The Week Contenders Forgot How to Function

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Texas A&M did not just survive the weekend, it staged a full scale exorcism of every Aggie collapse joke you have ever heard. Down 30–3 at home to South Carolina, booed by their own fans and watching Marcel Reed gift wrap points with turnovers, A&M looked like it was about to blow a top three ranking and a clean playoff path in one glorious faceplant. Then Reed turned into a cheat code, throwing for 439 yards and three touchdowns while the defense finally punched back, and suddenly the largest comeback in school and SEC history flipped from obituary to origin story. You could practically hear every playoff doodler in the country scribbling new brackets in real time as Kyle Field went from morgue to mosh pit. Meanwhile, Alabama watched Oklahoma walk out of Tuscaloosa with a 23–21 win and Ty Simpson’s Heisman stock sliding from blue chip to penny share, which only made the Aggies’ escape feel more like a season hinge than a single wild afternoon.

If November is about separating contenders from content, Texas A&M just proved it belongs in both categories at once.

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📰 2-Minute Drill: Where Logic Goes to Die

Poll Chaos: Georgia Climbs, Mean Green Arrive
Georgia climbs to No. 4 in the latest AP Top 25 after smothering Texas, while Oklahoma jumps back into the top 10 and Alabama slides. Ole Miss moves up and North Texas finally appears after decades in the wilderness. The poll feels more like vibes than math.
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Sooners Mug Bama In Their Own House
Oklahoma upsets No. 4 Alabama 23 21 in Tuscaloosa behind three forced turnovers, including an 87 yard interception return by Eli Bowen. The Sooners turn those mistakes into 17 points and survive a final Tide drive. For once the defense is the grown up in Norman.
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CFP Chair Steps Aside Right Before Crunch Time
Mack Rhoades takes a leave of absence as Baylor athletic director and steps down as College Football Playoff selection committee chair while the school investigates unspecified allegations. Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek takes over as chair and Utah’s Mark Harlan joins the committee. The sport’s biggest argument just changed moderators in November.
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James Madison Clinches While Everyone Else Does Math
James Madison secures a spot in the Sun Belt championship game by beating Appalachian State and getting help from Coastal Carolina’s loss. Elsewhere Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, Virginia and San Diego State are tangled in messy tiebreaker scenarios. The Dukes are the only ones who can pack for a title trip with confidence.
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Navy Torpedoes South Florida’s Playoff Dream
Navy detonates No. 24 South Florida’s playoff hopes with a 41 38 win powered by Alex Tecza’s rushing scores and 146 receiving yards from Eli Heidenreich. Backup quarterback Braxton Woodson adds two touchdowns after Blake Horvath exits. Triple option opponents should probably stop scheduling character building experiences in November.
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📼 Instant Classic

Texas A&M 31, South Carolina 30 – Kyle Field, College Station, TX

For 30 minutes, Texas A&M tried to speedrun its own College Football Playoff collapse. The Aggies, ranked No. 3 and unbeaten, went to halftime down 30–3, booed in their own stadium while Marcel Reed coughed up two interceptions and a fumble that went for six. Then the script flipped. Reed finished with a career-high 439 passing yards and 3 touchdowns, A&M ripped off 28 unanswered in the second half, and the Aggies pulled off the largest comeback in school and SEC history in a 31–30 win.

The turning point was a third quarter avalanche. Reed hit Ashton Bethel-Roman on a 39 yard strike, then later found him on a 76 yard catch and run that set up a touchdown to tight end Nate Boerkircher. EJ Smith’s 4 yard plunge finally gave A&M its first lead. Even the obligatory galaxy-brain goal line trick play fumble could not kill them, because the Aggie defense answered with back to back sacks to end South Carolina’s last drive.

Context is what makes this one immortal. A top three Texas A&M team, chasing its first real CFP run in a generation, was one embarrassing home loss from becoming a meme. Instead, Reed revived his Heisman buzz, an SEC wide 0–286 stat on 27 point deficits died, and Aggie fans added a new chapter to their long history of cardiac football. This was not just a comeback, it was the definitive “remember where you were” game of the season.

🎙️ Coach Speak Decoder Ring

What they said: "Thank you for staying with us. Sorry for what the first half looked like ..." — Mike Elko, Texas A&M, after the Aggies’ 31–30 comeback win over South Carolina in College Station

What they meant: I know you were pricing flights to the Belk Bowl at halftime, so thanks for not leaving before we remembered how to play football. This is a coach very aware that a top three, unbeaten team getting run out of its own stadium by South Carolina would have lived on the internet forever, and not in a good way. He is preemptively smoothing things over with the fanbase while quietly reminding everyone that the only thing that actually counts is the final score and the still perfect record. Translation: sorry for the three hours of emotional damage, but you just watched the biggest comeback in school history, so you are definitely buying the playoff merch now.

