Somewhere around dinnertime Saturday, I gave up keeping a neat list of what had gone wrong at the top of the poll. Georgia lost at home. Texas lost at home. Alabama lost in Knoxville, Notre Dame lost in Provo and Indiana lost in Bloomington. According to the AP, five of the top seven falling on the same weekend had never happened in the poll's 90-year history. By Sunday afternoon there was a new No. 1, BYU had its best ranking since its 1984 title season, and not one team in the Top 25 was sitting where it sat a week ago.
Miami was one of only two top-seven teams to get through the weekend intact, and the Hurricanes barely managed it. First, though, the Southeast, where most of the chaos landed.
Auburn Ends Georgia's Week at the Top
Georgia got exactly one week at No. 1. Auburn 27, No. 1 Georgia 24, decided by Alex McPherson's 34-yard field goal as time ran out in Athens.
The Bulldogs scored on their first two possessions and led 14-0. Then Auburn scored the next 24 points behind quarterback Byrum Brown, who ran 26 times for 115 yards and a touchdown and threw for another score. Auburn outrushed Georgia 192 to 113, and the Georgia defense was on the field for 45 plays in the first half alone. That wears on anybody.
Gunner Stockton, playing through a stinger, led a 94-yard drive to tie it on a 4-yard pass to London Humphreys. But with Georgia moving toward a winning field goal, he fumbled at the Auburn 46 with 58 seconds left, and Sylvester Smith-Reed recovered. A roughing-the-passer flag helped Auburn get in range.
"We helped them," Kirby Smart said, citing three turnovers and a run of personal fouls. Hard to argue. Georgia's streak of 53 straight wins over unranked teams is over, and so is its nine-game run against Auburn. First-year Auburn coach Alex Golesh kept it short: "We're going to build Auburn back to where everybody wants it, one game at a time. Just hang with us."
The Gators Show Up in Austin
Two weeks ago Florida looked like a team searching for the exit. On Saturday it went to Austin with a quarterback making his first career start and came home with a 27-24 win over No. 7 Texas.
Tramell Jones Jr., filling in for the injured Aaron Philo, threw two touchdown passes to Lacota Dippre as the Gators climbed out of a 17-3 hole. Patrick Durkin's field goal gave Florida its first lead, and Jadan Baugh's 11-yard run made it 27-17. Arch Manning answered with a touchdown pass to Cam Coleman, but Florida sacked him five times, and Myles Graham's sack on the last Texas possession knocked the ball loose and ended it.
It was Florida's first road win over a top-10 team since 2012, and it came from a defense that entered the day ranked last in the SEC. "When things got tough, we flinched the last couple weeks," Jon Sumrall said. Nobody flinched Saturday. Texas has now lost two straight, and the preseason chatter feels like a long time ago.
Knoxville Gets Its Night
No. 14 Tennessee 26, No. 6 Alabama 10, and the Tennessee defense is the whole story. Alabama finished with 201 total yards, 54 on the ground, turned it over four times and went 2 for 13 on third down.
Cooper Ranvier kicked four first-half field goals while the Vols kept stalling, and then DeSean Bishop took over. He ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns, and his second score capped a fourth-quarter drive that lasted 9 minutes and 32 seconds. "Defense, suffocating, elite performance," Josh Heupel said, which is about as many adjectives as a coach is allowed in one sentence.
Alabama has lost back-to-back regular-season games for the first time since 2007. Tennessee has won three of the last five in the series after losing 15 straight, all three in Neyland.
Miami Survives, Then Gets Promoted
No. 3 Miami 43, Florida State 35 in double overtime. The 3-3 Seminoles played like they had been waiting all year for this one. Ashton Daniels threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns, and Duce Robinson's 75-yard catch tied it late in regulation moments after Miami had gone ahead.
In the second overtime, Darian Mensah found Malachi Toney from 3 yards out, and then Toney, a receiver, threw the two-point conversion to Cooper Barkate. Mensah threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns, and Javian Mallory ran for 108 and two scores.
Florida State still had a chance until a 36-yard completion on fourth-and-21 was wiped out by holding. Bryce Fitzgerald intercepted the next throw on the last play. Miami is 6-0 and No. 1 for the first time since December 2002.
The Rest of the SEC
No. 9 Ole Miss beat No. 13 Missouri 31-3 in Oxford. Trinidad Chambliss threw three touchdown passes and ran for another, and Kewan Lacy ran for 122 yards against the school where he started his career. Missouri managed 39 rushing yards on 26 carries.
