Football - Week 6 Upset Recap

10/07/2024

There is way too much to unpack from Week 6 to try and cover it all, so for this week, I'm sticking to the upsets in the Top 25!

Syracuse over #25 UNLV:

By this point, most people know about the NIL situation UNLV has found themselves in.  Until this week, they were one of the favorites to make the playoffs from the group of five conferences.  After their loss to a McCord-led Syracuse Orange and the mess with their star quarterback, that may no longer be a realistic goal for this team.

SMU over #22 Louisville:

SMU has been flying under the radar this season.  Their only loss coming against a very good BYU side, a handful of blowouts (against TCU, Florida State, and Houston Christian), and an important win against ranked Louisville IN Kentucky!  Is it time to start considering SMU for a potential playoff spot?  They now hold the AP #25 rank.

Minnesota over #11 USC:

It would appear as though USC has bit off a bit more than they could chew with their move to the Big Ten.  Hanging on for dear life against Wisconsin is their only win so far after losing to Michigan at the Big House and now at Minnesota.  While it's always hard to win on the road in the Big Ten, USC still needs to do some soul-searching if they are to save their season and fight for a spot in the 12-team playoff.

Washington over #10 Michigan:

It's not often you see an unranked team actually be favored over a Top 10 team, but that was the case when Washington hosted the Michigan Wolverines.  This game was also the least hype I have ever seen surrounding a rematch of the previous year's National Championship game!  Both teams have clearly fallen quite far from their standards last year, but Michigan losing by double digits to Washington really sums it all up.  I'm happy to see Washington get their revenge, though, even if it will be forgotten in history.

#25 Texas A&M over #9 Missouri:

The only ranked team to lose to another ranked team this weekend was Missouri.  After hanging on in their last game against Vanderbilt, it was not a huge shock to see them upset in Kyle Field.  Texas A&M has had an interesting season so far.  They followed up their opening weekend loss to Notre Dame by going undefeated so far in conference play where they sit atop the SEC.  Missouri's time in the limelight appears to be fading fast.  They'll need to respond quickly and emphatically to stay in SEC and playoff contention.

Arkansas over #4 Tennessee:

The later of the two major upsets in college football this weekend was Arkansas winning at home against the dominant, undefeated Tennessee Volunteers.  After being completely shut out in the first half, the Vols came out swinging in the second to end up leading by 11.  Arkansas, never a team to back down, lead a game-winning drive late in the 4th.  Despite Tennessee driving to deep inside Arkansas territory, they ran out of time just a few yards short of keeping their undefeated season alive.  Following this game, I have no idea what to think about Arkansas.  Are they good?  Were they lucky?  They certainly played well on Saturday.  Tennessee, on the other hand, are still a contender for the SEC, but will need to take this loss as a wake up call before their rough schedule ahead.

Vanderbilt over #1 Alabama:

I was lucky enough to be in the stands for this one.  I still haven't fully recovered in any way from it yet either.  It was one of the most shocking upsets in college football history.  Vanderbilt showed up with their run-run-run and triple option offense that Alabama never, at any point, had an answer for.  Down 23-14 at the half, I expected Alabama to come out angry and ready to fight in the second half like they usually do.  Despite a second half opening drive touchdown by Alabama to cut the lead to two that showed their usual form of dominance, Vanderbilt did not back down.  Their confidence against the best team in the country was incredible.  Alabama looked flat all night and Vanderbilt took advantage.  With plenty of season to go, I expect Alabama to bounce back.  Kalen DeBoer is getting quite a lot of negative attention right now in the media, but he is still an amazing coach and I think this was the wake up call Alabama needed to push forward and possibly make yet another SEC Championship.  As for Vanderbilt, they are the wildcard of all wildcards.  They proved they could beat anybody in the country, but have also shown that they can just about lose to anybody, too.  They travel to Kentucky on Saturday with high hopes after knocking of Alabama, but even Georgia has shown signs of struggle when traveling to the Wildcats.

Overall, this Saturday was one of the craziest weekends of college football in my living memory.  So many unbelievable upsets and some shocking close calls (I'm looking right at you, Miami) that, once again, emphasized the reason we love this sport so much.