EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsIf you're a fan of college football chaos, there are certain seasons you hold in high regard. The 2007 season is the gold standard, of course, but 1996 is another great vintage -- Arizona State came within a play of the national title, after all. The 1990 season ranks awfully high with that whole "Virginia was No. 1, 18 teams made top-five appearances, and the most impactful play was a fifth down" thing. The 1984 season was spectacular too, with BYU winning the title and six teams ranking No. 1 and 25 landing in the top 10 at some point.Saturday gave us both the most high-profile matchups of the season and the wildest set of results. And if you're looking for chaos season vibes, check this out: The last time Alabama, Georgia and Texas all lost on the same day was in 1996. The last time No. 1 teams fell to unranked opponents in back-to-back weeks was 1990. The last time three AP No. 1 teams had lost by Oct. 17 was 1990. The time before that with three No. 1s going down that early? 1984. The last time five of the top seven teams lost on the same day? NEVER! And it would have been more if No. 3 Miami took the hint and lost to upset-minded Florida State! No. 11 Utah almost joined in as well!Saturday was one of the most chaotic days the sport has ever seen, one-upping even some of the chaos greats. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Let's take a look back at the day's most impactful results and how they came about. No. 4 Ohio State 19, No. 5 Indiana 15In Friday's preview, I mentioned how third and fourth downs were Indiana's superpower in 2025 -- the Hoosiers won 76% of them during their national title run and won 59% in an otherwise dead-even Big Ten championship game win over Ohio State. It appeared that superpower was on the wane this fall, especially in their narrow escape against Nebraska last week, but if they could win the key plays Saturday in Bloomington, they would have a chance at a slight upset against Ohio State.Once again, the overall stats from this game were about as dead even as possible. Indiana made more disruptive plays, which Ohio State offset in part with a field position advantage. The outcome once again came down to third and fourth downs; IU managed a narrow victory on third downs, but fourth downs made all the difference.Fourth down No. 1: Julian Sayin completes a 2-yard touchdown pass to Bo Jackson with 10 seconds left in the first half to put the Buckeyes up 10-7. Sayin had misfired terribly earlier in the goal-to-go situation, but when four IU defenders converge on Jeremiah Smith, there was no one left to cover Jackson.Fourth down No. 2: Down 13-7 with 9:05 left in the third quarter and facing fourth-and-4 from the OSU 38 -- no man's land for a field goal attempt -- IU goes for it, but Josh Hoover is sacked by an unblocked Jaylen McClain and fumbles. Tarvos Alford recovers for Ohio State.Fourth down No. 3: With 12:52 left in the game, Sayin goes deep to Smith after a play fake on fourth-and-1 from the IU 38. This time Indiana has only multiple defenders around Smith, not four of them, and he makes a surprisingly easy catch to put the Buckeyes up 19-7.Fourth down No. 4: It's a game of inches, friends.Four plays essentially made a three-touchdown difference in a 4-point game.With Sayin looking at being out for "several weeks," according to coach Ryan Day, Ohio State needed this one quite a bit more than Indiana. Suffering a second loss and then immediately having to start freshman Luke Fahey for a while would have been an awfully dicey proposition. Plenty of challenges remain for the Buckeyes: Fahey's first start will be a cross-country road game against USC, followed by home games against a desperate Oregon and annoying-as-hell (complimentary) Northwestern, then a road trip to Nebraska and The Game vs. Michigan. But the team has a bye week to prep Fahey, and facing this stretch at 6-1 is a lot more fun than facing it at 5-2.As for Indiana, well, winning streaks end. The Hoosiers literally came within inches of beating one of the most talented teams in the country, but every team loses games like this at some point. We don't really know how the Hoosiers will respond to a loss because it's been almost two years since they've had to, but for whatever it's worth, after their last regular-season loss (at Ohio State in 2024), they turned around and beat Purdue 66-0. Heading to Michigan isn't the easiest rebound trip in the world, though, especially if what we saw from freshman quarterback Tommy Carr late in the Wolverines' Saturday win over Penn State was real and sustainable. No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24I'm admittedly getting really, really sick of clock errors -- this seems like one of the most obvious things a replay system could avoid, but we seem to be getting worse and worse at avoiding it.That said, BYU's defense was dynamite all night against Notre Dame, holding the Irish to a 38.0% success rate* after they averaged 53.6% through their first six games (third in the country heading into Week 7). The odds of the Cougars stopping one more Irish play and still coming away with the win were solid.End-of-game controversy aside, BYU proved its top-10 bona fides by beautifully taking the fight to an opponent that, for nearly a season and a half, has played like a top-five team. (Yes, I know Notre Dame's recent schedules have been pretty light. I'm not here to relitigate that. We can adjust for strength of schedule, and the Irish have dominated every recent opponent like a top-five team would.)It took a pair of BYU turnovers -- a muffed punt midway through the third quarter and an interception midway through the fourth (nearly Bear Bachmeier's only mistake in the biggest game of his career) -- for the Irish to even have a chance because they lost a lot more plays than they won overall. The Cougars had a nearly 10-percentage-point advantage in success rate (47.8% to 38.0%) and more than double the advantage in the red zone (64.3% to 30.0%). They narrowly won the run game battle despite being without injured RB LJ Martin, and they pressured CJ Carr constantly, even if, to the Irish QB's credit, he escaped most of it.BYU also scored one for the Big 12. As I mentioned last week, the Big 12 has an average SP+ rating (9.2) far closer to the Big Ten's (9.9) than the ACC's (5.2). Heading into Week 7, the conference boasted three of the country's eight remaining power-conference unbeatens. But those unbeatens ranked only eighth (BYU), 10th (Texas Tech) and 11th (Utah) in last week's AP poll. Now they're second (BYU), eighth (Tech) and 10th (Utah), and BYU got 20 first-place votes. And with Houston moving up to 14th after a quality win over Oklahoma State, the Big 12 has more top-14 teams than the Big Ten.BYU has to avoid a major letdown opportunity, traveling to Florida to face a defensively tricky UCF team in the Bounce House. But for now the Cougars have earned honor for their conference and their highest ranking since winning the national title 42 years ago.(*Success rate: how frequently an offense is gaining 50% of necessary yardage on first down, 70% on second or 100% on third or fourth.) Auburn 27, No. 1 Georgia 24It was easy enough to assume that teams such as Indiana, Notre Dame and Alabama might be in some trouble Saturday -- they were all playing top-15 teams, after all. But Georgia had been the most stable and trustworthy team in the country entering the weekend, and the Dawgs were hosting an Auburn team that hadn't really gotten its offense going in 2026. This was not a game I felt I would need to pay much attention to, and that was reinforced when the Dawgs went up 14-0 within about eight minutes.The god of turnovers had other plans, however. A week ago, Georgia beat Alabama thanks in part to some strong turnovers luck: The Dawgs recovered all five of the game's fumbles, including four of their own. The corresponding smiting didn't take long. Auburn picked off two Gunner Stockton passes, recovered a devastating late Stockton fumble -- one that set up Alex McPherson's game-winning field goal -- and recovered their only fumble of the game as well. Throw in a blocked field goal and a pair of fourth-down conversions for the Tigers (on drives that produced 10 points), and you have the makings of a shocker.Even after a 24-0 run gave Auburn a surprising 10-point lead, I still wasn't convinced the Dawgs were in danger. Peyton Woodring's 42-yard field goal cut the deficit to 7, Stockton started throwing his body around like a bowling ball as he is wont to do, and he found London Humphreys for the game-tying TD with 2:58 left. After a quick AU three-and-out, Georgia