Rivalry Week Takeaways: The Running Buckeyes, Texas QB Lessons, Prospect Standouts, and My Updated Power Rankings

It’s the morning after in college football, and I’ve got you covered with my biggest takeaways from Rivalry Week in college football.

For my full instant-reaction Saturday recap, check out the latest episode of The McShay Show. We’ll be back with our tape truths podcast on Monday.

Ohio State finds the run: Bo Jackson shined against Michigan. Has he unlocked the Buckeyes’ offense?

A tale of two QBs in Austin: Arch Manning outduels Marcel Reed in the Lone Star Showdown

Prospect Watch: Quick scouting notes on three players—a QB, a TE, and a DT—that popped this week

College Football Power Rankings: Who’s in the CFP title bubble? Which are the best teams on tape? I share my rankings heading into Conference Championship weekend

This Ohio State team has had a nearly perfect season, but if you had to point to one flaw on the roster early in the year, it would’ve been the running back room. I wasn’t sure if Ryan Day had a guy in the building who could be that quintessential late-game grinder like an Eddie George, JK Dobbins, or Ezekiel Elliott of past Buckeye teams. I knew this group would probably take a step back from the one-two punch of Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson in 2024, but could it at least be a viable complement to Ohio State’s dynamic defense and passing game and help lighten the load in high-pressure moments? We got our answer against Michigan in the form of true freshman Bo Jackson. 

Jackson rushed a season high 22 times for 117 yards on Saturday and was a threat through the air as well, with four catches for another 49 yards. He absolutely wore down Michigan’s defense in the second half with a combination of high-end speed, contact balance, and cutting ability. Since the Penn State win at the beginning of the month, Jackson has run for 104 yards per game and three rushing touchdowns on 6.3 yards per carry.

Going into this game, I wanted to know whether Ohio State could silence the narrative and prove they could be a more physical team than Michigan in the trenches, and they did just that. With Sayin and the wide receivers rolling and the defense looking like one of the best of the past decade, I’m not sure Ohio State has an obvious weakness to exploit. I’m looking forward to watching them face their stiffest competition yet against Indiana in the Big Ten Championship next weekend.

Heading into Texas A&M–Texas, I said that if all else was equal and I had to have one QB in this game, I’d choose Arch Manning over Marcel Reed. Arch won the battle on the field Friday, when I thought he looked poised and resilient throughout the second half, while Reed showed why he’s Texas A&M’s biggest asset—and its greatest liability. 

Let’s start with Arch, whose game in some ways mirrored his season of ups and downs. The first half was choppy and Arch was running for his life behind inconsistent line play, but he bounced back in the second and looked like he had full control of the offense for one of the first times all season.

Texas came out with a more balanced attack in the third quarter and it allowed Arch to play without quite as much pressure to be perfect. You could tell he really took a breath and settled in after Longhorn RB Quintrevion Wisner took off for a 48-yard run on the first play of scrimmage to start the second half. 

Arch was also effective on the ground in this one, with his 35-yard touchdown run being the first of two fourth-quarter daggers (along with a Michael Taaffe interception of Reed) for the Longhorns:

He wasn’t perfect, though. Arch can sometimes be just a quarter-count slow when he’s under pressure and I’ve seen some inaccuracy when he’s throwing on the run, including in this game when he skipped a ball in the end zone and almost overthrew a wide-open Ryan Wingo on this TD:

Still, Texas has won six (all against SEC opponents, three of which were ranked in the top 10 when they played) of its last seven games dating back to mid-October and Arch has been a major reason why. Over that span, he’s had 13 TD passes and just two interceptions. Will Arch’s growth and Texas’s late-season push be enough to get the Longhorns in the playoffs? Time will tell. 

One quarterback who’s almost certain to be in the playoff is Reed, whose Aggie squad went 11-1 during the regular season and will likely score an at-large bid from the committee.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again on Reed: he raises A&M’s ceiling but also lowers their floor. If they go out early in the playoff and lose a game they shouldn’t lose, I won’t be surprised if it’s because he simply isn’t where he needs to be as a pocket passer. His footwork and mechanics leave a lot to be desired but he’s gotten away with them to this point because he’s such a talented athlete and can play his way out of mistakes. This is the time of year when those mistakes come back to bite you and better teams capitalize on turnovers, which is exactly what happened late in the game against Texas.

Miami QB Carson Beck may not be drafted as a starter, but he’s put together enough good tape to convince me he could be at least a high-level backup in the NFL. It got ugly for a few weeks in Miami, but Beck’s righted the ship and been highly efficient over his past four games, with 11 touchdowns and just one interception while completing 79 percent of his passes in that span. He’s been in control for this Miami offense and shown he can handle adversity.

Texas TE Jack Endries has really come on of late, with 17 catches over his last five contests compared to the 11 he had over his first seven games. He has similar route-running ability and pass-catching instincts to last year’s starter—and 2025 fourth-rounder—Gunnar Helm. Endries has better speed than Helm, though, and is more of a threat in the pass game because of it. Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq is the clear top guy in the 2026 tight end group, but Endries is playing himself into the cluster of players (such as Max Klare, Eli Stowers, and Michael Trigg, among others) who could be drafted in the Round 2-4 range.

Ohio State DL Kayden McDonald was awesome against Michigan. He plays with such an impressive combination of quickness, leverage, snap in his hands, and instincts. At 6-foot-3 and 326 pounds, he’s an elite run defender who I think is just scratching the surface of his potential as a pass rusher. I wouldn’t be surprised if McDonald ends up being a top-20 pick. He’s one of the fastest-rising prospects in this class.

1. Ohio State (12-0, vs. Indiana)
2. Indiana (12-0, vs. Ohio State)
3. Georgia (11-1, vs. Alabama)
4. Oregon (11-1)
5. Texas Tech (11-1, vs. BYU)
6. Ole Miss (11-1)
7. Texas A&M (11-1)
8. Alabama (10-2, vs. Georgia)
9. Notre Dame (10-2)
10. Oklahoma (10-2)
11. Texas (9-3)
12. Miami (10-2)