There should be no way that this weekend of college football reaches the epic awesomeness that was last week, maybe the greatest, most enjoyable and most unpredictable Saturday in the history of the sport.
If you were living under rock and/or consumed by the National League Division Series playoff games that were on simultaneously, here’s what you missed:
– Last week was the first time in the history of the Associated Press Poll (around since 1936) that five of the top eight teams lost on the same college football week. If you went by the A Lot of Sports Talk College Football Top 25 (and why shouldn’t you go by our rankings as well), each of the top three teams in the poll last week – Oklahoma, Oregon and Alabama – all came out on the losing end.
– Six other teams ranked in the AP Top 25 also bit the bullet, including No. 14 Stanford going down when its defense gave up a touchdown on fourth-and-11 with a minute left at Notre Dame and No. 16 USC letting Jaelen Strong of Arizona State swoop in to catch a Hail Mary pass at the end of the game to stun the Trojans at the gun in The Coliseum.
If you were watching wall-to-wall college gridiron action last Saturday, you definitely would have seen/known that the zaniest happenings on the field from the day happened in Oxford.
Not Mississippi, but Ohio.
Yes, Ole Miss scoring a touchdown in the final two minutes and then intercepting a pass in the end zone to seal the victory over No. 3 Alabama ranks right up there on the “wow meter,” but occurring 530 miles due northeast, in Oxford, Ohio, the Miami University RedHawks ended the Football Bowl Subdivision’s longest losing streak at 21 games by defeating Massachusetts 42-41, coming back from a 41-14 deficit in the process. Coming back from a 27-point deficit is enough to drop jaws, but what made this game the crème de la crème of college football silly last week was the Minutemen deciding to eschew a spike play at the end of the game, which would have allowed UMass an attempt at the game-winning (more like game-salvaging) field goal. With the Minutemen at Miami’s 32 and with seconds remaining, quarterback Blake Frohnapfel completed a pass to Rodney Mills down the middle of the field for 26 yards to advance the ball to the RedHawks 6-yard line. Only three seconds remained, but it was enough time for the Minutemen to spike the ball. Instead, Frohnapfel dropped back (what?) and completed a pass in the flat to running back Shadrach Abrokwah at the 5-yard line (at the FIVE?), who was pushed out of bounds by Joe Donlan at the two, ending the game (OMG!).
Ding, dong, the losing streak is dead! And to complete this utterly bizarre story from Oxford, the team that now owns the longest losing streak in the FBS after Miami University broke its hex is…UMass, at 12 games.
It was that type of day in college football last week. And it could be like that once again this week, somehow.
All of the pollsters on The A Lot of Sports Talk‘s College Football Top 25 have had days which put them all through the college football wringer. Once again, let’s welcome our weekly sextet: T.J. Basalla (super fan, marketing professional, WJPZ Alumni Association President), Pavan Sandhu Eckhart (Texas A&M graduate, Sales Rep at Ferring Pharmaceuticals in Dallas), Basil Mitchell (former TCU and Green Bay Packers RB), Sandy Weintraub (super fan, Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards at the University of Oregon), Adesina Koiki (Football Writers Association of America member/voter, A Lot Of Sports Talk editor-in-chief) and an anonymous assistant coach who once coached at a Division I-FBS school. If you have any comments and/or complaints, write them below on the Facebook window or email us at feedback@alotofsportstalk.com. We’d love to hear from you, as always.
1. 
Auburn (149, five first-place votes)
This team just continues to roll! Gus (Malzahn) and Nick Marshall are a great combo. In a loaded SEC West, this is the team to beat…for now. (Sandy Weintraub)
2.
Florida State (141, one first-place vote)
They struggled mightily against a terrible Wake Forest team, but the game was never in doubt. Suddenly that Notre Dame game on Oct. 18 is a LOT trickier. (T.J. Basalla)
3. 
Baylor (134)
Speaking of struggling mightily in a game that was never really in doubt, you can say the same applied for the Bears against Texas. Bryce Petty only completed seven passes the entire game (out of 22). TCU’s defense is just as good, if not better, than the Longhorns, while possessing a much more potent offense. This is the game of the day on Saturday in the Lone Star State…sorry Red River Shootout. (Adesina Koiki)
4. 
Mississippi State (133)
Greatest sports day in the history of the state of Mississippi last weekend. (Sandy)
Dak (Prescott) is my Heisman front-runner (says a guy who doesn’t have a vote…but who did see him cut LSU into ribbons in person). (T.J.)
5. 
Ole Miss (130)
Part II. (See note at Mississippi State.) (Sandy)
6. 
Notre Dame (120)
I’m going to be that guy: I have ND ranked Top 10 but I don’t believe it at all. They’ve played garbage teams. David Shaw gift-wrapped that game for the Irish last week. Talk to me after the trip to Tallahassee. (T.J.)
7. 
