Sports writers and NFL fans like to use the phrase “any given Sunday” to describe the unpredictability of professional football. Despite perceived talent gaps, any one team can upset a favored team on any given Sunday. This potential for intrigue, Cinderella stories and sudden narrative shifts is responsible for much of the popularity of the NFL. But if you like the pros, you should try college ball some time.
Thursday night, No. 10 Miami narrowly survived against unranked North Carolina, 27-23, scoring a touchdown to win with 16 seconds left.
Friday night, No. 8 Louisville fell to unranked Central Florida at home as the underdog Knights scored 24 consecutive points to hand the 14-point favorite Cardinals their first loss of the season. And that’s when things got crazy.
No. 15 Georgia came into Saturday’s matchup with unranked Vanderbilt as a seven-point favorite. Vanderbilt won 31-27, a triumph that brought the victorious Commodores’ coach James Franklin to tears.
Unranked Tennessee beat No. 11 South Carolina with a game-winning field goal as time expired, beating the eight-point favorite 23-21.
While No. 14 Missouri was ranked higher than No. 22 Florida, the Gators came into their game in Columbia as three-point favorites. Missouri’s quarterback Maty Mauk, making his first college start, threw for 295 yards, leading his team to a 36-17 victory. Missouri is now in prime position to win the SEC East.
No. 24 Auburn went into Kyle Field as a 13-point underdog and came out with a 45-41 victory, intercepting two passes and sacking Johnny Manziel for a 22-yard loss to end the game.
No. 13 Stanford handed No. 9 UCLA its first loss of the season, beating the Bruins 24-10 on the strength of two touchdowns from running back Tyler Gaffney.
In an SEC West clash, Ole Miss beat No. 6 LSU 27-24, crushing the 10-point favorite’s hopes of a shot at the SEC Championship game.
And finally, Heisman frontrunner and freshman phenom Jameis Winston threw for 444 yards and scored four touchdowns as No. 5 Florida State remained undefeated by handing No. 3 Clemson its first loss, 51-14.
All of this chaos couldn’t have come at a more exciting time, with the release of the first BCS standings of the season coming out Friday night. When the dust settled, undefeated Alabama unsurprisingly remained No.1, but past that, surprises ran the rankings. Florida State rose to No. 2, making the Seminoles the first ACC team to be ranked in the top-2 since the final week of the season in 2000, when Florida State fell to Oklahoma in the National Championship game.
All told, there are 10 undefeated teams in the BCS rankings, with maybe seven in reasonable title contention. Florida State still has to play undefeated No. 7 Miami. Offensive juggernaut Baylor will play three ranked opponents in its next three games. Oregon still has to play three ranked opponents, and Missouri’s undefeated record will be tested against South Carolina and Texas A&M.
One of the national title contenders will almost definitely come from the SEC, but who that will be is still far from certain. If Auburn can stay its course by beating Arkansas next week and not stumbling against Tennessee and Georgia, the SEC West will be decided by the Iron Bowl. The winner of that game will probably play Missouri, and the winner of that game will play one of 7-10 teams for the National Championship, if I had to guess.
