College football grades: Oregon barely passes Wisconsin test with ‘C-‘, Georgia jumps into CFP mix with ‘A+’

Georgia reminded everyone it isn’t dead yet in a critical 31-17 win over No. 7 Tennessee that reestablished the Bulldogs as a title contender.

A loss to the Volunteers would have knocked Georgia out of the title race with a third loss, but instead Carson Beck turned in a vintage performance leaving Tennessee in a precarious position moving forward. With wins over Texas and Tennessee, Georgia has a strong playoff resume, even though it’ll likely still fall behind Alabama and Ole Miss in the rankings because of head-to-head losses. 

Tennessee was one of two top 10 teams to go down Saturday night, joining No. 6 BYU which lost 17-13 to Kansas. It wasn’t the most exciting slate on paper but it exceeded expectations and pushed multiple title contenders to the brink. Here are the grades for all teams with national title odds of +4000 or better. 

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Bye weeks: Ole Miss (+1000), Indiana (+2500), Miami (+3500)

Ohio State 

Grade: B+

Title odds: +300

The Buckeyes fell down 7-0 early at Wrigley Field, but overcame the early sluggishness and easily handled Northwestern the rest of the way for a 31-7 win. Carnell Tate and Quinshon Judkins each had two touchdowns as Ohio State didn’t have to stress much in the second half against the overmatched Wildcats. This was a survive-and-advance type week for Ohio State ahead of a huge top-five matchup next week against undefeated No. 5 Indiana. 

Oregon

Grade: C-

Title odds: +440

The Ducks struggled on the road against Wisconsin, turning the ball over in the red zone twice and only scoring one touchdown in a tight 16-13 win over the Badgers. For the second week in a row Oregon had less than 400 offensive yards — the first time that’s happened in back-to-back games since 2020 — and star QB Dillon Gabriel did not have his best day in a 218 passing yards, one interception and zero touchdowns performance. Oregon is one win away from a perfect regular season and deserves a little credit for proving it can win ugly games like this one, but the last few weeks have shown there is still plenty of work to be done ahead of a playoff run. 

Georgia

Grade: A+

Title odds: +490

Georgia took a big jump in the title odds, overtaking Texas as the top national championship favorite from the SEC, following a 31-17 win over Tennessee. A week after a disastrous outing in Oxford where Ole Miss’ defensive front manhandled Georgia’s offensive line, the Bulldogs didn’t give up a single sack to a talented Tennessee defense. Much-maligned Georgia QB Carson Beck looked great against the Volunteers, finishing with 347 passing yards and two touchdowns plus a rushing touchdown. Georgia has been a rollercoaster this season week-to-week but the version we saw against Tennessee is closer to what we expected from Kirby Smart’s squad this year. 

Texas 

Grade: B-

Title odds: +550

Texas’ best-in-the-nation defense looked great. Its offense? Not so much. But when it mattered late, Quinn Ewers led a successful 8-play, 75-yard fourth quarter touchdown drive that turned it into a two-score game and held off Arkansas 20-10. The offensive concerns aren’t going away and Ewers will need to be better in two weeks against Texas A&M, but Texas holding a Bobby Petrino offense to one touchdown, 231 yards plus forcing two turnovers and six sacks is very encouraging moving forward. Texas still has the shortest odds to win the SEC, for what it’s worth. 

Alabama 

Grade: A

Title odds: +850

The Crimson Tide easily took care of business against a good FCS opponent Mercer as a tune-up before finishing the season against Oklahoma and Auburn. Alabama played four quarterbacks against Mercer, had a fumble return for a touchdown and even a Ryan Williams rushing touchdown in the 52-7 win. There were zero signs of a post-victory hangover after last week’s dominant road win at LSU which bodes well for Alabama doing what it needs to in order to make the playoff. 

Penn State  

Grade: A

Title odds: +1900

Purdue is really bad, but give Penn State credit for taking care of business and never giving the Boilermakers a chance Saturday. The defense easily bottled up Purdue QB Hudson Card and didn’t give up a touchdown until the fourth quarter. PSU tight end Tyler Warren dazzled again, this time scoring on a 48-yard touchdown run on a direct snap. That came on top of the eight catches for 127 yards and a touchdown that PSU’s best offensive weapon delivered in the 49-10 win. 

Notre Dame 

Grade: A-

Title odds: +2000

Notre Dame was aggressive in its play-calling and capitalized on five Virginia turnovers for an easy 35-14 win over the Cavaliers. UVA QB Anthony Colandrea threw three second-quarter interceptions that led to two Notre Dame touchdowns and a second-half QB change. A garbage-time UVA touchdown with 18 seconds left made it look closer than what was really a dominant win for the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame looks good ahead of an important game next week against No. 24 Army in Yankee Stadium. 

Tennessee

Grade: C-

Title odds: +4000

Tennessee barely stays in the mix after taking a massive tumble in the rankings with its second loss of the season. Those diminished title odds surely reflect how Tennessee could be the two-loss SEC team on the outside looking in when the final playoff field is put together. Tennessee has a great home win over Alabama, but that road loss to Arkansas looms large. It was always going to be tough to beat a desperate Georgia team in Athens, but blowing an early 10-0 lead makes this a tough one to swallow and the kind of unrealized opportunity that could derail Tennessee’s season dreams.