College Football: 5 takeaways from an upset-filled Week 10

Nov 6, 2021; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Purdue Boilermakers cornerback Dedrick Mackey (1) celebrates his interception with teammates in the second half against the Michigan State Spartans at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 6, 2021; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Purdue Boilermakers cornerback Dedrick Mackey (1) celebrates his interception with teammates in the second half against the Michigan State Spartans at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
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Week 10 of the college football season was filled with upsets and here are the key takeaways from a Saturday that shook up the College Football Playoff race. 

Just days after the first College Football Playoff Rankings were released, the college football world was plunged into chaos on Saturday as seven, yes seven ranked teams fell to teams that were unranked going into the day.

The biggest upset was easily Purdue knocking off Michigan State. It wasn’t shocking. The Spartans have played with fire all season, nearly losing to Nebraska, Indiana, and Michigan.

Purdue also beat Iowa at home already and has a knack for these kinds of upsets. Still, it won’t hurt Michigan State that much in the grand scheme of things.

The Spartans still control their destiny for the College Football Playoff and the Big Ten championship — which Cincinnati still doesn’t — so don’t feel too bad for MSU.

Wake Forest on the other hand is out of the playoff chase, as is the ACC following North Carolina’s upset win. Minnesota also fell flat out its face losing to Illinois, while Baylor suffered a costly defeat to TCU and interim head coach Jerry Kill.

Mississippi State was defeated by Arkansas and another feel-good story — Kentucky — was defeated by Tennessee which could be yet another sign that the Vols are starting to come back under new head coach Josh Heupel.

Week 10 of the college football season offered plenty of excitement and here are the five most important takeaways.

No. 1: Winning isn’t easy unless you’re Georgia

The first college football Saturday of November didn’t disappoint. There were upsets all over the place and highly-ranked teams such as No. 4 Oregon and No. 7 Michigan struggled against unranked opponents.

The Ducks beat Washington but actually trailed for some of that game and while Michigan beat Indiana 29-7, it was still a two-score game in the fourth quarter. The Wolverines never trailed but never ran away with it either.

Cincinnati also wasn’t immune. The Bearcats hosted 3-5 Tulsa and needed two goal-line stands in the last minute (after a crazy finish) to hold on.

Georgia, on the other hand, played around with its food (Missouri) for about a quarter before just dominating the Tigers as the Bulldogs have done to every other team this season. Stetson Bennett was 13 of 19 for 255 yards and two touchdowns and the defense was downright nasty in a 42-3 win.

Even Alabama, the No. 2 team struggled against a lackluster LSU squad, which just serves as a reminder that in November, style points don’t matter (as much) because wins are just hard to come by.