep. Malik Brown's 91-yard catch-and-run gave UNC Pembroke the conference title.

17. Florida 21, No. 11 Kentucky 14. With Florida undergoing a slow-motion collapse for more than a month now, it felt like Kentucky was home free when Kenny Minchey scored to give the Wildcats a 14-10 lead in the third quarter. Instead, Florida dominated from there. One of the weirdest Gators seasons on record continues.

18. FCS: Central Arkansas 38, Eastern Kentucky 35. Yet another big comeback. UCA trailed 35-14 midway through the third quarter but tied it with 4:54 left and won it with a 27-yard Charlie Viorel field goal at the buzzer.

19. Division II: Adams State 29, Fort Lewis 28 (OT). What do you do when you've lost 38 straight, and you have a chance to win in overtime? You go for it. After Fort Lewis scored with one second left to force OT and scored first in the extra session, RB Andre Branch responded for Adams State, and QB Frank Arcuri gave the Grizzlies their first win since September 2023.

20. FCS: No. 15 Lehigh 21, Richmond 14. Lehigh wrapped up the Patriot League title with two second-half touchdowns and a late goal-line stand.