College football Week 10: No. 1 Miami at No. 4 Notre Dame is the biggest of 6 Top 25 matchups

ERIC OLSON, AP College Football Writer

Nov 4, 2026

College football fans with an appetite for large portions of high-stakes games should be quite pleased with the menu Week 10 has prepared for them.

The main dish, of course, is No. 1 Miami's visit to No. 4 Notre Dame on Saturday night. As if it were even possible, this game became even bigger for the Fighting Irish after they ended up No. 11 in the initial rankings for the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Appetizers will be served starting early Saturday with No. 7 BYU visiting No. 3 Utah in the Holy War rivalry and No. 10 Texas playing at No. 19 Missouri. The tray will be refilled in mid-afternoon when No. 9 Alabama visits No. 15 LSU and again when No. 8 Kentucky plays at No. 16 Tennessee.

The side dish with Miami-Notre Dame will be No. 2 Georgia at No. 12 Mississippi.

All of these games and more will have tangible playoff implications.

In the Atlantic Coast Conference, SMU hosts Virginia Tech on Friday night and would set up a pivotal home game against No. 14 Wake Forest next week with a win over the Hokies.

The Big Ten has three key games: No. 5 UCLA at Minnesota, Oregon at No. 11 Ohio State and No. 21 Iowa at Northwestern. In the Big 12, No. 17 Houston's ability to stay in the conference race hinges on its home game against Cincinnati.

No. 1 Miami (8-0, No. 1 CFP) at No. 4 Notre Dame (7-1, No. 11 CFP), 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC)

The storyline makes this the game of the year.

Notre Dame made "Leave No Doubt" its theme for the 2026 season after getting edged out of the final CFP at-large spot by Miami last season. Well, there's some doubt now. The Irish would be the last team in the playoff, besides the Group of Six representative, if the 12-team field were set today.

Their surprisingly low initial CFP ranking makes this a must-win situation for the Irish, who lost to BYU in their only other game against a ranked opponent. A second loss likely would drop them out of the top 12 - their threshold, by rule, for making the playoff - and they would be hard-pressed to move up with no ranked teams left on their schedule.

A couple other sidelights: the quarterback matchup pits Miami's Darian Mensah, the new Heisman Trophy front-runner, against CJ Carr, who was widely regarded as the preseason favorite.

Miami's Mensah has moved past Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith into the favorite's role and can solidify his position with a big outing against Notre Dame's best-in-the-nation defense.

Mensah threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-35 win at North Carolina and has completed 80.1% of his passes with 25 touchdowns against one interception. Online sportsbooks list him as a 3-to-2 favorite.

Smith had 10 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown in a 30-18 road loss to Southern California with freshman Luke Fahey at quarterback in place of the injured Julian Sayin. It was Smith's third straight game under 100 yards after going over 150 in four of his first five games. Smith enters the Buckeyes' home game against Oregon with 3-to-1 odds.

0 - Fumbles lost by Nebraska.

1 - One game since at least 1973 - Minnesota at Indiana last week - in which each team kicked a 60-yard field goal, according to Sportradar.

5 - Miami road wins if it beats Notre Dame, which would be its most since 2002.

6 - First-quarter points allowed by Utah.

26 - UCLA's FBS-leading takeaways, 16 more than in 2025 when the Bruins ranked 116th.

No. 5 UCLA (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten, No. 8 CFP) at Minnesota (5-3, 3-2), Noon ET (Fox)

This could be tricky for UCLA, which will go for its first 9-0 start since 1998. The Gophers have proved to be a tough out despite ranking 130th in offense and 88th in scoring. They have Big Ten home wins over Michigan and a ranked Iowa and they lost in overtime on the road to a then-top five Indiana last week.

First-year Bruins coach Bob Chesney was not pleased with his offense's performance in last week's 27-0 win over Nevada, which held the Big Ten's top rushing team to 125 yards. QB Ty Dieffenbach will make his first road start since taking over for the injured Nico Iamaleava.

Cash-strapped UTEP is in an uncomfortable situation with third-year coach Scotty Walden, who is 6-26 overall and 4-25 against opponents from the Bowl Subdivision. After last week's 31-7 loss to FBS newcomer North Dakota State, the Miners dropped to 1-7 and have lost 12 straight against FBS teams and 17 of 18.

The Miners moved from Conference USA to the tougher Mountain West this year and have been outscored by a combined 146-38 in four conference games and 282-62 including all FBS opponents. Their lone win was against Texas Southern of the Championship Subdivision.

Walden's contract runs through 2028, and he would be owed about $1 million if he's fired. That is no small amount for an athletic department that runs on a $31 million annual budget, just had to pay an $8 million exit fee to C-USA, dropped women's tennis last year and ranks near the bottom of the Mountain West in direct payments to athletes and name, image and likeness.

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