Shaken, not stirred

The GIST: With only one ranked matchup on deck, college football’s Week 6 was supposed to be a snoozer. Instead, Saturday served up a five-alarm fire of top-ranked losses.

• We’ll dig into the new poll positions next, but to clarify Saturday’s chaos, the following reflects teams’ rankings at game time.

Vanderbilt shocks No. 1 Alabama: As mentioned, the Commodores snagged the week’s biggest upset, and they did it in style: Vandy never trailed the Crimson Tide, dominating possession to earn their first win over a Top-5 team in program history. You know a goal post hates to see them coming.

Arkansas outlasts No. 4 Tennessee: The low-scoring 19–14 affair was an all-around rough day for Rocky Top as Tennessee fell even after the Arkansas Razorbacks lost junior quarterback (QB) Taylen Green to a leg injury. The Hogs’ redshirt freshman Malachi Singleton stepped up in a huge way, scoring the game-winning touchdown (TD) to instigate another storming of the field.

No. 25 Texas A&M Aggies throttle No. 9 Missouri 41–10: A&M’s Kyle Field was rocking all day as the Aggies’ blasted the Tigers all the way back to Missouri. Junior running back Le’Veon Moss rushed in three A&M TDs, including a 75-yard second-half gut punch that made Mizzou QB Brady Cook eat his words. Delicious.

Washington Huskies exact revenge on No. 10 Michigan: Nine months ago, the Michigan Wolverines defeated Washington to become 2023 national champs, but the Huskies flipped the script on Saturday: The Big Ten newcomers walked away with the 27–17 dub, snapping the now-two-loss Wolverines’ 24-game regular-season conference win streak in the process.

Minnesota Golden Gophers sneak by No. 11 USC 24–17: Despite logging zero TDs in the air, grad student QB Max Brosmer played hero for Minnesota on Saturday, sneaking in the go-ahead fourth-down TD with just 56 seconds left on the game clock. Freshman defensive back Koi Perich then intercepted USC’s Hail Mary attempt to seal the Gophers’ first win over the Trojans since 1955.

The GIST: Unsurprisingly, Saturday’s gridiron drama turned yesterday’s AP Top-25 poll upside-down. Hope you like your rankings shaken, not stirred — and perhaps, with a twist?

The new Top 5: Texas is back, baby, taking No. 1 without even playing a game this week. Their bye-week jump comes courtesy of the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes’ weak early schedule, which yielded blowouts wins over unranked opponents. Spoiler alert: That’s likely to change when the Buckeyes face new Big Ten foes No. 3 Oregon on Saturday.

• Like Oregon, Penn State leapt three spots, landing at No. 4 after welcoming UCLA to the Big Ten with a 27–11 defeat. One-loss Georgia held steady at No. 5.

Biggest movers: Upsettees Alabama dropped six ranks to No. 7 with Tennessee falling four to No. 8. It was worse news for Michigan and Mizzou, who tumbled 14 and 12 spots, respectively. Talk about a nosedive.

• On the flip side, Texas A&M leapt up to No. 15, while the rankings welcomed SMU and undefeated Pitt at Nos. 25 and 22, respectively.

Zooming out: Even with their losses, the SEC still dominates the Top 25 with nine ranked teams. That said, with three in the Top 4, the Big Ten is already showing out, national championship–style .

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