College football winners and losers: Alabama’s dramatic win over Georgia shows regular season still has juice in expanded CFP era

The first top-five matchup of the 2024 season showed why college football is an amazing and incredibly chaotic sport.

No. 2 Alabama appeared to be on its way to an easy victory over No. 4 Georgia as the Crimson Tide took an early 28-0 lead. But the Bulldogs somehow managed to get back into the game during the second half and took their first lead of the game when Carson Beck hit Dillon Bell for a 67-yard touchdown with 2:31 left.

Common sense would dictate that Beck’s bombshell to Bell would be the highlight of the night. But college football is not subject to common sense rules. Freshman Ryan Williams caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Milroe on Alabama’s first offensive play after Bell’s touchdown to give the Crimson Tide a lead they knew they wouldn’t relinquish after the freshman cornerback Zabien Brown intercepted Beck with 43 seconds left and sealed it. a 41-34 victory.

Alabama’s victory came in the Tide’s first home game as an underdog in 17 years and snapped a 42-game regular season winning streak for Georgia dating back to Nov. 7, 2020. The only team to beat Georgia during that streak: Alabama, when the Tide beat Georgia in the 2021 and 2023 SEC championship games.

Both contests served as quasi-college football playoff quarterfinals in the four-team era. Since there was only one other power conference team with one loss, the Bulldogs were still able to make the playoffs in 2021 and got revenge on Alabama in the national title game. A season ago, Alabama’s win over Georgia eliminated the Bulldogs from the playoffs entirely and Georgia had to take out its frustrations on an undermanned Florida State team in a blowout in the Orange Bowl.

This year, the 12-team college football playoff is coming up. Thanks to the expanded field, Georgia still has an excellent chance to make the postseason even with another loss. Saturday night’s game wasn’t set up to be the playoff setback it could have been in previous years.

And that’s fine. Nothing about Saturday night’s game was devalued because the loser had a great chance to make the playoffs. Bryant-Denny Stadium was still sold out and tickets were selling for four figures on the secondary market. Do you really want to try to tell a Georgia or Alabama fan that this game didn’t matter as much simply because the playoff field is bigger?

There was still a lot at stake when it came to the playoff. The win gives Alabama a big lead in the race to reach the SEC title game and the chance for a first-round bye. While Georgia likely needs wins at both Texas and Ole Miss to get back to the SEC title game, Alabama can now afford a loss at Tennessee or LSU and reach the championship game.

Yes, the postseason stakes for regular season games may not be as significant as they once were. But that doesn’t take away from what we saw Saturday night. This Alabama win will be remembered for a long, long time for reasons that have nothing to do with the playoffs.

Here are the rest of this week’s winners and losers.

Winners

UNLV: The Rebels made a big statement in their first game without starting QB Matthew Sluka. UNLV demolished Fresno State 59-14 as Hajj-Malik Williams totaled four touchdowns in his first start. Williams threw for three touchdowns and rushed 12 times for 119 yards and another touchdown days after Sluka said he would no longer play for the Rebels over an alleged broken promise of $100,000 NIL.

A sports betting executive offered to make that payment this week, and UNLV wide receiver Ricky White III said after the game there would be a better use of that money. White had 10 receptions for 127 yards and two touchdowns.

Indiana: The Hoosiers should be ranked in the AP Top 25 on Sunday after a 42-28 win over Maryland. Indiana is now 5-0 and one win away from bowl eligibility, as Kurtis Rourke threw for 359 yards and six different Hoosiers scored a touchdown. Indiana will be a road favorite at Northwestern in Week 6 and a win there will set up an intriguing game between an undefeated Indiana and a potential one-loss Nebraska on October 19.

tulane: After a non-conference schedule that included games against Kansas State and Oklahoma, Tulane opened conference play with a dominant 45-10 win over South Florida at home. Quarterback Darian Mensah was 18 of 22 for 326 yards and three touchdowns, while former Oklahoma and USC wide receiver Mario Williams caught two touchdown passes. The Green Wave has a very manageable AAC schedule and should be in contention for the conference title, and a potential spot in the College Football Playoff, all season long.

Duke: The Blue Devils scored 21 second-half points in a 21-20 home win over North Carolina. The Tar Heels led 20-0 in the third quarter before Duke scored three times in the final 21 minutes. A late punt decision on fourth-and-1 was dangerous for Manny Diaz’s team, but Duke pinned the Tar Heels inside the 10-yard line with less than two minutes left and Tre Freeman intercepted Jacolby Criswell with 30 seconds left. end. Duke is now 5-0 in Diaz’s first season ahead of a Week 6 trip to Georgia Tech.

Losers

Baylor: The Bears were unable to recover from their crushing loss in Colorado. BYU took a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and held on into the second half for a 34-28 victory in Waco. Sawyer Robertson appears to have unseated Dequan Finn as the Bears’ starting quarterback, but defense has been a real issue. BYU scored touchdowns on its first four drives of the game and only one came on a short field after a turnover. Games at Iowa State and Texas Tech over the next three weeks could prove vital to coach Dave Aranda’s future.

Chestnut: Who will Hugh Freeze blame this week? After QB Hank Brown started the last two games for the Tigers, Freeze reinserted Payton Thorne into the starting lineup against Oklahoma on Saturday and Kip Lewis’ pick-6 with 4:06 left proved to be the decisive points in a 27-21 victory for the Sooners. Auburn outscored Oklahoma 482-291, had 26 first downs to Oklahoma’s 11 and had fewer penalties. Oh, the Sooners were also missing their top five wide receivers. But that didn’t matter, as true freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins ran 14 times for 69 yards and a touchdown along with a two-point conversion.

Oklahoma State: The No. 20 Cowboys have a hole to dig out of after an 0-2 start in Big 12 play. OSU lost 42-20 at Kansas State on Saturday and will surely fall out of the Top 25 on Sunday. Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson totaled five touchdowns and Kansas State averaged 8.8 yards per rush. Ollie Gordon II, a 2023 All-American, had his best game of the season against an FBS opponent on Saturday with 15 carries for 76 yards. But clearly that is not enough.

UAB: The Blazers fell to 1-3 with a 41-18 home loss to a Navy team that ran all over Memphis in Week 4. The Midshipmen averaged more than five yards per carry, but QB Blake Horvath also split the defense for UAB for 225 yards passing and two TDs on just 11 attempts. UAB is now 5-11 since Trent Dilfer took over in 2023. One of those losses was to Louisiana-Monroe and coach Bryant Vincent, the Blazers’ interim coach in 2022, who was passed over for the job. Vincent’s Warhawks are now 3-1 this year after a 13-9 win at Troy on Saturday night.