Winners, Losers from College Football Games Today: Standouts, Concerns from CFB Week 4

There was ample excitement entering Saturday’s College Football Week 4 slate thanks to some great ranked-versus-ranked matchups and other opportunities to watch some of the best players in the nation. Fittingly, a loaded early and late afternoon slate lived up to the grand expectations.

Let’s dive into our winners and losers from the college football games today.

Winner: Colin Simmons, EDGE, Texas Longhorns

How about tying a storied program’s single-game record and being the biggest reason why they went into a hostile environment and won? Texas Longhorns edge rusher Colin Simmons, outside of his dumbfounding penalty for his childish sack celebration, was sensational in Week 4. He took full advantage of a porous Tennessee Volunteers offensive line and an inexperienced true freshman quarterback, racking up 5 sacks in a 20-17 win. It’s performances like this that can both push Simmons that much closer to winning the Ted Hendricks Award (best edge rusher) and toward being a top-four pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.

Related: 6 Big Takeaways from Texas Longhorns vs Tennessee Volunteers

Loser: Sean Lewis, San Diego State Aztecs Head Coach

Coming into the season, Sean Lewis was a common name listed among Power 4 college football coaching candidates for 2027. It made some sense considering the San Diego State Aztecs were coming off a 9-4 season, but that was largely driven by an excellent defense. Lewis’ background is on the offensive side of the football. He saw quarterback Jayden Denegal complete just 58.8% of his passes with a 9-8 TD-INT ratio and 16 sacks last season and stuck with him. That decision has proven disastrous and Lewis’ stock is plummeting. San Diego State lost 41-16 at Toledo on Saturday, its third consecutive loss. During this three-game losing streak, the Aztecs offense has put up just 39 points with a 27.9% third-down conversion rate (12-of-43). Fortunately for Lewis, he’s still getting paid handsomely and gets to live in San Diego.

Winner: Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State Buckeyes

Jeremiah Smith is the best wide receiver in college football, and the Ohio State Buckeyes have done a better job this season of making him the focal point of their passing game. He entered Saturday with a pair of 150-yard performances to open the season, but those showcases of his talent pale in comparison to what he did in Week 4 against Illinois. Smith opened the game with a touchdown and then torched the Fighting Illini for a 72-yard score moments later. He wasn’t done, pulling down 12 receptions with career-highs in receiving yards (217) and receiving touchdowns. He’s put up 617 receiving yards (154.3 per game) and 7 touchdowns this month and is now just two scores shy of breaking Chris Olave’s record for the most receiving touchdowns in Buckeyes’ history (35).

Related: Heisman Trophy Rankings Entering Week 4

Loser: Isaac Brown, RB, Louisville Cardinals

We thought the Louisville Cardinals had figured out their run game last week in the win over SMU. Evidently not. Isaac Brown’s disappointing season continued on Saturday, totaling just 33 rushing yards on nine attempts (3.7 yards-per-carry average) with four receptions netting 11 yards. Brown’s 3.4 yards per touch is alarming, especially since Wake Forest surrendered 158 rushing yards (4.6 ypc) to Miami last week and allowed Purdue running back Fame Ijeboi to put up 156 scrimmage yards just two weeks ago. After an outstanding freshman season (1,171 yards) and plenty of explosive runs in 2025 (8.8 yards per carry), Brown has been one of the most underwhelming running backs in college football this month, and he’s a big reason why Louisville is now 2-2.

Winner: Wayshawn Parker, RB, Utah Utes

The Utah Utes don’t win at Iowa State in Week 4 if not for Wayshan Parker. Devon Dampier was solid, but Utah’s running back put this offense on his back with 239 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns, leading his teammates in both rushing and receiving. Putting Parker’s numbers into greater perspective, he almost single-handedly outscored the Cyclones (16 points to 17) and nearly matched them in terms of total yardage. This performance just further highlights why the Utes are so dangerous in 2026.

Loser: Malik Washington, QB, Maryland Terrapins

There are bad days and there’s what happened to Maryland Terrapins quarterback Malik Washington in Week 4. Facing the UCLA Bruins, Washington’s second-leading receiver on Saturday was the UCLA secondary. Maryland’s signal-caller was picked off four times and he finished with more incompletions (20) than completed passes (38), all the while averaging just 3.7 yards per attempt with 142 passing yards and 2 sacks taken. It’s not like we were expecting Maryland to win on Saturday, but this is one of the worst showings by a quarterback we’ll see all year.

