By Andrew Sagona

ORLANDO, Fla. — Call it Space Game magic or much-needed personnel changes. Whatever the cause, UCF may have just salvaged its season thanks to a blowout win.

UCF (4–5, 2–4 Big 12) knocked off Arizona (3–6, 1–5 Big 12) 56–12, going to 8–0 in their annual Space Game and ending a five game losing streak. The game’s 44-point margin of victory was also the largest of any FBS vs. FBS game in Week 10. It was Arizona’s worst loss since the 2020 Territorial Cup against Arizona State. To add insult to injury, Arizona only gained 5 rushing yards.

A Rizk-y Decision

Mired in a five game losing streak, with the looming possibility of the Knights missing their first bowl since 2015, Gus Malzahn made a lot of changes in the locker room.

First, Malzahn removed himself from calling plays on offense and handed the role over to Offensive Coordinator Tim Harris Jr. Next, the team fired co-Defensive Coordinator Ted Roof. Last, Malzahn elevated fourth string quarterback Dylan Rizk (pronounced risk) to the starting role.

Rizk, unlike the team’s prior starters, is a pass-first quarterback. This is unusual given Malzahn’s affinity for dual threat QBs such as Cam Newton, but the move paid off as the Knights tallied over 600 yards of total offense. The pass game was a legitimate threat for the first time this season, and it paid off with the team gaining a season-high 294 yards in the air.

Because of the passing threat, it also caused Arizona’s defense to play balanced and not commit to defending the run like UCF’s previous opponents. As a result, the Knights’ running game flourished and racked up 308 yards, their highest against a P4 team this season.

Losing Woes Continue for Arizona

Arizona is now going through its own five game losing streak. After a great 3–1 start to the season, which included an upset win over #9 Utah in Salt Lake City, things have cratered with the Wildcats at risk of missing their sixth bowl game in the last seven seasons.

This is particularly painful given that last season, led by head coach Jedd Fisch, was the program’s best since 2014—a 10–3 record, a win in the Alamo Bowl over Oklahoma, and a #11 rank in the final AP Poll—and the team appeared to be set for a repeat performance this season.

While the Wildcats lost Fisch to the coaching carousel, Brent Brennan seemed to have the team off to a good start by keeping quarterback Noah Fifita and receiver Tetairoa McMillan. Both performed decently in Orlando: Fifita was 24 of 33 for 256-yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. McMillan had six catches for 84 yards. Arizona fell apart on the ground. Kedrick Reescano led the Wildcats with 8 carries for a paltry 20 yards. Taking away losses on the ground, the team totaled 5 yards on the ground.

The Space Game Strikes Again

UCF’s highly anticipated Space Game took center stage once again, and Mission VIII continued a trend of pure dominance that seems to defy explanation.

For those unfamiliar, UCF began a tradition back in 2017 where, for one game a year, they go all out and celebrate the school’s deep ties to NASA and space exploration. This includes wearing space themed uniforms, bringing out their Citronaut mascot, and more.

For reasons unknown, the Space Game turns the ‘Nauts into a super team rivaled by few in the nation. UCF has outscored its opponents 405–159 in those games, averaging nearly 51 points per game while holding opponents to under 20. No matter how bad the team is doing (UCF was 4–5 last season, 3–5 this season going into the game), no matter who is coaching (Scott Frost, Josh Heupel, and Malzahn have all coached a Space Game), the team plays at an entirely different level.

Next Up

Arizona gets their second bye week, after which they will face Houston at home on November 15. on November 9. The game is set for kickoff at 10:15 p.m. Eastern and will be broadcast on FS1. The Wildcats need to win-out in their final three games to reach bowl eligibility.

UCF will now head on the road for its western-most game of the season, taking on Arizona State in Tempe. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 and begin at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Rushing Stats

173 Attempts

1001 Yards

11 Touchdowns

5.79 Avg. Per Play

Receiving Stats

27 Receptions

404 Rec. Yards

2 Touchdowns

14.96 Avg. Per Reception

Dude plays like Pat Tillman, all heart, all soul, all wrecking ball...

2024 FBS Imperialism Map - Week 10

South Carolina wins their Home Land back!

Top Land Changes in Week 10:

1. Ohio State +222,785.2 sq mi from Penn State
2. South Carolina +208,382.8 sq mi from Texas A&M
3. Georgia Southern +194,731.3 sq mi from South Alabama
4. Oregon +138,452.9 sq mi from Michigan
5. SMU +119,354 sq mi from Pittsburgh

Our New Top 5 by Land:

1. Boise State - 916,500 sq mi
2. Baylor - 426,134.5 sq mi
3. Oregon - 347,668.2 sq mi
4. Ohio State - 222,785.2 sq mi
5. BYU - 216,549 sq mi

Our Top 5 by Population:

1. South Carolina - 37,145,919
2. Indiana - 36,301,128
3. SMU - 27,658,319
4. Oregon - 26,806,770
5. Miami (FL) - 24,715,929

There are no land consolidation games in Week 11.

