CFB Blitz: Cignetti's QB switch headlines afternoon takeaways

The weekly CFB Blitz is the spot to catch up on the most important developments from the day's action and examine their significance moving forward.

Jump to: Friday's games

Cignetti nails QB change

Indiana's program posted a total of 38 wins in the eight seasons before Curt Cignetti took the job. With Saturday's victory over USC, Cignetti is now an outrageous 36-3 in his third year with the Hoosiers.

One major decision prior to kickoff reiterated just why Cignetti is such a prolific winner. Cignetti played coy throughout the week about who would be the starting quarterback, but come game time, it was seventh-year senior Grant Wilson making his first start since the 2024 season over Josh Hoover. It instantly paid off.

Wilson - who was in the same high school class topped by now fourth-year NFL QB Bryce Young - looked very comfortable throughout the contest, finishing with 305 yards passing and two touchdowns. Perhaps his best throw of the day was his last, with Charlie Becker supplying the dagger on a third-down conversion.

The committee docked Indiana five places Tuesday despite Cignetti's program sitting out last weekend on a bye. The justification was that every Big Ten team the Hoosiers had played this year lost, and there were zero ranked wins on the schedule for the defending champions.

Cignetti can now check that box and expect a jump Tuesday following Saturday's win. The Hoosiers seem destined for a Big Ten title showdown with UCLA - especially with a new offense unlocked thanks to Wilson.

More road woes for Riley at USC

Remember the vibes a few weeks ago when USC beat Ohio State in Los Angeles to give Lincoln Riley his biggest win with the Trojans? No? Neither do we. Those are officially a thing of the past after yet another road disappointment for USC under the embattled coach.

A second-half collapse away from home was once again the issue, with USC now outscored 31-3 after halftime in the last two road games at Wisconsin and Indiana.

The maddening thing for Riley and his team is that this one was there for the taking - if they didn't shoot themselves in the foot over and over again. USC dropped two interceptions, committed eight penalties for 81 yards, missed two field goals, and threw a pick on the 1-yard line as they approached a game-tying touchdown.

The result drops Riley to 1-8 on the road against ranked opponents during his time at USC. One reason to sound the alarm is that the latest two road losses both came after bye weeks for the program. Riley's offensive background would suggest that side of the football would be extra prepared; however, Wisconsin and Indiana held them to just two offensive touchdowns total.

One step forward, two steps back: the Riley experience at USC.

Oregon flying toward improbable CFP berth

It seems borderline impossible given where the program was just three weeks ago, but Oregon is flying toward an improbable playoff berth with the dominant 31-7 win over Michigan as the latest resume point. The Ducks have now rebounded from the surprising loss at Illinois with wins over Northwestern, at Ohio State, and the Wolverines by a combined score of 106-61.

Dylan Raiola looks like a new man since the firing of offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer; the effort against Michigan was his best of the season. The Wolverines hadn't allowed more than 21 points in a game this year, but Raiola torched them for 31 on his 341 passing yards and four touchdowns.

Oregon put up 7.3 yards per play Saturday, with both Dakorien Moore and Jeremiah McLellan going over 100 yards receiving on the day. The Ducks hit Michigan with death by explosive play, putting up five plays of at least 36 yards on the day.

The Ducks finish the schedule at Michigan State and home against Washington. If the offense keeps cooking at the same level we've seen the past three weeks, it'd be a surprise to see them not finish with a 9-3 record. That should be enough to see Dan Lanning's program in the playoff - an astonishing outcome given how low they looked before Halloween.

Doesn't matter who plays QB for Michigan

Tommy Carr completed only 4 of his 12 passes against Oregon for 45 yards with a rating of 64.3 ... and he was somehow the more productive Michigan quarterback versus the Ducks.

Looking for anything that could spark the dismal offense, Kyle Whittingham played QB musical chairs, giving both Carr and Bryce Underwood snaps on the road. It didn't matter whatsoever. The duo combined to complete just 6 of 20 passing attempts for 71 yards.

The move to fire offensive coordinator Jason Beck did nothing to fix the offensive woes, and finally, the dominant defense couldn't answer the bell to keep things close. The 24-point loss is Michigan's fifth of the season and puts Whittingham in a position to make the wrong kind of history. If the Wolverines lose to UCLA and Ohio State to close the season, Whittingham will tie Rich Rodriguez for the most conference losses in one season in the history of the storied program, according to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press.

The Wolverines clearly made an error in luring Whittingham north to take over the program. While the buyout may sting, continuing to trot this product out onto the field on a weekly basis might be even more damaging for one of college football's biggest brands.

Tennessee's defense is a cheat code

Tennessee threw for a total of only 114 yards, ran for just 3.2 yards per carry, put up just 33 punt-return yards, and ... won on the road by double digits?

There isn't a bigger cheat code in the sport than the Volunteers' defense. Jim Knowles once again looked like the best coordinator hire in the nation, putting Marcel Reed and the woeful Texas A&M offense in hell all day with some exceptional play-calling. The Aggies put up just 179 yards of total offense, converted only eight first downs, and failed to hit the 100-yard mark through the air. Reed completed 9-of-22 passes on the day, and Tennessee's defense posted two interceptions in the win.

Credit to Josh Heupel for knowing what his team is perhaps better than any other team in the country. The Vols boss knows they do not have a great passing attack and adapts his play-calling accordingly. That saw them run the ball an outrageous 53 times on the Aggies - numbers we usually only see from service academies. The efficiency was ugly at only 3.2 per carry, but the running attack allowed Tennessee to hold the ball for 42:11 of game time, nearly 25 minutes more than Texas A&M.

