Beat Georgia one Saturday, lose to Vanderbilt the next.
No team has had a week quite like No. 2 Alabama. After earning the most impressive win of September by knocking off the Bulldogs, the Crimson Tide kicked off October with a loss at Vanderbilt that qualifies as one of the most shocking upsets in SEC history.
Led by a near-perfect performance from quarterback Diego Pavia, a ball-control game plan that kept Alabama’s offense on the sideline and two big takeaways, the Commodores knocked off Alabama 40-35 for the first win in program history against a top-five opponent. The win was the program’s first against the Tide since 1984.
The toast of the town last week, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer now has to manage the fallout from an epic flop. You can hear the Alabama fans from here: No, this would have never happened under Nick Saban.
That’s a fact. Vanderbilt scored 13 points in four meetings against the Saban-era Tide but had 13 points at the end of the first quarter on Saturday. Up 23-14 at the break, the Commodores weathered an Alabama surge and then delivered the dagger with a touchdown to make it 40-28 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Forget everything you thought you knew about Alabama — that this was an elite team, with an elite offense, an elite quarterback, an elite head coach and the chance to improve every week on the way to an SEC championship. This loss erases all of the good vibes coming out of the win against the Bulldogs and threatens to engulf DeBoer’s first season.
Meanwhile, Vanderbilt put on a master class on how to pull off an upset against an opponent with a massive talent advantage.
The Commodores controlled the clock, holding possession for over 40 minutes. They avoided any turnovers. Alabama ran 46 plays to the Commodores’ 73, including 53 on the ground; they had more carries than the Tide had plays, period. They were unique enough on offense to wobble the Alabama defense. At times, the Commodores took what they wanted against a defense and staff that had no answers.
And they were helped by the obvious: Alabama thought they were going to roll. Would that mindset have happened under Saban? The answer is moot. Saban is gone, and things just aren’t the same.
For this, Alabama is by far the biggest loser from Week 6 of the regular season:
Winners
Ohio State
The No. 3 Buckeyes’ first test of the season went down smoothly in the second half. The first wasn’t great: OSU led just 7-0 against Iowa at the break after committing two turnovers with another turnover on the downs. But the offense came alive in the second half, sparked by freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and established veteran Emeka Egbuka with a boost from the Hawkeyes’ own giveaways. Smith made a ridiculous one-handed touchdown grab to make it 14-0 five minutes into the third quarter, quarterback Will Howard ran one in after an Iowa fumble and Egbuka scored twice in the second half and three times overall as the Buckeyes pulled away to win 35-7.
Washington
Almost nine months after losing the 2023 national championship to Michigan, Washington made a Big Ten statement with a 27-17 win at home against the No. 10 Wolverines. Michigan made a needed quarterback change, bumping veteran Jack Tuttle into the lineup after trying out Alex Orji, and Tuttle was better until a painful interception late in the fourth quarter that helped seal the Huskies’ win. After a bit of a sloppy start dotted with painful losses to Washington State and Rutgers, the Huskies got a must-have win in advance of a tough run of games in Big Ten play.
SMU
SMU has been an unexpected success story as new members of the ACC. The Mustangs moved to 5-1 with a 34-27 win at No. 22 Louisville and is one of three 2-0 teams atop the conference standings, along with No. 14 Clemson and Virginia. (The Cavaliers are another great story under third-year coach Tony Elliott.) SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings had a career day against the Cardinals, setting new career bests with 281 passing yards and 113 rushing yards to go with a touchdown. Because this team might end up being an interesting addition to the postseason race: SMU plays Stanford, Duke, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Virginia and California in the second half.
Florida
Is beating Central Florida 24-13 the moment that Billy Napier saved his job and booked another season as Florida’s head coach? Let’s get serious. Napier is headed toward the end of his tenure after three seasons and the Gators are probably still headed for another year short of the postseason. But let’s give some credit here: UCF had this game circled but never had a chance in what was easily the Gators’ best performance of the season. Beating the Knights is good for business in general — losing to a program UF views as an in-state upstart would’ve been really tough to swallow — and is the team’s second win in a row heading into a brutal seven-game stretch that includes games against Tennessee, Georgia and Texas.
