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USATSI

Alabama was began the season at No. 1 in the rankings and the darlings of the college football preseason. Then, Tennessee stole our hearts after upsetting the Tide and earning the No. 1 spot in the first College Football Playoff Rankings. But to find the true best team in college football, all we had to do was travel back to the fallen confetti after the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship in Indianapolis. 

Georgia has been a destroyer of worlds before our very eyes for the better part of two years. The Dawgs are 23-1 over the past two seasons, including 9-0 to this point in 2022. Losing an all-conference team worth of talent to the NFL Draft hasn't slowed them down at all. After crushing No. 1 Tennessee 27-13 in a game that was nowhere near as close as the final score, the Bulldogs proved once again they are inevitable. 

Only helping UGA's case is Oregon's explosion since Week 1. The Ducks crushed Colorado 49-10 as quarterback Bo Nix threw for two touchdowns, rushed for two touchdowns and caught a touchdown. Against these Dawgs, the Ducks scored three points. Tennessee's top-ranked offense was held to one touchdown in Athens on Saturday. Only adding to the intrigue is that Alabama might not even make a return trip to the SEC Championship Game. 

Georgia is the new Goliath, the new team to beat in college football. Until someone knocks off the Dawgs, this is their sport. 

Here are more winners, losers and overreactions from the Week 10 action. 

Winners

Kansas: The Jayhawks have walked perhaps the darkest road in all of college football over the past decade, but it finally paid off on Saturday as Kansas earned its first bowl trip since 2008 with a shocking 36-17 win over No. 18 Oklahoma State. KU has not won more than three games in a season since 2009 or won multiple conference games since 2008. Lance Leipold deserves to be on the shortlist of every national coach of the year list for his unbelievable efforts turning the program around in less than two seasons. 

Liberty: The Flames entered the AP Top 25 last week but were left out of the CFP Rankings. After beating Arkansas on the road 21-19, the Flames might be in line for a little extra respect. Liberty jumped out to a 21-0 lead against the Hogs in Fayetteville and held the Razorbacks to just 3.4 yards per carry. With the win, Liberty now has victories over Arkansas and BYU. The only loss is a one-point decision against Wake Forest. It may not be enough to get into the playoff rankings, but it's enough to turn heads. 

LSU: Many scoffed after Brian Kelly took the head job in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and losing on a missed extra point against Florida State didn't help. However, Kelly has quickly brought consistency and focus to a talented No. 10 LSU squad and topped it off by beating No. 6 Alabama in Death Valley for the first time since 2010. Kelly has been minimized before for his inconsistent tenure at Notre Dame, but the coaching talent was always there. With access to Louisiana talent and a winning pedigree, everyone in the South will soon want to join his "Fam-uh-ly." 

Losers

The Big Ten: Top to bottom, the Big Ten had a completely bizarre day. It started with No. 2 Ohio State, a supposed national championship contender, getting outgained in a 21-7 win over 1-8 Northwestern. Then, likely title game contender No. 16 Illinois lost an awful game against 4-5 Michigan State. Iowa shut down Purdue. Maryland threw for 77 yards against Wisconsin. No. 5 Michigan trailed against Rutgers at the half. Somehow, the only program we can rely on is No. 15 Penn State. The Big Ten is supposed to have national-caliber programs at the top, but Week 10 was a horrendous showing for the most expensive conference in sports. 

The Color Orange: The orange palette was having a season for the ages in 2022, but it all came crashing down. Tennessee lost a heartbreaker against Georgia, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. Illinois fell to Michigan State, while No. 20 Syracuse lost 19-9 to Pittsburgh. Oklahoma State lost big without Spencer Sanders in the lineup against Kansas and No. 4 Clemson got taken to church by Notre Dame. Miami, Virginia, Oregon State and Auburn are other schools that are notably orange to fall in Week 10. For one week at least, the burnt orange of No. 24 Texas is alone atop the pyramid after edging No. 13 Kansas State. Congrats to Bevo. 

Overreactions

Two dynasties ended tonight: Eight years ago, Florida State -- the 2013 national champions -- sleepwalked its way to an undefeated regular season. Everyone who watched them knew the record was fraudulent and misleading, but undefeated is undefeated. Enter Clemson, a program that snuck past Syracuse, edged out Florida State and eked past Wake Forest. A 35-14 shellacking against Notre Dame exposed their true colors. 

Across the country, the albatross of losing big games hung over Brian Kelly's neck as his LSU squad hosted Alabama. But it became clear early, that this was no normal Alabama team. The Tide were held without a touchdown for three full quarters and now might not even make the SEC title game after losing 32-31 to the Tigers. This is the earliest a Saban team has lost two games since 2007, his first season in Tuscaloosa. 

Between 2009 and 2020, Alabama and Clemson won eight of the 12 available national championships in college football. But after the events of Saturday, their run as standard-bearers of the sport is over. Alabama is still a great program. Clemson is still the best team in the ACC. Regardless, the Tide and Tigers have fallen back to the pack and are looking up at Georgia. 

Texas A&M let the wrong coaches go: When Jimbo Fisher took over at Texas A&M, he got an open checkbook to hire his staff. In hindsight, college football might have underestimated just how well he chose as the Aggies went 34-14 over Fisher's first four years behind a sensational defense. 

After the 2021 season, defensive coordinator Mike Elko left to take his first head coaching job at Duke. Since then, Texas A&M has gone 3-6. Duke has gone 6-3 and made a bowl game for the first time since 2018. At the same time, offensive line coach Josh Henson left to become offensive coordinator and offensive line coach on Lincoln Riley's staff at USC. 

Fisher replaced these two coaches with D.J. Durkin and Steve Addazio, a pair of controversial former head coaches. The two units have completely collapsed while Fisher's signature offense suddenly ranks among the worst in college football. The Aggies are at risk of missing a bowl for the first time since 2005. Texas A&M let the special juice of its recent success leave the program. It's not Fisher -- it was Elko and Henson.