Alabama Survives Furious Georgia Rally

The Crimson Tide soared to a 28-0 lead early and made the game look like a blowout in the making. But the Bulldogs held strong and never gave up, shockingly rebounding to take a 34-33 lead in the 4th quarter. Alabama retook the lead at 41-34 and Georgia still had a shot to potentially take the game to overtime. The classic ended with Alabama intercepting the ball in the end zone with 49 seconds left on the clock. The win vaulted Alabama to #1 in this week's Billingsley Report followed by #2 Texas, 35-13 winners over Mississippi St.  The SEC was a wild crazy place to be Saturday. Double digit underdog Kentucky visited the Grove in Oxford and found a way to shut down the high flying Ole Miss Rebels 20-17. Just imagine where the Wildcats would be sitting right now if they had completed that near13-12 upset of Georgia a few weeks ago. Auburn fans were left unbelievably stunned after dominating Oklahoma, leading 21-10 with 6 minutes left in the game before Sooner Magic took over and boom…. Oklahoma scored 17 points to win 27-21. Miami (Fla.) remains unbeaten at 5-0 after a very controversial game ending that was  originally called a Virginia Tech TD for the win but overturned in replay to an incomplete pass giving the Hurricane the win. Duke, also unbeaten at 5-0 stormed back from a 20-0 deficient to slip by arch rival North Carolina 21-20. UNLV has take over the early lead for the G5 CFP bid at 4-0 with a big 59-14 shellacking of Fresno State.  Notre Dame looks strong again with an impressive 31-24 win over Louisville. Northern Illinois has dropped two straight since beating the Irish. How in the world did Notre Dame ever let that one slip away? The Big 10 is still growing strong with 5 teams still unbeaten, Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State and surprise surprise, Rutgers and Indiana.  BYU and Iowa State are the lone unbeatens in the Big 12 after Arizona traveled to Utah and took down the Utes 23-10. What a topsy turvy season so far, and we just got started. Ain't College football grand!

Michigan's Last Seconds TD Downs Trojans

The Wolverines jumped out to a 14-0 lead early making USC's Big 10 debut look like it may be a cakewalk, but the Trojans fought back, playing great defense, and took the lead in the 4th quarter after completely shutting down the Michigan offense. But with seconds left in the game the Wolverines bulldozed their way into the end zone on 4th and 2 to take the win 27-24. The 3-1 Michigan team, whose only loss lies at the hands of #1 Texas, leaped back into this week's Top 5 at #3.   Clemson remains on top of the ACC after destroying NC State 59-35. The Tigers only loss is to #2 Georgia. Miami (Fla.) is undefeated at 4-0 but suffers from a strength of schedule at #115. The Hurricane comes in at #27 this week. Navy surprised the high flying Memphis Tigers, the highest rated G5 team, 56-44. The slot for the G5 CFP bid seems wide open right now. Illinois is a surprising 4-0 after going on the road to Lincoln and snatching away a 31-24 win over the Cornhuskers. The Big 12 race is anybody's guess at this point, although Utah made an impression with their 22-19 win over Oklahoma State in Stillwater. BYU shocked league leader Kansas State 38-9 late Saturday night. The Cougars are now 4-0. Washington State remained undefeated with a 54-52 overtime win over San Jose State. The mighty Texas Longhorns remained #1 after a 51-3 thrashing of La. Monroe 51-3. What's going on with Vanderbilt? First they shocked Virginia Tech now they took Missouri into overtime before losing 30-27. Tennessee spoiled Oklahoma's SEC debut in Norman 25-15. The game was totally, and I mean totally dominated by the Vols but the Sooner defense kept Oklahoma in the game to the very end. Georgia and Alabama were both idle preparing for next Saturday's  epic showdown in Tuscaloosa. 

Georgia Nips Kentucky 13-12

In a game reminiscent of the great defensive slugfests of 40 years ago the Bulldogs and Wildcats put on quite a defensive clinic. Both prolific offenses were stifled by defensive mastery on both teams. Georgia came out on top 13-12. All this after one week ago Kentucky was thumped at home by South Carolina. The SEC title race will be entertaining in 2024 to say the least. Texas remained at #1 after dismantling UTSA 56-7, followed by 7 other fellow SEC teams in this week's Top 25.  In other notable games, Kansas State took a huge step towards leading the newly expanded Big 12 by dominating Arizona 31-7. Memphis took the lead for the automatic bid for the CFP playoff by the G5 teams with a stunning win in Tallahassee over the Seminoles 20-12. Washington State got a little revenge over Washington after being snubbed by the Big 10. The Cougars surprised the Huskies 24-19. Notre Dame rebounded from the loss to Northern Illinois with a 66-7 thrashing of Purdue. Toledo traveled South to SEC country and came away with a solid 41-17 win over Mississippi State, Surprising UNLV traveled to Kansas City and squeaked by the Jayhawks 23-20 . Kansas is playing all their home games in Kansas City while totally rebuilding the stadium in Lawrence. Oklahoma struggled  again mightily this week, finally pulling away very late to defeat Tulane 34-19. The Sooners better surround the wagons this week as they play host to high flying Tennessee in the Sooners first ever SEC game. Projections will be posted Wednesday.     

Texas Dominates Michigan 31-12

The Longhorns took a trip to the Big House and made themselves at home. The game was never in doubt as Texas played like a National Champion, signaling to the Nation they are not only back, but on top. The 31-12 win vaulted Texas all the way to #1 in this week's Billingsley.  Oh what a difference a week makes. 7 days ago Notre Dame traveled to College Station and whipped the Aggies only to return to South Bend and be shocked by #88 Northern Illinois 16-14 in one of college football's greatest upsets ever. Oregon and Oklahoma survived upset bids, the Ducks kicked a late field goal to beat a very good Boise State team 37-34 while the Sooner defense sealed a late victory over lowly ranked Houston 16-12. Clearly the Sooners have a lot of work to do and not much time to do it. A solid Tulane team comes to town this week. Tennessee had perhaps the most impressive win of the week with a 51-10 thrashing of North Carolina State. Projections will be posted Wednesday.