What to watch: College football Week 10 viewer's guide Nick BrombergOctober 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM 0 Week 10 doesn't look nearly as dynamic as Week 8 or Week 9 did. That's why we're prepared for an unexpected upset or two. Massive upsets seem to happen on the weekends we're least expecting them.
- - What to watch: College football Week 10 viewer's guide
Nick BrombergOctober 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM
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Week 10 doesn't look nearly as dynamic as Week 8 or Week 9 did.
That's why we're prepared for an unexpected upset or two.
Massive upsets seem to happen on the weekends we're least expecting them. Just look at Week 2, when three ranked teams lost to unranked opponents. Don't be surprised if something similar unfolds on Saturday.
No. 9 Vanderbilt at No. 20 Texas
There's uncertainty at quarterback for Texas as Arch Manning suffered a concussion in overtime of the Longhorns' 45-38 win over Mississippi State. Manning was injured when he scrambled to start overtime and his head hit the turf when he was tackled. He's officially listed as questionable on Texas' injury report.
Manning was replaced by Matthew Caldwell and Caldwell threw what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown pass just two plays after entering the game. Caldwell will get the start if Manning can't go, and he has plenty of collegiate experience.
Caldwell has thrown just 11 passes this season but transferred to Texas from Troy over the offseason. A season ago at Troy, Caldwell appeared in 10 games and threw 223 passes. He completed 63% of those throws for 13 TDs and eight interceptions. Before playing at Troy, Caldwell started his career at Jacksonville State in 2021, when the Gamecocks were still at the FCS level, and he played two seasons at Gardner-Webb.
Vanderbilt doesn't have any questions about its quarterback. Diego Pavia's Heisman campaign will kick into high gear with a win over the Longhorns. Pavia continues to captain one of the most efficient offenses in college football and has a knack for finding open receivers on the second level after opposing defenses pay too much attention to the run game.
That run game has an added dimension with Makhilyn Young's recent play. Young has broken long runs in each of the past two games. He had an 80-yard TD run against Mizzou in Week 9 and had a 43-yard scamper against LSU the week before.
No. 5 Georgia vs. Florida
The point spread may look closer than you'd think, but this is a rivalry game after all. And Georgia has been living on the edge during SEC play.
Four of the Bulldogs' five conference games have been decided by 10 points or fewer so far this season. The only one that was a blowout was Georgia's 35-14 win over Kentucky. And Florida has been playing close games, too. The Gators lost by 17 to Texas A&M but only lost by 10 to LSU, beat Texas by eight and beat Mississippi State by two.
It's also the first game for the Gators under interim coach Billy Gonzales following the firing of Billy Napier. Could we see an interim coach bounce? It's possible, especially as the offense has a new play-caller.
Napier ran the offense while he was the team's head coach. With him no longer on the sidelines, quarterbacks coach Ryan O'Hara takes over play-calling responsibilities. Florida fans will be hoping that O'Hara is more aggressive than Napier was. A longstanding source of frustration was the offense's tendency to err on the side of caution more often than not. And with Florida at 3-4 already and wholesale changes coming this offseason, why not throw caution to the wind starting Saturday?
Georgia will be looking to unlock a run game that is averaging 4.5 yards per carry this season. We don't think it's a coincidence that the Bulldogs have averaged over 5 yards a carry in every season they've made the College Football Playoff.
No. 18 Oklahoma at No. 14 Tennessee
The winner will continue to harbor serious College Football Playoff hopes. The loser will likely be eliminated from the playoff conversation. No pressure.
The biggest game of the weekend is also a game of contrasts. Especially given how Oklahoma's offense has played since QB John Mateer returned from right hand surgery.
The Sooners ranked 73rd in points per game and have scored 58 points over the past three games. Oklahoma won one of those games, but that 26-7 win over South Carolina came with just 319 total yards.
Tennessee, meanwhile, averages nearly 46 points per game and has scored fewer than 34 points just once in its five SEC games so far this season. However, the Volunteers have allowed at least 31 points in every single one of those games. Oklahoma is the best non-Ohio State defense this season and is allowing 12.5 points per game.
What will give? Right now, the edge appears to go to Tennessee. As Oklahoma's offense has struggled, the burden has been on the defense, and it showed signs of cracking against Ole Miss. The Rebels scored 34 points in their win and averaged nearly 5 yards per play.
