With so many upsets around the country, which teams suffered the worst losses in Week 7? These defeats were the absolute dregs among a slew of surprises.
Week 7 began with upsets on Friday night. It continued with upset and upset alerts throughout the day on Saturday, and it went down to the bitter end in late-night action with more upsets. By the time the dust settled, four top-10 teams and seven total AP Top 25 teams total had fallen against unranked opponents. The defeats throughout the course of the weekend reshuffled the polls just a fortnight ahead of the release of the first College Football Playoff Rankings.
Related Story: SMQ: Where did Week 7 rank among most upset filled weekends of all time?
It was the sort of weekend that seems historic as it happens in real time. That isn’t necessarily the case, but the frequency of such occurrences will never lessen the overall impact it has on the rankings. The only constant this season has been change–and Alabama unwaveringly holding form at the top of the mountain.
Why aren’t Washington and Clemson on the list?
Arizona State looked like a potential trap for Washington as they took to the road. After all, they had already taken down Oregon at Sun Devil Stadium when the Ducks were briefly ranked. And AP voters know the Carrier Dome can also be a dangerous trap, considering the Orange took down Virginia Tech there last season and have an experienced quarterback in Eric Dungey.
A bad loss isn’t just one that happens to the best teams. Opponent quality, margin of defeat, and expected margin of victory are all factors in the equation. The AP voters didn’t hit either very hard, dropping the Tigers only five spots to No. 7 while the Huskies fell seven spots to No. 12. Keeping that in mind, it is hard to ding Clemson and Washington too much for their collapses on the road.
No, they’re off the list this week because there were even worse defeats to speak about. These sorts of weekends in college football seem shocking in the moment, but really the aggregate of so much chaos is what amplifies the impact. Amazingly enough, there were even worse losses than the ones suffered by Washington and Clemson as they try to get back to the College Football Playoff. Instead, keep reading for our picks of the three worst defeats that transpired in Week 7.