This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. Wide receiver play was off the charts to begin the third month of the NFL season. The Bengals and Packers showed off two of the best groups in the league when their top standouts went nuclear.
Ja'Marr Chase, Matthew Golden and Christian Watson were among the three most impactful players in the league on Sunday when they combined for nearly 500 yards and three touchdowns. Chase enjoyed a historic first half in Cincinnati's 34-17 win over the Falcons in Madrid as he racked up eight catches for 142 receiving yards in the opening half hour. Golden nearly matched those numbers in the first quarter of the Packers' rout of the Patriots alone, and he and Watson closed the day as the first pair of Packers teammates with 150 yards and a touchdown apiece in the same game since 1942.
Another one of this week's best performances actually came in a losing effort. Shedeur Sanders played some of the best football of his career in his first start of the season and made a case to remain the Browns' No. 1 quarterback, as our Zach Pereles explained. Unfortunately, the injury bug was about as contagious this week as it has been at any point this season.
Each of these big-name players dealt with something on Sunday: November college football just hits different. An absolutely loaded Week 10 slate produced de facto College Football Playoff eliminators and shook up the front of the national championship race, so there is a lot to unpack. The projected CFP bracket now sees another new No. 1 seed and features a first-round bye for Utah, which topped BYU in a riveting top 10 rivalry battle.
We gave the Utes a "B+" on our Week 10 report card for their 28-20 win, which kept them undefeated and in control of their own postseason destiny. The biggest winner of the week, though, has to be Notre Dame. Not only did the Fighting Irish secure a cathartic win over the team that sneaked into the CFP field over them last year (leaving Miami's Mario Cristobal furious with the officials in doing so), but they also cemented their 2026 playoff case in the process and earned a signature win for their Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback, CJ Carr.
Our Shehan Jeyarajah painted the picture for Carr's award campaign. The SEC, meanwhile, is home to one of Week 10's most significant losers. This conference is so cannibalistic that every team now owns a transitive loss to every other program, and LSU now also owns a head-to-head loss to Alabama.
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