No. 23 USC at Nebraska
Is this the time Nebraska finally gets a signature Big Ten win under Matt Rhule? The Huskers have not beaten a ranked opponent during Rhule's tenure in a streak that would seem unfathomable during Nebraska's Big 8 heyday.
Nebraska carries a 28-game losing streak against ranked opponents into Saturday night's contest. The Huskers' streak dates back to the 2014 season when Mike Riley was the team's coach.
Rhule has a streak of his own going, too. His teams have lost 18 straight games against ranked opponents. The last time a Rhule-coached team beat a team in the AP Top 25 came in 2016, when his Temple Owls took down No. 20 Navy to win the American Conference.
USC still harbors hopes of sneaking into the College Football Playoff, but the Trojans' loss to Illinois looks worse by the week and USC has its own pesky stat to deal with. The Trojans had lost 15 straight games in either the Central or Eastern Time Zone before beating Purdue earlier this season. Since that game, USC has lost at Illinois and at Notre Dame.
On the bright side, the Trojans don't leave the Pacific Time Zone the rest of the season.
No. 17 Cincinnati at No. 24 Utah
Saturday night is the biggest game of Cincinnati's time in the Big 12.
The Bearcats enter the weekend tied with No. 10 BYU at 5-0 in the conference and a game ahead of both Texas Tech and Houston. Utah, meanwhile, is among four teams at 3-2 after destroying Colorado in Week 9.
Cincinnati has one of the most efficient offenses you may know little about this season. The Bearcats have scored at least 37 points in four of their five Big 12 wins and average 7.4 yards per play. The rushing attack is led by running backs Tawee Walker and Evan Pryor, while quarterback Brendan Sorsby has chipped in with 425 rushing yards and seven touchdowns himself. He may need to shoulder a bit more of the rushing load against the Utes with Pryor sidelined because of an ankle injury he suffered against Baylor.
Sorsby has also been very, very good throwing the football. He's 133-of-204 passing for 1,843 yards and 20 TDs to just one interception. That pick came late in the Bearcats' Week 1 loss to Nebraska.
We're not going to try to guess who will play quarterback for Utah given the way that coach Kyle Whittingham publicly deals with injuries. Starter Devon Dampier has been dealing with an ankle injury and was listed as available for the Colorado game. However, he didn't play at all as true freshman Byrd Ficklin got the start.
Ficklin ran wild with 20 carries for 151 yards and a score. But he also completed just 10 of his 22 passes. Utah may need more of a passing threat to get the win.
Other games to watch
North Carolina at Syracuse (-2.5), 7:30 p.m. ET Friday, ESPN: By all means, if you have Halloween plans, don't cancel them to watch this game between two ACC teams with a combined 1-7 record in league play. But Bill Belichick's quest for an ACC win is at least mildly intriguing, and this could be the Tar Heels' last best chance to get one.
No. 10 Miami (-12.5) at SMU, Noon ET, ESPN: The Hurricanes' trip to SMU is just their second road game of the season and their first in 2025 outside of the state of Florida. Miami started sluggishly against Stanford in Week 9 before blowing out the Cardinal in the second half. SMU, meanwhile, had three turnovers and just 246 total yards in a 13-12 loss to Wake Forest.
No. 13 Texas Tech (-7.5) at Kansas State, 3:30 p.m. ET, Fox: The Wildcats are finally starting to look like the Big 12 contender we thought they'd be at the start of the season. It just might be a little too late. After losing to Baylor to drop to 2-4, Kansas State has beaten TCU and Kansas convincingly. Now they host a Texas Tech team that should have starting QB Behren Morton back. He missed Tech's 42-0 win over Oklahoma State; a game that No. 3 QB Mitch Griffis had to finish after Will Hammond tore his ACL.
No. 15 Virginia (-4.5) at Cal, 3:45 p.m. ET, ESPN2: Virginia plays really entertaining football games and we do not expect this one to break that trend. The Cavaliers' last four wins have come by a combined 14 points — and the last three of those games have a combined margin of six points.
South Carolina at No. 7 Ole Miss (-12.5), 7 p.m. ET, ESPN: This is a bigger test for South Carolina than it is for Ole Miss. The Gamecocks were oh-so-close to upsetting Alabama and getting back to .500 in Week 9. Instead, they need to go 3-1 over their final four games to simply make a bowl game and are 1-5 in the SEC. And after Ole Miss, USC still has No. 3 Texas A&M and Clemson.
Source: "AOL Sports"
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