It pays to be rich.
Big NIL spenders typically land the best transfer and recruiting classes. That talent typically leads to more wins, right? Yup. Turns out, most programs that spent a lot of money this fall haven't necessarily wasted their cash.
Twelve teams spent about $40 million on players this season, according to CBS Sports' reporting in the preseason. That's a nice number to start with in this 12-team playoff era, and unsurprisingly those rich programs are (mostly) winning more games.
Only two of those 12 teams enter Week 11 outside CFP contention: Michigan (5-4) and Texas A&M (4-5).
Four others have three losses, and we suspect at least one of them will become the first three-loss team in the CFP: LSU, Ohio State, Oregon and Ole Miss.
The two remaining undefeated teams (Utah and UCLA) are not in the grouping, of course. And among the seven programs that spent $40 million or more, only two have one loss: Miami and Notre Dame, which met Saturday.
Georgia is just below the $40 million line and also has one loss, and will likely have the No. 1 ranking later today.
Combined, the 12 teams have won 72.2% of their games.
Investing heavily in the roster yields more wins. Imagine that: a straightforward, albeit challenging, path to success for struggling programs. Some can charge the gated communities, but those teams β Wake Forest, Kentucky, Utah β are rare outliers.
While two teams in the West remain unbeaten, a separate juggernaut is tearing through the nation's best conference and dominating the final month of the regular season.
No. 2 Georgia demolished No. 10 Ole Miss 42-7 in Oxford on Saturday. No matter how wild 2026 has been across the sport, Georgia's October home loss to Auburn is this season's greatest mystery. That loss feels distant after these past two weeks.
"I feel like we could have put up 60," Georgia defensive back KJ Bolden said Saturday. "We got a little relaxed. We could have pitched a shutout. I don't have regular standards like everybody else. Our standards are pretty high here."
Utah and UCLA deserve flowers, but the eyes don't lie when you look at Georgia. The Bulldogs have returned to smothering opponents and stealing souls. Four of Gunner Stockton's nine pass completions went to Talyn Taylor for 140 yards and three touchdowns. Efficient. Deadly.
Georgia has won seven of its last eight against AP-ranked teams. The leash holding the Bulldogs back in the pantheon is their recent CFP performances, including the season-ender against Ole Miss in last season's quarterfinals. But there was progress, and something tells us they'll take another step this year with a deeper postseason run.
Missouri set itself up to enter the CFP discussion in the final month of the regular season, but choked again at home while lifting Texas back into contender status.
Both programs entered with two losses and followed their scripts to perfection Saturday: the Longhorns won their sixth straight game against an AP-ranked team and the Tigers fell to 1-11 in their last 12 against ranked opponents. The Tigers had opportunities, of course, and squandered them. Austin Simmons was picked off in a comeback attempt, leading to a short touchdown run that helped Texas escape with a 34-20 win.
Mizzou received huge news on the eve of the showdown when quarterback Austin Simmons decided to return for the 2027 season. But will that lead to wins against ranked teams? The Paper Tigers need something to get them over the hump. Maybe another year with Simmons will get them there, but not this season.
The Bruins (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) are still undefeated, folks. They pulled off another impressive road win, pulling away for a 34-20 victory at Minnesota, to start 9-0 for the first time since 1998.
UCLA handed Minnesota, which knocked off Michigan and Iowa earlier this season, its first home conference loss in two years.
Bob Chesney is only the second coach in FBS history to start 9-0 after taking over a program that lost nine games the year prior. That other coach is Curt Cignetti, of course.
It's remarkable how UCLA keeps winning with defense, a solid running attack and an inconsistent quarterback capable of hitting explosive plays at any moment. Backup Ty Dieffenbach's misfires and passer rating will never wow you, but he's been clutch in place of injured starter Nico Iamaleava. He threw back-to-back 75-yard touchdown passes to Aidan Mizell to break the tie in the fourth quarter. With 303 passing yards on just 8 of 16 attempts, his performance proved historic, marking the lowest completion total by any FBS player to reach 300 passing yards in a game since 2000.
Many wrote off SMU as a playoff contender eight days ago, but the Mustangs are alive again after blowing out Virginia Tech.
SMU's playoff chances jumped to 8.8% with the 51-28 win, and they could skyrocket to 20.4% if they knock off Wake Forest next Saturday in Dallas. A win would put SMU in a tie for second place in the ACC and would set up a tiebreaker advantage against the Demon Deacons.
Remember, the Mustangs also have a trip to Notre Dame on the schedule Nov. 21. A win in South Bend would change everything. That's if the defense can step up and QB Kevin Jennings remains consistent. He's thrown 13 touchdowns against only one interception over the last five games.
Lane Kiffin is the third-highest-paid coach in the sport and the only one in the top five without a major conference title or playoff win.
That trend will likely continue following a third loss, a 31-13 embarrassment at home against Alabama. LSU entered Saturday a 5.5-point favorite, but couldn't do anything offensively -- Kiffin's bread and butter -- and the LSU faithful poured out of Tiger Stadium in the fourth quarter.
Kiffin fell to 0-6 against the Tide as a head coach. Four of those losses have been by double digits.
USC's Lincoln Riley is the sole coach whose underwhelming results match Kiffin's massive salary. Despite making $11.5 million as the sixth-highest-paid coach in college football, Riley remains stuck on the playoff bubble.
Texas A&M's Mike Elko is not far behind at $10.8 million, ranking ninth. His Aggies have five losses, big production costs and terrible box office returns.
Kyle Whittingham was supposed to provide a soft transition after the tragedy that was Sherrone Moore's era, and he's done that off the field, but he has somehow made the on-field product worse. The Wolverines' offense is so abysmal, it's breaking records set before World War II. Michigan has now failed to score seven points in back-to-back home games for the first time since 1936.
First-year Tulane coach Will Hall failed as head coach at Southern Miss, going 18-35 with one winning season. Now, he has taken one of the premier, best-funded programs in the Group of Six and run it straight into the dirt. Just one year after making the playoff, Tulane finds itself sitting at a disappointing 4-5.
