College football scores, schedule, NCAA top 25 rankings, games today: Ohio State, Ole Miss in action

NCAA football scores, live updates and highlights from the full slate of Week 9 action on Saturday

The stage is set for another chaotic Saturday of college football as the final weekend of October is sure to bring more dramatic finishes, upsets and consequential results. As the season barrels on, conference title races are heating up, as is the competition for entry into the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.

Given the playoff's expansion, there are CFP implications in virtually every game involving teams ranked inside the AP Top 25 this week, and the action begins early. No. 12 Notre Dame and No. 24 Navy are tangling in the early window, as are Nebraska and No. 4 Ohio State. Can No. 13 Indiana keep its unbeaten start going? That will also be determined as the Hoosiers host Washington.

The afternoon slate is headlined by a top-20 Big Ten battle on CBS as No. 1 Oregon hosts No. 20 Illinois. At the same time, No. 15 Alabama will be looking to get back on track as it hosts No. 21 Missouri. Finally, the evening slate is highlighted by a top-15 SEC showdown between No. 8 LSU and No. 14 Texas A&M as both teams look to remain unbeaten in league play.

All times Eastern

College football scores, schedule: Week 9

No. 12 Notre Dame vs. No. 24 Navy (East Rutherford) -- ABC -- LIVE updates
Nebraska at No. 4 Ohio State -- Fox -- GameTracker
Oklahoma at No. 18 Ole Miss -- ESPN -- GameTracker
Washington at No. 13 Indiana -- Big Ten Network -- GameTracker
No. 11 BYU at UCF -- 3:30 p.m. on ESPN
No. 20 Illinois at No. 1 Oregon -- 3:30 p.m. on CBS -- Expert picks, preview
No. 21 Missouri at No. 15 Alabama -- 3:30 p.m. on ABC -- Expert picks, preview
No. 5 Texas at No. 25 Vanderbilt -- 4:15 p.m. on SEC Network -- Expert picks, preview
Florida State at No. 6 Miami -- 7 p.m. on ESPN -- Expert picks, preview
No. 8 LSU at No. 14 Texas A&M -- 7:30 p.m. on ABC -- Expert picks, preview
No. 3 Penn State at Wisconsin -- 7:30 p.m. on NBC
Kansas at No. 16 Kansas State -- 8 p.m. on ESPN2
No. 22 SMU at Duke -- 8 p.m. on ACC Network
Check out the entire Week 9 scoreboard

Check these out ...

• Ohio State history: Jeremiah Smith ties Cris Carter for freshman TD record
• Will Johnson out: Michigan star CB will not play in rivalry vs. Michigan State
• Boise State boosts CFP hopes: Broncos pass tough UNLV test
• ATS picks, predictions: College football picks for key top-25 games
• College football rankings: CBS Sports 134 | AP Top 25
• Viewer's guide: What to watch in Week 8

[Oct 26, 2024 at 1:53 pm ET · Will Backus]

Oklahoma up on Ole Miss at the half 

Half: Oklahoma 14, No. 18 Ole Miss 10 

Turns out Jackson Arnold may be the answer for Oklahoma after all. The former five-star quarterback, who was benched late in a rough game against Tennessee and didn't return to the field until Oct. 19 against South Carolina, is cooking Ole Miss thus far. Arnold finished the first half with 10 completions for 110 yards and two touchdowns. His second touchdown was crucial, as he gave the Sooners their halftime lead. 

Taking a snap from Ole Miss' 9-yard line, Arnold danced around pressure and extended the play by rolling to his right. While keeping his eyes downfield, he threw a strike to wide receiver Jacob Jordan, who fell just past the goal line to secure the score. Jordan, who had 28 yards and the touchdown catch, has emerged as a favorite target for Arnold. 

[Oct 26, 2024 at 1:12 pm ET · David Cobb]

Ohio State hurting Nebraska with explosives

2Q: Ohio State 14, Nebraska 3

Ohio State has scored on consecutive possessions with touchdown passes of 40 yards (Will Howard to Tate Carnell) and 60 yards (Howard to Jeremiah Smith). Howard is 7 of 7 for 141 yards. This bomb to Smith was perfectly placed and came as an answer to a field goal from the Cornhuskers. The Buckeyes started slow offensively but have now found a high-flying gear.

