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There are plenty of pathways for teams like Alabama and Penn State to reach the playoff. The Dash examines and ranks six programs on their chances.

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (“One Small kick for Seth, one giant leap for Aggiekind” T-shirts sold separately in College Station):

FIRST QUARTER: DOWN GOES ‘BAMA, AND OTHERS WILL FOLLOW

For the first time since 2014, the power trio of Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson all have lost before mid-October. But here’s the thing: both the Crimson Tide and Buckeyes still made the College Football Playoff that season, with Ohio State winning it all. So the sky is not falling in Tuscaloosa or Columbus (Clemson is another matter; wear a hard hat if you’re on campus).

Fact is, there are plenty of pathways for one-loss teams to still reach the playoff because the remaining field of unbeatens will be weeding itself out. There are 13 left, and eight of them play each other at some point: Kentucky at Georgia Saturday; Michigan at Michigan State Oct. 30; SMU at Cincinnati Nov. 20; and Oklahoma at Oklahoma State Nov. 27. The winners obviously will enhance their playoff resumes, and the losers could still be in the mix as well. (Some of those teams will probably lose before those games are played.)

Of the other five, only two are in Power 5 conferences and in realistic consideration for the playoff if they run the table: Wake Forest and Iowa. The Demon Deacons are a pleasant surprise story, with their first 6-0 record since 1944—a time when the student body was 100 percent white and 79 percent male, and the college was actually located in Wake Forest and not Winston-Salem, some 100 miles away. But the Demon Deacons have won their last two games by field goals at the end against mediocre competition; their time is coming. Iowa, with its

formidable belief in the fundamental tenets of the game, could go deep into this season without a loss, but it’s hard to see the Hawkeyes going 13–0. Maybe 12–0, but that 13th could be the hard part.

Outside of the unbeatens, here is how The Dash would order the current one-loss teams in terms of playoff viability:

Alabama (1). How bad is the loss: three points at the gun on the road in front of 100,000 fans isn’t terrible, but Texas A&M was an unranked, two-loss team going into the game. How good are the victories: beating Mississippi by three touchdowns is strong; surviving at Florida is pretty strong.

Even with the loss, the Crimson Tide (5–1) control their own destiny in the SEC West—win out, and they’re going to Atlanta for the Southeastern Conference championship game. The hard part is what would happen if they get there, likely needing to beat Georgia to make the playoff. It’s possible that a two-loss Alabama team could still get in if they play the Bulldogs close, but for now that is definitely the hard way. The Tide has proven to be a shaky road team thus far, especially defensively. (Remaining road games: at Mississippi State Saturday and at Auburn Nov. 27.) If Alabama gets to 11–1, it still could be outside the top four—but beating Georgia could ultimately be the best win any team has on its playoff resume.

Penn State (2). How bad is the loss: three points on the road against a top-five team is hardly enough to knock a team out of contention. Then factor in the injury to quarterback Sean Clifford, who left the game with the Nittany Lions leading 17–3. That’s a huge mitigating factor. How good are the victories: beating Auburn is good; beating Wisconsin and Indiana is OK.

Ultimately, the Big Ten East will sort itself out between Oct. 30 and Nov. 27, when the four teams at the top of that division all play each other. But if Penn State can get through the slate 11–1 and head into a potential rematch with Iowa in the Big Ten title game, the opportunity is there. Of course, it’s also impossible to see the Nittany Lions doing that if Clifford is out for any of the key games left on the schedule. They might be able to beat Illinois without him after an open date to bring backup Ta’Quan Roberson up to speed following his painful outing at Iowa, but that’s about it.

Oregon (3). How bad is the loss: of the teams on this list, the Ducks lost to the weakest team in Stanford (3–3). But they also had a boatload of circumstances that must be taken into consideration: offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead missed the game with an illness; leading rusher C.J. Verdell left the game in the third quarter with an injury; and Stanford tied the game on an untimed down at the end of regulation after a controversial penalty in the end zone. How good are the victories: beating Ohio State in the Horseshoe while shorthanded defensively, in a game where Oregon was clearly the better team that day, is the best win any team has had this season.

