First, Oklahoma kicker Tate Sandell nailed a walk-off field goal as time expired to beat No. 1 Texas in the Red River Rivalry. Then came what must have felt like an out-of-body experience.

Amid the delirium of one of the most memorable wins in the rivalry, Sandell had the presence of mind to make it even more unforgettable.

He grabbed an Oklahoma flag, carried it to midfield and planted it at the midfield logo, staking claim to the stadium. Minutes later, with television cameras still rolling, Sandell was hoisted onto his teammates’ shoulders, wearing the Golden Hat and flashing a double Horns Down.

An iconic kick, followed by an iconic celebration.

There inevitably will be people who take issue with Sandell’s antics. They will try to frame the flag-planting as unnecessary and Horns Down as disrespectful. And they will be wrong.

Sandell had just delivered in a moment of almost unimaginable pressure. All the anxiety and anticipation that came with it gave way to pure, unfiltered joy. It’s hard to remember seeing someone so excited after their team improved to 3-2.

He’ll be telling the story for the rest of his life. Decades from now, his grandchildren might roll their eyes as he recounts the kick for the hundredth time, complete with the flag planting, the Golden Hat and the double Horns Down.

Texas was one of three top-10 teams from the SEC to lose Saturday, along with No. 6 Alabama and No. 10 LSU.

The Longhorns’ loss felt like a reckoning that had been coming. Texas entered the game undefeated and ranked No. 1, but that record had obscured some concerning cracks. The Longhorns were just a few plays from losing to Ohio State and Tennessee, surviving close calls that could have dramatically altered the perception of their season. This time, the breaks didn’t go their way.

There is no time to recover. The Longhorns face five consecutive opponents ranked in this week’s AP poll, a daunting stretch even for a team playing at its best.

Alabama is in a similar position. The Crimson Tide also entered Saturday’s game against Georgia undefeated and lost on a field goal late in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t a walk-off, but that won’t cushion the blow for Alabama, which will undoubtedly feel aggrieved by a missed defensive pass interference call in the end zone on its last drive of the game.

Coach Kalen DeBoer was appropriately apoplectic on the sideline after wideout Rico Scott was essentially tackled while trying to make a play on the ball.

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Kalen DeBoer fired up after a costly penalty on Alabama’s Dijon Lee Jr.

It was textbook pass interference that would have put the Tide in the red zone with a chance to win or, at minimum, tie the score with a chip-shot field goal attempt. Instead, Keelon Russell was sacked on the next play, dropping Alabama out of field goal range.

Not that there are good ways to lose, but this was a particularly tough way for Alabama to drop its first game of the season. Unlike Texas, though, this one is more forgivable. Georgia has a strong case to be the No. 1 team in the country, and these teams showed they are about as evenly matched as possible.

But of the three top-10 teams to go down Saturday, LSU’s OT loss to Kentucky might be the most consequential. With two losses at the halfway point of the season, LSU’s margin for error is gone. The Tigers got an early boost in the rankings after their emphatic win against Clemson, but that result is less impressive in hindsight.

What’s clear now is that LSU was never the top-10 team its ranking suggested. For Texas and Alabama, there is still time to bounce back. For LSU, the rest of the season is a series of elimination games.

Jump to:
Kentucky going for 2 again
Indiana survives
Oregon’s CFP hopes dwindling
Closing bell

A new trend for Kentucky?

Over the past 20 years, there had been one game between power-conference schools that went to overtime and finished with a score of 35-34. It wasn’t particularly memorable: in 2010, Oregon State went for two in the second overtime and failed, giving Washington, coached by Steve Sarkisian, the win.

It was rare enough that it didn’t happen for another 16 years.

Then, Kentucky did it twice in eight days.

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Kenny Minchey’s overtime 2-point conversion seals Kentucky’s shocking win over LSU

For the second straight week, coach Will Stein — given the choice to tie the score with an extra point or go for the win — rolled the dice. And for the second straight week, it paid off. After beating South Carolina 35-34 last week in OT, Kentucky beat No. 10 LSU by the same score … in OT.

It’s the first time since overtime was adopted at the FBS level in 1996 that a team has won consecutive games in OT by one point. Stein also joined a select group by becoming just the third SEC coach in history to beat multiple AP top-10 opponents in his first season as coach.

Indiana’s right where it needs to be, and so is Nebraska

Imagine trying to explain this scenario to a college football fan in, say, 1995: Undefeated Indiana goes to undefeated Nebraska for a Big Ten game and wins. Somehow, the prevailing takeaway isn’t that it was an incredible victory by the Hoosiers, but that it felt more like survival in the 20-17 win. It was a fortunate win on a day when the Hoosiers did not play up to their usual standard under coach Curt Cignetti.

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Cignetti: Good teams find a way to win at the end

The performance was strangely encouraging for Nebraska. Incredibly disappointing, yes. But encouraging. The Cornhuskers built a 5-0 record without playing a competitively relative opponent, but in taking the defending national champions to the wire, they proved they can punch up a weight class this year. Even in defeat, it gives the team a layer of credibility that it had not quite earned.

