Key takeaways from Week 10's biggest games

theScore breaks down the top storylines from Saturday's college football games and what they might mean moving forward.

Title of best Group of 5 team up for grabs

Memphis and SMU lived up to the hype.

For SMU, playmakers like Shane Buechele (456 yards, three touchdowns) and James Proche (13 receptions, 149 yards) showed up. For Memphis, it was the electric Damonte Coxie (seven receptions, 143 yards) and Antonio Gibson (receiving touchdown, rushing touchdown, and kick return touchdown).

The No. 24 Tigers (8-1, 4-1 AAC) prevailed 54-48, but not before No. 15 SMU (8-1, 4-1) put one final scare into Memphis with a late touchdown. College GameDay's first-ever trip to Memphis produced an exciting, exhausting night of football.

It also reopened the race for the Group of 5 spot in a New Year's Six bowl game.

Two Group of 5 teams entered Week 10 undefeated; Appalachian State lost to Georgia Southern on Thursday, and SMU fell on Saturday.

With four weeks left in the regular season, three teams stand out as candidates to reach the New Year's Six bowl.

One is Cincinnati, the likely front-runner despite a dicey, 46-43 win over East Carolina. The Bearcats' (7-1, 4-0) lone loss came against Ohio State, and they own a win over UCF.

The other two teams are the ones that played in Memphis. The Tigers now own the tiebreaker in the AAC West, but the Mustangs aren't out of it. If SMU wins out, and Memphis loses another game - perhaps in its regular-season finale against Cincinnati - the Mustangs can still reach the American championship game.

Oregon makes a statement

The first College Football Playoff rankings come out on Tuesday. Oregon won't be in the top four, but that doesn't matter - yet.

What matters is how the Ducks compare to other one-loss teams, like Oklahoma, Georgia, and Utah. Oregon made a clear statement on Saturday to show that it belongs.

After a slow start, the Ducks dominated USC, pulling away with a 56-24 victory despite a 10-0, first-quarter deficit. Justin Herbert threw for three touchdowns and ran for another. Oregon returned a kickoff for a touchdown before halftime, and the Ducks' defense forced four turnovers.

It was a complete performance for the No. 7 team in the nation. Oregon (8-1, 6-0 Pac-12) has a quality loss, if there is such a thing, to Auburn. It doesn't have any marquee wins, so the only thing it can do at this point is blow past the teams in front of it.

As for USC (5-4, 4-2), this was ugly. The 34-point margin of defeat was the largest in a home game since falling 55-21 to Stanford in 2009. The Trojans are a middle-of-the-pack team in 2019. Save for an upset win over Utah, USC hasn't shown the ability to climb to the top tier of the Pac-12. The Trojans beat the teams they should beat, but that's about it. And that might not be good enough to prevent a regime change (especially with a new athletic director taking charge).

Georgia keeps playoff hopes alive

Compared to the elite offenses of Alabama, LSU, and even Ohio State, Georgia's season hasn't been aesthetically pleasing.

But the Bulldogs, a popular College Football Playoff pick before the season, kept their name in the mix with a win in a pseudo-elimination game.

No. 8 Georgia (7-1, 4-1 SEC) led the entire game and held off No. 6 Florida, 24-17, in Jacksonville. The offense only generated two touchdowns, but Jake Fromm (20-for-30, 279 yards) was steady. The defense made a statement by holding the Gators (7-2, 4-2) to 21 rushing yards and making Kyle Trask uncomfortable at times.

The win puts Georgia back in front of the SEC East. If the Bulldogs win out - which would include winning at Auburn in two weeks - they'll likely play either Alabama or LSU in the SEC Championship game.

Win there, and it would be hard to keep Georgia out of the Final Four.

Big 2nd half propels Utah

One play changed an entire game.

Utah cornerback Jaylon Johnson's interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter injected life back into his trailing team. The No. 9 Utes (8-1, 5-1) controlled the game from there, scoring 20 unanswered points during one stretch of a 33-28 win over Washington (5-4, 2-4) in Seattle.

Washington led 21-13 at the time of the interception. The Huskies found more success against Utah's vaunted defense than any team over the last month. Jacob Eason had three touchdown passes. Washington also recovered two fumbles.

Everything changed after Johnson's pick-6 cut the deficit to 21-19. The defense forced two consecutive punts. The offense went on drives of 82 and 84 yards, scoring touchdowns to take a 33-21 lead. Washington's final touchdown came too late to make a difference.

Utah was 1-12 all time against Washington. It had also lost three straight to the Huskies.

