Tide Roll
In one of the more anticipated matchups of the weekend, Alabama cruised over Ole Miss 25-0, in a rather uneventful game. Alabama held the Rebels to 205 total yards and was dominant on both sides of the ball. The win leaves Alabama at the top of the poll for the sixth straight week this season, receiving 55 of the 60 first place votes.
Shootout in Athens
In the game of the weekend, two other SEC foes took the field in a high scoring thriller, as Georgia came out on top over LSU 44-41. In a wild game where both teams combined for just fewer than 1,000 yards of total offense and included five ties and a number of lead changes, it was Aaron Murray’s touchdown pass to Justin Scott-Wesley with 1:47 remaining that made the difference. The win caused the Bulldogs to rightfully take the Tiger’s spot at No. 6 in the poll, while LSU dropped to No. 10.
Oklahoma St. Falls to West Virginia
In the only defeat of a ranked team by and unranked team, West Virginia took down Oklahoma St. 30-21, rebounding from its embarrassing 37-0 at the hands of Maryland last week. The Mountaineers were lead by quarterback Clint Trickett, a Florida St. transfer making his first start of the season. He ended up with 309 yards passing in his debut. The Cowboys were extremely sloppy this game, giving up 13 points off of three turnovers and giving up 96 yards in penalties. As a result, they’ve dropped 10 spots in the poll to No. 21.
Notre Dame Drops Out of the Poll
Six games ago, the Fighting Irish were playing for the National Championship against Alabama. Now they find themselves out of the AP Poll following their second defeat of the season, losing to Oklahoma 35-21. This is a sharp change in direction for Notre Dame and it doesn’t get much easier for them either next week, as they face No. 22 Arizona State.
The Bigger Picture
Alabama rightfully stayed in the top spot and look set to remain there for the upcoming weeks as they head into a very easy portion of their schedule. The rest of the top five also stayed the same, though next week both No. 4 Ohio St. and No. 5 Stanford play ranked opponents in the two biggest match-ups of the week. The National Title race is still wide open almost half-way through the season and is shaping up to be a very exciting race.
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