Auburn Upsets No. 1 Georgia 27-24 as Five AP Top-8 Teams Lose

By
Harris
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Key Points

  • Unranked Auburn beat No. 1 Georgia 27-24 on Saturday, Oct. 17, on Alex McPherson’s 34-yard field goal as time expired in Athens.
  • Four more AP top-8 teams lost: No. 2 Notre Dame to No. 8 BYU, No. 5 Indiana to No. 4 Ohio State, No. 6 Alabama to No. 14 Tennessee and No. 7 Texas to Florida.
  • USA Today, citing ESPN Insights, said it was the first day in the AP Poll’s 90-year history that five top-8 teams lost.
  • No. 3 Miami stayed unbeaten at 6-0 with a 43-35 double-overtime win over Florida State.
  • The next AP Top 25, due Sunday, is expected to have a new No. 1, with Miami, Ohio State and BYU in the conversation.

Auburn pulled off the headline act of a wild day of college football upsets, beating No. 1 Georgia 27-24 on Saturday when Alex McPherson made a 34-yard field goal as time expired at Sanford Stadium. By the end of the night, five of the top eight teams in the AP Top 25 had lost.

It is the second straight week the No. 1 team has lost. Texas fell to Oklahoma last week while ranked first, and Georgia lasted one Saturday at the top.

What happened

Georgia started fast. Dwight Phillips ran 15 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive, and Gunner Stockton threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Lawson Luckie for a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter, according to the Auburn Athletics game recap.

Auburn then scored 24 straight points. Receiver Christian Neptune threw a 24-yard touchdown pass, quarterback Byrum Brown hit Chas Nimrod for the tying score, and McPherson’s 49-yard field goal made it 17-14 at halftime. Brown’s 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter made it 24-14.

Georgia answered with a field goal and then a 94-yard, 13-play drive, tying the game 24-24 on Stockton’s 4-yard touchdown pass to London Humphreys with 2:58 left. After an Auburn punt, Cody Sigler forced a Stockton fumble that Sylvester Smith-Reed recovered at the Auburn 44. The Tigers drove to the Georgia 19, and McPherson’s kick, worth three points under the basic rules of football scoring, ended it.

“When they turned it over, I knew my guys were going to get me into range,” McPherson said, according to Auburn Athletics.

Brown completed 15 of 26 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown and ran 26 times for 115 yards and a score. Stockton committed three turnovers: interceptions by AnQuon Fegans and Elijah Melendez, plus the late fumble. Auburn is 4-2 (2-2 SEC), and Georgia is 6-1 (4-1).

It was Auburn’s first win between the hedges since 2005 and only its second road win over a top-ranked team, after a 1994 victory at Florida, the school said. “The thing I’m most proud of is that nobody flinched,” coach Alex Golesh said.

Latest development

Final scores, per ESPN’s scoreboard and NCAA.com, as of 2:13 a.m. ET Sunday:

  • No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24: Bear Bachmeier threw a 6-yard touchdown pass with 1:47 left in Provo, and BYU’s defense finished it with a goal-line stand. BYU is 6-0.
  • No. 4 Ohio State 19, No. 5 Indiana 15: Ohio State ended Indiana’s 22-game winning streak in Bloomington after Indiana’s fourth-down touchdown try with 1:02 left was caught out of bounds, NCAA.com reported. Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin left late with his arm in a sling.
  • No. 14 Tennessee 26, No. 6 Alabama 10: DeSean Bishop ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns in Knoxville, and George MacIntyre filled in at quarterback for the injured Faizon Brandon. Alabama (5-2) has lost two straight.
  • Florida 27, No. 7 Texas 24: Florida scored 24 unanswered points after trailing 17-3 in Austin. Texas (4-2) has lost two in a row.
  • No. 3 Miami 43, Florida State 35 (2OT): Malachi Toney caught a 3-yard touchdown pass and then threw the two-point conversion in the second overtime.

In a late game, No. 11 Utah stayed unbeaten with a 27-24 win at Colorado, per ESPN’s scoreboard. Nebraska at Oregon was still in the fourth quarter as of 2:13 a.m. ET.

Why it matters

Saturday was the first day in the AP Poll’s 90-year history that five top-8 teams lost, USA Today reported, citing ESPN Insights. It was also the first time Georgia, Alabama and Texas lost on the same day since Oct. 26, 1996, according to USA Today. NCAA.com said it was the first time since October 1990 that the No. 1 team lost in consecutive weeks.

The losses reshape the College Football Playoff race at midseason. NCAA.com counted six unbeaten FBS teams after the day’s results: Miami, BYU, Texas Tech, UCLA, James Madison and Utah. USA Today noted this is the last season before the playoff expands to 24 teams.

What happens next

The new AP Top 25 is due out Sunday and is expected to have a new No. 1. NCAA.com expects first-place votes to be split among Miami, Ohio State and BYU. The US LBM Coaches Poll is released Sundays around 1 p.m. ET, USA Today reported.

Auburn returns home to Jordan-Hare Stadium next Saturday, Oct. 24, to host No. 22 LSU at 11 a.m. CT on ABC, according to Auburn Athletics. For the full scoreboard and day-long updates, see NCAA.com’s Week 7 recaps and scores.

Related live coverage

National news channels stream on the LiveNewsWorld Watch Live hub. For more football, read our recap of the Bills’ 37-34 overtime win over the Rams.

Sources