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KANSAN.COM
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BRYNN ANDERSON/AP
Alabama defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick (29) reacts after missing an interception during second half on Saturday, Sept. 19 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Mississippi won the game 43-37 to upset Alabama.
Brew: Bluebloods fall unexpectedly in week 3
SEAN COLLINS
@seanzie_3
Maybe more so than other collegiate sports, college football seems to consistently have its certainties. The SEC will be dominant, Oregon will be fast and Alabama will win a whole lot of games.
However, this week — the third of the regular season that was not the case Everything we know about college football exploded into a March Madness-like splash of events, which started with No. 6 USC being upset by unranked Stanford.
Wondering when the last time Texas, Nebraska,
Alabama and USC all lost on the same day...
— Travis Williams (@ CometsNebraska)
To be completely fair, Stanford has been known to come out strong against top ranked teams as it has topped perennial powerhouse Oregon several times in the past, but USC never had a chance against Stanford's offense. USC gave up 41 points in the game, including 14 in the fourth quarter as Stanford put the game away.
But an early season upset isn't exactly uncommon, and it certainly doesn't mean the end of the season for a
program.
Last year's eventual national champion, Ohio State, lost early in the season as well, but the big names that went down in spectacular fashion just three weeks into the season this year were nothing short of bizarre.
USC's loss was an interesting start to the day, but the evening games were what made the night as the Texas Longhorns and Alabama Crimson Tide both fell because of painful unforced errors.
The struggling Texas Longhorns hit their quota of mistakes by ruining their own late game comeback. After being down by 21 in the fourth quarter to California, Longhorns quarterback Jerrod
Heard posted the quarter of his life with two rushing touchdowns. The Longhorns marched back into the game with two clutch touchdowns in the final three minutes of the game.
As the Longhorns celebrated their comeback on the sideline, kicker Nick Rose missed the game-tying extra point, which gave California the win.
And before long, it was Alabama's turn to join the ranks of the fallen bluebloods as it fell 43-30 to Ole Miss on Saturday night.
Alabama is an extremely talented team, which was evident on Saturday, considering it almost came back to beat a top 15 team despite committing five turnovers on the
night. Over all, the Crimson Tide lost that turnover battle 5-0, which might not have seemed possible given that the margin was so close. And truth be told, there may have been some luck involved.
One key play in the Ole Miss victory over Alabama may have been the play of the season thus far - Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly threw up a prayer to Quincy Adeboyejo. The pass was tipped and hit off an Alabama defender, landing into the hands of Adeboyejo with nothing but open field in front of him.
Ole Miss did just enough to get the win and it improved to 3-0 on the season while Alabama fell to 2-1. But even that wasn't it for the bluebloods.
Five top tier programs would all fall.
The final two programs to fall over the weekend were Arkansas and Nebraska. Arkansas lost 35-24 to Texas Tech and Nebraska fell 36-33 to Miami (Florida). It's worth noting the Nebraska game wasn't necessarily an upset, but that isn't really the point.
Simply put, it was amazing to see so many usually strong football programs — Texas, USC, Arkansas, Nebraska and Alabama — lose over the weekend. And while USC and Alabama will likely both recover and finish strong, Texas, Nebraska and Arkansas may be in for long seasons as they all start 1-2.
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