It would be a strange dynamic to process, yet here we are. Indiana trailed 17-6 in the fourth quarter, but Josh Hoover hit Nick Marsh for touchdowns of 75 and 44 yards to complete the comeback.

With its FBS-best winning streak at 22 games, Indiana (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) is where it was expected to be at the midway point of the regular season. Given the Hoosiers’ recent track record, they’re a legitimate national title contender, though that distinction doesn’t mean much on Oct. 10.

By this time next week, we’ll have a much clearer picture of Indiana’s trajectory. Ohio State visits Bloomington in a rematch of last season’s Big Ten championship game, during which Indiana snapped its 30-game losing streak against the Buckeyes while also ending Ohio State’s FBS-best 16-game winning streak.

After Oregon lost to Oklahoma State in Week 2, there was a sense this day would come. Still, it’s hard to grasp that just five games into the season, the Ducks have essentially played their way out of the playoff picture. Sure, they could technically win out to finish 10-2, but it would be hard to find anyone who has watched Oregon play this year who genuinely believes that’s a likely scenario.

In its 17-15 loss to UCLA, Oregon looked unprepared and, until late in the fourth quarter, uninspired.

It’s tempting to attribute the dreadful offensive showing — Oregon managed just 242 yards of total offense — to quarterback Dante Moore’s absence. Backup Dylan Raiola was effective off the bench against USC, but was lost against UCLA, completing just 6 of 19 passes for 43 yards and two interceptions before being benched for third-stringer Brock Thomas. Thomas (11 of 15, 156 yards, 1 TD) got the Ducks back in the game, but it wasn’t enough.

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UCLA Bruins vs. Oregon Ducks: Game Highlights

The win was legitimizing for UCLA. The Bruins climbed into the rankings with a 4-0 start, but their strength of schedule left room for skepticism. They were also without their veteran quarterback for most of the game after Nico Iamaleava left in the first half, but it didn’t matter. Beating Oregon at Autzen signals that the Bruins have arrived, and with just one ranked team left on the schedule — USC at the Rose Bowl on Nov. 28 — the Bruins are all of a sudden well-positioned to reach the playoff.

The Bob Chesney-Curt Cignetti parallels will be tough to avoid. What Cignetti did two years ago, leaving James Madison to immediately turn around a dormant Big Ten football program, felt unprecedented. Now, Chesney is on his way to doing the same thing.

The closing bell

Buy: James Madison

The Dukes finally had a close game, beating Georgia Southern 27-24, but they are now the only undefeated Group of 6 team. They haven’t lost to a Group of 6 opponent since falling in double overtime to Marshall on Nov. 30, 2024.

Sell: Washington

There was reason for optimism in Seattle coming into the season, but after three straight losses to open Big Ten play, the Huskies are looking at a lost season. The losses to Minnesota and USC were competitive, but that wasn’t the case against Iowa on Friday night. The Hawkeyes were on the road and put the game out of reach in the first half before winning 41-24.

Hold: BYU

The eighth-ranked Cougars picked up a key win against Iowa State on Friday night, when quarterback Bear Bachmeier played well, but with star running back LJ Martin unavailable for next week’s showdown with Notre Dame, it might be time to brace for the unbeaten run to end at five games.

Sell: Penn State

Last year, James Franklin was fired after the Nittany Lions fell to 3-3 after starting the season 3-0. On Saturday, the Nittany Lions lost to USC at home and fell to 3-3 after starting the season 3-0.

Buy: Oregon State

Few teams in the country are clicking offensively like the Beavers, who beat San Diego State 66-14 to improve to 4-2. True freshman receiver Jesse Legree hit the Heisman pose on one of his three touchdown receptions and, based on his stats, why not? Through six games, Legree has 38 catches for 932 yards with 12 touchdowns. Might he challenge to become the second FBS player to go for a 2,000-yard receiving season?

Sell: Duke

Coming into the weekend, it was reasonable to predict a future in which Georgia Tech didn’t win another game for the rest of the season. Instead, it handed Duke (4-1) its first loss of the season. This was an unforgivable loss for the Blue Devils, even if their 4-0 record was inflated by weak opposition.

Buy: Missouri

The Tigers have responded well since their loss to Mississippi State with lopsided wins against Florida last week and Texas A&M on Saturday. They’ll really have some momentum if they make it three in a row next week against Ole Miss.

Sell: Texas A&M

The Aggies won’t have much to play for in the second half of the season after falling to 3-3. It’s hard to believe this team started 11-0 last season. Since then, it has been in free fall.

Buy: Utah

Another week, another comfortable win for the Utes — 41-24 over Kansas — who have become one of the most entertaining offenses to watch under first-year coordinator Kevin McGiven.

Sell: North Dakota State

Five games into their FBS tenure, the Bison were undefeated and a popular Group of 6 playoff pick. But what happened in Vegas will cloud that outlook for the time being as UNLV topped NDSU 13-7. Considering UNLV lost to Memphis and North Texas earlier in the season, it wasn’t an ideal result for the Mountain West’s playoff hopes, but New Mexico remains firmly in the mix.