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Chaos enters the AP Poll with 4 teams in the top 11 losing to unranked opponents


Chaos enters the AP Poll with 4 teams in the top 11 losing to unranked opponents

Vanderbilt's stunning surprise of No. 1 Alabama, which resulted in crazed fans marching the goalposts through the streets of Nashville, was just the preview.

Saturday turned out to be one of the wildest days in the world AP poll in years.

According to Sportradar, four teams ranked in the top 11 in the last poll were upset by unranked teams on Saturday. According to Sportradar, this was the first time in a single day since November 12, 2016, when five teams achieved it.

What looked on paper to be a quiet day with just one matchup between ranked teams turned out to be anything but quiet with No. 1 Alabama. No. 4 Tennessee, No. 10 Michigan And #11 Southern California all lost to unranked teams. Another top-10 team lost on Saturday when No. 9 Missouri fell 41-10 at No. 25 Texas A&M.

This was the first time that two SEC teams ranked in the top 5 lost to unranked conference opponents on the same day, and it was the fifth time in the past 20 years that at least five teams ranked in the top 11 ranked, lost on the same day.

Vanderbilt got off to a surprising start by defeating the Crimson Tide 40-35, just a week after Alabama moved to the top of the poll with a 41-34 victory over Georgia. The Commodores were 0-60 against teams ranked in the top five, according to Sportradar, which was the most games for any team to have lost any game to a top-five team. Temple now takes that title with a record of 0-25.

The fans then tore down the goalposts and carried them for just over a few miles, carrying the goalpost for just over a few miles before throwing them into the Cumberland River.

“This is the dream right here,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said. “And for the next 12 hours I will enjoy the dream. We still have more to come, but that's what Vanderbilt football has to be about: big wins on big stages. We’ll get more.”

The surprises and exciting games were far from over.

The Volunteers were the second-leading team to fall when Malachi Singleton scored on an 11-yard run with 1:17 left to give Arkansas a 19-14 home win.

Tennessee still had a chance by driving to the Arkansas 20, but Nico Iamaleava was forced out of bounds on fourth-and-5 at the 16 as time expired. Arkansas fans immediately stormed the field.

There were two other field rushes in the Big Ten after wins that weren't nearly as shocking.

Washington defeated Michigan 27-17 in a national championship rematch that was missing both coaches from the title game and most key players.

“It feels good. You lose to them in the championship and then to come back and win and beat them, it feels good,” said Washington safety Kamren Fabiculanan, one of the few defending champions on the Huskies’ championship game squad.

The loss ended Michigan's 24-game Big Ten regular-season winning streak. The Wolverines had not suffered a Big Ten loss since their loss at Michigan State on October 30, 2021.

Minnesota then beat USC when Max Brosmer stormed into the end zone with 56 seconds left for a fourth-and-goal for a 24-17 victory.

The on-field officials deemed it short, but replay revealed a reversal that the entire stadium knew was coming.

The game ended when Miller Moss' throw into the end zone was intercepted. The crowd spilled onto the field to send the Gophers into a raucous celebration of their first win over the Trojans since 1955.

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This story has been amended to correct that the last time this many teams in the top 11 lost to unranked teams was 2016 in the third paragraph

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