Bill Connelly Nov 1, 2026, 05:35 PM ET

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Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

The first two months of the college football season were messy and increasingly chaotic. Week 9 was no exception, though a lot of its surprises were either (A) games that were projected to be close but were blowouts instead or (B) close calls for top teams.

No. 1 Miami (tight win over North Carolina), No. 4 Indiana (overtime win over Minnesota) and No. 8 BYU (tight win over Arizona State) all fit the latter category. Other than USC knocking off a wounded Ohio State, the underdogs couldn't quite get it done against the top teams this time around.

But forget all that -- it's November now. Virtually everything we eventually remember about the 2026 season will happen from this point forward.…