got the ball near midfield, ready to win the game. But Cody Sigler's rush helped force the ball out of Stockton's hands, Sylvester Smith-Reed recovered it, McPherson did his job at the buzzer, and No. 1 went down.We're about halfway through the SEC slate, and not only are there no unbeaten teams in conference play, but there are only four one-loss teams remaining. Technically, in the loss column, 12 of 16 teams are within one game of the top, including Auburn. This conference has been pretty wild of late, and this might be its wildest season yet, especially with everyone playing nine conference games. I'm not incredibly worried about Georgia -- it indeed took quite a few bad breaks and upset ingredients for this result to happen -- but the vast number of fumbles is concerning, and if nothing else this game was a reminder that the best teams aren't miles ahead of the sport's middle class. Just about anyone is a bad performance or a couple of bad breaks away from having to seriously worry about their playoff chances.Hey, speaking of teams like that... Florida 27, No. 7 Texas 24A week ago, Texas eased out to a 10-point first-half lead and outgained Oklahoma by 144 yards (1.8 per play) but lost because of preventable mistakes and some inexplicable decisions from Arch Manning.On Saturday against Florida, it seemed like the Longhorns had a perfect rebound opponent. Jon Sumrall's Gators were reeling after shocking blowouts against Missouri and South Carolina, and their defense had been abysmal. Texas drove 75 and 60 yards on its first two possessions while again easing out to a 10-point lead, then got a punt return score from Ryan Niblett to go up 17-3 at home. Done deal? Of course not!Against said dismal defense, the UT offense went dead silent, failing to score on six consecutive drives. Florida averaged only 3.9 yards per play for the game, but the Gators were twice as good as the Horns on third down (42% conversion rate to UT's 20%), and by the time Texas' offense woke up, Florida was up 10.On fourth-and-ballgame, Manning then proceeded to throw one of the greatest passes of his life in the face of major pressure.Cam Coleman scored two plays later, and Florida immediately went three-and-out. Tide turned? Nope! Only moments after social media began to buzz with "Arch legacy drive?" talk, he suffered paralysis by analysis, passed on throwing to an open receiver and eventually laid the ball on the ground.Florida moved the chains once, and that was that. Texas was No. 1 in the country eight days ago, and now the Horns have lost back-to-back games to unranked teams. Oh yeah, and defensive end Colin Simmons, by far the best defensive player in the country of late (past three games: 21 tackles, 12.5 TFLs, 7.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, five run stops), left the game late with an ankle injury.Next week, a suddenly torrid Ole Miss team visits Austin, having just throttled No. 13 Missouri. Granted, in the SEC this season it seems like a legal mandate that you follow any great performance with a terrible one, but the Rebels are a lot better on paper than either Florida or Oklahoma were. If Texas doesn't right this ship immediately, the CFP will have gone from seemingly guaranteed to nearly out the door in about a 15-day span.And the next time Texas' offense looks playoff-worthy will be the first time since the fourth quarter of the Ohio State game five weeks ago. After spending millions to surround Manning with star transfers, the Longhorns are 104th in yards per play (5.4), 121st in TFLs allowed (43), 122nd in three-and-out rate (34.3%) and 126th in percentage of plays gaining 20-plus yards (4.8%). It's dreadful stuff, and it has been for a while.No. 14 Tennessee 26, No. 6 Alabama 10Amid Saturday's chaos, we got a pretty big shake-up in the race for a spot in the final SEC championship game*. Alabama and Texas saw their odds plummet, per SP+, while LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee, Bama's Saturday conqueror, found new life.SEC title odds, per SP+:Georgia 48.2% (down 5.1%)Tennessee 12.4% (up 9.3%)LSU 12.3% (up 8.0%)Ole Miss 10.2% (up 7.5%)Alabama 4.8% (down 10.0%)Texas 4.7% (down 8.3%)LSU blew out a haplessly banged up Mississippi State team, while Ole Miss stopped Missouri in the red zone early and stopped the Tigers altogether late. But Tennessee