By Don Stone, Georgia Football
Magazine
On the day
before the first BCS rankings of the season, five SEC teams
and three other top ten teams threw a monkey wrench into the
projections causing the computer to short circuit.
The previous week, we were noting the first time ever that
six teams from the Southeastern Conference had a record six
teams in the AP Top 25. Not now.
We all saw the continued problems that the banged up
Bulldogs had in Nashville as a backup quarterback overcame a
13 point fourth quarter deficit to knock off then #15
Georgia, 31-27.
With the UGA loss, South Carolina appeared to have the
SEC East in hand. But, unranked Tennessee had other plans
handing Steve Spurrier’s then #11 Gamecocks a
devastating 23-21 defeat in Knoxville.
But the day was far from over as #22 Florida headed to
Columbia, Missouri licking their chops at the thought of
taking on a freshman backup quarterback in his first ever
start. The Tigers had lost starting QB James Franklin
for the rest of the regular season. But, Missouri, which had
catapulted to #14 after entering the Top 25 the week before
at #25 with its upset win in Athens, sent Maty Mauk
out and watched him play like he was a four year starter
embarrassing the Gators 36-17.
Mizzou took another major
leap to #5...a move of 20 spots in just two weeks!
Next up was #5 Texas A&M with only a loss to top ranked
Alabama to blemish its 5-1 record. Unranked Auburn had just
entered the Top 25 itself at #24 and kept it close enough
until an injured Johnny Manziel couldn’t pull out a
miracle, in a 45-41 shootout.
The afternoon ended with #6 LSU on a four game winning
streak watching another unranked team pull off the upset in
Oxford, Mississippi, 27-24.
But the SEC wasn’t the only place where things were
going topsy turvy. Louisville had actually started the ball
rolling the night before when the previously unbeaten
Cardinals had jumped up to a 28-7 lead against the
University of Central Florida, then were outscored 28-10 the
rest of the way as the previously unranked Knights entered
the first BCS Top 25 with the win at #21. Louisville
plummeted from #8 to 320.
The other two top ten losses were not as shocking since
they were against equal top ten competition. But, #9 UCLA
was playing a Stanford team ranked four notches below them.
Not a major upset, but the 24-10 loss dropped the Bruins a
few spots to #12 and moved the Cardinal into the top six.
Saturday ended with a highly anticipated ACC matchup
between two unbeaten top five teams. Florida State came into
#3 Clemson as a slight three point favorite. The surprising
Seminoles had caught a lot of people off guard, but were,
after all, ranked #11 in the pre-season polls. But, no one
expected was took place over the next three hours as FSU
decimated the Tigers 51-14 and impressed the nation so much
that they actually moved up from #5 and leap frogged an idle
7-0 Oregon team. The Ducks and their fan base have to be
outraged but there is still plenty of football to be played
with #7 Miami and the Florida Gators still lying in wait for
FSU.
By the time the new BSC rankings came out Sunday night,
Georgia and Florida had dropped completely out of the Top 25
with South Carolina moving down 10 to #21, Texas A&M falling
eleven spots to #16 and LSU down seven to #13.
Click Here for Current Top
25 list and rankings