7 CFB week 10 takeaways: All falling into place, or ready to explode?

Either way, it should be fun.

Here are seven takeaways from the 10th week of the college football season:

1. One step forward…

I had a feeling Ohio State was in for a breakout against Nebraska, but I certainly didn’t envision the most lopsided top 10 win in school history.

The Buckeyes had a little bit of everything going, from J.T. Barrett spreading the ball around to Curtis Samuel running wild to the defense flying around. Special teams were on point as well.

2. …No steps back?

That said, there is no room for a backslide for the Buckeyes. That much is clear when you look around and see Michigan deliver another beatdown and Penn State suddenly surging.

As much of a spanking as Ohio State administered, it could have been even uglier if Barrett hadn’t missed a couple of wide open receivers.

Is that nit picking? Yes, but Michigan is beating teams by 40 every week and the loss at Penn State shows how the little things can be a team’s undoing. There is no margin for error from here on out.

3. Confidence is very important in college football.

There is evidence of this throughout the Big Ten East, where Michigan has been out in front of nearly everyone from the first play of the season, Penn State suddenly looks like a different team after stealing one from Ohio State and Michigan State can’t seem to do anything right.

The Buckeyes seemed to be suffering from a crisis of confidence after hitting their first stretch of adversity, but a 59-point win against a solid team has a tendency to make things feel a lot better.

Next it will be interesting to see if they carry it over to an overmatched Maryland team or suffer a letdown on the road.

4. Demario McCall’s big game could be an indication playing more freshmen early this year helps this Ohio State team late.

If the explosive running back hadn’t been put in the fire right from the start, it’s unlikely the coaches would have thought to use him in the second half of the season .

Rather than be another highly rated recruit who redshirted (such as Jalin Marshall, Mike Weber, Sam Hubbard), McCall might end up being the team’s punt returner for the final stretch.

5. Miami University has it going on.

Don’t look now, but the RedHawks have won four in a row. Chuck Martin’s team can’t finish below .500 in the MAC, and it will be bowl eligible with wins at Buffalo (2-7) and in Oxford against Ball State (4-5).

6. Texas A&M’s loss makes the SEC West easier to figure out the rest of the way.

The East might be chaos (the kind that probably doesn’t matter to the rest of the country), the SEC West is going to come down to the Iron Bowl. Of course the same team that tripped up TAMU (Mississippi State) still gets a shot at the Alabama, and Auburn still has to beat 5-4 Georgia, but let’s assume those things happen.

7. Now who are the Final Four going to be?

Three spots are easy to figure out if everyone keeps doing what they’re supposed to do: Alabama, Clemson and Washington… and I’m going to cop out and call the fourth spot a tossup between Ohio State and Michigan at this point. It’s definitely going to one of them, but the Buckeyes’ romp against Nebraska reminded us how good they can be. Possession of home-field advantage could be key even though Michigan has only looked beatable once this season.

The real question this week is if the Tide or Wolverines could still get in with a loss. That would almost certainly require a Washington loss,, too but the latter would hardly be shocking.

Neither would Auburn beating Alabama or Ohio State downing Michigan, which would give the playoff committee a lot to think about.