Jarran Reed and the rest of Alabama's rugged D-line will be a tough matchup for Ole Miss' offensive front. (
The biggest weekend of the college football season, so far, started with the biggest upset of the year.
The unranked Arizona Wildcats pulled off a landscape-changing 31-24 upset at the second-ranked Oregon Ducks on Thursday night, ripping away the national spotlight much like linebacker Scooby Wright ripped the ball from quarterback Marcus Mariota late in the game.
Oregon, with a patchwork offensive line that likely will get only marginally healthier at some point this season, is in trouble. Big trouble.
A one-loss Ducks team could still make the inaugural four-team College Football Playoff, but it’s hard to see Oregon holding the line at just one loss.
In the Pac-12, this opens the door wider for 4-0 and eighth-ranked UCLA, which has to take care of business Saturday against Utah before — guess what? — getting Oregon at home on Oct. 11. UCLA and Arizona are the only undefeated teams remaining in the Pac-12.
Don’t count out Stanford. The 14th-ranked Cardinal lost to USC and has to solve its red-zone issues, but its defense looks like it can stand up to everybody. Stanford can be playoff-relevant again if it wins at Notre Dame on Saturday, and roadies at Oregon and UCLA later in the seasons are resume-padding opportunities.
In a trickle-down world, Oregon’s loss hurts Michigan State, which lost 46-27 in Eugene in the second week of the season. The calculus remains the same for the Spartans — got to win ’em all and take the Big Ten title — but if the Ducks slide further from here, that defeat become less forgivable in the event the playoff selection committee has to break ties among one-loss teams.
Michigan State’s immediate concern: A home game Saturday vs. Nebraska.
So, the Pac-12 got all shook up. The Big Ten will be further defined by Michigan State-Nebraska. In the Big 12, fourth-ranked Oklahoma has to be on guard at TCU, which often gives the Sooners trouble. No. 7 Baylor plays at Texas, which can still play a little defense.
But the real action is in the SEC this Saturday. It’s like a mini-playoff in the SEC West. There are three games Saturday in the division, each matching teams ranked in the top 15.
Oregon’s loss is only going to be the beginning of the chaos.
This is what expanding the championship field, even in baby steps from two to four, will do. That’s especially true in a season that lacks a dominant team. The No. 1 Florida State Seminoles of 2014 don’t look as good as the No. 1 Florida State Seminoles of 2013. What do we really know about No. 2 Alabama at this point? Throw a wide net over about 25 teams and consider them contenders.
The first major pivot to the playoff starts Saturday. Arizona-Oregon was just the appetizer.
Here are five other headline Week 6 games with upset potential:
1. No. 3 Alabama at No. 11 Ole Miss, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS. The hungry Rebels haven’t beaten Alabama since Eli Manning was slinging the football, back in 2003. It’s totally into the fire for Ole Miss, whose next month is Bama, at Texas A&M, Tennessee, at LSU and Auburn.
2. No. 6 Texas A&M at No. 12 Mississippi State, Saturday, noon ET, ESPN. Aggies QB Kenny Hill vs. Bulldogs QB Dak Prescott. Who said this was a down year for SEC signal-callers?
3. No. 14 Stanford at No. 9 Notre Dame, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, NBC. The Irish have scored at least 30
points in each of their first four games, marking the first time that has happened since 1943. Stanford has successfully replaced key pieces on defense (ranking first nationally in total defense and scoring defense) but is waiting on its power running game to re-emerge in the red zone.
4. No. 15 LSU at No. 5 Auburn, Saturday, 7 p.m., ESPN. Big quarterback edge to Auburn with magician Nick Marshall, but the LSU defense could have the last laugh. Bigger picture question: Can Auburn survive a schedule that still has LSU, at Mississippi State, South Carolina, at Ole Miss, Texas A&M, at Georgia and at Alabama?
5. No. 19 Nebraska at No. 10 Michigan State, Saturday, 8 p.m., ABC. Nebraska’s Ameer Abudullah against the nation’s fourth-best rushing defense? Yes, please. And we’d like another in the Big Ten title game.
High honorable mention: Oklahoma at TCU, Arizona State at USC, Baylor at Texas.
