Teams advance and relegate in Week 6

College football’s top 25 AP voters find themselves in another bind after a remarkable weekend that could result in a third No. 1 ranked team entering Week 6.

This week’s poll could see as many as four teams finish in first place, likely leading to a change at the top after a historic battle between SEC heavyweights Georgia and Alabama.

Other matchups that followed included a major upset that pitted a top-10 SEC playoff contender at home against an unranked opponent and a statement made in a matchup between ranked Big 12 rivals.

This week’s results will force AP Top 25 voters to make some significant changes to their ballots, shaking things up just a month into the 2024 season.

Which teams will be on the move when the new college football rankings are released this week?

Alabama taking an early lead at home against Georgia wasn’t necessarily a surprise to anyone, but a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and a 30-7 lead at halftime made most viewers do a double-take at what was about to happen, a slugfest of epic proportions.

Kalen DeBoer’s offenses have a habit of doing this to their opponents, and working with the talent Alabama can attract has the potential to elevate his playbook to new, stratospheric heights.

But he’ll have to make sure his team shifts to neutral after building that early lead, like the Tide did in the second half, which allowed Georgia to not only get back into the game but also take the lead. albeit short-lived, late in regulation with some big downfield winners.

In a game full of offensive fireworks, Jalen Milroe made history: Alabama’s quarterback became the first player in AP Poll history with 300 yards passing, 100 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns against a top-five opponent, according to a study by ESPN emerges.

Because of this historic performance, Alabama is expected to be the No. 1 team in the country on Sunday.

Against a team not named Alabama, Kirby Smart is 96-11. But against the Crimson Tide, the Bulldogs’ two-time head coach is just 1-6.

Georgia’s passing game was out of sync early, thanks in large part to the pressure that Alabama’s talented front-seven rushers put on the game and the mistakes that resulted, like Beck’s interceptions and lost fumble.

And the Bulldogs’ vaunted secondary was exposed by a series of agile Bama receiving targets and a selection of Milroe runs that kept those defenders off balance and chasing shadows.

Georgia’s early performance, if it had continued throughout the game, would have lent credence to the theory that the Kentucky game was not an outlier and that there was a significant drop in talent compared to last season but a resurgence of offense in the second half should allay these fears for now.

The Bulldogs rallied from a 23-point deficit to take a one-point lead with 2:31 left when Beck hit Dillon Bell for a game-winning 67-yard touchdown.

But their defenders couldn’t stop Ryan Williams, Alabama’s standout 17-year-old receiver, who spun and sprinted down the sideline for a 75-yard TD pass from Milroe on the next play to give the Tide the lead for good provided.

The comeback bid showed that Beck can still go deep and that he has legitimate receiving talent on the other side to make those plays. But this week Georgia will lose most, if not all, of its first-place votes and slide down the rankings as more big tests lie ahead.

It was a tumultuous week to say the least for the Rebels after the program lost starting quarterback Matthew Shuka due to a NIL dispute.

But his replacement, Hajj-Malik Williams, threw three touchdown passes and ran for 100 yards and a fourth score as UNLV defeated Fresno State with a 59-14 decision that gave the school first place in the Mountain West standings .

UNLV is undefeated in four games for the first time since the school joined Division I in 1978 and could land on enough ballots to crack the Week 6 rankings.

Analysts were divided on the No. 6 Rebels and their monumental start to the season against four non-conference cupcakes.

Either this team could be the real deal and compete with the best, or they could come back down to earth when SEC play opens. This week it turned out that it was more of the latter.

What Kentucky almost did to Georgia a few weeks ago is what it did to Ole Miss: offensive time on possession and a kind of stifling defense that held college football’s No. 1 offense to 1 of 10 on third downs and seven tackles scored for loss and had 4 sacks.

And it did what it couldn’t do to Georgia: It scored a late touchdown in a fourth quarter in which the Rebels didn’t score a point, sealing the deal.

Ole Miss lost the turnover battle, allowed UK to score all three times in the red zone and had all three of its fourth-down attempts converted.

A season filled with great expectations and a spot in the expanded playoffs still up for grabs has already hit a major hurdle that the selection committee will remember.

BYU will be picking up some votes in AP Top 25 voting after going a perfect 2-0 in Big 12 play after first dominating and then using timely defense late to stop Baylor on the road.

Kansas State is also poised for a rise in the polls, although it’s probably still behind BYU after losing to that team on the road last week, but is responding to a blowout loss to a ranked Oklahoma State with a confident, floor-centered approach.

This should be the moment we see the Cowboys completely fall out of the rankings after losing to Kansas State on the road by a decisive 42-20 score.

Alan Bowman threw two interceptions and Ollie Gordon was limited to 76 yards rushing and no touchdowns as the Wildcats ran for 388 yards and 3 touchdowns across OSU.

That’s two straight losses for the No. 20 Cowboys against 12th-ranked opponents, which could be the ultimate setback for the school’s Big 12 Championship prospects.

In the short term, this means it will likely be an unranked team on Sunday.

More… When the top 25 rankings are released

–

More college football from SI: Top 25 rankings | schedule | teams

Follow College Football Headquarters: bookmark | Rankings | Selection