Despite only one ranked match-up on the Week 6 slate, seven teams in the Top 25 fell in the craziest college football weekend of the year so far. Unfortunately, the Alabama Crimson Tide’s loss to Vanderbilt sticks out as the worst among all of the upsets.
Part of the loss can be attributed to the Commodores playing an outstanding game, but I think Alabama was riding the high of their victory over No. 1 Georgia a week prior and didn’t look as prepared as they needed to be. It was a very bizarre game with the Alabama offense only being on the field for 17:52 of game time, but two crucial turnovers and a poor defensive performance cost the Tide the game. It’s easy to overreact to a loss to a historically bad program, but it’s a long season and this Vanderbilt team is much improved from years past.
Alabama’s Playoff chances are still intact, but some glaring flaws need to be addressed before they travel to Tennessee in two weeks time in what could be a Playoff eliminator. The Volunteers are in a similar boat to the Crimson Tide having lost to unranked Arkansas over the weekend, but they sit one spot ahead of Alabama in USA TODAY Sports re-rank of all 134 FBS programs. After sitting in the No. 1 spot last week, Alabama drops eight spots to No. 9 and sits just ahead of Clemson halfway through the regular season.
With 3-2 South Carolina coming to town after a 27-3 loss to Ole Miss, it should be a chance for DeBoer’s squad to get back on the right path.
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