🧢 The Backup Plan: Quarterback Controversy of the Week

Location: East Lansing, Michigan (3–7)

Involved Parties: Aidan Chiles vs. Alessio Milivojevic

Michigan State finally hit the big red button on its offense and sat the supposed centerpiece. After weeks of stalled drives and a six game skid, Aidan Chiles was benched for redshirt freshman Alessio Milivojevic, a move OC Brian Lindgren called “an extremely difficult” decision. Milivojevic flashed with a 300 yard debut and has now stacked multiple starts, but the Spartans still look like they are dragging an anchor on offense.

What is really happening: MSU is testing whether the issue is the quarterback or the entire offensive blueprint. Chiles arrived as the high ceiling transfer face of the rebuild, Milivojevic is the steady understudy with nothing to lose. If Alessio finishes strong, the inevitable headline is Chiles plus portal rumors; if he does not, this stops being a QB controversy and becomes an indictment of everything around them.

🚨 DEFCON 1: Hitting the Panic Button

Baylor (5–5)

When you hire a defensive guru and give up 55 to Utah, the alarm isn’t just blinking, it’s ripping out of the wall. This is two losing seasons in the last three years since that 2021 Big 12 title, and the Bears have gone from trendy contender to background noise while the defense, Aranda’s supposed specialty, keeps getting torched. One national writeup summed it up with, “It’s put up or shut up time and once again, Aranda has underwhelmed,” which is polite code for “everyone’s out of patience.” The remaining Big 12 slate is no cupcake, bowl eligibility is suddenly in doubt, and donors are reportedly doing buyout math in pencil. Baylor football is not just wobbling, it feels like a Jenga tower where everyone knows the next pull might finally bring the whole thing down.

🏆 Heisman Watch: The “Up and Down” Section

The Headliners

📈 Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) [+100] – Just went 22 of 24 for 299 yards and 4 TD against Wisconsin, now at 2,641 yards and 30 TD with Indiana 11–0, his stock is basically a blue-chip ETF.

📈 Julian Sayin (Ohio State) [+200] – Completing 80 percent with 2,675 yards and 25 TD while steering an undefeated No. 1 Ohio State, but a quiet 184 yard night vs UCLA cooled buzz, think elite growth stock temporarily overshadowed by a hotter ticker.

📈 Marcel Reed (Texas A&M) [+550] – Dropped 439 yards and 3 TD in a 27 point comeback that was the largest in Aggie history, now over 3,000 total yards and 28 TD, this is the volatile tech stock ripping after earnings.

The Lurkers

📈 Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) – Leads an 8–2 Vanderbilt with 2,440 passing yards, 613 rushing and 28 total TD plus top five total offense numbers, a Kentucky showcase and late SEC chaos could turn this +1500 flier into a real mid-cap threat.

The “Can They Sustain It?” Crew

📈 Jeremiyah Love (Notre Dame) – Fresh off 23 carries for 147 yards and a TD at No. 22 Pitt, up to 1,135 yards and 14 TD on 6.4 per carry, he is the explosive non-QB outperforming his sector in a quarterback dominated market.

The “We Need to Talk About…” Section

📉 Ty Simpson (Alabama) [from +500 to +15000] – Once a co-favorite, he just took a home loss to Oklahoma and saw his odds crater from single digits to lottery ticket territory, classic case of overbought hype meeting reality check sell-off.

Penny Stock to Watch

💰 Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State) – Still a long shot at around +2500 but leading the public ticket count, the Buckeyes’ star wideout keeps stacking explosive plays, the kind of high beta receiver play that can suddenly spike if voters get bored of pure quarterback blue chips.

So there you have it: a Texas A&M comeback that broke math, a Baylor defense that broke its coach’s reputation, and Alabama vs Oklahoma reminding you that Bryant Denny does not care about your Heisman tickets. The CFP committee swapped chairs in November, Michigan State is speed dating quarterbacks, and Navy casually torpedoed an undefeated dream just because it could. The only thing truly stable right now is how unstable everything feels as we stagger toward rivalry season and flowchart week. Never trust October Heisman odds, always remember coach speak is a second language, and clear your Saturdays because the sport is about to start shaking the snow globe on purpose.

— The Convert on Fourth Down Team

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