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The good, the bad, and the weird: College football's Week 10 roundup

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College football is sport at its zaniest.

The coaches, the college towns, and the fact that games are played (mostly) by those between 18 and 21 years old contribute to Saturdays that are never dull. And with 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, you can't predict where the most memorable moments of the weekend will occur.

Each week this season, theScore is here to break it all down - from the good to the bad to the weird. Here's what happened in Week 10 and why it matters.

The good

Oregon

Georgia had the best weekend in terms of improving its resume. Memphis captured the most attention because of its spot on ESPN's College GameDay.

But was any performance on Saturday more impressive than Oregon's 56-24 win at USC?

Oregon trailed 10-0 after one quarter ... and then proceeded to outscore the Trojans by 42 on the road. As they've done all season, the Ducks paired one of the nation's best defenses with one of its best quarterbacks.

It's worth repeating: Oregon was nine seconds away from beating Auburn in Week 1. If Tigers quarterback Bo Nix didn't connect with Seth Williams - giving the Ducks a loss in a game they led the entire way - Oregon would be undefeated, likely ranked top five in the country, and in prime position to reach the College Football Playoff.

"Game control" was a popular talking point within the playoff committee a few years ago. It'll be interesting to see if that term comes into play when considering a Ducks team that looks like it belongs.

Bryce Perkins

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Of the seven teams in the mediocre but fun ACC Coastal division, Virginia probably has the best chance of upsetting Clemson in a potential ACC championship game.

The Cavaliers haven't necessarily played like a team that can beat the Tigers this season. They'd lost three of four coming into Week 10, and quarterback Bryce Perkins' numbers had been way down compared to his 2018 season.

But Perkins was terrific on Saturday in Virginia's 38-31 win over North Carolina - a victory that put the Cavaliers back atop the Coastal. The pivot completed 30 of 39 passes for 378 yards and three touchdowns while running for a season-high 112 yards and two more scores. It was the first time Perkins averaged 4 yards per rush against an FBS opponent this year and his three passing touchdowns matched a career high.

Tennessee's bowl chances

The Volunteers spent many weeks in the "bad" category of this rundown. So, it's only fair that they're recognized for turning around their season.

Jeremy Pruitt's squad picked up another win Saturday by topping UAB 30-7 in a matchup that looked like a potential trap. Tennessee's defense was terrific, forcing four turnovers. The Volunteers have now won three of their last four games, with the only loss coming against Alabama.

As unlikely as it looked in mid-September, Tennessee has a legitimate shot to reach a bowl game. The Volunteers are still 4-5, but their last three games - at Kentucky, at Missouri, and versus Vanderbilt - are all winnable. It would cap quite the turnaround in Pruitt's second season after the Volunteers opened the year with home losses to Georgia State and BYU.

The bad

Florida State

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Firing a coach after 21 games is one way to display dysfunction loud and clear.

That's exactly what Florida State did over the weekend by axing Willie Taggart a day after losing 27-10 to Miami (Fla.). Overall, Taggart went 9-12 with the FSU - 5-7 last season and 4-5 this year.

It's a tough outcome for Taggart, who successfully built programs at Western Kentucky and South Florida before moving on to Oregon for one season and then joining Florida State.

It's also a critical time for FSU, which once epitomized consistency in college football.

From 1982-2017, the Seminoles reached a bowl game in 36 consecutive seasons. But if FSU can't find a way to win two of three against Boston College, Alabama State, and Florida down the stretch, it will miss the postseason for the second consecutive year.

The program is also set to hire its third coach in four seasons. Though it's only been five years since Florida State reached the first College Football Playoff, that successful season couldn't feel further away.

Arkansas

It's hard to gain ground in an SEC West division that houses the top two teams in the country (LSU and Alabama), but Arkansas can't seem to take a single step forward.

The Razorbacks were steamrolled 54-24 by Mississippi State on Saturday in a seemingly winnable home game. The Bulldogs had lost four consecutive contests, but Arkansas fell behind 34-14 at halftime and couldn't recover.

With the latest defeat, second-year coach Chad Morris fell to 4-17 - and 0-14 in the SEC - since taking the job. As a program, the Razorbacks have lost 22 of their last 23 conference matchups. Since Arkansas won 11 games and reached the Cotton Bowl in 2011, it has finished with a losing SEC record in seven of eight seasons.

It could get worse. Arkansas is a slight favorite at home in Week 11 … against Western Kentucky. Afterward, the Razorbacks will be underdogs against LSU and Missouri in their final two games.

Northwestern

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If nothing else, Northwestern's offense has been consistent.

In its last three games, the Wildcats produced 199, 202, and 199 yards against Ohio State, Iowa, and Indiana, respectively.

They also scored three, zero, and three points in those games. Saturday's 34-3 loss to Indiana extended Northwestern's touchdown-less streak to 13 quarters. Its last TD, a 2-yard run by Aidan Smith, came in the third quarter of a 13-10 loss to Nebraska on Oct. 5.

The Wildcats are now 1-7; they haven't lost eight games since Pat Fitzgerald's first season in 2006. They've scored 78 points this season, but 30 came in the lone win over UNLV on Sept. 14.

Northwestern also ranks last among the 130 FBS teams in scoring average with 9.8 points per game. You have to go way back to find the last Power 5 program that averaged single-digit points for an entire season. The 1999 South Carolina Gamecocks averaged 7.9 points and went 0-11.

The weird

Dinosaur sighting in Denton

There weren't many Halloween shenanigans in college football this weekend, but Mason Fine's costume was spectacular.

The North Texas quarterback, fresh off a 52-26 victory over UTEP, arrived for his postgame news conference looking like a dinosaur.

Fine, who passed for 332 yards and seven(!) touchdowns in Saturday's contest, proceeded to answer questions from inside the suit.

Derrick Brown coming out of nowhere

One of the weekend's most memorable plays happened by mistake.

Watch Auburn defensive tackle Derrick Brown - a first-round NFL talent - fly off the sideline to blow up a play in the Tigers' 20-14 win over Ole Miss:

The play was a mistake, but Brown's effect on the game was not. The senior has eight tackles for loss and four sacks this season.

Free bacon?

Typically, minor-league baseball teams use odd promotions to get fans into seats. However, Utah State's latest promo was right up there.

The Aggies offered 200 pounds of free bacon to fans who attended Saturday's Utah State-BYU game.

It wasn't the first time Utah State has offered free bacon. The program gave away 300 pounds of bacon to the first 1,500 fans in the door for the basketball team's home game against Nevada last year.

Unfortunately for Aggies fans, the bacon was the best part of Saturday's game. BYU won 42-14.

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