College Football Week 4 Winners and Losers: Lubbock or Leave It

On a long enough timeline, the Earth will turn to dust, the oceans will boil away, and Texas Tech—Texas Tech!—will become a physical football team.

Watching the No. 17 Red Raiders push around No. 16 Utah in Salt Lake City on Saturday, no other conclusion seemed possible. Texas Tech bullied the Utes for 60 minutes in a turnover-happy game that saw the Red Raiders out-gain Utah 484–263 using their backup quarterback. What would air-raid stalwart Mike Leach—the architect of Texas Tech's last golden age—say?

Coach Joey McGuire's salty Red Raiders will gallop up the polls Sunday—here's hoping your team does as well after another rainy Saturday across the country. Here's a look at Week 4's winners and losers.

Winner: The American('s) Dream

Like every college football conference these days, the American is an ill-fitting league of teams with only tenuous historical connections. This year, however, a common thread linking the conference's teams is winning—often against long odds. On Friday, Tulsa scored its first win over Oklahoma State since 1998, downing the fading Cowboys to get back to .500. On Saturday, Memphis joined the party, slaying Arkansas 32–31 to boldly enter the College Football Playoff race. Sure, Tulane lost badly to Ole Miss, but the league dictating the Group of Five conversation after a year of Mountain West dominance is still a net W.

Loser: The 2000s generation of coaches

Throw on some Animal Collective, Grandma and Grandpa—you're going to want to sit down for this one. The generation of leaders that took head coaching jobs in the 2000s has been running on fumes for a few years now, and this weekend received some of its most sobering exposure yet. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney watched Syracuse's Fran Brown run circles around him in the Orange's 34–21 win. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy looked impotent in his team's loss to the Golden Hurricane, and the Utes' Kyle Whittingham couldn't win the kind of man-ball chess match he built his name on. C.J. Spiller, Zac Robinson and Brian Johnson aren't walking through that door.

Winner: Capitalism

Philosopher Adam Smith would be proud of the Red Raiders' offseason makeover, which feels a few undefeated weeks away from causing some sort of joint SEC-Big Ten tantrum. Taking an influx of NIL cash from oil-and-gas baron Cody Campbell—a Leach-era offensive guard—Texas Tech reportedly spent in the neighborhood of $28 million to bring West Texas a winner. On Saturday, Red Raider backers like Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes watched transfers including wide receiver Reginald Virgil (late of Miami-Ohio) and linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (Virginia) pitch into a program-defining victory. The invisible hand is visible in Lubbock, and it is spectacular.

Loser: Speaking of the 2000s... Bill Belichick

North Carolina recovered fairly well after being drubbed by TCU to start its season, dominating Charlotte and Richmond in back-to-back weeks. How would the Tar Heels fare against a Power Four opponent in UCF Saturday? The answer was quite poorly, as the Knights jumped out to a 20–3 lead at the half and wound up knocking North Carolina quarterback Gio Lopez from the game. On the one hand, the Tar Heels can—to a degree—afford to be patient with this experiment. On the other hand, can the 73-year-old Belichick?

Winner: Bryce Underwood

If you wrote Michigan out of the national conversation after its loss to Oklahoma two weeks ago, you made a grave mistake. The Wolverines went to Nebraska and warded off a much-improved Cornhuskers team 30–27, getting a vintage modern-Michigan performance on the ground (they outrushed Nebraska 286–43). It was the play of quarterback Bryce Underwood, however, that raised eyebrows. The numbers may not be flying off the page, but this is a star in the making—a filthy 37-yard touchdown run should tell you all you need to know about what made the Wolverine-industrial complex open its large collective wallet.

Losers: UAB, Trent Dilfer—all of it

Some programs step on their own toes with poor coaching hires; UAB amputated its own foot. The Blazers hired ex-NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer two years after coach Bill Clark's surprise retirement due to health issues, and they have been paying the price ever since. All the ills of the Dilfer era came to a head Saturday: UAB lost 56–24 to No. 15 Tennessee and appeared to cheap-shot its kicker in a game where Dilfer took pictures on the sideline with his phone (in his defense, he explained postgame that the pictures were for his pregnant daughter). It was unrealistic to expect the Blazers to compete with the Volunteers, but an optical perfect storm underlined UAB's need for a paradigm shift.

Winner: September Maryland

Maryland's dominance in September is one of college football's most durable running jokes—you could've used it as an Internet-savvy undergrad in 2013, 2019 and 2025. What Terrapins have in '25 that they have not previously is, so far, a competent quarterback in Malik Washington. Homegrown (he's from the Baltimore suburb of Glen Burnie) signal-caller Washington completed just over half his passes Saturday, but he threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Another difference from past years: this Maryland team is blessed with a navigable October (Washington at home, the Cornhuskers at home, UCLA).

Loser: SMU (and TCU, as the Iron Skillet goes on hiatus)

Every time an ancient college football rivalry goes on hiatus, a mascot sheds a tear. Saturday's game between SMU and TCU was yet another quality win for a Horned Frogs team that should crack the top 25 soon. It was a frustrating loss for a Mustangs team unlikely to repeat its shocking 2024 breakthrough. But more than that, it represented—for the foreseeable future—the demise of a 110-year-old series. SMU and TCU administration, let's get together and keep this regional feud going—how about a return in 2035 for the centennial of one of the best games of the 1930s?

Winner: John Mateer, a low-key September Heisman winner

To win the Heisman Trophy—moreso than any other trophy in sports—you need a narrative. College football's current clubhouse leader in narrative-ball is Sooners quarterback John Mateer, who lacks overwhelming numbers but has delivered the kind of brute-force big-game competence that tends to impress voters. On Saturday, he looked the part of an early Heisman favorite in shepherding No. 11 Oklahoma past No. 22 Auburn—throwing for 271 yards and leading his team in rushing with 29 yards. His defense's 10 sacks undoubtedly helped him, but so far Mateer is doing everything he can to keep the seat warm for a real Heisman frontrunner—perhaps a future version of himself, if he can thrive against No. 8 Texas in three weeks.

Loser: College football's old-fashioned television logic

It was far from the worst broadcast-television flub of the week, but NBC scored a telling own goal as afternoon turned to evening Saturday. Late in No. 24 Notre Dame's weather-delayed 56–30 blowout win over Purdue, the network seemed frustratingly reluctant to move over to No. 9 Illinois's much-hyped game against No. 19 Indiana. Jack Donaghy and company finally yielded just before kickoff, giving the best game of the week in college football almost no build-up and confusing all three of the Hoosier State's major fanbases. The episode was ultimately minor, but indicative of the sport's self-defeating allegiance to capital-B Big Brands. When in doubt, defer to the game between top-25 teams; always defer to the game between top-25 teams.