AP College Football Poll 2021: Complete Week 7 Rankings Revealed

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What. A. Saturday.

Oklahoma and Texas combined for 103 points in one of the most memorable editions of the Red River Rivalry, and it wasn’t even close to the biggest development of the college football weekend.

That honor belonged to Texas A&M’s shocking upset of the defending champions.

Seth Small’s chip-shot field goal as time expired propelled the Aggies to a stunning 41-38 victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide and further shook up the early College Football Playoff picture. Elsewhere, Iowa outscored Penn State 10-0 in the fourth quarter to earn a Top 10 win and cement its place among the Big Ten’s many contenders.

There were naturally some changes in the Associated Press Top 25, which was announced Sunday.

1. Georgia Bulldogs

2. Iowa Hawkeyes

3. Cincinnati Bearcats

4. Oklahoma Sooners

5. Alabama Crimson Tide

6. Ohio State Buckeyes

7. Penn State Nittany Lions

8. Michigan Wolverines

9. Oregon Ducks

10. Michigan State Spartans

11. Kentucky Wildcats

12. Oklahoma State Cowboys

13. Ole Miss Rebels

14. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

15. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers

16. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

17. Arkansas Razorbacks

18. Arizona State Sun Devils

19. BYU Cougars

20. Florida Gators

21. Texas A&M Aggies

22. NC State Wolfpack

23. SMU Mustangs

24. San Diego State Aztecs

25. Texas Longhorns

Here is a brief rundown of the most notable results from an epic Saturday of football:

• Zach Calzada, who started the season as Texas A&M’s backup quarterback, fought off an apparent injury and spearheaded a 41-point effort to upset the previously top-ranked Crimson Tide.
• Iowa benefitted from quarterback Sean Clifford’s injury and overcame a 14-point deficit to beat Penn State and potentially clear the way to an eventual undefeated appearance in the Big Ten Championship Game.
• Oklahoma scored 25 points in the fourth quarter to outlast Texas in a thrilling 55-48 win with Kennedy Brooks scoring the final touchdown with three seconds remaining.
• Ole Miss and Arkansas went back-and-forth in a high-scoring affair until the Rebels stopped the Razorbacks’ two-point conversion on the final play of the game to clinch a 52-51 win.
• Michigan and Notre Dame escaped challenges from Nebraska and Virginia Tech with late field goals.
• Boise State upset previously undefeated BYU and ended the Cougars’ chances at crashing the College Football Playoff.
• Georgia steamrolled Auburn to further make the case it is the best team in the country.
• Wake Forest prevailed over Syracuse in overtime to keep its dreams of an undefeated season alive. Kentucky also remained undefeated with a blowout win over LSU.
• Ohio State and Michigan State remained in the CFP picture in the Big Ten with straightforward wins over Maryland and Rutgers.

There are plenty of twists and turns remaining in the race to the four-team playoff, but it no longer seems like a complete lock there will be two SEC teams in the field.

It appeared as if Alabama and Georgia were each going to cruise to an undefeated showdown in the conference title game, which would have created a situation where even the loser would have likely been included in the CFP.

Instead, the Crimson Tide cannot afford another loss if they hope to defend their crown.

There are also five realistic playoff contenders in the Big Ten, with Iowa leading the way, but Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State and Penn State are still in the picture. The Hawkeyes are the only team of the five in the West Division, so they will likely await the one that emerges from the loaded East Division in a potential Top 5 showdown to clinch a playoff spot.

Elsewhere, Cincinnati has a realistic chance to become the first Group of Five conference team to play its way into the CFP. It has a marquee win at Notre Dame and looked dominant in Friday’s 52-3 dismantling of Temple.

While the Bearcats’ resume will not feature as many quality victories as those in Power Five conferences, they will be the primary benefactor as teams from the daunting SEC and Big Ten start to hand each other multiple losses.

Perhaps none of which will be as shocking as Alabama’s loss to Texas A&M.