Unfortunately for the Ducks, the remaining schedule doesn’t offer a lot of quality-win opportunity. Every remaining regular-season opponent has lost at least twice. It’s possible that one-loss Oregon and one-loss Arizona State meet up in the Pac-12 championship game, which would help the winner’s resume. But the Ducks also are dealing with so many injuries that they might not be able to get there at 11–1. And a two-loss Pac-12 team definitely isn’t going to the playoff.

Ohio State (4). How bad is the loss: the Buckeyes were beaten by a good team in Oregon, but did so at home and never led in the game. Their best argument for downplaying the result is that it was the second week of the season with a young team still figuring itself out. How good are the victories: routing Maryland made a statement, but we’ll see if it still holds up later in the season (the Terrapins have a habit of collapsing as the year goes along); beating Minnesota isn’t bad.

Like the rest of its loaded division, Ohio State’s heavy lifting lies ahead. If the Buckeyes keep up their offensive onslaught of recent weeks, they will be tough to beat. Should they get through Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Iowa at 12–1, they’re in great shape—unless they’re still boxed out by Oregon. Ohio State fans should root for the Ducks’s demise to free themselves of that potential roadblock to the playoff.

Baylor (5). How bad is the loss: good opponent, bad performance. It was a double-digit defeat on the road against a currently unbeaten team (Oklahoma State), in a game the Bears trailed for the final 55 minutes. We’ll see how good the Cowboys end up being. How good are the victories: beating Iowa State is the signature win to date, and it’s not exactly a flag-planter at this point. Baylor has done nothing of note on the road.

The Bears (5–1) do have some opportunities ahead, and they’re all in Waco. The next two games are against ranked opponents (BYU and Texas), and Oklahoma comes to town Nov. 13. And there is the possibility of another big game in the Big 12 title game. But Baylor is a fringe playoff contender until it can prove otherwise by stacking up some other quality wins.

Notre Dame (6). How bad is the loss: losing by 11 at home will leave a mark, but the opponent was undefeated Cincinnati. As noted above with Baylor, that’s a good-opponent, bad-performance defeat. How good are the victories: not very. The Fighting Irish have a trio of three-point wins over mediocre teams that were pulled out at the end, plus bigger margins of victory against Big Ten disappointment Wisconsin and Big Ten mid-pack team Purdue.

It’s hard to find a path for Notre Dame to get to the playoff at 11–1. A schedule that appeared to have some juicy matchups before the season has fallen apart, with Wisconsin, North Carolina and USC all tanking. If your best argument is losing to a really good team, that isn’t much. And even against middling competition, it’s hard to see this Irish team going the rest of the way with only one loss.

FOUR FOR THE PLAYOFF

How The Dash would set the bracket if today were Selection Sunday:

Orange Bowl: top seed Georgia (7) vs. fourth seed Michigan (8).

The Bulldogs (6–0) have been the best team in the nation all season, but there now is no arguing it with Alabama’s comeuppance in College Station. Georgia continued to roll with Stetson Bennett at quarterback in place of injured JT Daniels, but mostly it rolled at Auburn behind its ridiculous defense. Auburn’s long running play of the game: nine yards. Georgia is allowing 5.5 points per game, with nobody else in the nation holding opponents to single digits.

Next for Georgia: Kentucky between the hedges Saturday in a big one.

The Wolverines (6–0) are the new arrival in the bracket, after their closest scrape of the season at Nebraska. Michigan was pushed on the road by the Cornhuskers, but produced a late turnover and then converted the winning field goal. Jim Harbaugh’s offense is becoming more versatile, with some big moments in the passing game and the advancement of Hassan Haskins as second weapon in the running game alongside Blake Corum.

Next for Michigan: Northwestern at home Oct. 23.

Cotton Bowl: second seed Iowa (9) against third seed Cincinnati (10).

The Hawkeyes (6–0) did what they do so well Saturday, beating Penn State with takeaways and field position and knocking the Nittany Lions’s quarterback out of the game. Quarterback Spencer Petras overcame an awful start to the game to deliver a huge touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and Iowa eked just enough out of its running game to keep the Nittany Lions defense honest and set up that TD pass. The postgame field storm was one for the memory banks for all involved.

Next for Iowa: Purdue at home Saturday.

The Bearcats (5–0) did what good teams do, dominating an inferior opponent and allowing no hopes of an upset. In crushing Temple 52–3, Cincinnati ran for a season-high 279 yards, with Jerome Ford having his best day as a Bearcat (149 rushing yards, two touchdowns). Cincinnati also racked up a season-high six sacks against the Owls.

