College Football’s Tough Weekend for Texas and Pennsylvania

Saturday was really tough for both Texas and Pennsylvania. These teams were sitting at the top of the College Football AP Top 25 when the season kicked off.

As October rolled in, both teams found themselves scrutinizing their rankings in the top 25.

Texas started the season ranked first in the AP College Football polls but faced a setback against Ohio State, the Defending National Champion, losing by a score of 14-7 in their first game. That loss certainly hurt their standing, yet they did manage to bounce back with three consecutive non-conference wins this weekend before hitting the road.

On the other hand, Billy Napier led the Gators to a 29-21 victory, which might save his position, while Texas’s defeat caused them to drop out of the top 25. In the recent polls, the Longhorns landed in the “other votes” category, trailing only Sinshinnati in that group.

This still put Texas above James Franklin and Pennsylvania. If Texas had a rough day, the situation for the Nittany Lions was even worse.

Pennsylvania started in second place but lost to Oregon in a double overtime thriller that featured two top-10 teams. They also faced UCLA, a team struggling at 0-4, and yet, inexplicably, were unable to lead at any point during the season. Adding to the turmoil, they fired their head coach and shifted offensive play-calling to Jerry Neuhazel.

As for that same Bruins team, they didn’t hold back on Saturday; the final score was UCLA 42, Pennsylvania 37.

Remarkably, the Nittany Lions were favored by 25 points.

The losses spurred searches for “James Franklin’s acquisition” during the game, with estimates of his buyout rising to over $50 million, and dropped the Nittany Lions to a record of 3-2 (0-2 in the Big Ten), earning just 97 votes.

This marks the first time in history that both the preseason-ranked 1 and 2 teams from the AP have fallen out of the rankings in the same season. It’s also significant because it’s the first occurrence since 1986 where two teams from the top 10 dropped out of the AP Top 25 in the same week.

It’s a cruel twist for teams that began the year riding high in the rankings.

Here’s the complete top 25, with the number of votes indicated in parentheses next to the top-ranked team.