[Oct 26, 2024 at 12:54 pm ET · David Cobb]

Indiana strikes again

2Q: Indiana 14, Washington 0

Tayven Jackson hit Omar Cooper Jr. for a 42-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter put Indiana up 14-0 on Washington. Jackson is filling in for the injured Kurtis Rourke and hadn't done much until that strike, which was set up by D'Angelo Ponds' second interception of the game. Ponds began the scoring with a pick-six and made another big-time play to give Jackson and IU a short field.

[Oct 26, 2024 at 12:28 pm ET · David Cobb]

Nightmare start for Navy 

1Q: Notre Dame 14, Navy 0

Notre Dame marched 75 yards on nine plays for a game-opening touchdown. Then, on Navy's first possession, running back Alex Tecza fumble a pitch. ND Shuler recovered it and ran it back 28 yards to the Navy 7-yard line. From there, Riley Leonard found Kris Mitchell for a 6-yard touchdown. That was just the third turnover of the season for Navy, and it was quite costly.

[Oct 26, 2024 at 12:20 pm ET · David Cobb]

Indiana with a statement start

D'Angelo Ponds intercepted Will Rogers and ran it back 65 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring in Bloomington. The Huskies were driving when Ponds jumped a swing pass and took it to the house. Given that the Hoosiers are without starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke, they were going to need a big game from their defense. So far, so good.

[Oct 26, 2024 at 12:13 pm ET · David Cobb]

Michigan's Will Johnson expected to be out

Michigan is expected to be without star cornerback Will Johnson for its Saturday night rivalry game with Michigan State, according to CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz. Johnson is ranked No. 2 overall in the 2025 CBS Sports NFL Draft Prospect Rankings and is an integral piece of the Wolverines defense. Johnson left Michigan's 21-7 loss at Illinois last week in the first quarter with an apparent ankle injury.

Will Johnson injury: Michigan expected to be without star CB for rivalry game vs. Michigan State

David Cobb

[Oct 26, 2024 at 11:55 am ET · Dennis Dodd]

Curt Cignetti's turnaround vision

It takes some further research to determine the "why" of Indiana's turnaround. Fourteen of those 27 transfers have started at least one game. As you will see below, transfers lead the Hoosiers in passing, receiving, tackles, sacks and tackles for loss. It's still too early in the NIL era to determine what a meaningful percentage of contributing players in a transfer class is, but Indiana seems to have gotten its money's worth.

Flush with cash and aligned with NIL, Indiana has tools to sustain Curt Cignetti's turnaround vision

Dennis Dodd

[Oct 26, 2024 at 11:50 am ET · Tom Fornelli]

Ohio State vs. Nebraska preview

No. 4 Ohio State is looking to pick itself up off the mat this weekend at home against Nebraska. The last we saw the Buckeyes, Will Howard was taking a little too much time to get down to set up a game-winning field goal attempt in the Buckeyes 32-31 loss to No. 1 Oregon at Autzen Stadium. They spent last weekend on a bye thinking about what might have been and hearing a lot of questions about their team.

Ohio State vs. Nebraska live stream, where to watch, TV channel, odds, spread, prediction, pick

Tom Fornelli

[Oct 26, 2024 at 11:43 am ET · Will Backus]

Ole Miss WR Harris out against Oklahoma

Ole Miss wide receiver Tre Harris is out against Oklahoma, according to ESPN. He was not spotted during his team's warmups, and did not take the field with the rest of the wide receivers before the game. His absence is a huge blow for the Rebels, who are looking to bounce back from a recent loss to LSU. Harris, a CBS Sports Midseason All-American, currently leads the SEC with 59 catches for 987 yards. He's also tied for second in the league with six touchdown. 

[Oct 26, 2024 at 11:40 am ET · Shehan Jeyarajah]

Oklahoma's QB situation speaks to bigger issues

Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold was one of the hyped first-year signal-callers in the country coming into the season, and for good reason. Arnold was the No. 1 player in Texas, a consensus five-star who was poised to lead Oklahoma into the SEC and continue the reputation of star-studded quarterbacks in Norman, even post-Lincoln Riley. Four weeks later, Arnold was benched for a largely unheralded true freshman, Michael Hawkins Jr., a nearly unmatched quick hook for a player of Arnold's stature. Arnold had a tremendous amount of pressure to be the face of the program put on him. Rather than trying to protect him from it, Oklahoma's staff added to it.