Winner: Jadan Baugh and Duke Clark, RB, Florida Gators

How could we pick just one of the Florida Gators‘ running backs? After all, Jadan Baugh (142 yards and 3 touchdowns) and Duke Clark (126 yards and one touchdown) outperformed Mississippi’s entire ground attack until garbage time on Saturday in The Swamp. Baugh didn’t have the explosive run (45-yard touchdown) that Clark delivered, but he did almost always seem to break through first contact and gain 4-6 yards each time he touched the football. Florida’s ground game made it so that Aaron Philo really didn’t have to do anything except protect the football. The 4-0 Gators are already exceeding expectations in the first season under Jon Sumrall.

Related: Winners, Losers from Ole Miss Rebels vs Florida Gators

Loser: John Mateer, QB, Oklahoma Sooners

It might be time for the Oklahoma Sooners to end the John Mateer era already. He isn’t the lone reason that Oklahoma got its doors blown off by the Georgia Bulldogs in Week 4, which is ‘technically’ an improvement from being the reason the Sooners lost to Michigan in Week 2 and then won in spite of him in Week 3 against New Mexico. The problem for the 2-2 Sooners is that Mateer’s inability to protect the football makes it impossible for the Sooners to be a team that wins with an aggressive defense and a conservative offense. Mateer’s first turnover in Week 4, where the football just slipped out of his hand, was returned for an 85-yard touchdown.

He then badly underthrew a pass on 3rd-and-9 that Georgia returned 28 yards. With the Sooners in desperate need of hope before halftime, Mateer was strip-sacked at the 34-yard line and it was returned to the 11 and Georgia scored two plays later to make it a 28-0 game.Oklahoma can’t justify this much longer and it certainly can’t beat Texas, Florida and Missouri if he plays anything like this.

Winner: Reece Vander Zee, WR, Iowa Hawkeyes

How fitting. The Michigan Wolverines lost on a last-second pass into the end zone caught by a 6-foot-4 receiver. It certainly felt like the Wolverines had this win in hand on Saturday in Ann Arbor, leading 19-14 with the Iowa Hawkeyes offense at its 9-yard line with 97 seconds left. The odds of victory were even more in Michigan’s favor when Iowa was stuck at 3rd-and-10 from the Michigan 45-yard line with 11 seconds left. After Hank Brown hit Addison Ostrenga for a 29-yard gain, wide receiver Reece Vander Zee came through for his home state by pulling down the game-winning touchdown while keeping his toes in before landing out of bounds. It was his second touchdown of the game, not bad for a wideout who had just 15 receptions and two touchdowns all of last season.

Loser: Deion Sanders, Colorado Buffaloes Head Coach

It is over. We realize we are only one month into the 2026 college football season, but it is time for the Colorado Buffaloes athletic department to recognize it is time for the Deion Sanders era to end. It is not like the Baylor Bears are a good team and their quarterback DJ Lagway (19-of-39 with an interception) was not sharp in this one. The Buffaloes still lost 23-13. This team is not any better than the one that went 3-9 in 2025, making it increasingly evident that Sanders’ success at Colorado was largely because of Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders. The fact that Deion can no longer keep high-end talent, in part due to Colorado’s resources, eliminates the one final reasoning the school had to keep him. He should be offered the opportunity to retire, and if he does not take it, then Colorado should fire him.

Winner: Mason Heintschel, QB, Pittsburgh Panthers

Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Mason Heintschel has thrown 13 touchdowns this season. They have all come in two games. In Week 1, he picked Miami-Ohio’s defense apart with 453 passing yards and 7 touchdowns while completing 75.6% of his passes. Evidently, six-touchdown games are just going to be a thing for him. Facing Bucknell, Heintschel cleared the 400-yard mark again (403) while completing 29-of-37 attempts with six passing touchdowns. Oh, we should mention that all of the scores came in three quarters. We understand the level of competition matters, but we have to highlight the quarterback who has thrown six touchdowns twice this month.