A team ranked in the top two of the AP Top 25 lost for the second straight Saturday.
A week ago, No. 4 Alabama beat No. 2 Georgia 41-34 in what turned out to be a thriller. On Saturday, Alabama upset the No. 1 Crimson Tide in a 40-35 loss at Vanderbilt. It was the Commodores’ first win over Alabama in 40 years and the school’s first against a team ranked in the top five.
We don’t need to tell you that there will be a new No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 on Sunday. It is obvious. No. 4 Both candidates remain clear after Tennessee’s loss at Arkansas. It would be surprising if Texas or Ohio State weren’t ranked No. 1 on Sunday.
And guess what? There’s a good chance one of those two teams will lose in Week 7, just like Alabama and Tennessee did on Saturday.
Texas is currently the no. 2 team and it does not play on Saturday because it is the no. 19 prepares for its Red River rivalry clash with Oklahoma. Texas will be favored in that game, but neutral-site rivalry games will be different. Just ask the Longhorns. No. No. 12 Oklahoma beat No. 3 Texas a season ago with a late touchdown. In 2022, Texas beat Oklahoma 49-0 in a matchup of unranked teams. They have won four of their last five games in the Cotton Bowl.
Texas could move up one spot without playing. But Ohio State could get past the Longhorns with an easy 35-7 win over Iowa. The Hawkeyes are Ohio State’s biggest test to date. Also, they were an easy test. Iowa didn’t score until the fourth quarter as Ohio State’s defense dominated and pounded it in the third quarter. Howard threw for four touchdowns at OSU QB. Three went to Emeka Ekbuka, and another was a one-handed catch by freshman Jeremiah Smith.
Ohio State has been very good this season, even if its fans want more. The Buckeyes’ 28-point margin of victory on Saturday was their smallest of the season. Granted, Akron, Western Michigan, Marshall and Michigan State are on the schedule in addition to Iowa. But it’s still interesting.
It’s hard to see Ohio State winning its next game by four points. The Buckeyes travel to Eugene in Week 7 to play No. 6 Oregon in the biggest game of the weekend. The Ducks took care of Michigan State on Friday to move to 5-0 and have an even advantage heading into the game.
It’s a game that could be a preview of the Big Ten title game — and will go a long way toward determining who’s in that game. Ohio State still has both Penn State and Michigan remaining on its schedule and the Ducks also face the Wolverines in November.
Regardless of who ends up at No. 1 on Sunday, their stay at the top won’t last long. Texas has Georgia in Week 8 and the Buckeyes play at Penn State on Nov. 2. Given the way the 2024 season has unfolded so far, the top five will continue to change.
Here are the rest of this week’s winners and losers:
Winners
Army and Navy: Service academies are rolling. Both Army and Navy are 5-0 for the first time since 1945. Navy beat Air Force 34-7 on Saturday, while Army beat Tulsa 42-49-7. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Navy and Army both qualify for the AAC title game a week before they play each other in their traditional rivalry game and meet for the conference title. That would be awkward. But it’s a lot of fun.
bit: The Panthers are 5-0 for the first time since 1991 after a 34-24 win at North Carolina. Alabama transfer Eli Holstein was 25-of-42 for 381 yards and three touchdowns and led the Panthers with 10 carries for 76 yards and a score. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi has always been a run-first kind of guy, but his offense was at its best with Holstein slinging it. Pitt hosts Cal in Week 7 before playing Syracuse in Week 9. Bowl qualification is not far off.
Syracuse: Speaking of the Orange, Friday night’s 44-41 victory over No. 25 Jackson Meeks gets a TD pass from Kyle McCord with 23 seconds left to force overtime against UNLV. After the Rebels kicked a field goal to open overtime, Leighwind Allen won the game with a 1-yard TD run. McCord threw the ball 63 times and completed 40 of those passes for 355 yards and three TDs. The Orange are now 4-1, and UNLV’s time inside the top 25 will be very short. For now.
Sam Houston: The Bearkats are rolling. Sam Houston moved to 5-1 with a 41-21 win at UTEP on Thursday night. The former FCS powerhouse is looking to make its first appearance in an FBS bowl game with one more win. DJ McKinney rushed 14 times for 138 yards and two scores as the Bearkats now have in-state wins over Rice, Texas State and the Miners. Sam Houston is a contender for the Conference USA title game.
Virginia: After a 24-14 win over Boston College, the Cavaliers are now 4-1 and 2-0 in the ACC. Virginia scored 18 straight points in the fourth quarter to build a 14-6 Boston College lead to 10-points in the eight-minute span. Virginia turned a three-point lead into a two-possession game on Jonas Sanger’s 40-yard fumble return.
SMU: The Mustangs are acquitting themselves well in the ACC. Aided by a controversial replay call, SMU beat No. 22 Louisville 34-27 to move to 5-1. The QB switch to Kevin Jennings paid off as Jennings was 21-of-27 for 281 yards and rushed 10 times for 113 yards and a score in the win. SMU doesn’t have a ranked team on its schedule and is more than a sleeper candidate to make the ACC title game.
Louisiana-Monroe: James Madison’s undefeated season as the Warhawks beat the Dukes 21-19. ULM overcame a 10-0 first half deficit before halftime and turned in the game-winning score in the fourth quarter when Aidan Armenta found Jake Godfrey for a 12-yard TD. ULM is now 4-1 and two wins away from a bowl game. It was a turning point under former UAB interim coach Bryant Vincent.
losers
Oklahoma State: What’s going on in Stillwater? West Virginia went 2-2 over the Cowboys 38-14. The Mountaineers had a clear game plan on Saturday: Run the damn ball. It worked. WVU rushed 65 times for 389 yards and four scores. Oklahoma State had 21 carries for 36 yards and last year’s All-American Ollie Gordon had 13 carries for 50 yards. After making the Big 12 title game in 2023, OSU is now 0-3 in the conference and has little hope of returning to the title game.
Auburn coach Hugh Freeze: The Tigers lost to No. 5 Georgia on Saturday. That’s not a surprise. Not surprisingly, Freese once again blamed his quarterback for a key defeat.
Off a 4th-and-1 play to start the 4th quarter: “He (Payton) absolutely disagreed with what we called.”
— Brian Stultz (@brianjstultz) October 5, 2024
Freese may be outspoken, but he puts a lot of the blame on his players during Auburn’s 2-4 start. Are Auburn’s players not performing up to their potential? It is very possible. But it’s unlikely that it’s all about the players and little to do with coaching.
South Carolina: Gamecox had a chance to beat reeling Ole Miss on Saturday and delivered. The No. 12 Rebels had no problems in their 27-3 win over Gamecox. J.J. Pegues had two rushing scores for the Rebels as South Carolina averaged less than five yards a pass and turned it over twice. USC travels to Alabama in Week 7 and Oklahoma in Week 8 before a home game against Texas A&M in early November. Can the Gamecocks steal the game to avoid a 1-5 start in SEC play?
UAB: The Blazers make the losers bracket for the second consecutive week. We usually like to avoid packing on teams in consecutive weeks, but a 71-20 loss at home is hard to ignore. Yes, Tulane is a good football team, but UAB was once a much better football team. The Blazers aren’t in good shape right now under Trent Tilfer, and it’s hard to see his hiring as anything but a failure.
