Florida up, Georgia down. Ole Miss loses on a broken leg. TCU wins a thriller. Here are the five takeaways from the weekend in college football.
Florida Shocks #11 Georgia
The Florida Gators pulled off the shocker of the weekend, downing Georgia in Jacksonville. The Bulldogs came into the game with high expectations for the rest of the season while the Gators entered with speculation swirling about whether their head coach would keep his job.
Somehow, the Gators only completed three passes for 27 yards in the upset victory in which they led by as much as 24 points. Florida Coach Will Muschamp finally showed the defensive prowess that earned him the top job at Florida. “First of all,” Muschamp said after the win as he reached behind him, “let me get this thing off my back.” Whether he remains in Gainesville at season’s end remains to be seen.
Auburn Bests Ole Miss
Ball insecurity surely removed the Ole Miss Rebels from the playoff picture. In the last five minutes of Saturday’s fantastic matchup against Auburn, Ole Miss coughed up the pigskin twice inside of the ten-yard line, once on a foolish ball extension by QB Bo Wallace and the other on a goal-line fumble as WR Laquon Treadwell’s leg was in the process of snapping.
Auburn committed 13 penalties for 145 yards but the Rebels were not able to take advantage of these mistakes. This is just the beginning of the significant SEC West showdowns.
TCU’s Last-Second Morgantown Win
The weekend’s most thrilling matchup witnessed #7 Texas Christian edge #20 West Virginia by a 31-30 score as the clock, and the home team, ran out of time. West Virginia, feeling disrespected as a home underdog, played as though they weren’t. It looked like Morgantown would officially be named the “Big 12 Graveyard” with TCU following in the footsteps of former #4 Baylor. But then the Horned Frogs nailed a 37-yard field goal with time expiring to win the game.
TCU welcomes Big 12 leader #9 Kansas State to Fort Worth this weekend in what should be an equally electrifying game.
FSU Rallies at Louisville
Florida State found a way to win on Thursday night after trailing Louisville by three touchdowns until the final seconds of the first half. Somehow, the Seminoles were able to make things click, outscoring Louisville 35-10 in the second half.
Going into Saturday, it seemed clear that Louisville would be FSU’s final test of the regular season. However, remaining opponents Miami and Florida both crushed their adversaries this weekend. Most notably, Florida was able to thwart Georgia who was the assumed SEC East champion. With Miami and Florida elevating their performance, FSU will not be able to play as they did in the first half against Louisville and come away with the victory.
Projected Rankings
1. Mississippi State: Formerly #1. Won a defensive battle against Arkansas. Remains undefeated.
2. Auburn: Formerly #3. Won on the road against #4 Ole Miss. Multiple impressive wins this season.
3. FSU: Formerly #2. Comeback victory at Louisville. Showed it has what it takes to win.
4. Oregon: Formerly #5. Soundly defeated conference rival Stanford. Continues to improve after an early-season hiccup.
5. Alabama: Formerly #6. Bye week. Continues to look strong; will be tested this week at #19 LSU.