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Jones Shines in First Career Start as Florida Stuns No. 7 Texas 27-24

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Florida quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. throws during the Gators' 27-24 win at Texas.

Florida walked into Austin on Saturday and walked out with the program’s biggest win of the season, stunning No. 7 Texas 27-24 behind redshirt freshman quarterback Tramell Jones Jr., who threw two touchdown passes in his first career start.

Texas (4-2) looked in control early, building a 17-3 lead on a 32-yard touchdown run by Raleek Brown and a 64-yard punt return touchdown by Ryan Niblett. Florida (5-2) answered with 24 unanswered points, leaning on ball control — the Gators held the ball for 38:11 — and a defense that sacked Arch Manning five times and held the Longhorns to 272 total yards.

Jones, starting in place of the injured Aaron Philo, finished 22-of-35 passing with two touchdown throws, both to tight end Lacota Dippre, and no turnovers. Jadan Baugh carried 25 times for 91 yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown run with about six minutes remaining.

Manning threw a late touchdown pass to Cam Coleman to pull Texas within three, but Florida slammed the door in the final two minutes. Myles Graham sacked Manning and forced a fumble that Kanye Clark recovered with 1:58 left, sealing the upset and sending the Gators home with a statement win in the SEC race.

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Saturday of Chaos: Five of the AP Top Seven Fall for the First Time Since 1936

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Tennessee celebrates its 26-10 win over Alabama — the signature result on a Saturday when five of the AP top seven lost.

College football has been playing with an AP poll since 1936. It had never seen a Saturday like this one: five of the top seven teams in the country — No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 5 Indiana, No. 6 Alabama and No. 7 Texas — all lost on the same regular-season day, and the top two teams lost on the same day for the first time since Nov. 17, 2012. For the second straight week, the nation’s No. 1 team fell to an unranked opponent, something that hadn’t happened since 1990.

The carnage: Auburn beat No. 1 Georgia 27-24 in Athens on a field goal as time expired, the Tigers’ first win there in 31 years. BYU toppled No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24 in Provo behind four total touchdowns from Bear Bachmeier, ending the Irish’s 16-game winning streak. Ohio State survived Indiana 19-15 in Bloomington, snapping the Hoosiers’ 22-game winning streak — but lost quarterback Julian Sayin to a shoulder injury. Tennessee’s defense strangled No. 6 Alabama 26-10 in Knoxville, holding the Crimson Tide to 201 yards. And Florida went into Austin and beat No. 7 Texas 27-24 behind first-time starter Tramell Jones Jr.

The survivors: No. 3 Miami needed two overtimes to escape Florida State 43-35 in a rivalry classic. No. 9 Ole Miss routed No. 13 Missouri 31-3, LSU blanked No. 16 Mississippi State 31-0, No. 10 Texas Tech hung 53 on Arizona State, and No. 15 Kentucky rallied to win 21-13 at Oklahoma. Michigan benched Bryce Underwood and still beat Penn State 21-18. Elsewhere, Utah edged Colorado 27-24, UCLA beat Wisconsin 17-7, Houston outlasted Oklahoma State 35-32, SMU topped Virginia 23-13, Wake Forest routed Cal 41-7, Oregon held off Nebraska 17-14, and Washington beat Purdue 38-26 on Friday night.

The new AP Top 25 tells the story of the shakeup: Miami is No. 1 with 40 first-place votes, BYU is No. 2 (20 first-place votes) and Ohio State No. 3 (9). Notre Dame sits fourth, Georgia fifth, Indiana sixth, followed by Ole Miss, Texas Tech, UCLA and Utah. Tennessee climbs to No. 11 and Kentucky to No. 12, while Alabama tumbles to No. 13, LSU rises to No. 18, Texas falls to No. 19 and Florida cracks the poll at No. 20. Missouri (No. 22), SMU (No. 23), Northwestern (No. 24) and Arizona (No. 25) round out the rankings.

Week 8 has a lot to live up to.

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