Great novels have been generated from less drama than what Texas Tech has experienced at quarterback this season.

Coming off of a College Football Playoff trip a year ago, the Red Raiders sought not only to replace veteran Behren Morton (a seventh-round NFL draft pick by the Patriots), but to upgrade, landing Brendan Sorsby from Cincinnati. That plan was derailed over the summer, following the revelation that Sorbsy had violated a slew of anti-gambling rules, including previous bets on his own team in games that he did not play in while at Indiana early in his career.

After a standoff with the Big 12, Tech withdrew, opting to roll with 2025 backup Will Hammond, who was recovering from a torn ACL. On the eve of the season, however, they added veteran Thomas Castellanos, who was one of the various class of 2022 players seeking an extra year after the NCAA’s move to a five-seasons-in-five years rule.

With billionaire booster Cody Campbell pouring money into the program every year, the pressure is on in Lubbock to not only win the Big 12 and head back to the CFP, but to compete for national championship. And after an upset loss to Cincinnati a week ago, coach Joey McGuire and his staff made a change at quarterback. How’d it work out? Let’s find out with this week’s winners and losers.

This story will be updated throughout the night, check back here for more on the Week 9 college football action.

Winner: Texas Tech’s quarterback gambit

What a fall it’s been for Castellanos. The fifth-year quarterback joined Texas Tech—his fourth program after stops at UCF, Boston College and Florida State—joined the Red Raiders in late August, just before the start of the season, despite legal questions about his eligibility. His status has been jostled back and forth in the courts throughout the season, but he was recently granted an injunction to continue playing, and on Saturday morning, McGuire made the call to start the dual-threat veteran against Arizona, after Hammond struggled in a loss at Cincinnati.

Castellanos is far from a perfect player, which we’ve learned over his career, but he adds a significant dimension on the ground, and that was key for the Red Raiders in holding off the Wildcats. Castellanos was just 11 for 24 for 144 yards through the air but connected on a pair of touchdowns, and gave Texas Tech an added dimension on the ground, with 117 rushing yards and a score. He helped open things up on the ground for a season-high 175 yards and a score, capped by a 64-yard touchdown run to seal the victory on the Red Raiders’ final drive.

After the game, McGuire indicated that he expects Castellanos to be the guy against West Virginia next week. We’re seeing the sputtering Texas Tech offense reshaped in real time. 

Loser: The ACC’s College Football Playoff depth

The JMA Wireless Dome is a spooky place for ranked road teams throughout the back half of the season, and that was certainly the case for No. 19 SMU this Halloween. The Mustangs fell behind 20–10 at the half against Syracuse, came back to take a fourth-quarter lead, and then gave it away on a pair of scoring drives by the Steve Angeli–led offense, capped by a go-ahead touchdown pass to little-used tight end Noah Meyers in the game’s final seconds.

SMU may not be all the way out of the ACC championship or College Football Playoff races with the loss, but according to CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello, the network's modeling dropped the Mustangs’ CFP chances from 21.2% to just 9.1%. And with two losses now, SMU likely needs to run the table (including an ACC championship win, presumably against Miami) to make it.

SMU isn’t the ACC’s only hope for a second CFP team. No. 14 Wake Forest has been excellent this season and leads Virginia 10–0 as of this writing. Sports Illustrated's Bryan Fischer still has Clemson, Duke and Virginia Tech alive in his weekly CFP eliminator column, though they are all hoping to sneak through for a conference championship and pull an upset for an automatic bid. The league’s room to maneuver for a second bid is shrinking by the weekend. 

Winner: For the first time in FBS play, Sacramento State

It took more than half a year and eight games as an FBS squad against other teams at the same level, but the Hornets have a win.

Sac State, which made a quixotic jump up to the MAC, effectively replacing Northern Illinois following the Huskies’ departure to the Mountain West, was 1–7 entering Friday night’s game against Kent State, with an 0–5 record in MAC play and a single win against FCS foe Mississippi Valley State. The Hornets had lost their first five conference games by more than 25 points per game. But on Mischief Night, with Kent State coming out west, they took advantage of a mistake-filled outing by the Golden Flashes to pull out a 31–10 win. Sacramento State was outgained 302–287, converted just 6-of-17 third downs and were penalized 10 times for 89 yards, but Kent State could not stop giving the ball away with a pair of interceptions and three lost fumbles.

Time will tell whether the Hornets’ aggressive FBS move ultimately looks better than it does now, but this first win for Alonzo Carter’s program has to feel good.

Loser: Luke Fickell, against Iowa yet again

Not a lot has gone well for Fickell in his four-year stint at Wisconsin, but he seems to have turned a corner this season and the Badgers even entered the week ranked No. 25 in this week’s AP poll—the first time in three years that they’ve broken into the Top 25. Kirk Ferentz’s Hawkeyes have been a particular issue for Wisconsin, however, and nothing on that front has changed in 2026.

Iowa blasted the Badgers on Saturday, 30–0, dominating in basically every major facet of the game, and erasing some of the goodwill generated by Wisconsin’s win over USC. It was the second consecutive shutout win for the Hawkeyes against their rival (37–0 in 2025) and third straight win by 30 or more points (42–10 in ’24).

The Badgers’ progress is real, but it certainly isn’t linear. Luckily for the Badgers, their final month—vs. Rutgers, at Maryland, at Purdue, vs. Minnesota—is about as manageable as it gets in the Big Ten.

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