Why Oklahoma's jarring mismanagement of prized QB Jackson Arnold speaks to bigger Brent Venables issues

Shehan Jeyarajah

[Oct 26, 2024 at 11:30 am ET · Tom Fornelli]

The Six Pack

If it wasn't already obvious after reading this column over the last decade, I am somewhat of a data nerd. So when I see people brag about how competitive their conference is or how much parity exists in a league, I try to find out whether or not that's accurate. It helps that I have easy access to the information through this job, which saves me hours of doing it myself, too.

The Six Pack: Oregon vs. Illinois, LSU vs. Texas A&M among top Week 9 college football picks

Tom Fornelli

[Oct 26, 2024 at 11:20 am ET · Will Backus]

Bowl Eligibility Heat Check

It's crunch time in college football. As the calendar churns on towards November, plenty of teams are feeling various degrees of pressure. Some are in the thick of the 12-team College Football Playoff race with plenty of games over the last month that will swing their seasons either way. Then there are the teams that are just hoping to make a bowl game. 

Bowl Eligibility Heat Check: Oklahoma, USC among notable teams in danger of missing postseason bid

Will Backus

[Oct 26, 2024 at 11:00 am ET · Richard Johnson]

College football coaching carousel

A smattering of news on the coaching carousel as it pertains to jobs of the open and not-quite-yet variety. Plus, interim coach status updates at Fresno State and Utah State and whether we may see another Group of Five opening in Ruston.

College football coaching carousel latest: Names for ECU, Southern Miss and whether Aranda is safe at Baylor

Richard Johnson

[Oct 26, 2024 at 10:45 am ET · Tom Fornelli]

College football quarterback power rankings

As far as quarterbacks are concerned, the prevailing thought coming into 2024 was that no conference was stronger at the position than the SEC. Yet, here we are, and there are only two SEC QBs included in the Power Rankings this week, and one of them isn't here for his performance as much as his grit.

College Football QB Power Rankings: Penn State's Drew Allar makes return after getting squeezed out last week

Tom Fornelli

[Oct 26, 2024 at 10:30 am ET · David Cobb]

Tiering the wins/losses of every CFP contender

In less than two weeks, the College Football Playoff selection committee will reveal its first batch of rankings for the 2024 season. It's an unenviable task only made more difficult by a wave of conference realignment that has seen the Power Five consolidate into a Power Four. Within the new 16- to-18-team power conferences is a wild amount of schedule variability that is going to make parsing résumés a nightmare. College football might be well-served to adopt college basketball's quadrant system. If it did, here's how the résumés of the sport's top teams would look entering Week 9.

College Football Playoff race: Tiering wins, losses for top-25 teams into quadrants entering Week 9

David Cobb

[Oct 26, 2024 at 10:17 am ET · John Talty]

While they were away: Three big Ohio State questions

The No. 4 Buckeyes return from a bye this week and host Nebraska at Noon ET. I surveyed Patrick Murphy of Bucknuts247 and we ran through three big questions.

1. How costly is the Josh Simmons injury?
2. Where are Ohio State fans with Will Howard midway through the season?
3. What are your thoughts on the play of the secondary, specifically with how Caleb Downs has fit in so far?

Check out the answers. 

Answers to Ohio State's burning questions as No. 4 Buckeyes return from bye: Will Howard progress, injury woes

John Talty

[Oct 26, 2024 at 10:15 am ET · Brad Crawford]

College Football Playoff bubble watch

Unbeaten Navy gets its spotlight moment in Week 9 against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have won six straight in the series, but this Navy team is different, fueled by dual-threat Blake Horvath at quarterback. He is responsible for 20 touchdowns this season and only has one turnover. He accounted for six scores during the Midshipmen's victory over Memphis, one that opened eyes nationally and stamped Navy as a threat in the AAC.

College Football Playoff Bubble Watch: LSU vs. Texas A&M headlines, Navy gets golden opportunity

Brad Crawford

[Oct 26, 2024 at 10:00 am ET · David Cobb]

Week 9 CFB Viewer's Guide

The final Saturday of October is shaping up to be a consequential day of action filled with potential upsets as several highly ranked teams with conference title and College Football Playoff aspirations try to navigate tricky spots. By day's end, the postseason picture figures to be at least somewhat clearer. As Week 9 action arrives, here's a viewer's guide to help you navigate through all of Saturday's games.

College football schedule, games 2024: What to watch in Week 9, TV channels, Saturday kickoff times

David Cobb