Committee has to 'Wake' up on Demon Deacons

If Wake Forest had the CFP committee's curiosity in last week's ranking, the Demon Deacons will have their full attention this coming week. A 49-7 blowout win on the road at SMU will undoubtedly do that.

Wake Forest entered play with a sparkling 8-1 record, but still found itself outside the 12-team CFP rankings at No. 13. That came despite 10 of the top 12 teams sporting records equal to or worse than Jake Dickert's program. Well, it's time to "Wake" up and notice what the Demon Deacons are doing.

• 42-0 lead at halftime over SMU;
• 145-0 combined score in 1st halves over last four games;
• 313-38 overall scoreline in last six games.

Wake Forest isn't just beating teams; it's knocking them off the planet with dominant performances on a weekly basis. The Mustangs were supposed to provide the toughest test for the Demon Deacons since a loss to Miami earlier this season, but nobody told SMU that. Dickert's team embarrassed the hosts in a dreadful showing.

The CFP deck is certainly stacked against you if you are not playing in the SEC or Big Ten - especially under the 12-team format. The only thing a team outside those two leagues can do to grab the committee's respect is to not just win, but do so in emphatic fashion. When you put up crooked scorelines on a weekly basis like Wake Forest, it's too much to be ignored.

Survive and advance for Alabama, Miami

The goal was clear for Alabama and Miami as heavy favorites Saturday: Survive and advance. Both schools weathered an early scare before pulling away late to strengthen their claim to at least hold their current CFP rankings, if not move up Tuesday.

The Crimson Tide pulled a bait-and-switch on the college football world, starting Keelon Russell at quarterback after it was reported that Austin Mack would get the nod due to Russell's injury. However, Russell looked good in warmups and led the team on the field. He showed no signs of injury with three touchdown passes in the victory, including this perfect toss to the corner of the end zone.

Miami saw star running back Mark Fletcher hit the injured list early against Duke, joining a growing list that includes Malachi Toney. Fletcher's injury simply led to the Javian Mallory breakout game, as the backup rusher scored three touchdowns in the victory.

All Jeremiah, all the time

Arthur Smith has years of coaching at the NFL level and has forgotten more football than any of us combined currently know. However, any of us sitting on our couch playing Madden could have drawn up the game plan he rolled out to beat Northwestern on Saturday.

With Ohio State's offense reeling, Smith did what he should have done the last couple of weeks and spammed the heck out of Jeremiah Smith. The star wide receiver got an absurd 17 targets for Ohio State - 14 more than the next Buckeyes pass-catcher. He hauled in 11 of those passes for 117 yards and a touchdown in the 28-19 victory that stopped a two-game losing skid for the program.

It's clear that Luke Fahey is severely limited at quarterback for the Buckeyes, and he's simply not going to be much of a threat passing down the field. The answer to unlocking the offense despite that handicap was easy - look for Jeremiah early and often. Smith's 117 yards saw him pass the all-time Big Ten mark for a receiver to give him the solo record in the conference for catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns.

Ohio State likely needs plenty of help to make the playoff, but it can do its part to impress the committee by simply giving it to Smith every other passing attempt in the meantime. Just like us Madden experts would do.

Friday's games

UCLA, the takeaway kings

If Bob Chesney is looking for a theme song for the 2026 season, he can turn to former UCLA student Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and fire up "Give it away." That's exactly what every team on the Bruins' 2026 schedule is doing when they face Chesney's defense.

Turnovers in football come with a high degree of luck and are often not repeatable, but we now have a 10-game sample size showing UCLA forces them at a ridiculous rate.

UCLA added three more turnovers to the list with three interceptions of Illinois' Katin Houser in a 22-14 win Friday. Oh, and one epic safety dance to put two more points on the board and grab another possession.

Chesney's defense has now forced a turnover in every single game this season, other than a 17-7 victory over Wisconsin, and has five games with at least three takeaways. The Bruins have now forced 30 turnovers this season to lead the nation.

Things weren't all rosy for UCLA on Friday, as quarterback Ty Dieffenbach left the game due to what looked like a significant shoulder injury. That put the offense down to its third-string quarterback with starter Nico Iamaleava already lost for the season. However, Dieffenbach emerged from the locker room and jogged to the sidelines to a wave of cheers from the crowd. He promptly led a touchdown drive capped with a perfect throw to Semaj Morgan to restore a double-digit lead for the Bruins.

UCLA now finishes the schedule at Michigan and home versus USC. The Big Ten title game - and CFP berth - seem like a virtual certainty at this point in Chesney's first season with the program. No wonder the school is rapidly moving toward an extension for the new coach.

Coach Prime gets signature win

Deion Sanders' tenure with Colorado started with a bang in 2023, as the Buffaloes upset then-national runner-up TCU to get things going. However, Coach Prime has largely struggled to make waves of any kind since then - especially after his son, Shedeur, and Travis Hunter left the school. That saw the team enter Friday's game against No. 14 Houston with only one Big 12 win in the last year.

It looked like the same old Colorado early, with the Cougars racing to a 20-7 lead. However, Prime's squad hit the middle eight (the first half's last four minutes and second half's first four minutes) hard with three touchdowns in that span to flip the game on its head. All told, it was a 28-0 run over 12 minutes of game action that turned a 20-7 deficit into a 35-20 lead.

The final result marked Colorado's first top-15 win since 2007 and injected some much-needed life into the Coach Prime era in Boulder.

While the victory was huge for morale in Colorado, it was a significantly more crushing loss for the Houston side. The Cougars entered with a real shot at a College Football Playoff berth but can wave goodbye to those prospects after the dismal showing.