TCU (109)
I guess we should have seen the Frogs’ win over Oklahoma coming, huh? That’s because TCU is 7-7 vs. AP Top 10 teams in the Gary Patterson era and 3-1 vs. AP Top 5 teams since 2010. Looks like the Horned Frogs have AP No. 5 Baylor right where they want them for Saturday. (Adesina)
8. 
Alabama (102)
The loss to Ole Miss now makes it three consecutive defeats by the Tide to ranked opponents, dating back to last season. I would say facing an unranked Arkansas would be the perfect tonic for Alabama to get back on track, but judging by Arkansas’ near-win a few weeks back vs. A&M, something tells me the Hogs will be a pain in the neck for Nick Saban’s team as well. (Adesina)
9. 
Michigan State (96*)
It was a closer call than it should have been with Nebraska, but the Spartans’ defense showed again why they will win the Big Ten outright in my opinion. (Pavan Sandhu Eckhart)
10. 
Oklahoma (96)
With Kansas State, Baylor and Oklahoma State all coming to Norman, the Sooners have as good of a chance as any team currently with one loss to work their way back into the playoff picture. (Adesina)
11. 
Georgia (83)
Todd Gurley keeps drilling away (163 rushing yards, two touchdowns vs. Vanderbilt), and eventually, he and the Bulldogs will end up on top of the SEC East. (Pavan)
That might not be the case, given the breaking news that Gurley has been suspended indefinitely by the school pending an investigation into an alleged violation of NCAA rules.. (Adesina)
12. 
Oregon (81)
Gotta have a short memory for a must-win game to get back on track Saturday at the Rose Bowl. (Sandy)
13. 
Arizona (80)
I ranked the Wildcats last week, and they proved in Eugene why they need to be in the spotlight. Whose dream of winning a National Championship will Rich Rod ruin next? (Pavan)
14.
Texas A&M (77)
The ringing in the Aggies’ ears from all the cowbells in Starkville is probably still resonating. With that said, A&M still has Ole Miss (home) and Alabama (away) in the next two games, which could see the Aggies redeem themselves…or see them own a three-game losing streak. (Adesina)
15. 
UCLA (53)
Somehow, I think we all knew that game was coming. (T.J.)
16. 
Ohio State (51*)
J.T. Barrett may be alright. (T.J.)
17. 
Oklahoma State (51)
There are plenty of games to be played this season, but don’t be surprised if Okie State quietly moves up the ranks even more than they already have. (Pavan)
18. 
Kansas State (48)
The Wildcats are on their bye, and have an extra week to prepare for a trip to Norman to play the Sooners next week. (Adesina)
19. 
Arizona State (38)
To be honest, if you told Sun Devils fans before the year that the team would split the back-to-back games against the L.A. schools, most of them would probably have taken it. Could they have foreseen how they would have won that one game (a Hail Mary answered)? Probably not. (Adesina)
20. 
East Carolina (34)
So how much Heisman Trophy momentum will quarterback Shane Carden receive by leading the Pirates to a conference title and a possible 11-1 record with wins at Virginia Tech and North Carolina? (Adesina)
21. 
Georgia Tech (31)
Who knew Georgia Tech was undefeated? Almost no one, because the Ramblin’ Wreck are not getting any attention. Hello ESPN, there are other teams in the ACC besides FSU and Clemson! In a season of upsets, who knows what will happen at the end of the season when they play Clemon and Georgia in November. (Pavan)
22. 
Nebraska (26)
If the Nebraska team that played the fourth quarter against the Spartans shows up the rest of the way, we’ll get an MSU-Nebraska rematch in Indy. (T.J.)
23. 
Stanford (19)
Both Cardinal losses have come to ranked teams (USC, Notre Dame) by three points and each of those games were eminently winnable. They’ll be kicking themselves seriously if they end this season 11-2. (Adesina)
24. 
Utah (14**)
I feel bad for ranking the Utes lower than UCLA even though they just killed them and have the same record. (Anonymous former D-I assistant coach)
25. 
Clemson (14*)
Although we’re talking about 2014, quarterback Deshaun Watson has the makings of becoming one of the nation’s finest quarterbacks as soon as next season. Of course, he could continue to perform the way he was lately and start cracking into that strata before the end of this season, too. (Adesina)
Others receiving votes:
Missouri (14 points), Florida (10), Marshall (9), Washington (3), Wisconsin (3), California (1)
* – To break ties, we used a three-step criteria; 1) higher number of first-place votes, 2) higher number of ballots (out of six) the teams appeared in, 3) highest single ranking by an individual pollster (e.g. if Team A and Team B are tied cumulatively and appeared in all six polls, but Team A’s highest ranking by an individual pollster was No. 7 and Team B’s highest ranking by an individual pollster was No. 9, Team A wins tiebreaker)
[Cover photo (Anu Solomon) courtesy of Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images]
