The college football rankings will be shaken up following Iowa State’s stunning upset over No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon.
Norman was home to the most shocking upset of the college football season so far on Saturday afternoon, as the Iowa State Cyclones took down the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners in a 38-31 stunner to shake up the College Football Playoff picture.
With Iowa State starting quarterback Jacob Park taking a leave of absence from the team on Friday, the Sooners entered Saturday’s contest as a massive 31-point favorite. Oklahoma looked to be rolling with a 14-3 lead after the first quarter and held an advantage as large as 14 just before the half.
Iowa State chipped away with a pair of field goals before tying the game at 24 at the 2:07 mark of the third on a 28-yard touchdown catch by Marchie Murdock. The Cyclones found themselves improbably in front five minutes later and sealed the upset on Allen Lazard’s incredible touchdown catch with just over two minutes to go.
Former starting quarterback Joel Lanning turned in a superhuman two-way performance by dominating from the linebacker position while adding 25 passing yards and 35 rushing yards. On the other side, Heisman contender Baker Mayfield was good yet not terrific, and Oklahoma’s typically overpowering run game was held in check.
The Sooners looked to be in good shape to reach the College Football Playoff after picking up a season-defining road win at Ohio State back on Sep. 9, but now need a ton of help to even have a shot at cracking the top four. Here’s how the top 10 projects following the Cyclones stunning upset:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Penn State
4. Georgia
5. Washington
6. Michigan
7. TCU
8. Wisconsin
9. Washington State
10. Auburn
The loss will both drop Oklahoma out of the top 10 and have a chain effect elsewhere in the rankings. Ohio State’s home loss to the Sooners now looks that much worse while raising serious questions about the Buckeyes offense, and Urban Meyer’s squad drops out of the top 10 as a result.
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Oklahoma’s loss is the Pac-12’s gain, as contenders Washington and Washington State move up a spot and have to be happy with the Big 12’s top playoff threat going down. Georgia also moves into playoff position, for now, perhaps opening the door for the SEC to get a pair of teams in.