No. 15 Kentucky won 21-13 at Oklahoma by intercepting John Mateer four times, the last returned 41 yards for a touchdown by Jordan Castell with 1:17 left. The Wildcats gained just 230 yards and still won their fifth straight. They are tied with Georgia atop the SEC at 4-1. I've stopped asking how.
No. 22 LSU blanked No. 16 Mississippi State 31-0. Sam Leavitt went 31 of 38 for 289 yards and four touchdowns without a turnover for the first time this season. The Bulldogs were without starting quarterback Kamario Taylor and top running back Fluff Bothwell.
Arkansas won 31-21 at Vanderbilt to snap a 14-game SEC losing streak.
Elsewhere at the Top
No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24. Bear Bachmeier ran for two touchdowns, caught another on a trick play and threw the winner to Walker Lyons with 1:47 left. Notre Dame's last throw from the BYU 9 fell incomplete, and afterward the Big 12 said time should have remained on the clock and replay got it wrong. South Bend will be talking about that for a while.
No. 4 Ohio State won 19-15 at No. 5 Indiana, ending the Hoosiers' 22-game winning streak when Nick Marsh's left foot came down on the sideline paint on what would have been the go-ahead touchdown with 1:02 left. The cost was steep. Julian Sayin hurt his right arm, and Ryan Day said he'll miss several weeks.
No. 10 Texas Tech beat Arizona State 53-25, and No. 12 UCLA beat Wisconsin 17-7 with backup Ty Dieffenbach at quarterback. No. 11 Utah held on 27-24 at Colorado and owns the longest active FBS winning streak at 12. No. 20 Houston beat No. 18 Oklahoma State 35-32 behind five Conner Weigman touchdown passes.
Around the Region
North Carolina beat Duke 24-20 on Jaylen McGill's 24-yard run with 1:53 left, a drive Bill Belichick kept alive by going for it on fourth-and-4 from his own 28. "I wasn't punting again," he said. Virginia Tech beat Georgia Tech 34-24, Wake Forest won 41-7 at Cal behind four Gio Lopez touchdown passes, Louisville won 34-26 at Syracuse and Clemson shut out Charleston Southern 37-0.
USF beat Kent State 29-2, App State won 35-32 at Coastal Carolina on Friday behind four Jaquari Lewis touchdown runs, and Georgia Southern won 23-15 at Old Dominion on Thursday. James Madison beat Georgia State 49-22 to stay unbeaten.
The AP Top 25
1. Miami (40 first-place votes), 6-0
2. BYU (20), 6-0
3. Ohio State (9), 6-1
4. Notre Dame, 6-1
5. Georgia, 6-1
6. Indiana, 6-1
7. Ole Miss, 5-1
8. Texas Tech (1), 6-0
9. UCLA, 6-0
10. Utah, 6-0
11. Tennessee, 6-1
12. Kentucky, 6-1
13. Alabama, 5-2
14. Houston, 6-1
15. Iowa, 5-1
16. USC, 6-1
17. Wake Forest, 6-1
18. LSU, 5-2
19. Texas, 4-2
20. Florida, 5-2
21. Boise State, 5-1
22. Missouri, 5-2
23. SMU, 5-1
24. Northwestern, 5-1
25. Arizona, 5-1
Dropped out: Mississippi State and Oklahoma State. The SEC has nine ranked teams, the Big Ten six, the Big 12 five and the ACC three.
Scotty's Top 25
1. Miami (6-0). Needed two overtimes and a last-play interception against a 3-4 rival, but unbeaten is unbeaten in a week like this.
2. BYU (6-0). Beat a top-five team as a double-digit underdog, and Bachmeier is the most entertaining player in the country right now.
3. Ohio State (6-1). Won the best game of the weekend on the road. With a healthy Sayin they'd be my No. 1. The bye week comes at a good time.
4. Notre Dame (6-1). Lost by four on the road to a top-10 team, on a final play the league admits it mishandled. I'm not punishing that much.
5. Indiana (6-1). Lost by four to the defending champs on a foot that landed an inch wrong.
6. Georgia (6-1). The Alabama win still counts. So does blowing a 14-0 home lead to an unranked team.
7. Ole Miss (5-1). Outscored Vanderbilt and Missouri 83-20 over two weeks.
8. Texas Tech (6-0). Forty-three first-half points against the 2024 Big 12 champions. Quietly the scariest offense in the league.
