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College football winners and losers: With Alabama's loss, will Ohio State or Texas move to No. 1?

nick bromberg
Senior writer
·8 min read
7

A team in the top two of the AP Top 25 lost for the second Saturday in a row.

A week ago, No. 4 Alabama took down No. 2 Georgia 41-34 in a rout that turned into a thriller. Saturday, Alabama was the team that got upset as the No. 1 Crimson Tide lost 40-35 at Vanderbilt. It was the Commodores’ first win over Alabama in 40 years and the school’s first-ever win over a team ranked in the top five, let alone a team ranked at No. 1.

We don’t have to tell you there will be a new No. 1 team in Sunday’s AP Top 25. That’s obvious. The two candidates are obvious too. It’ll be a surprise if either Texas or Ohio State is not at No. 1 on Sunday.

And guess what? There’s a decent chance that one of those two teams will lose in Week 7.

Texas is currently the No. 2 team and didn’t play on Saturday as it prepares for its Red River Rivalry showdown with No. 19 Oklahoma. Texas will be favored in that game, but neutral-site rivalry games can be weird. Just ask the Longhorns. No. 12 Oklahoma beat No. 3 Texas a season ago with a late touchdown. In 2022, Texas demolished Oklahoma 49-0 in a matchup of unranked teams. Four of the last five games in the Cotton Bowl Series have been won by one possession.

Texas could simply move up a spot without playing. But Ohio State could jump the Longhorns thanks to an easy 35-7 win over Iowa. The Hawkeyes were the biggest test to date for Ohio State. And, well, they were an easy test. Iowa didn’t score until the fourth quarter as Ohio State’s defense dominated and the offense kicked it into gear in the third quarter. OSU QB Will Howard threw for four touchdowns. Three went to Emeka Egbuka and the other was a one-handed catch by freshman Jeremiah Smith.

Ohio State has been very good so far this season, even if its fans have been left wanting more. The Buckeyes’ 28-point margin of victory on Saturday was the smallest of the season. Granted, the schedule has featured Akron, Western Michigan, Marshall and Michigan State in addition to Iowa. But that’s still pretty impressive.

It’s hard to see Ohio State winning its next game by four scores. The Buckeyes travel to Eugene in Week 7 to play No. 6 Oregon in the biggest game of the weekend. The Ducks took care of Michigan State on Friday to move to 5-0 and could even be favored by the time the game kicks off.

It’s a game that could be a preview of the Big Ten title game — and will go a long way in deciding who is in that game. Ohio State still has both Penn State and Michigan remaining on its schedule and the Ducks also face the Wolverines in November.

No matter who ends up at No. 1 on Sunday, their stay at the top may not last very long. Texas has Georgia in Week 8 and the Buckeyes play at Penn State on Nov. 2. Given the way the 2024 season has unfolded so far, the top five is going to change quite frequently going forward.

Here are the rest of this week’s winners and losers:

Army and Navy: The service academies are rolling. Both Army and Navy are 5-0 for the first time since 1945. Navy demolished Air Force 34-7 on Saturday while Army rolled Tulsa by 42 in a 49-7 win. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that both Navy and Army will qualify for the AAC title game and meet for the conference title a week before they play each other in their traditional rivalry game. That would be awkward. But also pretty fun.

Pitt: The Panthers are 5-0 for the first time since 1991 after a 34-24 win at North Carolina. Alabama transfer Eli Holstein was 25-of-42 for 381 yards and three touchdowns and also led the Panthers with 10 carries for 76 yards and a score. Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi has always been a run-first kind of guy, but his offense has been at its best with Holstein slinging it. Pitt hosts Cal in Week 7 before playing Syracuse in Week 9. Bowl eligibility isn’t far away.

Syracuse: Speaking of the Orange, they got a TD pass from Kyle McCord to Jackson Meeks with 23 seconds left to force overtime against No. 25 UNLV on Friday night in a 44-41 win. After the Rebels kicked a field goal to open overtime, LeQuint Allen won the game with a 1-yard TD run. McCord threw the ball 63 times and completed 40 of those passes for 355 yards and three TDs. The Orange are now 4-1, and UNLV’s time in the top 25 will be very brief. For now.

Sam Houston: The Bearkats are rolling. Sam Houston moved to 5-1 with a 41-21 win at UTEP on Thursday night. The former FCS powerhouse is about to be in an FBS bowl game for the first time with one more win. DJ McKinney rushed 14 times for 138 yards and two scores as the Bearkats now have in-state wins over Rice, Texas State and the Miners. Sam Houston is a contender for the Conference USA title game.

Virginia: The Cavaliers are now 4-1 and 2-0 in the ACC after a 24-14 home win over Boston College. Virginia scored 18 straight points in the fourth quarter to turn a 14-6 Boston College lead into a 10-point in win the span of eight minutes. Virginia turned a three-point lead into a two-possession game with a 40-yard fumble return by Jonas Sanker.

SMU: The Mustangs are acquitting themselves nicely in the ACC. Thanks to the help of a controversial replay call, SMU moved to 5-1 with a 34-27 win over No. 22 Louisville. The QB switch to Kevin Jennings has paid off, as Jennings was 21-of-27 for 281 yards and also rushed 10 times for 113 yards and a score in the win. SMU doesn’t have a ranked team left on its schedule and is more than a sleeper candidate to make the ACC title game.

Louisiana-Monroe: The Warhawks ended James Madison’s undefeated season with a 21-19 win over the Dukes. ULM overcame a 10-0 first-half deficit before halftime and got what turned out to the be game-winning score in the fourth quarter when Aidan Armenta found Jake Godfrey for a 12-yard TD. ULM is now 4-1 and two wins away from a bowl game. It’s been a heck of a turnaround under former UAB interim coach Bryant Vincent.

Oklahoma State: What the heck is going on in Stillwater? The Cowboys were dismantled 38-14 by a West Virginia team that entered the game at 2-2. The Mountaineers had a clear game plan on Saturday: Run the damn ball. And it worked out. WVU rushed 65 times for 389 yards and four scores. Oklahoma State had 21 carries for 36 yards as last year’s All-American Ollie Gordon had 13 carries for 50 yards. After making the Big 12 title game in 2023, OSU is now 0-3 in the conference and has very little hope of getting back to the title game.

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze: The Tigers lost at No. 5 Georgia Saturday. That wasn’t a surprise. It also wasn’t a surprise that Freeze once again blamed his quarterback for a key failing.

Freeze can be frank, but he’s also putting a lot of blame on his players over the course of Auburn’s 2-4 start. Are Auburn’s players not performing up to their potential? It’s very possible. But it also seems unlikely that it’s all about the players and has a little bit to do with the coaching.

South Carolina: The Gamecocks had a chance to hit a reeling Ole Miss on Saturday and laid an egg. The No. 12 Rebels had no issues at all in a 27-3 win over the Gamecocks. JJ Pegues had two rushing scores for the Rebels as South Carolina averaged less than five yards a pass and turned it over twice. USC travels to Alabama in Week 7 and then visits Oklahoma in Week 8 before a game at home against Texas A&M at the start of November. Can the Gamecocks steal a game to avoid a 1-5 start in SEC play?

UAB: The Blazers make the loser column for the second week in a row. We typically like to avoid bagging on teams in consecutive weeks, but it’s hard to ignore a 71-20 loss at home. Yes, Tulane is a very good football team, but UAB was once a very good football team. The Blazers are now far from good under Trent Dilfer and it continues to be hard to see how his hiring has been anything other than a failure.