CFB Week 6 Recap: SEC stunners & a Canes comeback for the ages

This week was magical if you aren't a fan of a top ranked team. Let's get into it!

Go ahead and crown it the upset of the decade, because you probably won't see something like #1 falling to again for a long, long time. The Tide put themselves in an early hole and never led in this one, but I give more credit to Vandy for stepping up to the moment and meeting a team that they hadn't beaten since 1984. Commodores QB Diego Pavia is no stranger to beating teams from Alabama as he dominated Auburn while with New Mexico State last season, and this performance was as gritty as it gets. This touchdown pass on 4th down and this run to seal the victory will go down in Vanderbilt lore, as will this postgame interview Pavia did with SEC Network. It was truly surreal to see Bama get thrown around like they did, and it marked the first time the AP #1 team lost in the regular season since October 2021. The field goal post from FirstBank Stadium rightfully ended up in the Cumberland River after a trip down Broadway. Now how will Bama recover from such an unexpected loss?

Not to be outdone by their Third Saturday in October rival, #4 found themselves in a dogfight (hogfight?) with unranked . The Vols were shut out in the first half, a half kept close only by the Razorbacks missing chance after chance in the red zone to build a sizable lead. Those miscues let Tennessee build a 14-3 lead in the 3rd quarter, but nothing more. Arkansas scored 16 unanswered points in the 4th quarter and held on for dear life at the end. Vols QB Nico Iamaleava curiously ran out of bounds with no time left to give the Hogs a huge upset win. Hogs QB Taylen Green is an agent of chaos on the gridiron, and he'll give Arkansas a chance in any game.

Early on in their first West Coast ACC game (still weird to type), #8 tried hard to join the upset party. gashed a Canes defense that looked jet-lagged early and often, building a 35-10 advantage halfway through the third quarter. Cam Ward had reverted to many of the worst habits he had while quarterbacking Washington State, most evident on this awful pick-six he threw . Slowly but surely, though, Miami chipped away at the Cal lead, and thanks in part to some questionable officiating ( how is this not targeting? ), they got the chance to take a late lead and capitalized. At some point the ACC refs will stop bailing the Canes out, but for now they're bowl eligible and still in the thick of the CFP race.

In a rematch of last year's CFP National Championship Game, got a little revenge. In a sluggish game overall, the Huskies forced some late turnovers to take the lead for good and knock off #10

#9 has been on fraud watch for several weeks now, and they finally showed their true colors by getting smoked 41-10 at #25 Texas A&M. The Aggies defense pitched a nearly perfect game, swarming Tigers QB Brady Cook and forcing uncomfortable throws outside the pocket all afternoon long. The Missouri offense was limited to 254 total yards of offense, less than half of A&M's total. This isn't the kind of loss Missouri can afford when you look at how soft their schedule is. A&M meanwhile has a very manageable schedule with their toughest remaining games in College Station.

#5 got back on track by beating

Big Ten blowouts: #3 Ohio State took a while to wake up, but eventually did so in rolling past handled business on Friday against Michigan State, overcoming several early Dillon Gabriel red zone interceptions to comfortably beat the Spartans 31-10. Ducks RB Jordan James broke out with 166 rushing yards and a touchdown, and Oregon will need that and more with the Buckeyes coming to Eugene next weekend. #7 Penn State breezed by

#2 is probably glad they had an open week after all the chaos in the Top 10. They spent the week off preparing for their annual Red River Rivalry matchup with #19 in Dallas.

couldn't let all the unranked team over ranked team chaos be confined to the Top 10. They gave #11 a heaping helping of Big Ten football, mucking up the pace of play and the trenches to keep the Trojans' formidable offense in check. Gophers HC PJ Fleck got gutsy at the end and it paid off, going for a 4th and goal touchdown instead of a field goal that, after review, put Minnesota up by 7. It turned out to be the heady play as USC quickly moved into field goal range, but Miller Moss' end zone INT sealed a much-needed conference win for the Golden Gophers. USC meanwhile is 1-2 in conference and welcomes #7 Penn State to SoCal next weekend.

Who's near the top of the ACC standings? That would be the Mustangs of SMU. The Ponies recorded their 7th straight road win in beating #22 , the Ponies are a very interesting CFP wild card right now.

Respect the troops: Both are off to 5-0 starts together for the first time since 1945! Both teams can shred you through the air now, with Army QB Bryson Daily going 5/5 with 140 passing yards and 2 touchdowns in a win over , while Navy passed for 134 while destroying Air Force. Could these teams play in the AAC Championship Game, then again a week later in the annual Army-Navy game? That it's even possible is wonderful.

