College Football 2023: B/R’s Top 25 Rankings After Week 10

In the final edition of the longstanding Bedlam rivalry between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State before the Sooners move to the SEC next season, the Cowboys came away with a 27-24 victory for the biggest upset of Week 10.

It was the second successive loss for a Sooners team that was squarely in the College Football Playoff picture before falling to Kansas last weekend, and outside of Notre Dame picking up its third loss of the season against unranked Clemson, it was the only major upset of the day among Power Five teams.

Washington stayed undefeated with a win over USC in a battle of high-profile quarterbacks, Alabama bested LSU in front of ESPN’s College GameDay crew, Texas survived in overtime against Kansas State, and Georgia survived a tough test from Missouri.

On the non-Power Five front, Air Force stumbled against Army for its first loss of the year, and that leaves things wide open for the New Year’s Six berth that goes to the nation’s top Group of Five team. Tulane made its case to move into that spot with a 13-10 win over East Carolina.

Here’s how Bleacher Report’s college football writing staff—David Kenyon, Adam Kramer, Joel Reuter and Brad Shepard—view the top 25 teams in the nation after Week 10 action:

1. Michigan
2. Georgia
3. Ohio State
4. Washington
5. Florida State
6. Oregon
T-7. Alabama
T-7. Texas
9. Penn State
10. Ole Miss
11. Louisville
12. Utah
13. Oregon State
T-14. Missouri
T-14. Tennessee
16. Oklahoma State
17. James Madison
T-18. Oklahoma
T-18. Tulane
20. Kansas
21. Liberty
22. LSU
23. North Carolina
24. Arizona
25. Fresno State

Bo Nix has spent much of the 2023 season overshadowed by fellow Pac-12 star quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr. (Washington) and Caleb Williams (USC), but it may be time to start viewing him as the favorite among that trio in the Heisman Trophy race.

On Saturday, Nix completed 29-of-38 pass attempts for 386 yards with four touchdowns and one interception while adding two more scores on the ground in a 63-19 dismantling of California.

In his fifth collegiate season and his second year at Oregon, Nix has now thrown for 2,723 yards with 25 touchdowns and only two interceptions, connecting for multiple touchdown passes in each of the Ducks games this season.

Sitting at No. 6 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, Oregon is still very much alive in the playoff picture. Its only loss was to undefeated Washington, and the Pac-12 Championship Game could give the Ducks an opportunity to avenge that loss if they can win out against USC, Arizona State and Oregon State.

Nix will be at the center of it all, and while Jayden Daniels (LSU), J.J. McCarthy (Michigan) and others will also factor into the voting, he might have moved into the driver’s seat in the Heisman Trophy race on Saturday.

With an 8-0 start to the season, Air Force entered Week 10 as the highest-ranked Group of Five team at No. 1 in the latest AP poll, putting it in the driver’s seat for a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game.

That’s no longer the case after Air Force laid an egg against Army on Saturday.

The Falcons have succeeded on the strength of one of the best defenses in the nation, allowing 13.4 points (4th in FBS) and 237.9 total yards (3rd in FBS) per contest.

They allowed 23 points to a 2-6 Black Knights squad, and offensively they managed a lone field goal while turning the ball over six times with four lost fumbles and a pair of interceptions en route to a 23-3 loss.

That will likely drop them out of the Top 25 entirely, and the door now swings open for someone from the group of Tulane, Liberty, Fresno State and Toledo to be playing in a marquee bowl game on Jan. 1.

The Oklahoma Sooners have absolutely dominated their in-state rivalry against Oklahoma State over the years, which stretches all the way back to a 75-0 shellacking during the 1904 season.

With the Sooners moving to the SEC next season, the annual meeting is no more. While one win wasn’t going to do much to level the scales in the overall series, the Cowboys seized their chance to get what could be the last laugh in the rivalry for some time.

After seeing their College Football Playoff chances go up in smoke with their first loss of the season to Kansas last weekend, Oklahoma played a sloppy game on Saturday with three turnovers and eight penalties, and 10 unanswered points by the Cowboys in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference in a 27-24 victory.

So while Oklahoma may hold a 91-20-7 advantage all-time, it’s Oklahoma State that can stake claim to the final victory in the Bedlam rivalry as we currently know it.

The College Football Playoff race is heating up, and three of the nation’s top teams will face tough tests as part of next weekend’s slate.

Meanwhile, No. 1 Ohio State (vs. Michigan State) and No. 4 Florida State (vs. Miami) will both likely be double-digit favorites at home with a good chance of keeping their undefeated records intact.

In a clash of two of the nation’s top quarterbacks. Bo Nix (Oregon) and Caleb Williams (USC) will do battle, and the Ducks are waiting in the wings at No. 6 in the CFP rankings if a couple of those teams ahead of them suffer losses.

With all of that on the docket, there was no shortage of options for ESPN’s College GameDay to choose from.

How will Week 11 action shake up the bowl game picture?

Stay tuned.