Next for Cincinnati: Central Florida at home Saturday, in what looked like a big game before the injury to Golden Knights quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

Dropped out: Penn State.

Also considered: Michigan State, Oklahoma, Alabama, Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State.

The Sooners' run game got churning in the later stages of their comeback win over Texas in large part to their effective use of the counter play.

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Oklahoma has had a difficult go of it on offense this season compared to their high standards. While the benching of Spencer Rattler during the Red River Rivalry win for the second season in a row grabs the headlines, the offensive line’s lack of production has left a lot to be desired and is another reason for their struggles. The Sooners lost star center Creed Humphrey to the NFL Draft, and had something of a center competition going in the early part of the season which Andrew Raym seems to have won.

That’s why, if you’re an Oklahoma fan, seeing the Sooners' run game get going by playing the hits against Texas should be a promising step in the right direction to the tune of 355 sack-adjusted yards at 9.1 yards per carry.

Oklahoma is no stranger to a staple running play called counter. It’s their bread and butter run with deep roots as the slobberknocking key to successful ground attacks with both Nebraska and the Washington Football Team back in the 70s and 80s.

It was on display on Kennedy Brooks’s long run initially ruled a fumble before being overturned.

The play is simple, and classically executed with a pulling guard and a fullback, while Oklahoma often runs what’s referred to as G/T Counter (the G/T stands for guard and tackle) which involves two linemen pulling from the backside of the formation to the front.

In Rattler’s absence, the Sooners ran a tweaked version. When Caleb Williams came into the game, Oklahoma’s run game got an added dimension of the quarterback as a running threat, starting with his 66-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1. But simply the running threat of Williams combined with Brooks’s skill and window dressing came together on top of Oklahoma’s counter base to make magic for the Sooners.

Oklahoma brings Drake Stoops in motion, which is one piece to the puzzle. They also had Brayden Willis (No. 9) in at tight end to run what we can call G/Y Counter.

They then snapped the ball directly to Brooks, who faked a pitch to Williams for all that movement to occur in front so blocks could get in place. All Brooks had to do was run to paydirt.

The result? The two biggest plays of the game. Oklahoma’s go-ahead score as well as its game winner.

The plays are carbon copies of each other, but Texas was powerless to stop them. The problem? Eye discipline.

“The direct snap, they did a nice job,” Texas head coach Sarkisian told reporters after the game. “They had kind of a little window dressing with the motion. We lost our eyes a little bit at linebacker with the motion. The timing is a little bit different from a traditional counter play. … I don’t think it was necessarily a surprise that it was coming. We just didn’t fit the run right, and then he had the explosiveness to crease it and find the end zone.”

Texas may want to close their eyes when they watch the film of this game. A Red River Showdown for the ages could have gone their way.

More College Football Coverage:

• Can These Coaches Get Back in Good Graces?
• Wild Red River Showdown Sets Up NIL Impact for Rattler, Williams
• Iowa's Triumph Over Penn State Was Vintage Kirk Ferentz Football
• SI Top 10: Texas A&M's Alabama Upset Disrupts College Football Landscape

Alabama fell to No. 5 after their upset loss to now-No. 21 Texas A&M, while Iowa jumped to No. 2.

One of the best weeks of college football in recent memory resulted in a shakeup for this week's AP Top 25 Poll. Georgia is the new top dog after former No. 1 team Alabama was on the wrong side of major upset this week and Cincinnati joins the top four. 

The Tide were shocked by the unranked Aggies 41–38 after a 28-yard field goal with no time remaining. The loss flipped college football on its head and Georgia took the No. 1 spot unanimously after beating Auburn 34–10. Alabama fell to No. 5.

Iowa also moved to the No. 2 spot thanks to their win over Penn State on Saturday. The Nittany Lions dropped to No. 7 after they lost quarterback Sean Clifford in the first half of the game and eventually lost 23–20. 

Cincinnati, the country's top-ranked non-Power 5 team, moved to No. 3 to join the College Football Playoff picture. Oklahoma joined them as well when they jumped to No. 4 after their thrilling comeback win against Texas on Saturday. 

Kentucky is off to one of the best starts in program history, sitting at 6–0 for the first time since 1950, and was rewarded with the No. 11 spot. The Wildcats will visit the top-ranked Bulldogs this week in an epic SEC clash.  