9. Tennessee (6-1). The only loss was by three to Texas, and the Vols just held Alabama to 201 yards.
10. Utah (6-0). Twelve straight wins, but 27-24 at a 2-4 Colorado team isn't a statement.
11. UCLA (6-0). Won with a backup quarterback and a defense that allowed seven points.
12. Kentucky (6-1). Five straight wins and a share of the SEC lead. Style points not included.
13. Houston (6-1). Five touchdown passes against a ranked team.
14. Alabama (5-2). Both losses came to ranked teams, but 201 yards of offense is a warning sign.
15. Florida (5-2). The hardest team in America to rank. The Gators beat Ole Miss by 24 and won in Austin, and also lost to Missouri by 28 and South Carolina by 19. I'll trust the good days.
16. Iowa (5-1). Idle.
17. USC (6-1). Idle.
18. LSU (5-2). Leavitt's cleanest game of the year, finally.
19. Wake Forest (6-1). A 41-7 road win is a nice thank-you for the ranking.
20. Texas (4-2). The win over Tennessee keeps them in my poll. Two straight losses keep them this low.
21. James Madison (7-0). Unbeaten and stuck at 52 points in the AP voting. They're on mine.
22. Auburn (4-2). Beat the No. 1 team on its own field, and the two losses came by five to Florida and by 10 at Tennessee.
23. Boise State (5-1). Off this week.
24. SMU (5-1). Handled Virginia 23-13.
25. Northwestern (5-1). A three-point win at Michigan State keeps the Wildcats around.
First two out: Arizona and Missouri.
Overrated
Missouri at No. 22. Thirty-nine rushing yards and three points in Oxford, after a first-and-goal at the 2 ended in a missed 23-yard field goal. They look like a team that belongs just outside the poll.
Georgia at No. 5. A small quibble, but a real one. Indiana lost at home to the No. 4 team on a toe-tap that didn't happen. Georgia lost at home to an unranked team after leading 14-0. I'd flip them.
Underrated
Tennessee at No. 11. The only loss came by three to Texas, and the Vols just beat Alabama by 16. That's a top-10 resume to me.
Auburn, unranked. Sixty-one points in the voting for a team that just won at No. 1, with both losses to SEC teams that are ranked now. James Madison, also unranked at 7-0, has a similar gripe.
Biggest Movers
BYU climbed six spots to No. 2, and Houston also rose six, from 20 to 14. Florida jumped in at No. 20 from unranked, and Arizona slid in at 25 without playing. Going the other way, Texas fell 12 spots to 19, Missouri dropped nine to 22 and Alabama slid seven to 13.
The Southeast Angle
The SEC still has the most ranked teams, but not the top of the poll. Per the AP, the last time the league's highest-ranked team trailed teams from every other power conference was Dec. 3, 2023. There are no unbeaten SEC teams left, and the race is wide open: Kentucky and Georgia are 4-1 in league play, with Tennessee and Ole Miss at 3-1.
The ACC owns No. 1 for the first time since Clemson in 2020, and the state of Florida had quite a day. Miami moved to the top, Florida won in Austin and USF improved to 5-2. Florida State, at 3-4, has now lost 14 straight games away from Tallahassee.
Circle Oct. 31, when Georgia comes off its bye to face Florida at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Next Week's Big Games
All times Eastern.
No. 7 Ole Miss at No. 19 Texas, 7:30 p.m., ABC. One team is chasing the top five. The other is trying to save its season.
No. 11 Tennessee at South Carolina, 3:30 p.m., ESPN. The Gamecocks are rested.
No. 18 LSU at Auburn, noon, ABC. Auburn gets to show whether last Saturday was a turning point.
No. 2 BYU at UCF, 3:30 p.m., Fox. A trap game if I've ever seen one.
No. 14 Houston at No. 10 Utah, 10:15 p.m., ESPN. Stay up. The Big 12 race may run through this one.
No. 6 Indiana at Michigan, noon, Fox. The Hoosiers try to bounce back in Ann Arbor.
Also worth a look: Texas A&M at No. 13 Alabama (3:30, ABC), Vanderbilt at No. 12 Kentucky (7:30, SEC Network), Virginia Tech at Clemson (7, ESPN) and Pitt at No. 1 Miami (noon, ESPN). James Madison visits App State on Thursday at 7 on ESPNU. After the last two weeks, I'm not taking anything for granted.