We Speak College Football
Saturday of Chaos: Five of the AP Top Seven Fall for the First Time Since 1936
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.
Homecoming weekend delivered across Black college football, and when the dust settled, the road to the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta looked wide open.
In the SWAC, the East turned into a three-team knot: Jackson State (3-1) rallied past Florida A&M 27-17, Alabama A&M (3-1) hung 61 on Grambling, and Bethune-Cookman (2-1) won 34-14 at Mississippi Valley State behind Jaden Davis, who intercepted three passes and returned a fumble for a touchdown. Prairie View A&M survived the weekend’s wildest shootout, beating Alcorn State 41-38 on a late field goal — Alcorn quarterback Jaylon Tolbert threw for 356 yards and five touchdowns (three to Fredrick Robertson) in defeat, while Prairie View’s Tevin Carter accounted for four scores, two passing and two rushing. Alabama State edged Arkansas-Pine Bluff 21-15 with a goal-line stand and two late interceptions, and the SWAC West stayed bunched with five teams carrying two losses.
Howard gave its homecoming crowd a show in Washington, beating Morehouse 31-17 before 9,995 fans behind Eden James (120 rushing yards and a touchdown) and quarterback Ja’Shawn Scroggins, who threw for 128 yards and ran for two scores.
In the SIAC, Benedict rolled past Edward Waters 45-24, Tuskegee edged Albany State 17-14, Fort Valley State beat Savannah State 22-9, Kentucky State routed Lane 55-22, and Clark Atlanta nipped Allen 17-14. In the CIAA, it was a day of blowouts: Fayetteville State hammered Elizabeth City State 43-7, Johnson C. Smith beat Lincoln (Pa.) 40-6, Virginia State hung 76 points on Shaw in a 76-13 win, and Virginia Union topped Bowie State 48-7. Elsewhere, North Carolina A&T beat Chicago State 27-12 on a day the Aggies honored the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, Winston-Salem State beat Bluefield State 43-14, West Virginia State outlasted Wheeling 30-24 in overtime, Tennessee State stunned No. 24 Morgan State 25-16, and Sacred Heart beat Hampton 35-21.
The Celebration Bowl picture: the SWAC East’s three one-loss teams — Jackson State, Alabama A&M and Bethune-Cookman — will spend the next month knocking each other out, while the MEAC doesn’t even open conference play until next week, when North Carolina Central visits Delaware State on Friday night on ESPN2, Norfolk State travels to two-time defending champion South Carolina State (5-2), and Howard meets Morgan State. The SWAC and MEAC champions meet in Atlanta in December — and after this weekend, both races are officially on.
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