CFB Blitz: November Arch headlines early Week 10 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.

Don't mess with November Arch

If the college football season started Nov. 1, Arch Manning would be the best player in the country. He left plenty to be desired with his play early last year and occasionally struggled during the first two months of this season. However, once the calendar flips to November, Manning morphs into a quarterback worthy of the hype surrounding him.

Manning's latest November masterpiece - 297 yards passing and three touchdowns - came Saturday in a win at No. 18 Missouri. He's now 5-1 all time in starts after Oct. 31. He's also averaged 277 yards passing while sporting a ridiculous 14-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio in those outings.

While Steve Sarkisian and Manning may look disconnected for large portions of time, it's clear that the more tape there is to study and experience to draw on, the better the quarterback and the offense play.

The victory is Texas' fourth versus ranked competition this season - an important statistic in the eye of the College Football Playoff committee. It also gives the Longhorns an important safety net heading into next week's meeting with LSU. Even a road loss in Death Valley likely won't eliminate Texas from the 12-team field given its strength of schedule.

Utah puts Bear down in Holy War win

What was perhaps the most important iteration of the Holy War rivalry didn't disappoint. Saturday's matchup between BYU and Utah featured six turnovers, over 700 yards of total offense, and two different 14-0 runs by the Utes sandwiched around a 20-0 spurt for the Cougars. In the end, Utah's defense made the difference by putting together a turnover party during a second-half shutout. The unit forced the usually reliable Bear Bachmeier to throw four interceptions on the day. Bachmeier entered the game with only four picks on the season before being intercepted three times in the final 30 minutes Saturday.

His most consequential interception came on the goal line with a possible game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion looming.

Perhaps the most damning thing about Bachmeier's interceptions was the fact that multiple of them traveled directly to a defender. The Utes were able to disguise their coverages versus the second-year passer and force him into poor decisions. The opportunistic defense - and some clutch playmaking down the stretch from Devon Dampier - helped Utah extend the nation's longest active winning streak to 15 games. The result also essentially gives the Utes a spot in the Big 12 title game, as they now hold a two-game lead in conference play with only three contests remaining.

Unfortunately for BYU, its second-half offensive struggles are nothing new. The Cougars entered Saturday ranked 103rd nationally in second-half scoring and will surely drop further after being shut out in the final 30 minutes.

Most efficient QB ever?

You don't need an analytics team to break down the efficiency of Ty Dieffenbach's performance at Minnesota. The UCLA quarterback completed a total of three passes in the second half against the Golden Gophers on Saturday, with all three going for touchdowns. That would be impressive on its own, but two of them came on back-to-back offensive plays. Aidan Mizell was the beneficiary of both, running what appeared to be identical routes from opposite sides of the formation.

Dieffenbach finished with an outrageous line of 8 completions for 303 yards at 18.9 per attempt. That effort helped UCLA break a 10-10 tie at half and run away with a 34-20 victory to remain one of only three unbeaten teams in the country. The Bruins are now 9-0 to start a season for the first time since 1998.

Illinois, Michigan, and USC await on the schedule for first-year head coach Bob Chesney and Co., but it's looking more and more like UCLA will be a mainstay in the projected CFP field over the next few weeks.

Friday games

Nebraska

Many people make fast friends with the first person they see on move-in day at university. You frequently hang out over the semester's first month, navigating all the new experiences that come as a freshman. However, as the year progresses, you meet plenty of new people and realize that person may not actually be your best friend and was just the first person you saw. Well, that's Nebraska football under Matt Rhule.

For the third straight year, the Cornhuskers have flown out of the gates and looked like one of the top teams in the Big Ten. And just as quick, Nebraska is suffering its usual drop-off in the second half of the season as team's get more information on the Cornhuskers. Friday's loss at Illinois makes it four straight defeats to drop them down to 5-4 on the year.

• 2024: 5-1 start, finished 7-6
• 2025: 5-1 start, finished 7-6
• 2026: 5-0 start, now 5-4

The loss came with consequences for the coaching staff, only not the move most Nebraska fans probably want at this point. Offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen was fired Saturday, but Rhule and his enormous $63 million buyout remain. That figure makes it a virtual guarantee he's not going anywhere and only makes last year's extension in the wake of Penn State rumors look even worse.

Of course, Rhule's not the only one to struggle at Nebraska in recent memory. Anybody holding a clipboard on the sideline has had issues since Bo Pelini was fired in 2014. That might just be life in the Big Ten for the Cornhuskers, but it's probably a safe bet they could get someone else to win 7 games a season that didn't have a buyout worth $63 million.