Two top-five college football teams fell to their lesser opponents on Saturday, only adding to the intrigue that the season has brought so far.
No. 1 Alabama went down at the hands of Vanderbilt while No. 4 Tennessee fell to Arkansas. The results came one week after the Crimson Tide defeated Georgia in a wild matchup. No. 25 Texas A&M also defeated No. 9 Missouri.
Elsewhere, Washington defeated No. 10 Michigan, Minnesota upset No. 11 USC and SMU stunned No. 22 Louisville.
Read below for the winners and losers of the week that was.
Winners
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (2) celebrates the team’s 40-35 win over No. 1 Alabama after an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Vanderbilt: What a monster win for the Commodores football program. Clark Lea has his players bought into what he’s building in Nashville, and it paid off in a massive way on Saturday night against Alabama. Quarterback Diego Pavia is a problem, and he plays like Johnny Manziel. Also, shoutout to the Vandy fans for that celebration in downtown Nashville. Those folks deserved to have a win like this.
Vanderbilt fans: Vanderbilt fans understood the assignment. After the Commodores beat the Crimson Tide, fans stormed the field to celebrate the historic win. A goalpost quickly came down, and fans managed to get it out of FirstBank Stadium where they would parade it around Nashville before eventually tossing it into the Cumberland River.
Indiana: The Hoosiers are 6-0 on the season, which is the first time this has happened since 1967. I’m fascinated by head coach Curt Cignetti, who has this Indiana program thriving. After beating Northwestern on Saturday, this squad has the chance to be 9-0 when the Ohio State game comes around. The Hoosiers are certainly making noise in the Big Ten, and it’s well deserved.
Arkansas: How about those Hogs? There were thoughts that this would be the final season for Sam Pittman in Fayetteville, but his squad just beat No.4 Tennessee for a program-changing win. They beat the Vols while starting QB Taylen Green was hobbling in the fourth quarter. Credit goes to the Razorbacks defense for holding the Vols offense to just 14 points.
Ashton Jeanty: It’s been tons of fun watching Jeanty go off every week, and he didn’t disappoint in the 62-30 win. He had 186 yards with three more touchdowns to add to his resume for the year. Jeanty has played just five games and he’s already over 1,000 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. Just think about that.
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty (2) runs away from Utah State safety Malik McConico (21) on a 75-yard touchdown run in the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Steve Conner)
Army and Navy: While we can still focus on all the upsets, let’s give props to two teams of the armed forces as Army and Navy remain undefeated to start the season. Both teams are 5-0 for the first time since 1945, as Navy rolled through Air Force, 34-7, and Army took down Tulsa 49-7. While all the focus is usually on their rivalry game, both of these teams have a chance to compete for an AAC title.
Ohio State: The Buckeyes schedule has been relatively light so far this season. But in Week 6, Ohio State faced arguably their toughest test to date. While the Buckeyes got off to somewhat of a sluggish start against the Iowa Hawkeyes, the offense jump-started in the second half as Ohio State cruised to a 35-7 victory. Ohio State ultimately did not do anything to hurt themselves and will likely remain one of the top teams in the nation heading into next week’s highly anticipated matchup with Oregon.
Texas A&M: After losing their first game of the season to Notre Dame, the Aggies have been rolling. Saturday’s 41-10 win over ninth-ranked Missouri is their most impressive win of the season and should vault them up the rankings. Running back Le’Veon Moss led the way for the Aggies with 138 yards on 12 carries while scoring three touchdowns.
Washington: Washington went from losing to one of the historically worst teams in the Big 10 to defeating the class of the conference and avenging its national championship loss with a 27-17 win over Michigan. It just goes to show how much chaos the Big 10 might be in for later in the year in the first season of the new West Coast expansion.
Losers
Tennessee: While Vanderbilt had the upset of the week against No. 1-ranked Alabama, the Volunteers were 4-0 entering their game against Arkansas and expected to get the job done. Instead, fans stormed the field just like they did in Vanderbilt with a 19-14 upset. The offense has some things to answer here as quarterback Nico Iamaleava and his group were only able to find the end one twice. Their CFP chances are not at all done, but this was supposed to be an elite offense, and it’s not shown the last two weeks.
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava drops back to pass against Arkansas during the second half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)
Michigan: The reigning national champions fell short in a rematch of last season’s title game, losing to Washington, 27-17, on Saturday. Huskies quarterback Will Rogers put on a show while Michigan’s offense struggled in the first half. Michigan coach Sherrone Moore turned to backup quarterback Jack Tuttle after Alex Orji completed just 3 of 7 for 15 yards, but Tuttle committed two costly turnovers in the fourth quarter to seal their fate. The loss marked Michigan’s first Big Ten loss since 2021.
SEC: We have no idea what type of game plan Alabama and Tennessee put together entering their respective games. But the Tide were run through by Vanderbilt, and Tennessee’s offense looked nothing like what was advertised. Now, both teams are sitting with a loss, and we’ve got a long ways to go in the season. A brutal day for the 1st and 4th ranked teams in the country.
USC: The Trojans spiral continues after dropping their second game of the season, this time coming at the hands of Minnesota. The Gophers went for a fourth down inside the Trojans 2-yard line, when they could’ve just kicked the FG to take the late lead. But head coach PJ Fleck is a mad man and had Lincoln Riley looking like a fool postgame. The Trojans are probably once again out of playoff contention in October.
UAB: After losing 71-20 to Tulane, it might be time for the Blazers to move on from head coach Trent Dilfer. This whole experiment has blown up in the face of the folks that thought Dilfer would be some type of “splash” hire that would attract recruits. This program was shut down only to rise from the ashes. Unfortunately, Dilfer has put this football team in a horrible spot, and the athletic director should go as well.
Missouri: Ninth-ranked Missouri no longer has an unblemished record after the Texas A&M Aggies routed the Tigers this past Saturday. Texas A&M’s 41-10 win over Missouri prompted questions about whether the Tigers were College Football Playoff contenders or pretenders. While it’s reasonable to argue that Missouri was not viewed as one of the teams in the SEC that had a legitimate chance of winning the conference title in December, the expanded playoff format opened the door for the Tigers to grab one of the 12 postseason spots. But, this lost will likely result in Missouri being removed from the playoff conversation.
Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman runs for a first down against Missouri during the first half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Louisville: It’s never a good thing to be upset at home. Louisville had a chance to bounce back after losing a close one to Notre Dame last week, but unranked SMU beat No. 22 Louisville 34-27. This is Louisville’s second straight loss as they drop to 3-2 on the year. It is not going to get any easier for the Cardinals as they have Miami and Clemson coming up in the next month.
Temple: Not that Temple is a program that should regularly be subject to national scrutiny, but one of the biggest end-game blunders and an epic viral embarrassment will get it on this list. A fumble on the goal line by quarterback Forrest Brock with a chance to win the game turned into a two-possession loss to UConn in a matter of seconds. Temple is just lucky that Alabama, USC and Michigan ended up suffering disastrous losses themselves, otherwise Temple may have been the biggest loser of a week that was expected to be pretty quiet.
The Fox News Digital Sports college football winners and losers were compiled by the Fox News Digital Sports staff and the OutKick.com staff.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/fox-news-digital-sports-college-football-winners-losers-week-6
