Georgia, Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas and Indiana all lost, the first time that many top-eight teams have fallen in one Saturday since 1989.
College football tore up its own script this weekend. Five of the top eight teams in the AP poll lost, with No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Notre Dame both going down alongside Alabama, Texas and Indiana. It is the first time that many top-eight teams have lost on the same Saturday since 1989.
The ripple effects reach well beyond the teams that actually played. Texas A&M, for instance, still has Alabama, Tennessee and Texas left on its schedule, and all three look like different, less predictable opponents than they did a week ago. The Aggies have their own issues after an uneven first half, but the carnage around them means nothing on their slate is a sure thing anymore.
More broadly, the result blows open the College Football Playoff picture that had seemed to be settling into shape. With the sport's usual hierarchy scrambled, the conversation now turns to which teams have actually built the best resumes through the midpoint of the season, since results like this one tend to matter a great deal when playoff selection time comes around.