Shake-up Saturday: Bama, Oklahoma, A&M go down
Rip up those Top 25s and just start all over again.
The biggest weekend of the college football season delivered a sensational Saturday that included three of the top six teams in The Associated Press poll getting beat.
No. 3 Alabama, beaten by No. 11 Mississippi 23-17. No. 4 Oklahoma, beaten 37-33 at No. 25 TCU. No. 6 Texas A&M, beaten 48-31 at No. 12 Mississippi State.
Add to that No. 2 Oregon's loss to Arizona on Thursday night and it's the first time that four of the top six teams in the AP poll have lost in the same weekend.
Might as well just hit the re-set button on the rankings.
"That's what I'll be doing all night," said Logan Lowery, a poll voter who works for the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo.
Oh, by the way, Arizona State beat No. 16 Southern California 38-34 on a Hail Mary touchdown pass, and Northwestern surprised No. 17 Wisconsin 20-14. Kentucky joined in, too, rallying to beat South Carolina 45-38.
Fortunately for the folks on College Football Playoff selection committee, they have three more weekends before they have to weigh in with rankings, and a couple months before they have to pick which four will play for the national championship.
Saturday's purge at the top of the polls suddenly makes all that talk about how Florida State wasn't impressive enough while staying undefeated seem a little silly.
The Seminoles were pushed three times in September but escaped, once without Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston.
The top-ranked Seminoles (5-0) got an easy win Saturday, 43-3 against Wake Forest, and then got to see all the teams that were supposed to be contenders to their national title go down.
Texas A&M was first, though that one was no upset. Dak Prescott cemented himself as a Heisman candidate by leading the Bulldogs to a rout.
Then things got weird.
Ole Miss rallied with two fourth-quarter touchdown to snap a 10-game losing streak against the Crimson Tide. The Rebels sealed it with an interception in the end zone by Senquez Golson with 37 seconds left.
The celebration in the Magnolia state had to stretch from Brookhaven to Biloxi. Both Mississippi teams will be in the top 10 come Sunday.
"As (the final seconds) happened, I thought 'This isn't the end of it all. It's just the beginning,'" Ole Miss receiver Laquon Treadwell said.
Minutes after the Rebels finished off Alabama, TCU made a fourth-and-short stop of Oklahoma deep in Horned Frogs' territory to thwart the Sooners last best threat. Oklahoma managed to get off a Hail Mary, but it sailed out of the end zone.
The last time four of the top six lost in the AP poll was 24 years ago, when No. 1 Virginia, No. 3 Nebraska, No. 4 Auburn and No. 5 Illinois went down.
A little less than halfway through the season, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, TCU and Arizona are undefeated. Alabama, Oklahoma and Oregon are not.
Who'll be in the top five now behind Florida State?
No. 5 Auburn took care of its business, blowing out No. 15 LSU 41-7. No. 7 Baylor, which plays TCU next Saturday, should move up after beating up Texas 28-7. No. 9 Notre Dame stayed unbeaten with a dramatic 17-14 victory over No. 14 Stanford. No. 10 Michigan State held off Nebraska 27-22.
On the road to the first college football playoff, Saturday was definitely the first detour.