New Mexico State will be playing for their home land when they visit Western Kentucky.

/u/AJ_CC wrote the above while discussing SMU ending Pitt's undefeated season. Both SMU and BYU control their destinies; win out and they are in their conference championship games.

How many other regular season games this year, past or future, are between plausible conference champions? There is Boise State at Oregon; what else?

Player 247 profile page

Source

Made with the /r/CFB Recruiting Post Generator

https://twitter.com/Drew01337176/status/1853208210800316802?s=19

"I'm sure by now most of you have seen the video yesterday of Coach Cam reprimanding me and eventually pushing me. We have since talked and he sincerely apologized for his behavior. Coach Cam and I have a good relationship and I appreciate his passion for this game and for this team. Coaches are humans too and just as players learn from their mistakes I think that coaches can learn from theirs as well. With that being said I still love football and this university and this team. I'd like to leave you all with a quote I heard at church this morning "vengeance is in the lords hands. and forgiveness is in mine."

https://x.com/ESPN_BillC/status/1853214535953314069

Nebraska has the longest P4 team bowl drought (dating back to 2016), and not due to a lack of opportunities. The Huskers have played in 8 games while having five wins under their belt since their last bowl game, losing all of them. Here is a list:

2019: Iowa 27-24

2023: MSU 20-17, Maryland 13-10, Wisconsin 24-17, Iowa 13-10

2024: Indiana 54-7, OSU 21-17, UCLA 27-20

The real kick in the nuts is the fact that the Huskers have been denied a bowl game 7 times by one score (many of which came down to the last play/minute - walk-off field goals, an interception on the last play, OT loss, etc.) and three times by a rival.

I thought this 0-8 streak may be close to reaching a record, but after minimal digging, I was wrong. From 2017-2019, Colorado went 5-7 three times, picking up 11(!) losses while on the cusp of bowl eligibility. Most notably, having seven of those games after starting 5-0 in 2018. They actually just broke their streak in their most recent game, beating Cincinnati to pick up the coveted 6th win. There is a very real chance Nebraska ties this 11-game mark this season, after having a roughly 98% chance of bowling at 5-1 (shudders).

I am curious if any other teams have experienced such a horrific runs. To get consistently to 5 wins, but never 6 can be difficult for some teams, but a piece of cake for others.

https://x.com/picksixpreviews/status/1853131712068206954?s=46

What is up with Teams benching pretty established starters for freshman this year after a single game. It’s so odd. 2 examples come to mind that just confused me. Jackson Arnold had a rough game against an elite Tennessee defense, and then Michael Hawkins, a very different style QB, came in and scored 2 garbage time TD’s. Tennessee had prepared for Arnold. Hawkins came in and was very different, confusing the defense and messing up the gameplan for Tennessee. There’s also the fact that Tennessee already had the game in the bag by the time he scored. And then last week TAMU benched Weigman for Reed in the LSU game, and it was very clear that Reed’s very different running QB style destroyed their game plan that they planned all week for Weigman. Both of these are pretty common occurrences. When a team prepares all week for a “pro-style” QB, bringing in a mobile guy will break some plays. But if you give a team a full week to prepare for that mobile guy it’s very different. I mean if you look back at the 3 planned starts for Reed while Weigman was out, it was very different. He was much more contained. I get the in-game changes. But then to come out the next day and announce that freshman as the starter, it just makes no sense to me. I’ve never seen teams turn so quickly on their established starters than I feel like this year. I mean shit, even benching Ewers for Manning against Georgia was odd. I don’t know if Weigman beats South Carolina but I think it’s a lot closer at least. It just makes no sense to me to bench an established starter after one good game by a freshman that was clearly mostly because of the way the defense game planned for the other guy.

Overall Record: 57-44
vs SEC: 3-1
vs B12: 8-11
vs B1G: 11-11
vs ACC: 1-9

Week 11

• Preseason
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• MBB Version
• WBB Version

This is a series I've now been doing for 10 years. The post attempts to visualize all AP Poll ballots in a single image. Additionally it sorts each AP voter by similarity to the group. Notably, this is not a measure of how "good" a voter is, just how consistent they are with the group. Especially preseason, having a diversity of opinions and ranking styles is advantageous to having a true consensus poll. Polls tend to coalesce towards each other as the season goes on.

