College football hot takes: Lane Kiffin goes splat, Irish and Tennessee clap back

Week 10 didn’t live up to the hype of being the college football weekend of the century, but it did help separate the wheat from the chaff and unmask a few frauds.

Big winners included Notre Dame, Alabama, Utah, Tennessee and the playoff selection committee.

REQUIRED READING: Alabama stood on LSU’s neck. Maybe the CFP committee knew something we didn’t

Here are 10 hot takes from a ballyhooed Week 10:

1. Committee earns vindication

Two main controversies emerged from the initial CFP rankings:

1. Alabama profiled as being overrated at No. 5. Even ESPN’s Greg McElroy, the former Alabama quarterback, expressed bewilderment at the Tide’s ranking.
2. The committee gave Ohio State little respect for its strength of schedule, slotting the Buckeyes at No. 12.

I never had a problem with No. 2. Julian Sayin’s injury changed my perception of Ohio State. So did the Southern Cal loss. I did, however, think Alabama seemed like a prime overrated candidate.

Nope.

In each case, the committee earned vindication.

Alabama played up to its ranking. The Tide could climb a spot or two after smashing LSU, 31-13, at Tiger Stadium. Ohio State suffered a playoff-eliminating 41-28 home loss to Oregon. Never mind Sayin’s injury, because Ohio State’s defense slipped off into a corner to die while we were all distracted by Luke Fahey.

Notre Dame and Tennessee come off looking underrated after impressive victories. The committee can get to work on addressing that.

2. How will the top 12 look in next CFP rankings?

Here’s one guess for how those next rankings will take shape:

1. Georgia: Bulldogs are the nation’s most trustworthy team.
2. Utah: Put an SEC or Big Ten jersey patch on the Utes, and they’d be ranked No. 1.
3. Alabama: Road wins against LSU, Kentucky and Mississippi State (when the Bulldogs were rolling with Kamario Taylor) make for strong resume tentpoles. One of Alabama’s two losses was an epic 20-17 tussle with Georgia, too.
4. Notre Dame: If the committee thought so highly of Miami, then Notre Dame must shoot up, right?
5. Indiana: An open date isn’t a bad place to be this season. Resting beats losing.
6. Texas: The officials plus the Longhorns make a tough combination. Texas added another top 25 pelt at Missouri, and the Longhorns probably could make the playoff even if they absorb a third loss.
7. UCLA: The Bruins looked formidable in a road win at Minnesota, and that win at Oregon looks better after the Ducks trashed Ohio State.
8. Tennessee: Apply the Notre Dame logic to the Vols’ climb, too. If the committee thought so highly of Kentucky, then Tennessee gets credit for trouncing the Wildcats.
9. Miami: No more undefeated record, and Malachi Toney is hurt. The committee must rethink Miami.
10. Brigham Young: The Cougars’ loss at Utah didn’t ruin the Big 12’s chances at multiple bids, but it didn’t help. What did help? Ohio State’s loss.
11. Wake Forest: Who is this Merrimack team that Wake Forest trampled 77-0? Never mind the FCS roadkill, and focus on the six-game win streak.
12. Texas Tech: The Red Raiders gained offense by switching quarterbacks to Thomas Castellanos. Where’d the defense go? At least West Virginia’s defense is worse.

In freefall: Kentucky, Mississippi, LSU.

3. SEC got bamboozled by a 24-team bracket

Here’s a realistic possibility: The SEC will qualify at least twice as many teams for what could be the final installment of the 12-team playoff bracket as the Big Ten.

After Ohio State’s loss, the Big Ten faces serious danger of being a two-bid league. In fact, one could make the case that the Big 12 has a better chance at three bids than the Big Ten.

The Big Ten hatched the idea of a 24-team playoff. The SEC initially favored 16 but slowly got on board with 24. Although 24 is not yet finalized, it moves ever closer to completion. The SEC should consider itself hoodwinked.

Toppmeyer: Lane Kiffin's first season at LSU swirls the drain after loss that 'kind of shocks you.'

