On Saturday, Oct. 31, No. 2 Ohio State lost 30-18 at USC. Indiana tied Minnesota with a 60-yard field goal as time expired and won in overtime. Syracuse beat No. 19 SMU with 17 seconds left, and Iowa State beat No. 24 Oklahoma State 51-49 on the last play of the game.

Transfers were in the middle of all of it. A Gaelic football goalkeeper from County Armagh made the longest field goal in Indiana history. A quarterback who spent three years as a backup at Notre Dame, then lost a season to a torn Achilles, threw the winner at Syracuse. A quarterback who had been pulled a week earlier led Iowa State to 51 points. A defensive end who followed his coach from Ohio State to Tampa tied a school record. And a linebacker who came home to Los Angeles led USC in tackles on the night it beat the No. 2 team in the country.

Three weeks ago The Ledger followed the walk-on, the backup, the former quarterback and the safety behind Week 6. Week 9 had five more roads.

Week 9: A 60-yard field goal as time expired to tie Minnesota 16-16, the longest in Indiana history, in a 23-16 overtime win.

Road: Mullaghbawn, County Armagh; Troy, 2024 to 2025; Indiana, 2026.

McAteer grew up a Gaelic football goalkeeper for Armagh. He kicked an American football for the first time in April 2024, at 20, inspired by Charlie Smyth, a fellow St. Mary's student in Belfast who had made the same jump. Four months later he joined Troy. His longest field goal there was 53 yards, at Texas State. He moved to Indiana for 2026.

Before Saturday's kick, Curt Cignetti gave him two words: "Swing smooth." The ball cleared from 60. "I trust my offense wholeheartedly to get me into position to score," McAteer said afterward. "I'm sure 8-year-old Paddy is somewhere very proud."

The kick was set up by a 33-yard completion with 2 seconds left from a backup quarterback who also came through the portal. He threw the winning touchdown on the first play of overtime.

Week 9: 21 of 34 for 200 yards, a 26-yard touchdown run, and the 2-yard touchdown pass to Noah Meyers with 17 seconds left that beat No. 19 SMU, 30-27.

Road: Bergen Catholic High in Oradell, New Jersey; Notre Dame, 2022 to 2024; Syracuse, 2025 to 2026.

Angeli spent three seasons at Notre Dame, most of them as a backup. He started one game there, the 2023 bowl against Oregon State, and threw three touchdowns in it. He transferred to Syracuse in May 2025 and won the starting job. In Week 4 of 2025, against Clemson, he tore his Achilles tendon, and his season was over. He spent the year rehabbing and came back this fall on the national Comeback Player of the Year watch list.

"He's the leader of our football team," head coach Fran Brown said Saturday.

Week 9: 18 of 28 for 309 yards and three touchdowns, plus a rushing touchdown, in a 51-49 win over No. 24 Oklahoma State decided by a field goal as time expired.

Road: East Forsyth High in Kernersville, North Carolina; Arkansas State, 2023 to 2025; Iowa State, January 2026.

Raynor arrived at Arkansas State as the third-string quarterback and was the starter nine months later, as a true freshman. He started his last 36 games there and accounted for 67 touchdowns. When Jimmy Rogers took over at Iowa State, Raynor followed Keith Heckendorf, the quarterbacks coach who had recruited him to Arkansas State, to a roster that would be almost entirely new.

"His plan is to win now ... Nobody's waiting," Raynor said of Rogers in January. "This isn't a build year or anything like that."

A week before Saturday, he had been pulled in a 39-3 loss. "He's a winner," Rogers said afterward.

Week 9: Four sacks and two forced fumbles, both returned for touchdowns, in a 30-10 win over UAB that made USF bowl eligible.

Road: Archbishop Alter High in Kettering, Ohio; Ohio State, 2022 to 2025; USF, 2026.

Hicks played four seasons at Ohio State, including the 2024 national championship season, and graduated in December 2025. When Brian Hartline, an Ohio State assistant through all of those years, became USF's head coach, Hicks followed him to Tampa. "USF was the place I needed to be," he said in August. Ohio is still home: "I still go to Ohio, see my mom, still talk to the guys still up there."

His four sacks tied the USF record, set by Shurron Pierson in 2002 and matched by George Selvie in 2007.

Week 9: 11 tackles, a team high, as USC held No. 2 Ohio State without a touchdown for 57 minutes and won 30-18.

Road: St. John Bosco High in Bellflower, California; Washington, 2023 to 2025; USC, January 2026.

Bryant grew up in Carson, a short drive from the Coliseum. He went to Washington out of high school and played 24 games there, with 10 starts. After the 2025 season he wanted a bigger role, and he came home. "Deven wanted to start ... Deven's an awesome kid," his Washington coach, Jedd Fisch, said in September.

A year earlier, playing for Washington, he made nine tackles against Ohio State. On Saturday he made 11, and this time his team won.

McAteer crossed an ocean to kick. Angeli and Raynor went where they could start, and Hicks went where his coach was. Bryant came home. On Saturday, each of those choices ended up in the last lines of a box score.

How we count: Roads reflect the UpNext network's athlete records. Game details, quotes and backstory come from school releases and public reporting.