Army and Navy
The two service academies continue to excel and set up the possibility of the rivalry’s most hyped meeting in generations. Army put Tulsa to bed early and cruised to a 49-7 win behind 321 rushing yards and an impressive 26.7 yards per pass attempt. Navy took care of business against the third wheel in the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, beating Air Force 34-7 to snap the Falcons’ four-game winning streak in the series. The Black Knights and Midshipmen are a combined 10-0 for the first time since 1945.
Indiana
No. 24 Indiana has spent enough time under the radar — this is a team worthy of praise amid one of the best starts in program history and deserving of a legitimate spot among the contenders for an at-large playoff bid. After beating Northwestern 41-24, the Hoosiers are 6-0 for the first time sine 1967 and locked into bowl play for the sixth time since 1993. Remade this offseason with a number of top transfers from the Group of Five, led by former Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke, Indiana is averaging 47.5 points per game and has topped the 40-point mark in all three games in Big Ten play.
Losers
Missouri
Facing a legitimate team on the road for the first time, Missouri was blasted by No. 21 Texas A&M in a 41-10 loss that reveals the Tigers as College Football Playoff pretenders while underscoring the Aggies’ obvious improvements under new coach Mike Elko. While never seen as a team legitimately capable of winning the conference championship, Missouri was expected to benefit from an expanded postseason format that could have space for every SEC and Big Ten team with fewer than three losses during the regular season. After starting league play with a double-overtime escape against Vanderbilt and getting run off the field by A&M, the Tigers can no longer be taken seriously in the playoff debate.
Southern California
Life in the Big Ten isn’t going to be easy. The No. 15 Trojans expected tough, nationally relevant games against Michigan, Ohio State and the like, but Minnesota? That was one of the Big Ten also-rans USC was supposed to step right over on the way to the top third of the conference and annual playoff contention. That may be the case in the future; it’s not the case in 2024. Despite the Golden Gophers’ stupidity and attempts to give this game back to USC, the Trojans lost 24-17 after giving up a short fourth-down touchdown run with under a minute left. Three games in Big Ten play, two of them losses, are beginning to show USC what it’ll be like to navigate through a conference with more depth and fewer outs than you’d ever find in the Pac-12.
Florida State
Hey, another loss for Florida State. This one was a little more understandable. The Seminoles never really sniffed Clemson in a 29-13 loss that puts another big dent in any lingering bowl hopes with six games left in the regular season. There was a change at quarterback but no noticeable change from an underachieving offense: Brock Glenn averaged 5.6 yards per attempt as the replacement for an injured DJ Uiagalelei and FSU managed just 22 yards on 23 carries. Now 1-5, the Seminoles still have to play Miami and Notre Dame, so making the postseason will require something close to a miracle.
Oklahoma State
This season has come undone in a flash. Two weeks ago, Oklahoma State was No. 15 in the nation heading into the Big 12 opener against then-No. 10 Utah. Three games later, the Cowboys are an even 3-3 and at the bottom of the conference standings. If losses to the Utes (22-19) and No. 20 Kansas State (42-20) showed how far Oklahoma was from the top of the league, Saturday’s 38-14 loss at home to West Virginia says something worse: With the offense struggling and the defense falling apart, the Cowboys have gone from a possible at-large team to scrambling for six wins down the stretch.
North Carolina State
They’re nowhere near Florida State’s level of disaster, but NC State has to counted among the biggest disappointments in the Power Four at 3-3 and winless in the ACC at the midway point of the regular season. Ranked No. 22 in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll, the Wolfpack have wins against Western Carolina, Louisiana Tech and Northern Illinois; blowout losses to Tennessee and Clemson by a combined 65 points; and a really puzzling 34-30 loss on Saturday to Wake Forest, which had been floundering out of the gate but stole a road win with two touchdowns in the final eight minutes.
Alabama-Birmingham
UAB isn’t Alabama, as coach Trent Dilfer said after last week’s loss to Navy. Yeah, the Blazers aren’t Alabama A&M, either. The worst coaching hire of this and maybe any decade continues to pay off miserably for UAB, which dropped to 1-4 after losing 71-20 to Tulane. (Not a misprint.) It turns out that hiring an unqualified, arrogant, unproven former NFL quarterback to run one of the most consistently successful programs in the Group of Five was, in fact, an awful decision. That’s being way too nice: Dilfer was handed a winner, pure and simple, and turned this winner into a punchline. The UAB fan base deserves much better than this.
(This story was updated to add new information and change a video.)