4. Lane Kiffin out of answers in Year 1

Postgame news conferences are not always fertile ground for profound thinking, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that Kiffin had no answers for why his team consistently fails to make winning plays in crunch time.

“I don't know,” Kiffin said. “We just didn't.”

Evidently, LSU really did need those NFL players. Maybe, it needed an entire NFL roster, although talent deficiency doesn’t explain the team’s 6-3 record as much as a total absence of what we’ll call the “winning gene.”

LSU led Alabama late in the third quarter, then wilted at closing time, just as it did against Ole Miss and Kentucky. This debut season for Kiffin on the bayou has gone to rot.

It’s a worse debut than Brian Kelly’s Year 1, especially when you consider the tens of millions LSU poured into this roster.

In the high mark of Kelly's tenure, he finished his first season at 10-4. One of those losses came against Georgia in the SEC Championship, and he beat Alabama at Tiger Stadium in overtime.

Kiffin would need three wins in a row and some Selection Sunday love to trump that. But, why should be trust LSU when it’s facing a better-than-average opponent? These Tigers have given us little reason to believe.

5. Ole Miss, look to the future

Picture this: It’s 2029, and Kiffin is coaching Ole Miss. Pete Golding is his defensive coordinator. Trinidad Chambliss returns to a standing ovation at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, where a statue has been unveiled.

Emotions being what they are for Kiffin at Ole Miss would prevent that reunion from happening, but we saw the best of Kiffin when he was his version of happy and thriving at Ole Miss. We saw the best of Ole Miss, too.

Neither party looks great right now without the other. Oh, and here’s a prediction: We’ve already witnessed the two highlight moments of the Golding era. One happened in the Sugar Bowl. The other happened in Week 3. The downhill slide is in motion.

Getting the band back together a few years from now might be best for all involved, if only festering wounds healed that easily.

6. Kentucky pulls a Kentucky

During a radio hit before the weekend, I predicted Kentucky would pull its usual maneuver of sipping from the poison chalice en route to Neyland Stadium, and its dream season would wither.

I almost had it right, except the Wildcats didn’t sip from any chalice. They guzzled from a 5-gallon poison bucket, then lost 34-6 at Tennessee.

Death, taxes, and Kentucky losing to the Vols.

As added insult for Kentucky, its win over LSU lost some sparkle.

REQUIRED READING: UCLA is 9-0. The CFP committee is running out of excuses to disrespect it

7. UCLA, claim your playoff bid

If you’re waiting for UCLA to pull a Kentucky, keep waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

That moment isn’t arriving, and UCLA is now one of the nation’s final two unbeaten teams. Will Bob Chesney retire from UCLA? I find that unlikely, but I don’t see him bolting on this season. It takes a special sort to “pull a Kiffin” and bail on a playoff team.

UCLA is playing so well that, with a bit of good marketing, it stands a chance of putting 35,000 fans in the stands for its game next week against Illinois at the Rose Bowl.

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8. Utah wins coaching carousel

It’s rarely easy or picture-perfect to part with a legendary coach who still believes he’s got some tread on the tires when the program is ready to move on. So it was with Utah’s breakup with Kyle Whittingham.

It’s clear, though, Utah made the right call and chose the right time to trigger a transition to Morgan Scalley, Whittingham’s longtime understudy.

Nobody’s doing it better in Year 1 than Chesney and Scalley. "Nobody" includes Whittingham at Michigan.

9. Florida falls flat

Despite what you might have heard in September, Florida isn’t fixed. The Gators scored just one touchdown in each of their last two games, losses to Georgia and Florida.

You might’ve read somewhere several weeks ago that Florida won the carousel by missing Kiffin and nabbing Jon Sumrall.

Here’s an alternate take, in the sober light of November: LSU and Florida both swallowed millions in buyout bucks, with little to show for it in Year 1.

REQUIRED READING: What SEC said about controversial fumble ruling in Missouri-Texas game

10. Texas looks good with zebras on its side

If Texas could play the rest of its games with that crew that masqueraded as officials in a 34-20 win at Missouri, the Longhorns would never lose again.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football hot takes: Lane Kiffin goes splat, Irish and Tennessee clap back