AP Top 25 

1. Georgia
2. Iowa
3. Cincinnati 
4. Oklahoma
5. Alabama
6. Ohio State
7. Penn State 
8. Michigan 
9. Oregon
10. Michigan State
11. Kentucky
12. Oklahoma State
13. Ole Miss 
14. Notre Dame
15. Coastal Carolina
16. Wake Forest
17. Arkansas
18. Arizona State
19. Brigham Young
20. Florida
21. Texas A&M
22. North Carolina State
23. SMU
24. San Diego State
25. Texas

Others receiving votes: Auburn 106, Clemson 63, Baylor 62, UTSA 22, Mississippi State 7, Kansas State 3, Air Force 2, Appalachian State 2, Pittsburgh 1

More College Football Coverage:

• No. 1 Alabama Stunned by Unranked Texas A&M
• College Football World Reacts to A&M's Upset of Alabama
• Iowa Uses Fourth Quarter Comeback to Top Penn State
• Oklahoma Benches Rattler, Shocks Texas in Huge Comeback Win

Alabama falls in rankings after its loss in College Station. Plus, where do Iowa and Penn State land following their matchup?

Earlier this week at his radio show, Alabama coach Nick Saban was describing his team’s clash in College Station, Texas, against Texas A&M.

“This is a little bit of a trap game for us,” he said, in a somewhat stunning piece of honesty.

It made sense. This had all the makings of a typical “trap game,” one in which a highly-ranked, streaking squad faced a downtrodden, unranked opponent. The No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide, fresh off a

beatdown of Ole Miss in a hyped affair last week, was playing a two-loss Aggies team that had last lost at home to Mississippi State.

It was a quintessential trap game.

And in Aggieland, it will live forever as just that: The Trap Game.

Texas A&M violently shook the landscape of the Top 10 as well as all of college football on Saturday, slaying the top-ranked Tide, 41–38, in a stunning upset at Kyle Field. What’s more, the Aggies (4–2) did it with a backup quarterback. QB Zach Calzada threw for 285 yards and three scores, the defense smothered the Tide in the first half, special teams returned a kickoff for a touchdown and kicker Seth Small booted a 28-yard field goal as time expired.

Small’s kick ended plenty of streaks. Saban, for the first time in his coaching career, lost to a former assistant coach. He’s now 24–1. Alabama lost to an unranked team for the first time in 100 consecutive games. And an AP No. 1-ranked team lost to an unranked foe for the first time since 2008.

“Everyone needs to remember how they feel and not forget it,” Saban remarked after the game.

The Trap Game capped an eventful day of football and helped remake our Top 10. Oklahoma needed a wild comeback led by its backup true freshman quarterback to beat Texas. Lane Kiffin’s Rebels barely survived the Bounce Back Bowl against Arkansas, 52–51, after the Hogs failed on a potential game-winning 2-point play.

Unbeatens BYU and Penn State fell. SMU, UTSA and Wake Forest, both undefeated still, survived. Michigan State continued its season-opening jaunt, and Kentucky—Kentucky!—is 6–0.

To the Top 10, we go…

1. Georgia (6–0)

Last game: beat Auburn 34–10
Next game: vs. Kentucky

The Oldest Rivalry in the Deep South, as Auburn-Georgia is known, often produces some wild and crazy upsets. Not so much this year. The Bulldogs not only fired up that five-star defense of theirs, but Stetson Bennett, not a law firm but a backup quarterback, threw for 231 yards and ran for another 44, scoring two touchdowns.

2. Iowa (6–0)

Last game: beat Penn State 23–20
Next game: vs. Purdue

Kirk Ferentz did his best Kirk Ferentz and Iowa punted its way to a comeback victory in the most Ferentizian of ways. The Hawkeyes played mean defense (and got four turnovers), won the field position battle and hogged the ball for 10 more minutes than the Nittany Lions.

3. Cincinnati (6–0)

Last game: beat Temple 52–3
Next game: vs. UCF

The Bearcats handled the excitement of last week’s road win at Notre Dame quite well, crushing the Owls in a way you’d expect any CFP contender to. Temple had 11 drives that ended in seven punts, two failed fourth downs, an interception and a 55-field goal that hit the crossbar and bounced in. So what we’re saying is, Luke Fickell’s defense played well. And so did the offense (UC had 542 yards).

