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College Football Week 6 Takeaways: There are plenty of surprises for the AP Top 25 teams


College Football Week 6 Takeaways: There are plenty of surprises for the AP Top 25 teams

On a Saturday where five of the top 11 teams in the AP Poll lost, including the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide, here are the key takeaways from the wildest weekend of the college football season so far.

In addition to the headliner in Nashville, there were several other ranked teams that were upset in conference games against unranked opponents.

The Arkansas Razorbacks pulled off a home upset for the ages as they defeated the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers, 19-14, giving Sam Pittman his first win over an AP Top 5 opponent as Arkansas coach. Pittman was on the hot seat all season, but his defense prevailed against one of the most dangerous offenses in the country and his program is now 4-2 and 2-1 in SEC play.

The No. 10 Michigan Wolverines continued their quarterback shuffle with a 27-17 road loss at the Washington Huskies. Alex Orji started for the Wolverines but was replaced by seventh-grader Jack Tuttle, who was available for the first time this season after recovering from an elbow injury.

Tuttle got the offense moving a little more sharply in the passing game after points, but a fourth-quarter fumble followed by a costly interception helped Washington pull away. Maybe Tuttle is the starter going forward, but the Wolverines don't appear to be playoff caliber given their inability to consistently complete a forward pass.

The No. 11 USC Trojans also lost 24-17 on the road against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Quarterback Max Brosmer scored on a sneak with less than a minute to play, and Minnesota's defense forced three USC turnovers to earn the victory.

The No. 22 Louisville Cardinals struggled to keep up with the unranked SMU Mustangs in the first half, and when the Cardinals caught up, they couldn't get over the hump in a 34-27 loss. Louisville managed just 4 of 12 on third down and didn't get off the field on defense as SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings tallied 394 all-purpose yards.

There's always at least one week on the college football calendar every season that doesn't look all that exciting on paper, but it works. Saturday was certainly that day.

The Missouri Tigers entered Saturday's road contest against the No. 25 Texas A&M Aggies with a 4-0 record and a No. 9 seed.

But anyone who watched Missouri's last two games knew the Tigers were probably a little overrated. Missouri escaped with a home win against then-No. 24 Boston College, 27-21, in mid-September, followed by a 30-27 double overtime survival of the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Sure, the loss to Vanderbilt looks a little better in hindsight, but the Tigers looked nothing like they did a year ago when they went 11-2 and won the Cotton Bowl.

The Tigers fell behind 24-0 at halftime and took a 5:15 lead in the third in a 41-10 loss. To make matters worse, the defense was a siege, giving up 512 yards.

Missouri appeared to be a contender in the 12-team CFP race during the first month of the season, and the Aggies confirmed that on Saturday.

Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty surpassed 1,000 yards rushing this week.

Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty surpassed 1,000 yards rushing this week. / Brian Losness-Imagn Images

Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty continued his Heisman Trophy-worthy campaign by becoming the first ball carrier in FBS this season to surpass 1,000 yards rushing in the Broncos' 62-30 victory over the Utah State Aggies .

Jeanty took his first carry 63 yards for a touchdown and rolled from there. At halftime, he had 13 carries for 186 yards and three scores, an average of 14.3 yards. The Broncos took a 49-17 lead into the locker room and Jeanty's day was over.

Jeanty has carried the ball 95 times for 1,031 yards and 16 touchdowns this season. He is on pace for 2,474 yards and 38 touchdowns, which would be one of the best rushing seasons in FBS history. That kind of performance, coupled with a CFP berth, could be enough for Jeanty to capture the Heisman in a season where the race is still open.

The UNLV Rebels are one of several teams vying for the CFP spot in the Group of 5. Therefore, conventional wisdom suggests that a 44-41 overtime home loss to the Syracuse Orange would seriously jeopardize the Rebels' CFP goals.

But keep in mind that UNLV already has two Power 4 wins against the Houston Cougars and Kansas Jayhawks. The Rebels also host the ranked Boise State Broncos in late October and could face the Broncos again in the Mountain West Conference title game.

Run the table, win a conference title and let the chips fall where they may.

Because of Army and Navy's scheduling agreement with the AAC, the two schools could face each other in the conference championship game a week before their annual standalone regular-season finale in December. The scheduling quirk is typical of college football and still has a great chance of coming true.

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