None of the popular picks for national title and the playoffs have lost, but major upsets are happening nonetheless, as USC lost for the first time this season to Boston College of all teams, Georgia were derailed by South Carolina and East Carolina carried on with their impressive season by surprising Virginia Tech.
All in all, four ranked teams lost over the weekend, including Louisville at Virginia, who have already proven their worth when almost beating UCLA. UCLA, despite not looking dominant in any of their wins, are 3-0, this time being the next team to hammer Texas in Austin, beating the Longhorns 20-17. Losing their starting quarterback didn’t seem to matter or hurt.
The biggest upset came at the hands of Boston College, beating USC (number 9 before the game) 37-31. USC held a 10-0 and 17-6 lead during the first half, but didn’t have an answer to the ground game of the Golden Eagles and especially quarterback Tyler Murphy. The loss showed the Trojans aren’t really in a place where they can expect to be considered a national powerhouse, although it hasn’t done anything to harm their chances in the Pac-12.
Virginia Tech suddenly getting sloppy and losing to East Carolina might have been the most surprising loss of all. The Hokies were coming off a win over Ohio State in Columbus that put them at #17. However, a bad day for Michael Brewer and a great one for Shane Carden, including the game winning touchdown with 16 seconds on the clock, meant that might not be the dream return season for Frank Beamer.
The highest ranked team to lose was Georgia, number 6 in the nation, dropping a game once again to South Carolina, maybe their most difficult road game in recent years. It was only 38-35, far from the blowouts of recent years. However, not being able to convert on third down and slowing down Dylan Thompson on defense cost them, while putting South Carolina back on the path to maybe win the SEC East.
Other teams had it quite easy. Oregon had no problem against Wyoming, Alabama rocked against Southern Miss, Oklahoma didn’t find it too difficult against a mediocre SEC team in Tennesee and others like Texas A&M, Notre Dame and LSU also found their opponents to be less than troublesome. There are no shake ups high up the rankings, but going a bit lower, there will be plenty of changes once the new polls come out.