Alabama drops to No. 15 after second loss to Tennessee, Georgia shocks Texas in Austin, Oregon rises to No. 1

( WHNT ) — Alabama was served its second loss this season after the third Saturday in October, Auburn lost yet another game this season and Georgia stunned Texas in week 8 of college football.

The two SEC schools in the state of Alabama seem to be crumbling as the regular season presses on. Auburn is now 2-5 for the season and Alabama is now 5-2 for the season after week eight.

First-year Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer made his first trip to Knoxville to play in the infamous ‘third Saturday in October’ game.

The Crimson Tide’s defense was able to make important plays all throughout the game, but most impressively in the first half. The Crimson Tide was able to keep the Tennessee Volunteers scoreless for yet another first half this season.

The first quarter was scoreless as Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe threw an interception in the endzone. Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava missed several deep throws as well. The Crimson Tide also forced a fumble in the first quarter, but Bama was not able to make any big plays with that turnover.

The Volunteers missed two field goals in the first half leading to their scoreless half.

The Crimson Tide scored its first touchdown in the second quarter as Ryan Williams fought in the endzone to complete the catch.

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In the second quarter, quarterback Iamaleava was taken off the field after an apparent injury following a sack and backup quarterback Gaston Moore went in to play. On his first pass attempt, Malachi Moore intercepted the pass.

This interception was the second turnover of the game for the Volunteers.

The Volunteers then gained their third turnover of the game not long after the second, as Iamaleava was intercepted by Jaylen Mbakwe. But, once again, the Crimson Tide went three-and-out after the big play by the Bama defense.

This game was plagued with penalties for the Tide as the team accrued 15 penalties in the game for a total of 115 yards.

By the end of the third quarter, the Volunteers led the game 14-10. The Tide responded with a quick touchdown to start the last quarter, bringing the score to 17-14 with 13:56 left in regulation.

After this last touchdown, Milroe seemed like he was not in sync with his receivers and the offensive line was not able to stop the Volunteer’s defense. Milroe was almost sacked for a safety but was able to get a pass off, but it was incomplete.

Tennessee scored again with 5:52 left in regulation, bringing the score to 21-17. The Crimson Tide just was not able to complete passes or get off with the run game.

With one final hope left with 1:30 on the clock, Milroe threw an interception that ended that final glimmer of hope. The game ended 24-17 with fans storming the field and tearing down the goalposts, again.

“I know there’s enough guys that still believe, that still want to go do what we want to do,” DeBoer said after the game. “There’s a lot of season left for not just us, but everyone. It’s gonna go fast if we don’t take advantage of it. That urgency’s got to be there–– there’s no question.”

In the post-game interview, DeBoer mentioned how the offensive line and defensive line are seemingly playing two different games and how the ‘killer instinct’ isn’t with the team right now.

“We just can’t mesh right now the offense and defense together and play great team football,” he said. “There’s times where we’ve got to be able to separate ourselves and have that killer instinct, and right now, we don’t do that.”

Crimson Tide fans weren’t the only ones disappointed in the state this week. The Auburn Tigers took on the Missouri Tigers on Saturday.

Auburn seemed to be in more control this game with quarterback Payton Thorne not throwing any interceptions.

Auburn stayed ahead of Missouri for the majority of the game until Missouri pulled away in the fourth quarter with two touchdowns. The final touchdown for Missouri came with 0:46 seconds left on the clock.

Auburn’s offense had a total of 286 yards the entire game. The highlight of the offense was when Thorne threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Cam Coleman. Jarquez Hunter seemed to have a quiet game as well as he was held to 57 yards.

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Auburn’s Defense was able to hold off Missouri for most of the game until Missouri quarterback Brady Cook returned to the game after an ankle injury. Cook returned to the game with one minute left in the third quarter.

Cook’s third play in the game consisted of a 78-yard throw with Mookie Cooper which set up Missouri’s first touchdown of the game the following play.

“It was a hard thing. But we’re gonna get that addressed and talk about it in film (study),” Auburn linebacker Eugene Asante said about Cook’s ability to scramble Auburn’s defense.

Head Coach Hugh Freeze said in a post-game interview how almost every week, he is disappointed with the outcome and with how the games unfold. After the loss to Missouri, Freeze said certain moments were momentum shifters, including the series with a missed touchdown catch to a botched field goal.

“And, you know, it’d be nice for us to see them have to drive down the field after our missed field goal. Those explosive plays were devastating to us when I thought our defense was really hard for them to sustain drives of a long length. But man, when you give them explosive plays like that, they’re going to they’re going to score points. And that was that was definitely a turning point in the momentum for sure,” Freeze said.

The Auburn Tigers finished the game 17-21.

Outside of the state, the game that was the talk of the day was No. 1 Texas facing No. 5 Georgia in Austin.

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College Gameday traveled to Austin to cover the monumental game. This was the first time this season the Longhorns faced a top-5-ranked opponent.

The game started with the Georgia Bulldogs seemingly dominating the game and put up 23 points on the Longhorns in the first half. The Longhorns were left speechless and scoreless going into halftime.

Quarterback Quinn Ewers threw two touchdowns, both in the third quarter. This brought the score to 23-15 going into the last quarter.

The Bulldogs clinched the win this game and scored a final touchdown to bring the final score to 30-15.

Looking back at the previous games played by the Longhorns this season, the team only allowed a total of three touchdowns in the first six games: One from Michigan, one from UTSA and one from Mississippi State.

In the game against the Bulldogs, the Longhorns allowed three touchdowns and three field goals.

While these statistics are impressive, the game was ugly on both ends. Georgia quarterback Carson Beck completed 23-41 passes for 175 yards and three interceptions. Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers completed 25-43 passes for 211 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

Texas also fumbled the ball three separate times compared to Georgia’s zero fumbles. However, the roles were reversed as Georgia had three interceptions compared to Texas’ one.

Georgia crossed the finish line in Austin and stunned the Longhorns. The Bulldogs handed them their first loss of the season.

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In week eight, there were a total of two upsets in terms of ranked games: Georgia beating Texas and Tennessee beating Alabama.

For the week 9 rankings, a few teams shifted:

• Alabama dropped to No. 15
• Texas dropped to No. 5
• Georgia rose to No. 2

• Tennessee rose to No. 7
• Oregon rose to No. 1
• Missouri dropped to No. 21

You can see the AP Top 25 rankings for week 9 below.

1. Oregon
2. Georgia
3. Penn State
4. Ohio State
5. Texas
6. Miami
7. Tennessee
8. LSU
9. Clemson
10. Iowa State
11. BYU
12. Notre Dame
13. Indiana
14. Texas A&M
15. Alabama
16. Kansas State
17. Boise State
18. Ole Miss
19. Pittsburgh
20. Illinois
21. Missouri
22. SMU
23. Army
24. Navy
25. Vanderbilt

With the week 9 rankings, this marks the first time since 2013 that the Vanderbilt Commodores are in the AP Top 25 rankings.

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