CFB Week 10 winners, losers: November opens with big showdowns

Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate both had huge games in a 38-14 win over Penn State (3-5, 0-5 in Big Ten). Smith had six receptions, 123 yards and two touchdowns, while Tate contributed five receptions, 124 yards and a touchdown.

Loser: Tennessee Volunteers QB Joey Aguilar

No. 14 Tennessee (6-3, 3-3 in SEC) fell out of the College Football Playoff picture with a 33-27 home loss to No. 18 Oklahoma (7-2, 3-2 in SEC). Miscues from Aguilar contributed to the defeat.

Despite throwing for 393 yards and three touchdowns, the Appalachian State transfer also threw two interceptions, the first ending a promising Tennessee drive in Oklahoma territory and the second leading to an Oklahoma field goal right before halftime. He also lost 30 yards on four sacks.

Aguilar had a tough assignment taking over for Nico Iamaleava after he unexpectedly left the program over an NIL dispute in April, following a 2024 CFP run. While he's had his share of success this season, Aguilar has ultimately been inconsistent enough to keep Tennessee from reaching the same heights in consecutive years.

Winner: Arizona State Sun Devils QB Jeff Sims

Sims has lived many lives since starting all 10 games as a true freshman at Georgia Tech, although few could be described as good. The sixth-year senior had a disastrous run at Nebraska in 2023 before arriving at Arizona State last season, where he backed up Michigan State transfer Sam Leavitt. Following Leavitt's season-ending injury, Sims got another opportunity to start and kept the Sun Devils alive for consecutive Big 12 championships with a 24-19 win in a rematch of last year's title game. Sims accounted for 405 total yards, including 228 rushing yards, the most by a quarterback in program history.

Arizona State has a favorable schedule over its last three games, and while a lot would have to go its way to make it back to Dallas for the second year in a row, stranger things have happened, like Sims saving the Sun Devils' season with an unreal Week 10 performance.

Loser: Colorado Buffaloes

Despite going 9-4 last season — the program's best record since 2016 — it was fair to wonder how sustainable Colorado's success was with quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman-winning cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter going pro. The answer? It wasn't.

The Buffaloes looked as bad as before head coach Deion Sanders arrived to much fanfare in 2023 on Saturday, losing to Arizona (5-3, 2-3 in Big 12), 52-17. Colorado (3-6, 1-5 in Big 12) was undisciplined, committing 14 penalties for 110 yards while also turning the ball over five times, leading to 21 points. It also provided no resistance, with Arizona reaching the end zone on seven of its first 10 possessions, including three sub-two-minute 75-yard touchdown drives.

Winner: Disney

College football fans with YouTube TV were left scrambling for access to the week's biggest games on Disney-owned channels, including ABC, ESPN and SEC Network (among others), after a carrier dispute took those networks off the television streaming app. The saga was a boon for Fubo, which was the most downloaded entertainment app on Apple's App Store as of early Saturday evening.

How does that help Disney? On Oct. 29, one day before its channels were removed from YouTube TV, it finalized a 70 percent acquisition of Fubo, per Deadline. Soon enough, "The Happiest Place on Earth" will also be the only.