Yahoo Top 10: Miami tumbles out of rankings after all-time coaching blunder by Mario Cristobal

Imagine this scenario.

Your team is leading 20-17. You’ve got a third down. There are 35 seconds left in the game. The play-clock in college, unless after a timeout or other break such as a penalty, is 40 seconds. Your opponent has zero timeouts.

Here are your choices: (1) run a play; (2) kneel down.

Miami and coach Mario Cristobal chose the first option. The Hurricanes, despite needing to only kneel to win the game, ran a play. Running back Donald Chaney, in a handoff up the middle, fumbled the ball to Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets went 74 yards in 26 seconds to score a touchdown and win the game, 23-20, in a most improbable victory that will surely go down in college athletics lore as one of the more baffling coaching decisions in the sport.

As Miami broke the huddle to run a play as the time ticked under 40 seconds, ACC analyst Tim Hasselbeck immediately knew it was a bad idea. “Just take a knee. You should not be handing this football off. I don’t know what Miami is doing.”

And then, well, it happened. Fumble. Two completions. Touchdown. Game over.

“It needs to be said: That’s one of the biggest coaching mistakes at this level I have ever seen in my lifetime,” Hasselbeck said.

Georgia Tech’s wild comeback capped another stellar day in college football. Three ACC teams remained undefeated (it could have been four, Miami!), including Louisville, the newest member of our Top 10. We’ve got a new No. 1 as well, after the unranked Sooners knocked off Texas. Colorado and Deion Sanders found the win column again (over Arizona State), Clemson’s offense still has real problems (17 points in a win over Wake Forest) and LSU barely survived Columbia, Missouri.

On to the Top 10, we go!

1. Oklahoma

This week: won 34-30 vs. Texas

Next week: Bye

Best win: vs. Texas

Does any team have a better win than the Sooners’ victory on a neutral site over Texas? Florida State has victories over LSU and Clemson, but each of those teams lost a second game. Sure, Ohio State won at Notre Dame, but the Irish dropped a second game as well on Saturday. Georgia beat Kentucky, and North Carolina beat South Carolina, but neither are as impressive as what the Sooners did in Dallas. OU QB Dillon Gabriel threw for 285 and ran for 113 more, tossing the game-winner with 23 ticks left.

2. Florida State

This week: won 39-17 vs. Virginia Tech

Next week: vs. Syracuse

Best win: vs. LSU

For much of the season, the talk around Florida State has been on (1) FSU’s ACC plight, (2) Jordan Travis and his bevy of NFL receivers and (3) the Noles being back. But on Saturday against the Hokies, it was running back Trey Benson who stole the show. The Oregon transfer ran for 200 yards on 11 carries.

3. Ohio State

This week: won 37-17 vs. Maryland

Next week: at Purdue

Best win: at Notre Dame

The Buckeyes trailed Maryland 10-0 in the second quarter and then 17-10 in the third. Ohio State didn’t score an offensive touchdown until six minutes into the third quarter. At home. To Maryland. So, no, the Buckeyes’ offensive issues are not resolved. They did score on their last five possessions, so there’s that. With Penn State coming to town in two weeks, OSU needs improving on offense.

4. Georgia

This week: won 51-13 vs. Kentucky

Next week: vs. Missouri

Best win: vs. Kentucky

Look who finally made it into our Top 10! That’s right — the two-time reigning national champions. What can we say? We drive a hard bargain! In reality, we value schedules and Georgia opened with quite a weak one (not as weak as Michigan, but weak). The Bulldogs hadn’t looked so dominant either — until Saturday, when TE Brock Bowers and QB Carson Beck worked Mark Stoops’ defense.

5. Penn State

This week: Bye

Next week: vs. UMass

Best win: vs. Iowa

The Nittany Lions arranged this schedule quite nicely. They were on a bye last week and get UMass this week before the Big Ten collision at Ohio State. Chalk one up for the Penn State scheduler, no? We’ll find out soon enough if James Franklin can break his nasty skid. He’s 1-8 against the Buckeyes, having lost the last six games.

6. Washington

This week: Bye

Next week: vs. Oregon

Best win: at Michigan State

The Pac-12 showdown that we’ve all been waiting for has arrived. The Huskies and Ducks duke it out in a top-10 battle in Seattle with Pac-12 supremacy on the line. Each team still plays the Trojans, so we’re a long way from anything being decided, but this one looms large in the CFP hunt. Michael Penix vs. Bo Nix. Kalen DeBoer vs. Dan Lanning. The nation’s No. 1-ranked offense vs. the nation’s No. 7-ranked defense.

7. North Carolina

This week: won 41-7 vs. Syracuse

Next week: vs. Miami

Best win: vs. South Carolina

Drake Maye hit the 400-yard mark for a second time in three weeks in what served as the Tar Heels’ tune-up for what would have been an undefeated showdown against the Hurricanes had, you know, Miami closed out Georgia Tech by kneeling in the final seconds. But you already know how that ended.

8. Texas

This week: lost 34-30 to Oklahoma

Next week: Bye

Best win: at Alabama

Our first team this season to remain in the Top 10 with a loss. And why not? The Longhorns have one of the better wins in the country this season in Tuscaloosa and while they did lose at Red River, they rolled up more than 500 yards against the Sooners before blowing a late lead. They remain comfortably in the Top 10.

9. Oregon

This week: Bye

Next week: at Washington

Best win: vs. Colorado

What looked like a couple of marquee wins for the Ducks — at Texas Tech and vs. Colorado — aren’t looking too hot these days (those two teams have combined for five losses). But that doesn’t change this week’s opportunity to pick up what would arguably be the best win of the season. Lanning, a defensive guru, has his work cut out. The Huskies average 564 yards a game — No. 1 in the country — and score 46 points a game.

10. Louisville

This week: won 33-20 vs. Notre Dame

Next week: at Pitt

Best win: vs. Notre Dame

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. Don’t look now (we’re looking!) but the Cardinals are 6-0 under first-year coach Jeff Brohm. Junior RB Jawhar Jordan — don’t forget that name! — carried the ball 21 times for 143 yards. It was his fourth 100-yard outing in five games.