Josh Furlong was the most consistent voters this week. Michael Katz is the most consistent voter on the season, Kayla Anderson, Blair Kerkhoff, Trevor Hass, and Matt Murschel in the top 5.

Stephen Means was the biggest outlier this week. Jon Wilner is the biggest outlier this season, followed by Stephen Means, Koki Riley, David Jablonski, and Chris Murray.

Only 4 remain undefeated (BYU, Oregon, Indiana, Miami)

9 with 1 loss, and 10 with 2 losses.

It seems like it will be a very difficult for a 9-3 team to make it into the playoffs, so 10 teams with no room for error the rest of the way.

This upcoming weekend, we have two matchups in this cohort.

LSU and Alabama play a de facto elimination game as each have 2 losses.

Ole Miss needs to beat UGA to keep it's hopes alive, while UGA can afford to drop one as they sit with one loss. However, a UGA loss leaves them on a tightrope against Tennessee the following week.

Full list of teams below:

1 Loss:

Notre Dame
SMU
Pitt
Iowa State
Penn State
Ohio State
Georgia
Tennessee
Texas

2 Losses:

Clemson
Syracuse
Kansas State
Colorado
Arizona State
TAMU
LSU
Ole Miss
Alabama
Missouri

Remaining Matchups:

11/9: Bama at LSU
11/9: UGA at Ole Miss
11/16: Clemson at Pitt
11/16: Arizona St at Kansas St
11/16: Tennessee at UGA
11/23: BYU at Arizona St
11/23: Indiana at Ohio St
11/30: Miami at Syracuse
11/30: Kansas State at Iowa State
11/30: Texas at TAMU

After seeing Penn State lose another OSU game yesterday, I was reminded of JoPa’s nine-game losing streak against Lloyd Carr’s Michigan from 1997 to 2007.

Penn State was not only ranked higher in five of those nine losses, but ranked in the top-10 in all five occasions.

No. 4 Michigan’s 34-8 curb stomping at No. 2 PSU in 1997 and unranked Michigan’s last-second win against No. 8 Penn State in 2005 at The Big House are the most memorable.

The nine straight losses:

1997: No. 4 Michigan 34, No. 2 Penn State 8 (State College)

1998: No. 22 Michigan 27, No. 9 Penn State 0 (Ann Arbor)

1999: No. 16 Michigan 31, No. 6 Penn State 27 (State College)

2000: No. 21 Michigan 33, Penn State 11 (Ann Arbor)

2001: No. 15 Michigan 20, Penn State 0 (State College)

2002: No. 13 Michigan 27, No. 15 Penn State 24 (Ann Arbor)

2005: Michigan 27, No. 8 Penn State 25 (Ann Arbor)

2006: No. 4 Michigan 17, Penn State 10 (State College)

2007: Michigan 14, No. 10 Penn State 10 (Ann Arbor) 

The G5 Top 25 for week 10 have been updated! These rankings are based on ESPN's FPI score, which are a measure of overall team performance.

G5 Top 25

Top Performers:

• Boise State retains the top spot with an impressive FPI jump after their dominant 56-24 win over San Diego State.
• Tulane stays strong at 2nd, showcasing their resilience with a 34-3 victory over Charlotte.

Major Climbers:

• Louisiana made a significant 5-spot jump to 8th after defeating #9 Texas State in a tight 23-17 game.
• Georgia Southern climbed 6 places to 15th, boosted by their hard-fought 34-30 win against #7 South Alabama.
• Jacksonville State moved up 5 places to 14th following a solid 31-21 win over Liberty.

Tough Losses:

• Army fell 2 spots to 6th despite winning against Air Force, due to other teams' strong performances.
• Memphis dropped 2 spots to 10th after a high-scoring 36-44 loss at UTSA.
• Navy slipped 2 places to 12th after a surprising 10-24 loss at Rice.
• Fresno State took a hit, falling 4 spots to 16th after their 20-21 loss to Hawaii.

Biggest Recovery:

• South Florida showed a notable rise, jumping 4 spots to 24th with a dominant 44-21 win over Florida Atlantic.

Steady Performers:

• Teams like UNLV and Washington State held steady at 3rd and 4th, respectively, with bye weeks ensuring no movement.
• And South Alabama is apparently has plot armor in the FPI algorithm and maintains their #7 ranking.

Note: The mobile version of the rankings page doesn't play well with the website builder, so view the desktop version of the page if you use a mobile device.

https://x.com/espn_billc/status/1853116371162325000?s=46&t=wrovJ5hkyjF8c8Nl5dqn1g