4. Oklahoma (6–0)

Last game: beat Texas 55–48
Next game: vs. TCU

In one of the most memorable chapters of the Red River Rivalry, the Sooners stunned Texas by storming back from massive deficits behind, of all people, a true freshman quarterback. Caleb Williams replaced Spencer Rattler, a preseason Heisman Trophy favorite, and led OU to what seemed like an improbable victory. Oklahoma trailed 28–7 in the first quarter, 35–17 in the second quarter and 41–23 with less than three minutes left in the third quarter. Coach Lincoln Riley’s team scored 25 unanswered points in a nine-minute span beginning with 1:04 left in the third, roaring to a win on a 33-yard touchdown jaunt from tailback Kennedy Brooks with three seconds left.

5. Michigan (6–0)

Last game: beat Nebraska 32–29
Next game: vs. Northwestern on Oct. 23

Speaking of trap games, here’s one where the trapper, the Huskers, failed to secure the trappee, the Wolverines. Nebraska used a 22-point third-quarter to soar back into this one, but kicker Jake Moody made field goals of 31 yards (to tie) and 39 yards (to win). The first field goal came after a Nebraska go-ahead touchdown and the latter came after a lost fumble from NU quarterback Adrian Martinez.

6. Alabama (5–1)

Last game: lost to Texas A&M 41–38
Next game: at Mississippi State

God bless the good people of Starkville, who will be hosting next weekend angry Nick Saban and his ticked-off Tide. Despite what you want to believe, Alabama still has an obvious path to the College Football Playoff. But it doesn’t happen, of course, without winning out. That includes beating presumed SEC East champion Georgia in the championship game in December.

7. Penn State (5–1)

Last game: lost to Iowa 23–20
Next game: vs. Illinois on Oct. 23

In a true insult-to-injury situation, the Nittany Lions lost quarterback Sean Clifford during this affair in Kinnick Stadium. With its starter out, Penn State could move the ball little, and the Hawkeyes stormed back for a field-storming win. Penn State’s road to the CFP took a major detour. Still left on the schedules are opponents named Ohio State and Michigan.

8. Michigan State (6–0)

Last game: beat Rutgers 31–13
Next game: at Indiana

Mel Tucker, in his second season at the helm, has taken the Spartans from Big Ten basement dweller to legitimate conference title contender. His running back, Kenneth Walker, ran for 233 yards on Greg Schiano’s guys. Sparty’s defense continued its assault on opposing offenses. The unit has allowed more than 21 points just once this year.

9. Kentucky (6–0)

Last game: Beat LSU 42–21
Next game: at Georgia

The Wildcats are 6–0 for the first time since 1950. Who’d a thunk that a mid-October meeting between Kentucky and Georgia would settle things in the SEC East. Yet, here we are. The titanic clash arrives next weekend in Athens. Coach Mark Stoops is a defensive whiz whose team has given up 10, 28, 23, 10, 13 and 21 points in six games this season.

10. Coastal Carolina (6–0)

Last game: Beat Arkansas State 52–20
Next game: at App State on Oct. 20

QB Grayson McCall and the Chanticleers might not crack the four-team playoff, but coach Jamey Chadwell has his squad rolling to a second straight double-digit win season. Coastal’s offense, a spread triple option attack, is fun to watch and is confounding its competition. The Chants have scored at least 49 points in five of six games. 

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The Hawkeyes' coach is the guru of fundamental football, and this 2021 team has been as good as any at executing that.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — When they build the Kirk Ferentz Museum of Fundamental Football here—in a drab but sensible building, at the corner of Straight and Narrow—they should devote an entire wing to Iowa’s 23–20 victory over Penn State Saturday. This was a Louvre-quality exhibition of every basic building block that has made Ferentz a Hall of Fame coach.

A display on field position is mandatory. Put Tory Taylor’s five punts that pinned the Nittany Lions inside their own 15-yard line—three inside the five—on an endless video loop. Taylor has an NIL deal for shirts that read, “punting is winning,” and boy did the Australian choose the right program for launching that clothing line. The student section was chanting “MVP” at the punter during this game, and let’s just say you don’t hear that on a fall Saturday anywhere but here.

