College football, like college basketball, is characterized by its huge number of upsets. In this past week alone, there were four top 11 teams beaten by unranked opponents. This is the most since Nov. 12, 2016, when there were five such upsets.
The biggest and most obvious upset was No. 1 Alabama falling to SEC rival and unranked team, Vanderbilt. This game was Vanderbilt’s first time beating a top five team.
Alabama started off with multiple disconnects, the most prominent of which was the pick six to end their second possession as well as the fumble to end their first.
Vanderbilt seemed to connect on all fronts, holding the Crimson Tide to only 35 points, which is six less than their average this season. Vanderbilt also put up the most points against Alabama since Alabama’s loss to Tennessee in 2022.
Alabama’s next game is against South Carolina, which should be an easy win, but in college football, you can never be so sure. Vanderbilt will be heading to Lexington, KY, to face the 3-2 Kentucky Wildcats.
Another big upset in the SEC was No. 4 Tennessee losing to unranked Arkansas. This was an incredibly close game that was a true dogfight.
Arkansas was leading by a first quarter field goal for most of the game, until Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson scored a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter. Even with Arkansas’ third quarter touchdown, it looked like the Vols would win, until Aransas kicked a field goal to start the final quarter and gave a breath of life to Arkansas.
Arkansas scored the game winning touchdown with only 1:12 left in the game, and they tried to get a two-point conversion to make Tennessee need a touchdown to tie, but didn’t get it. In the end, they didn’t need it, as the Razorbacks’ defense stopped Tennessee to kill the clock and secure the upset.
Arkansas looks to make another upset happen this week with a big SEC matchup. This time, it is No. 13 LSU that hopes to survive the Razorbacks. Tennessee has what is a most likely easier game, but still an SEC game. Tennessee faces off against unranked Florida and hopes to not make their unranked upset a trend.
The third top 11 upset this week was a repeat of last year’s National Championship, between No. 10 Michigan and unranked Washington. This time, however, Washington won 27-17.
This game was highlighted by Washington quarterback Will Rogers’ stats. He led the game with 271 passing yards off of 21 completions. He also threw for two touchdowns and only one interception.
Washington looks on to their next Big 10 game against Iowa, which should be an easy win for this year’s Washington team. Michigan looks to build up their team in their bye week, leading up to a tough match against No. 23 Illinois.
The fourth big upset of week six was No. 11 USC losing to unranked Minnesota. The final score was 24-17 and came down to a fourth-and-goal play for Minnesota to give them the game winning touchdown.
This was another back and forth contest with nearly identical stats. USC’s Big 10 standings were hurt with this conference loss, as they have now dropped from No. 11 to unranked in just this one game.
USC looks to regain their ranked status in another conference game against No. 4 Penn State. Minnesota looks to boost their Big 10 standings with a game against unranked and last in the conference, UCLA.
These big upsets are what college football is all about, and fans shouldn’t be surprised if they see more upsets of similar scale later this season, especially with all of the conference and coach moves that were made over the last offseason.
