College Football's $35M Rosters Face Playoff Shakeup

On Oct. 17, five of the Associated Press Top 25’s top seven teams lost. Eight ranked teams fell overall, as teams had spent more than $35 million to assemble rosters and a 24-team College Football Playoff was planned for next season. The results disrupted the rankings and left the SEC’s playoff prospects uncertain.

Rankings and roster spending

No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 5 Indiana, No. 6 Alabama and No. 7 Texas all lost. The top two teams hadn’t both lost on the same regular-season day since 2012. The AP poll, which began in 1936, had never before seen five of its top seven lose on one regular-season day.

No. 3 Miami stayed unbeaten, beating Florida State 43-35 in double overtime. At 6-0, Miami could claim the AP poll’s top spot for the first time since 2002. No. 4 Ohio State beat Indiana 19-15, ending Indiana’s 22-game winning streak. No. 8 BYU beat Notre Dame 28-24, while No. 9 Mississippi beat No. 13 Missouri 31-3 and No. 10 Texas Tech beat Arizona State 53-25.

The AP report said Georgia, Notre Dame and Indiana could fall in the rankings after close losses. Alabama and Texas each had two losses. No. 14 Tennessee, at 6-1, stood to climb after its 26-10 win over Alabama.

Fox reported that teams had spent more than $35 million to assemble rosters and discussed parity in the NIL-revenue-sharing era. The article also described the planned expansion of the playoff to 24 teams next season, a decision reached before the weekend, and questioned whether a larger playoff could change the meaning of the regular season.

Upsets, calls and conference review

Unranked Auburn beat No. 1 Georgia 27-24 in Athens on Alex McPherson’s 34-yard field goal. Fox said Auburn’s win marked the first time since 2007 that an unranked team had beaten a No. 1 team on the road. Georgia had won 53 straight games against unranked opponents. The score stood tied with 58 seconds left. Auburn then drove 40 yards, aided in part by a Georgia penalty, before McPherson’s kick.

BYU’s win over Notre Dame ended with a disputed play. With one second remaining, Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr’s pass into the end zone was deflected and fell incomplete. The Athletic said officials should have called pass interference against BYU. The Big 12 said its review found time remained on the clock and that the replay officiating crew incorrectly cleared the play. “The Conference will conduct a complete review of its end-of-game officiating process in advance of next week's games,” it said. Fox reported the ruling would have given Notre Dame one final play from the BYU 8-yard line. Thousands of fans rushed the field after the game.

Miami needed two overtimes to beat Florida State. A holding penalty erased a Florida State Hail Mary touchdown in the second overtime; the score would have set up an attempt to tie the game with a conversion. Miami nearly gave up another Hail Mary on fourth-and-31, too.

SEC standings and playoff stakes

The Athletic reported that the SEC had no unbeaten teams in conference play and that 11 SEC teams had one or two losses. The conference went 38-2 in nonconference play, including 10-2 against other power conferences. This was the first season with a nine-game SEC schedule. The report said no 9-3 team had ever reached the 12-team College Football Playoff as an at-large selection, leaving open whether the weekend’s losses could cost the SEC playoff places.

Kentucky topped The Athletic’s SEC ranking after beating Oklahoma 21-13. Coach Will Stein chose to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the 5-yard line while Kentucky led 14-13 late. The team didn’t convert, but won after a pick-six. Kentucky was 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the SEC, with Vanderbilt next.

Tennessee was 6-1 and 3-1 in conference play after beating Alabama. Running back DeSean Bishop rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns; quarterback George MacIntyre threw for 197 yards and one interception. Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell threw two interceptions. The Athletic said uncertainty over the SEC championship game, playoff places and the season’s outcomes remained unresolved.