In an era where coaches often feel compelled to go for fourth downs on opponents’ side of midfield, Ferentz sets his square jaw and sends out the kicking team. Over and over. He’s been doing this for 23 years now, and it keeps working, so he keeps doing it. Then he watches his punter lob sand wedges into the sky that his gunners will cover, and the opposition will be stuck in a hole.

There must also be a display on ball security. You can put this quote from Ferentz on the wall in gold lettering: “I’m a bad stat guy and I always have been, because I really don’t care too much about them. Except turnovers, takeaways.” Iowa is the ball-hawkingest team in America, taking it away from Penn State four times Saturday and raising its season total to 20. The Hawkeyes now have 16 interceptions in six games, by far the most in the nation. They are plus-15 overall in turnover margin, a massive advantage in the statistical category that most directly impacts winning and losing.

Penn State’s first play of the game was a pass, and Iowa intercepted it to set up a field goal. Penn State’s third drive of the game ended on an Iowa interception of a deep ball in the end zone. A third Penn State possession of the first half ended in a pick. And then the Hawkeyes iced the game with a fourth interception in the final minutes. Cornerback Matt Hankins, who had that last pick, said the secondary is calling itself the “Dough Boys.” Why? “The ball is the money.”

Devote plenty of museum space to the virtues of defense as well. When Iowa isn’t taking the ball away, it is simply stuffing opposing offenses. Penn State’s 20 points are the most the Hawkeyes have allowed in a game this season. They came into Saturday second in the nation in scoring D at 11.6 points per game. They surrendered just 287 total yards, the Nittany Lions’ fewest in a game since November 2019. “Nobody really cares about defense these days,” Ferentz said, sounding every bit of his 66 years of age. “… If you’re playing defense, you’ve got a shot. I don’t care what sport it is.”

It was a defensive play that turned this game around, a hit by linebacker Jack Campbell on Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford early in the second quarter. (“Good clean hit, good aggressive play,” Ferentz noted.) Armed with a pass-intensive game plan, Clifford led the Nittany Lions on three scoring drives in their first five possessions, staking them to a 17–3 lead. But the last of those drives ended with Clifford getting up gingerly after that hit, going to the locker room for evaluation and never returning to action.

At that point, Penn State had thrown for 146 yards and Clifford had run three times for 36 yards and a touchdown. Without him, the Lions’ offense melted down completely under backup QB Ta’Quan Roberson. It was a horror show. Roberson threw for just 34 yards on 21 attempts, and Penn State scored just three points on its final 10 possessions.

Save some space in the museum for penalties. Iowa is on its way to a 14th straight season of drawing fewer flags on itself than on its opponents. Saturday, Penn State’s collective nervous breakdown after Roberson took over at quarterback led to eight false start penalties. Credit the berserk Kinnick Stadium crowd for increasing the pressure that offense was clearly feeling. “That’s the loudest noise I’ve ever heard in my life,” said Iowa defensive tackle Logan Lee.

While those false starts are only five-yard penalties, they continually put the Lions behind the chains and that mattered given the challenges faced after Clifford exited the game. In every possession in which Penn State committed a false start, the drive ended without points. Iowa, meanwhile, had just three penalties for 27 yards until Hankins was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after celebrating his game-sealing interception.

And leave some room on a wall for an exhibit honoring the running game. Ferentz believes in the power of the handoff, even as game turns more toward passing. He believes in handoffs when they are unproductive for long stretches of time—as they were Saturday. Tyler Goodson got a season-high 25 carries that only went for 88 yards, but Iowa’s eternal commitment to the run made Penn State commit to stopping it. And that opened up the pass play that won the game for the Hawkeyes.

Trailing 20–16, Iowa’s patient adherence to field-position football led to a Penn State punt that was caught on the Nittany Lions’ 43-yard line. On first down, quarterback Spencer Petras faked a handoff to Goodson, which sucked in the underneath layer of the defense. As Petras rolled right, receiver Nico Ragaini released out of the slot and broke his route sharply to the left sideline. Petras pulled up and delivered a strike, and Ragaini dove for the pylon for the touchdown.

“We worked on it all week,” Petras said. “We kept it in the back pocket for a big moment. We got it called at the right time.”

Put all that stuff in the Penn State 2021 Wing of the Ferentz Museum of Fundamental Football. And copy the lighted words that are in the tunnel outside the Hawkeyes locker room: “Tough” on one wall and “Smart” on the other. Building-block stuff.