might have made the biggest statement of the bunch, not only beating Bama at home for the third time but absolutely manhandling the Crimson Tide. DeSean Bishop ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns, while Bama backs Daniel Hill and Trae'shawn Brown managed only 46 yards in 13 carries.Meanwhile, after Georgia sacked Keelon Russell four times and forced one Russell turnover, Tennessee sacked him five times and forced three turnovers. In the same way Texas sped up the game for Tennessee freshman Faizon Brandon a couple of weeks ago, eventually rendering him too mistake-prone to play -- George MacIntyre has started the past two games for the Vols -- Georgia and Tennessee have done something similar to Russell. And after scoring 45 or more points in each of their first five games, the Tide have scored a total of 27 points in their past two.Since allowing 24 points to Georgia Tech in Week 2, Jim Knowles' Volunteers defense has been incredible. Looking specifically at the past five weeks, the Vols rank first in three-and-out rate (48.4%), fourth in turnover rate (3.7%), fifth in sack rate (10.6%), ninth in points allowed per drive (1.1) and 15th in yards allowed per play (4.6). Having a great defense and good run game has been a great way to overcome quarterback issues since the forward pass was legalized, and if MacIntyre continues to give them average output, they could easily play their way to Atlanta. He gave the Vols 6.1 yards per dropback with one interception and one sack Saturday, and it was more than enough.(*Seriously, it's not too late to undo the decision to scrap championship games and move toward the flex week life. I don't want to live in a world of endless four-way ties for first place.)No. 3 Miami 43, Florida State 35In a game that set back fourth-down decisions by a decade, Mario Cristobal's Hurricanes somehow avoided the disastrous upset that beset nearly everyone else around them in the polls and survived Florida State in double overtime. By simply not losing, they moved up into the No. 2 spot on the national title favorites list, per SP+.(I guess you can't really call anyone a "favorite" when no one's above even 16%, but being near the top of the list is still better than the alternative!)This was the strangest of all of this week's impactful games. The teams indeed went a combined 0-for-5 on fourth downs; in a game that saw 1,026 combined yards, those were basically the only plays in which the defenses had the advantage. I had nagging concerns about Miami's pass defense heading into the game, and allowing 298 yards and four touchdowns to Seminoles QB Ashton Daniels (including 113 yards to Duce Robinson) didn't assuage me of those concerns.But the Miami offense always came through. Darian Mensah threw for 326 yards (nearly half of which went to Malachi Toney), and freshman Javian Mallory used The U's biggest rivalry game as his coming-out party, rushing 13 times for 108 yards and two scores. He looked more like Mark Fletcher Jr. than Fletcher did (16 carries for 66 yards).Even by FSU's high standards in this regard, this was a particularly cruel loss. The Noles lost star running back Ousmane Kromah for the season to injury, and after Micahi Danzy had a Hail Mary touchdown disallowed in the second overtime because of a holding penalty, it sure looked like Robinson had reeled in a second Hail Mary TD on the following snap until the players were unpiled and Miami's Bryce Fitzgerald had ended up with the ball instead.Mike Norvell has been trying desperately to give FSU reasons to keep him around, and a huge rivalry win would have been a nice card to play. Instead, the Noles are 3-4, Kromah is out, SP+ gives them only a 59% chance of reaching bowl-eligibility, and, well, their bitter rivals are the No. 2 national title favorites. Ouch, ouch, ouch and ouch.FCS: No. 15 North Dakota 21, No. 1 South Dakota State 10Maybe the most delightful thing about Saturday is that the chaos wasn't limited to FBS. It's like something got in the water or something. NAIA's No. 2 team, Keiser, lost 52-7 to No. 9 St. Thomas in Florida, while Division II's juggernaut, Ferris State, narrowly extended what is now a 37-game winning streak after falling behind Anchor-Bone Classic rival Grand Valley State 17-0 and eking out a 41-34 win. But the FCS got really wild: No. 4 Lehigh fell as a