It was weekend never before seen for teams in the Associated Press Top 25. There’s a major shakeup is on tap in the college football poll on Sunday. And former Alabama assistant coach Mario Cristobal may be the big winner when the numbers settle. The head of the Miami Hurricanes worked for retired legendary coach Nick Saban at Alabama from 2013 to 2016.
No. 3 Miami (6-0) was among the survivors — barely. The Hurricanes are set to take over the top poll spot for the first time since 2002 after beating rival Florida State 43-35 in a double-overtime thriller.
Five of the top seven teams in the rankings — No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 5 Indiana, No. 6 Alabama and No. 7 Texas — lost on the same day in the regular season for the first time in the history of the poll that began in 1936. It’s the first time Nos. 1 and 2 lost on the same day in the regular season since 2012 and eight Top 25 teams lost in all.
Cristobal’s Miami Hurricanes can only hope to do better than the No. 1 team has the last two weeks; Texas and Georgia lost to unranked teams, the first time that's happened in consecutive weeks since 1990.Also up for possible promotions are No. 4 Ohio State, which beat the Hoosiers 19-15, No. 8 BYU, which knocked off Notre Dame 28-24; No. 9 Mississippi, which routed No. 13 Missouri 31-3; and No. 10 Texas Tech, which beat Arizona State 53-25.
Cristobal’s time with the Crimson Tide was spent as assistant head coach, offensive line coach, and recruiting coordinator. During that period, Alabama defeated Clemson in 2015 to win the national title, and the Tide won three consecutive Southeastern Conference championships.
It could be quite a day for the Big 12, with No. 11 Utah (6-0) among the unbeaten after holding off Colorado 27-24.
The questions include be how far Georgia, Notre Dame and Indiana might fall after close losses. Alabama and Texas now have two losses each and No. 14 Tennessee (6-1) is in line for a step up after beating the Crimson Tide 26-10.