Now here’s what you won’t see in the museum, but it’s a factor in just about every special season a team has ever had: luck. If Clifford doesn’t get injured, it’s highly likely that Iowa loses this game—and perhaps loses it handily. But a team can make its own luck, and putting hard hits on the opposing quarterback is part of that.

Still: Petras is functional, not great. He started this game completing one of his first nine passes. If Iowa gets into a game where its opponent can actually score, it will have trouble matching points. It may be a while before that happens—like the regular-season finale against Nebraska, or the Big Ten championship game—but it will happen eventually.

This Iowa team looks a fair amount like the 2015 team, a low-frills/low-thrills bunch that somehow navigated through the regular season 12–0 before losing a dramatic Big Ten title game to Michigan State. Those Hawkeyes weren’t exposed until they arrived at the Rose Bowl and were obliterated by Stanford and Christian McCaffrey, 45–16, in a game that was not as close as the score.

Could this team get that far by simply excelling at the old-school basics? Maybe. And there could be a similar comeuppance if it does. But for now, the Hawkeyes are perfectly content to excel at the basics while their opponents self destruct. Ferentz, guru of fundamental football, is having a blast getting the most out of what he’s got—like the word “Iowa” itself, which gets three syllables out of four letters.

More College Football Coverage:

• Rattler, Williams and the NIL Impact of Red River Thriller
• Franklin: Booing Injuries Isn't Right for College Football
• Great Moments of Gridiron Disrespect

An already wild college football season saw its most stunning result yet with Texas A&M's upset of the top-ranked Crimson Tide. Twitter had a lot to say about it.

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After 14 years and 100 games, it finally happened: Alabama has lost to an unranked team.

The No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide were stunned on Saturday night, losing to Texas A&M 41-38 in the most shocking upset of what's been a wild start to the college football season. The Aggies led, 31-17, midway through the third quarter before the Tide rattled off 21 straight points to take a 38-31 lead with five minutes remaining. Texas A&M tied the game two minutes later, then won on a 28-yard field goal by Seth Small on the final play of the game.

Alabama had won its previous 100 games against unranked teams. Its last loss to a team ranked outside the top 25 was on Nov. 17, 2007, when the Crimson Tide lost to Louisiana-Monroe in what was Nick Saban's first season at the school. Saban had also been 24–0 when coaching against one of his former assistants. The Tide had won 19 games in a row prior to this loss.

Unsurprisingly, the college football world had plenty to say about Texas A&M's historic upset. Check out the best of the bunch below:

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Alabama lost for the first time to an unranked team since Nov. 17, 2007, when it fell to UL Monroe.

For the first time in 101 games, Alabama has lost to an unranked team. Texas A&M

shocked No. 1 Alabama on Saturday night in a thriller on a game-winning field goal as time expired.

Aggies fans stormed Kyle Field as soon as the ball sailed through the uprights, making the final score 41–38. It is Alabama's first loss since 2019, ending its 19-game winning streak, and it's coach Nick Saban's first loss to a former assistant coach in Jimbo Fisher.

Alabama went into halftime down 24–10 against Texas A&M. Under Saban, the largest halftime deficit Alabama has overcome is 13 points back in the 2018 national championship game against Georgia. The team hadn't lost to an unranked team since Nov. 17, 2007, when it fell to UL Monroe, snapping what had been a 100-game winning streak against unranked foes.

Alabama started their comeback attempt with a blocked punt in the third quarter and recovered it for a touchdown to make it a one-score game. But the Aggies immediately answered by returning the ensuing kickoff with a 96-yard return from Devon Achane to make it 31–17 after the kick for the extra point. 

The high-octane third quarter continued with a 29-yard touchdown catch by wide receiver Jameson Williams from Bryce Young to once again bring the Tide within reach. Alabama then made a field goal with just under nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter to make it a 31–30 game. 

Later in the game, Williams found himself wide open and scored another touchdown to take the lead at 38–31 after he also caught a pass to complete the two-point conversion.

But the Aggies answered with a pass to Ainias Smith for a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Zach Calzada, who was injured on the play, to tie it at 38. Texas A&M stopped Alabama on the next drive and even though Calzada was helped off the field, he returned on the ensuing drive to lead the Aggies down the field for the 28-yard field goal that sealed the win in dramatic fashion. 

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