Chaos hits AP Top 25 with 4 teams ranked in the top 11 losing to unranked opponents
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (2) celebrates the team's 40-35 win against Alabama after an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. Credit: AP/George Walker IV
Vanderbilt's stunning upset of No. 1 Alabama that led to crazed fans marching the goal posts through the streets of Nashville was just the appetizer.
Saturday proved to be one of the wildest days in The Associated Press college football poll in years.
Four teams ranked in the top 11 in the latest poll were upset by unranked teams, the first time that happened on a single day since Nov. 12, 2016, when five teams did it, according to Sportradar.
What looked on paper to be a calm day — with only one matchup between ranked teams — turned out to be anything but predictable, with No. 1 Alabama, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 10 Michigan and No. 11 Southern California all losing to unranked teams. One other top-10 team lost Saturday, with No. 9 Missouri getting blown out 41-10 at No. 25 Texas A&M.
No. 8 Miami rallied to avoid falling, too, escaping with a 39-38 victory at California. The Hurricanes overcame a 25-point deficit in the second half, taking the lead with 35 seconds left in the game that ended near midnight on the West Coast.
This marked the first time that two SEC teams ranked in the top five lost to unranked conference opponents on the same day and was the fifth time in the past 20 years that at least five teams ranked in the top 11 lost on the same day.
Vanderbilt got it started in surprising fashion by knocking off the Crimson Tide 40-35 just a week after Alabama vaulted into the top spot in the AP Top 25 with a 41-34 win over Georgia. The Commodores had been 0-60 against teams ranked in the top five, according to Sportradar, which was the most games for any team that had lost every game against a top-five team. Temple now takes over that title with a 0-25 record.
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (2) celebrates a touchdown with offensive lineman Gunnar Hansen (55) during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Alabama, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. Credit: AP/George Walker IV
The fans then tore down the goal posts and carried them a couple of miles before tossing them into the Cumberland River.
“This is the dream, right here,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said. “And for the next 12 hours, I’m going to enjoy the dream. We’ve got more ahead of us, but this is what Vanderbilt football needs to be about: big wins on big stages. We’re going to go get some more.”
The upsets and thrilling games were far from over.
The Volunteers were the next-highest ranked team to go down, when Malachi Singleton scored on an 11-yard run with 1:17 remaining to lift Arkansas to a 19-14 win at home.
Arkansas fans rush the field to celebrate after Arkansas upsets Tennessee 19-14 during an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Fayetteville, Ark. Credit: AP/Michael Woods
Tennessee still had a chance by driving to the Arkansas 20, but Nico Iamaleava was pushed out of bounds on fourth-and-5 at the 16 as time expired. Arkansas fans immediately stormed the field.
“You get into coaching for moments like what just happened, and it’s to see the kids and the smiles on their face and the hard work that they do, because there’s a lot of teams that can’t get to that feeling,” Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman said. “We did tonight.”
There were two other field stormings in the Big Ten following wins that weren't nearly as shocking.
Washington beat Michigan 27-17 in a national championship rematch that was missing both coaches from the title game and most of the key players.
“It feels good. You lose to them in the championship and then to come back and win and beat them, it feels good,” said Washington safety Kamren Fabiculanan, one of the few holdovers on the Huskies' roster from the championship game.
The loss snapped Michigan’s 24-game Big Ten regular-season winning streak. The Wolverines had not suffered a Big Ten loss since falling at Michigan State on Oct. 30, 2021.
Minnesota then knocked off USC when Max Brosmer powered into the end zone for on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 56 seconds left for a 24-17 win.
The officials on the field ruled him short, but the replay review resulted in a reversal the entire stadium knew was coming.
The game ended when Miller Moss' heave into the end zone was intercepted. The crowd streamed onto the field to engulf the Gophers in a raucous celebration of their first victory over the Trojans since 1955.
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A version of this story was corrected to show that the last time this many teams ranked in the top 11 lost to unranked teams was 2016.