projected 12-point favorite (per SP+) against Cornell, No. 7 Montana fell as a 20.8-point favorite against Idaho, and No. 10 Lamar lost a toss-up game to Southeastern Louisiana. The upset bug also bit a South Dakota State team that had comfortably been the class of the FCS to date.The Jackrabbits were coming off a bye week after a surprisingly comfortable win at Illinois State (third in SP+), while North Dakota had fallen to 15th in the AP poll after losing to Northern Iowa. UND quarterback Jerry Kaminski was hurt against UNI, and his status was uncertain heading into Saturday, but he completed 10 of 16 passes, while the Fighting Hawks' run game carried solid weight -- Matt Lawson, Charles Langama and Javance Tupou'ata-Johnson: 36 carries for 193 yards -- and the defense absolutely dominated. SDSU's Chase Mason went just 14-for-33 passing, and the Jacks fell behind 21-0 and could only muster a partial rally.Big win for the Hawks. On Monday, either Tarleton State or Stephen F. Austin will rank No. 1 in the FCS polls. Newfound territory.This week in SP+The SP+ rankings have been updated for the week. Let's take a look at the teams that saw the biggest change in their overall ratings. (Note: We're looking at ratings, not rankings.)Moving upHere are the five teams that saw their ratings rise the most this week:1. Ohio: up 4.6 adjusted points per game (ranking rose from 101st to 83rd)2. Wyoming: up 4.5 points (from 122nd to 109th)3. Louisiana: up 4.2 points (from 83rd to 63rd)4. Toledo: up 3.9 points (from 82nd to 65th)5. UAB: up 3.9 points (from 115th to 106th)While the sport's powers were seemingly all underachieving, some Group of 6 teams were raising their respective stocks. A quick shout-out to UAB: Alex Mortensen's Blazers are 4-3 following not only their first win over East Carolina in 20 years, but also a 13-point overtime win. (They scored a touchdown, then iced the game with a Delvon Gulley pick-six.) This is the latest they've been above .500 since 2022, the year before their disastrous hire of Trent Dilfer.Moving downBecause a lot of teams earned warranted drops, here are the 10 teams whose ratings fell the most.1. Mississippi State: down 5.3 adjusted points per game (ranking fell from 28th to 48th)2. Alabama: down 4.5 points (from eighth to 12th)3. Missouri: down 4.4 points (from 13th to 21st)4. Utah: down 4.1 points (from seventh to 10th)5. Baylor: down 3.8 points (from 27th to 41st)6. California: down 3.7 points (from 87th to 98th)7. Kansas: down 3.7 points (from 50th to 58th)8. Texas: down 3.2 points (from sixth to eighth)9. Notre Dame: down 3.2 points (from third to fourth)10. Indiana: down 3.1 points (stayed at fifth)The top three are pretty self-explanatory: All three laid road eggs, though at least Mississippi State could blame injuries. But really, the most interesting thing about this week's SP+ rankings is that not a lot changed at the top -- because almost every top team's rating fell! Wild, wild week.My 20 favorite games of the weekendAs colleague Kyle Bonagura said, picking a favorite was almost impossible. It was even hard just to pick a favorite 27-24 game (especially if you throw in their cousins 28-24 and 26-23).1. No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24. Despite yet another clock error, I'm ranking this one No. 1 on sheer aesthetics -- a hostile crowd that never wavered and an upstart scoring a defining win, all in maybe the most picturesque football setting this side of Montana.2. No. 3 Miami 43, Florida State 35 (2OT). I almost always root for the underdog, so this might have been No. 1 if FSU had won. Regardless, 60-plus minutes of haymakers and trash talk. Hell yes.3. No. 4 Ohio State 19, No. 5 Indiana 15. If Nick Marsh steps two inches to the right, this is probably No. 1.4. Ball State 32, Bowling Green 31. Madness in Bowling Green! BGSU tied this one at 17-17 with 1:12 left, then took a shocking lead on a 35-yard fumble return 11 seconds later. But no worries! Keldric Luster found Eli Hohlt for a 20-yard score on the last play of regulation to send the game to overtime, and while the Cardinals didn't go for two points and the win there, they did after scoring on their first OT possession: Luster to Alex Scherle for the win.5. No. 25 Northwestern 24, Michigan State 21. It got lost a bit because of everything else that happened, but this was a