EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsWeek 9 was a pivotal one, with many of the nation's top teams putting on revealing performances. Miami barely managed to beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Will the top-ranked Hurricanes be able to compose themselves with a trip to Notre Dame coming up Saturday?And Ohio State, which fairly recently looked like the country's best team, is reeling after a bad loss to USC. Without quarterback Julian Sayin, will the Buckeyes even be able to make the playoff?Texas Tech looked revitalized with a new quarterback at the helm, and Indiana -- also with a new signal-caller -- managed to squeak out a victory against Minnesota. How should those teams approach the rest of the season?And ... is Texas back?Our college football experts are here to break things down.Are Ohio State's playoff chances finished with the USC loss and without Julian Sayin?Not finished. But teetering, yes. After falling to USC, the Buckeyes now have two losses, and no 9-3 team has been selected to the College Football Playoff to this point. So Ohio State needs to win its final four regular-season games.The good news for the Buckeyes is that even without Julian Sayin, they should be favored in all four of their remaining games: against Oregon, Northwestern, Nebraska (on the road) and Michigan.That said, the performance at USC was alarming. The Buckeyes looked discombobulated. Drops, penalties and poor defense plagued them all night.True freshman quarterback Luke Fahey played well enough in his first career start to give the Buckeyes a chance. The rest of the team didn't step up around him.Ohio State has an opportunity to regroup with three of its final four games at home. Ryan Day teams typically have thrived coming off losses, but the margin for any more error is gone. -- Jake TrotterWhat does Thomas Castellanos bring to Texas Tech at QB?Last week, in a dismal offensive showing against Cincinnati in a 34-27 loss, Texas Tech had three turnovers, and settled for five field goal attempts in the red zone as quarterback Will Hammond threw for 227 yards and had an interception and a fumble. This was a theme all season, with the Red Raiders offense unable to get on track.Hammond had thrown for just 1,561 yards with six touchdowns and six interceptions in seven games, despite a plethora of offensive weapons, and while Hammond was efficient and completing 68% of his passes, coach Joey McGuire had stressed he'd like the offense to stretch the field more.So with a Big 12 title run and a potential playoff berth in the balance, McGuire turned to Castellanos to start against No. 22 Arizona and found a new spark. Castellanos ran for 117 yards, the most against a ranked team by a quarterback in Texas Tech history, and he threw for 144 yards and two touchdowns, both of more than 24 yards. While he only completed 46% of his throws, the deep shots -- he averaged 15.3 air yards per attempt, compared to 8.4 this season for Hammond -- created open space for the running lanes, which allowed J'Koby Williams to finish with a career-high 175 yards and a career-long 64-yard touchdown, on just 14 carries.Hammond is beloved in Lubbock for fighting back from a season-ending injury last year, watching as the Red Raiders signed Brendan Sorsby, then stepping back into the fire as Sorsby's gambling saga played out. But Castellanos brings a veteran moxie, with 34 starts under his belt, and has a confidence and swagger the offense needs right now. This Red Raiders didn't strike fear into opponents eight games into the season. With Castellanos, there's a new dimension.McGuire would not commit to a starter after the game, but said he'd be "shocked" if Castellanos didn't start at practice Tuesday. But either way, he'll be a much bigger presence for the Red Raiders as they attempt to right the ship on offense. -- Dave WilsonShould Grant Wilson be Indiana's QB going forward?Not necessarily. The open week comes at a fortunate time for Indiana, which survived consecutive overtime games despite far from stellar offense. Josh Hoover hasn't been healthy since the Ohio State game and didn't play in the second half Saturday against Minnesota after taking a hit while throwing an interception. Hoover is just 16-of-37 for 200 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in his past two starts, and his prolonged stretch of inaccuracy -- four consecutive games without 55% completions -- is a significant concern. But if he can get closer to full health during the off week, Indiana could give him another shot when USC visits Nov. 14.Wilson made a decent case against Minnesota, especially his overtime touchdown pass to close friend Charlie Becker, and the mobility he brought with 26 yards on four carries. Coach Curt Cignetti called out Wilson's mobility after the game, as Hoover hasn't posed much of a threat with his legs."Kids on the team love him," Cignetti said of Wilson. "Big, tall, strong guy, strong arm, can get the ball down the field. He can run. I have a lot of confidence in him."Wilson deserves the right to work with the first-team offense more during the open week, but if Hoover gets healthy, Cignetti and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan will have a tough decision before USC visits. -- Adam RittenbergWhich team outside the top five has the best chance to make a deep run in the CFP?Like it or not, the answer is probably Texas.The Longhorns are undoubtedly streaky. But so is nearly every other team ranked ahead of them. And whatever this version of Texas lacks in game-to-game (or even quarter-to-quarter) consistency, it has the sheer star power to make up for it on the right day; the kind of star power that can really matter come December and January.Consider the Longhorns' 31-3 win over Mississippi State on Saturday. Arch Manning (16-of-20, 220 yards, 3 touchdowns) was composed. Texas got touchdowns and explosive plays from each of Raleek Brown, Cam Coleman and Emmett Mosley V. And the Longhorns unleashed the full power of a ferocious pass rush headlined by Rasheem Biles (3 sacks) and a breathtaking, 61-yard scoop-and-score from 333-pound defensive tackle Maraad Watson. Setting aside very real concerns surrounding Texas' offensive line and absent run game, the Longhorns have the ingredients to be dangerous if they can survive a tricky November schedule and reach the CFP."I don't know what our potential is," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Saturday night. "We're a growing team that continues to find ways to win."We'll know more about the work-in-progress Longhorns after matchups with Missouri and LSU over the next two weekends. Sarkisian may not know what his team's potential is. But, given the talent on the roster, Texas has the potential to make a CFP run ... provided it gets to the playoff in the first place. -- Eli LedermanMiami beats Notre Dame if...? And Notre Dame beats Miami if ...?Notre Dame has an opportunity to set the tone in this game if the Irish control both lines of scrimmage. Miami has been susceptible to breakdowns in its pass protection for the bulk of the season. Clemson and Florida State offer a blueprint, as both teams were able to get behind the line and force Darian Mensah outside the pocket. Miami won both games, but they are the only two games this season where he failed to complete 70 percent of his passes. On the flip side, North Carolina did a good job of keeping the Miami pass rush at bay for most of the game Saturday night, creating huge opportunities for explosive plays on the secondary, where Miami has had its share of issues this season. Coach Mario Cristobal said after the game that his defensive front did not play with its usual fire -- Miami will need that against the Irish.Miami has a clear edge at the skill positions, so the Hurricanes need to use that to their advantage to win. What they have done so well this season is simply wear teams down over the course of the game until either Mensah, Mark Fletcher Jr., Malachi Toney or a combination of all three take over. The matchup between Toney and Notre Dame corner Leonard Moore will certainly be one to keep an eye on. But just look at Clemson and North Carolina -- two teams that did their best to limit his big plays. Against Clemson, Fletcher took over. Against North Carolina, it was Fletcher and Toney who had the touchdowns in the end to help carry the Hurricanes. Mensah has proved to be effective even when he is pressured and has to escape the pocket. His 81 percent completion percentage remains remarkable. -- Andrea Adelson