Kind of weird how Las Vegas has been the center of CFB for a few weeks now, right? First, #25 has been involved in plenty of realignment drama, ultimately deciding to stay in the Mountain West (with plenty of financial incentives involved). Then, their starting QB who led them to a 3-0 start left the team after an alleged NIL dispute. The team shook off the noise to achieve their first ever ranking in the AP Poll, and on Friday night delivered another banger of a football game against . This game was defined by massive swings in momentum, with the Rebels overcoming an early double digit deficit and the Orange tying the game with 23 seconds left. It all led to overtime, where Orange RB LeQuint Allen reminded us how weight room work pays off with this grown man touchdown to give the Orange the win. It's Syracuse's second win over an AP ranked team so far this season, a feat only matched by Kansas StateNotre Dame! It's a disappointing result for UNLV, but they've still got the schedule to make a CFP run for the G5 bid, and they'll be worth watching all the way.

The first team to reach bowl eligibility in 2024? That'd be the #23 Hoosiers of course! They continued their winning ways under new head coach Curt Cignetti, knocking off to clinch their first bowl appearance since 2020. It's IU's first 6-0 start since 1967. Whatever bowl game they play in, they'll seek their first bowl win since 1991.

Other fun notes: moved to 5-0 after beating North Carolina, the first time they've done that since 1991. #16 Iowa State is 5-0 for the first time since 1980. is quietly 4-1 on the year after beating Boston CollegeOregon State won a double OT thriller vs. Colorado State.

's fall from grace continued with a deflating loss at home to . The Coogs hadn't scored a point in Big 12 play but made things look easy in Fort Worth, with new starting QB Zeon Chriss scrambling 71 yards to put Houston up 24-6 at halftime. The Frogs turned the ball over four times, missed a PAT and looked like a shell of the team that played for a national championship two seasons ago.

More Big 12 bummers: went up 14-3 early vs. #16 Iowa State, only to get outscored 40-7 the rest of the way in a blowout loss. How much longer will Dave Aranda last in Waco? Meanwhile, Oklahoma State dropped to 0-3 in the Big 12 with a listless home loss to West Virginia. Also, blew another late lead, this time to Arizona State, to drop to 1-5 on the season. Their preseason over/under was 8.5 so I hope you slammed the under.

NC State lost starting QB Grayson McCall to injury early in their matchup with Wake Forest, lost the lead late to a team that came into this game 1-3, and ultimately lost the game 34-30 to fall to 0-2 in ACC play. Let it be known that NC State to the CFP is my worst take in quite some time.

had the chance to beat on the road with a touchdown on the final play, so they broke out the Philly Special to do so. What could go wrong? Well, a fumble at the four yard line and a 96-yard touchdown return is what could go wrong. Stan Drayton's team continues to toil at the bottom of the FBS level.

Trent Dilfer has quietly done a terrible job at . The Blazers were once a solid G5 football program yet have fallen to new lows under the Super Bowl-winning QB, losing 71-20(!) at home to . What about Bryant Vincent, the coach they let go to bring in Dilfer? He's turned into one of the nicest stories of the season while UAB stinks.

The Calgorithm invades College GameDay: Cal fans had hands down some of the best signs of the year on the ESPN staple's first ever trip to Berkeley.

star Ricky White III can burn you downfield and block your punts too.

Texas A&M punter Tyler White laid down the best punt you will see all season . Joe Tessitore couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Remember that guy years ago at a blowout loss to reading a book in the stadium? His spiritual successor showed up during this year's FSU blowout loss to Clemson.

More nuggets from Vandy's massive upset win over Bama: Vandy held onto the ball for 42 minutes! 40 points is the most they've scored vs. the Crimson Tide since 1906! They scored as many points in the 1st quarter vs. Bama (13) as they did in the entire time Nick Saban was in Tuscaloosa!

#12 Ole Miss got back on track by beating up South Carolina, but no one cares about that. What we care about are these two big man TDs JJ Pegues scored in the rout!

Penn State ran an offensive lineman in motion and it led to an awesome pancake block.

PJ Fleck enjoyed the heck out of his win over .

Boise State RB: Jeanty hit 1,000 yards rushing on the season in the second quarter of his fifth game of the season. That's with him not playing in the second half of this game AND the second half of their game against Portland State two weeks ago. When your name is being put in the same tier as Barry Sanders, you know how good you are.

DB/WR: The two way star had a week off, but it was a boon to his Heisman chances given how the leading QBs played this weekend.

QB: Talk about a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde performance. Ward was a big reason why Miami faced such a huge deficit to begin with, but a bigger reason why they ended up winning a game they shouldn't have.