See more of our coverage in your search results.
College football has never experienced a Saturday like this.
Five of the top seven teams in the AP Top 25 lost on the same day in the regular season for the first time in history.
The last time anything even remotely close happened was on Jan. 2, 1989, according to Sportradar, when five of the top eight teams lost.
Shakeup Saturday was driven by the Southeastern Conference, with No. 1 Georgia, No. 6 Alabama and No. 7 Texas going down as touchdown or more favorites.
No. 2 Notre Dame (at No. 8 BYU) and fifth-ranked Indiana (against No. 4 Ohio State) also lost, although those were less shocking.
It’s the first time Nos. 1 and 2 lost on the same day in the regular season since Oregon (to Stanford) and Kansas State (to Baylor) in 2012.
The chaos, which is sure to shuffle the poll and College Football Playoff seeding forecasts, cleared a path for No. 3 Miami to take over the top poll spot after beating rival Florida State 43-35 in a double-overtime classic that ended in controversy.
The Hurricanes can only hope to do better than the No. 1 team has the last two weeks; Texas and Georgia lost to unranked teams, the first time that’s happened in consecutive weeks since Notre Dame (to Stanford) and Michigan (to Michigan State) in 1990.
Five of the top eight teams in the AP poll lost on the same day in 1989 when No. 3 West Virginia, No. 5 USC, No. 6 Nebraska, No. 7 Auburn and eighth-ranked Arkansas stumbled in bowl games.
Chaos on the SEC
It was nearly as rare for heavyweights Georgia, Alabama and Texas to lose on the same Saturday, which hadn’t happened since Oct. 26, 1996, according to the SEC.
It showed why SEC coaches were so hesitant to give in to playing a nine-game league slate.
And it might be fitting that the bloody Saturday came on the same week the SEC capitulated to the Big Ten to move closer to finalizing a 24-team playoff.