The Huskies coughed up a fourth-quarter lead at home for the third time in 2019. They also did it against Cal in September and versus Oregon in October.

Chuba Hubbard belongs in New York

Oklahoma State has bounced in and out of the rankings during an inconsistent season. But that shouldn't take away from the year that Chuba Hubbard is having in Stillwater.

The sophomore rolled to 223 yards Saturday as the Cowboys defeated TCU, 34-27, to improve to 6-3 and clinch bowl eligibility. Hubbard and the OSU offense found success in the absence of star receiver Tylan Wallace, who reportedly tore his ACL this week.

It marked the Canadian's fourth 200-yard performance of the season. Through nine games, Hubbard has rushed for 1,604 yards - easily the most in the country. He scored touchdowns of 92 and 62 yards.

His impressive numbers should take some focus off his team's disappointing record. He should be in New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.

Notre Dame escapes consecutive losses

One week after losing by 31 to Michigan, No. 16 Notre Dame didn't do much to inspire confidence against Virginia Tech.

Ian Book threw two interceptions, the Fighting Irish (6-2) ran for 2.8 yards per carry, and for most of the second half, the Hokies led the game.

But Book's nifty 7-yard scamper into the end zone with 29 seconds remaining gave Notre Dame a 21-20 win and provided a shining moment during a difficult couple of weeks.

Notre Dame outgained Virginia Tech 442-235 and ultimately deserved to win the game, but self-inflicted errors put a win in peril.

Entering Saturday, Notre Dame scored on all 24 of its red-zone possessions - including 21 touchdowns. The Fighting Irish had three such possessions against the Hokies (5-3, 2-2 ACC) but came away with no points - an interception, fumble, and missed field goal. Virginia Tech's Divine Deablo returned the fumble 98 yards for a touchdown that tied the game in the second quarter.

Orange Bowl could be in Wake Forest's future

The prevailing narrative about the ACC is that it's largely mediocre beyond No. 4 Clemson. For the most part, there's no dispute here.

But Wake Forest deserves a little more respect, as it showed again Saturday.

The No. 23 Demon Deacons (7-1, 3-1 ACC) scored early and often in a 44-10 rout of North Carolina State. Quarterback Jamie Newman, one of the more underrated passers in college football, threw for 287 yards and three scores. A defense that has seen its ups and downs held the Wolfpack to 3.7 yards per play.

Wake Forest will have a chance to dethrone Clemson when it travels to Death Valley on Nov. 16. But even they can't, the Demon Deacons are the obvious choice for the Orange Bowl if Clemson reaches the College Football Playoff. At this point, they could lose twice more and still likely stake a claim to being the ACC's second-best team.

Preseason rankings not aging well

It's only been two months since Syracuse and Nebraska were ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

Feels like an eternity.

The Orange and Cornhuskers were two of the most disappointing teams in the first half of the season. In an early slate of games without any marquee matchups, they proved how overrated they were coming into the 2019 campaign.

Syracuse (3-6, 0-5 ACC) is the only ACC team without a conference win. If Saturday is any indication, it might not get one. Boston College (5-4, 3-3) rolled to a 58-27 win in the Carrier Dome, piling up 496 rushing yards - the most of any FBS team in a single game this season. Remember, these are the same Eagles who lost by 24 at home to Kansas. They lost 59-7 at Clemson last week.

The Orange could finish 3-9 one year after winning 10 games. They will likely be underdogs in their final three games (at Duke, at Louisville, Wake Forest).

Nebraska (4-5, 2-4 Big Ten) had hopes of winning the Big Ten West in the preseason. The Cornhuskers couldn't even beat Purdue (3-6, 2-4) on Saturday, losing 31-27 after Boilermakers receiver David Bell scored on a 9-yard reverse with 68 seconds to play.

The Cornhuskers will have to win two of their final three against No. 18 Wisconsin, Maryland, and No. 19 Iowa to reach a bowl game. This wasn't how Scott Frost's second season was supposed to go.

UCF's space helmets win the day

The best thing we saw in the early wave of games?

There was Nebraska defensive tackle Darrion Daniels' interception, and an acrobatic catch in Central Michigan's win over Northern Illinois.

But the special space uniforms that UCF (7-2, 4-1 AAC) wore for its 44-29 win over Houston (3-6, 1-4) were simply spectacular.

The helmets resembled the light and dark sides of the moon. Constellations dotted the inside of the numbers and the shoulders. The pant legs included a USA wordmark.

Just perfect, all-around.