wild ride. Chrishon McCray's 53-yard score gave MSU an 8-point fourth-quarter lead, former Spartan Aidan Chiles tied things up with a touchdown run and 2-point pass, and then things got very silly. Northwestern tried the most misguided fake punt you'll ever see (and failed), State ran the clock down but had a 33-yard field goal blocked, and Chiles completed a trio of passes to set up Jackson Kleather's game-winning 34-yarder at the buzzer.6-7. Florida 27, No. 7 Texas 24; Auburn 27, No. 1 Georgia 24. The SEC truly lost its mind Saturday.8. FCS: Presbyterian 47, Stetson 43. There will always be a spot on this list for a game featuring five lead changes in the final six minutes and a win probability chart like this:Stetson drove 75 yards to take the lead with 51 seconds left, but Presbyterian needed only three plays -- and a short Jackson Burleson touchdown -- to win it.9. West Virginia 45, Cincinnati 42. Cam Cook's 40-yard catch and run with 3:44 left allowed West Virginia to tie this game for the sixth time, and the Mountaineers won without ever leading in regulation thanks to Jack Cassidy's 35-yard field goal at the buzzer.10. Division II: No. 16 Findlay 22, Hillsdale 19. If you watched this one as I recommended in Friday's preview, you saw matching kick return scores in the second quarter, and you saw Findlay pull off a huge win with an eight-minute, 18-play, 99-yard drive capped by Chase Harrison's 10-yard pass to Denny Furlong with 12 seconds left.11. No. 11 Utah 27, Colorado 24. Utah let this one get really messy after leading by 13 at the half, but like Miami, those inconsiderate Utes refused to play along with the upset trend. Jerks.12. Division III: No. 16 John Carroll 24, Wabash 17. After trailing early at Don Shula Stadium, John Carroll seemingly took control with Jack McDaniels' 63-yard catch-and-run with a minute left. But Wabash's Brand Campbell and Luke Adams connected for a miraculous 39-yard completion on the final play. Unfortunately, the Little Giants had needed 41 yards.13. FCS: Idaho 42, No. 7 Montana 35. Idaho is 2-5 on the season ... with two wins over top-10 teams. The Big Sky is relentless.14. UAB 30, East Carolina 17 (OT). Here's the aforementioned OT pick-six:Love the little wave near the end. That followed a one-minute, 93-yard, game-tying drive at the end of regulation. Delightful.15. No. 20 Houston 35, No. 18 Oklahoma State 32. Houston led for the last 52 minutes but couldn't ever put OSU away until Conner Weigman's 8-yard run allowed the Coogs to kneel out the game.16. Division II: Tiffin 31, Walsh 27. First three quarters: Walsh 20, Tiffin 3. Fourth quarter: Tiffin 28, Walsh 7. The Dragons took a sudden lead with 2:42 left, lost it again 66 seconds later, then took it back for good with Cane Mack's 10-yard touchdown pass to Jaedyn McKinstry with seven seconds remaining.17. San Diego State 26, Fresno State 23. I was going to put Oregon's 17-14 win over Nebraska here, but it was sort of a favorite and least favorite game of the week. Instead, we'll celebrate SDSU responding to a 52-point loss to Oregon State by overcoming a midgame 17-3 run from Fresno State, and seizing a late-night upset with a 53-yard Cooper DiLeva field goal in the final minute.18. Division III: Millikin 42, Illinois Wesleyan 35. Illinois Wesleyan was a projected 20-point favorite, but Millikin went on a 21-0 run in the first half, survived a game-tying 64-yard touchdown pass with 1:38 left, and won with a 64-yard AJ Lee run (his fourth score of the day) and a last-second red zone stop.19. FCS: Weber State 27, No. 21 Idaho State 20. After a 4-0 start, Idaho State has lost three straight Big Sky games by a total of 15 points. The Bengals led 14-6 at the half and 20-19 with two minutes left, but Spencer Ferguson's 2-yard plunge moved Weber State to 4-1 in the Big Sky.20. Division II: No. 1 Ferris State 41, No. 13 Grand Valley State 34. The Anchor-Bone Classic was indeed a classic: In front of a crowd of 16,344, GVSU stormed to a 17-0 lead on top-ranked Ferris State just 13 minutes in, but a 34-0 Bulldogs run seemingly put this one out of reach. But GVSU scored twice in the fourth quarter and forced a fourth-and-1 with 1:44 left, down only 7. Wyatt Bower's 2-yard sneak, however, iced the game and extended Ferris State's winning streak to 37 games. The Div. II record: 40 games, set by ... GVSU.
