Upsets galore as struggling teams find their form and the underdogs have their day. Preseason favourites are now falling by the wayside as the genuine contenders emerge. Here’s the top matchups from Week 6:

Penn State 37 @ 42 UCLA

Franklin on the hotseat after unexpected loss to winless Bruins.

“Nobody in the world expected us to win,” UCLA safety Key Lawrence voiced after the game. And who would have expected them to, a team that had not held a lead for single second this season entering the clash with the Nittany Lions as 24.5 point underdogs?

But the Bruins believed in themselves and attacked the game with a positive mindset. Following the victory, interim head coach Tim Skipper explained the game plan: “We were going to be super aggressive, but not do dumb things. The plan was, if we scored a touchdown first, we were going to go for it.”

And go for it they did. After an early touchdown pass to Kwazi Gilmer was immediately followed by a successful onside kick, Nico Iamaleava and the Bruins’ offense put the pedal to the metal and never let off the gas, with the quarterback finishing with two scores through the air and three on the ground.

“We know their D-line and linebackers are really good, so we had to put bodies on those guys,” Skipper expanded. “We just wanted to control it one play at a time, and that’s exactly what we did. We actually have never talked about not leading for a game — somebody told me about it, that’s how I knew, so we never talked about it or anything. We just went out there and played ball today.”

The success of the offense was down to tight ends coach Jerry Neuheisel, a former UCLA quarterback and son of former coach and broadcaster Rick Neuheisel, who stepped up to take on offensive play calling duties following the departure of Bruins’ offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri earlier in the week. After being carried off the field by his players in celebration, Neuheisel reflected on the tight window to install the new scheme: “We had two days to practice the new game plan and all they did was believe… It was just a special, special day.”

Sunseri became the latest victim of UCLA’s woeful start to the season, and the second coordinator to leave since the school announced the firing of head coach DeShaun Foster in September. Defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe also left the team earlier at the start of the campaign.

Skipper described the scene in the locker room after the Bruins’ first win of the season — having become the first 0-4 team to defeat a top-10 ranked opponent in 40 years. “You’d think it was Mardi Gras,” he said. “There was water flying everywhere, there’s music, there’s guys that can’t dance that are dancing, there’s coaches trying to be dancers. It was exciting.”

Things are now far from exciting for Penn State who, after back-to-back losses, are barely clinging on to their playoff hopes after dropping out of the Top 25 in AP’s latest poll.

“Obviously, we didn’t handle last week’s loss [to Oregon] well,” head coach James Franklin conceded. “We lost some players during that game, and then everything else. Travel, everything else. [We] did not come out with the right energy to start the game. Before you know it they got a touchdown drive and onside kick…”

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Texas 21 @ 29 Florida

Gators Freshman WR explodes as Manning’s struggles continue.

Like the Bruins, the Florida Gators are a team that have had to stay focused to overcome a disappointing start to the season.

“It’s us against the world. That’s our mentality,” said quarterback D.J. Lagway, who has had his fair share of struggles this season, before conjuring up a seasons-best performance in The Swamp, with 289-yards and two touchdowns. Lagway was greatly helped by the return from injury of true freshman Dallas Wilson, who hauled in both touchdowns — including a spectacular 55-yarder — on his college football debut. “He’s a specimen,” said Lagway of the wideout as Wilson’s 111 yards rewrote the tem’s record for best performance from a freshman receiver on their debut.

The victory over Texas will give Florida coach Billy Napier some reprieve after a three-game losing streak. Whilst he remains firmly on the hotseat, fans will hope the Gators can build on this victory over a ranked opponent.

The Longhorns were also preseason darlings, with high expectations for themselves and QB Arch Manning. Despite shaky performances so far, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian still voiced his belief in his quarterback: “I thought he competed his heart out. Our entire team did. Most people thought we were probably dead and gone. We fought all the way back and had a chance there at the end.”

“This is where you find out about the culture that you have. We’ve got to get tighter than we’ve ever been. We’re going to have to quiet the noise because there will be plenty of noise coming out of this game.”

The Longhorns — who, like Penn State, are absent from the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2022 — are going to have to work hard as the noise will be deafening if they stumble in the Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma next week.

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Iowa State 30 @ 38 Cincinnati

Injury-hit Cyclones can’t keep up with high-flying Bearcats offense.

Iowa State’s perfect record ended in Cincinnati as the Bearcats’ offense got off to a flying start against a usually stout Cyclones’ defense.

Cincinnati’s 17 first-quarter points gave them enough of a cushion to fend off the inevitable Iowa State pushback, with Rocco Becht’s 314-yard, four total touchdown performance not being enough to keep his side unbeaten.

Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield acknowledged how tough it was to get the win. “It was one of those back-and-forth games until the end and we hung on to get the victory,” he said, his sentiments echoed by Bearcats QB Brendan Sorsby: “The first half was very fun and we were moving the ball at will, [but] they came out in the second half and made a ton of adjustments. It’s that fine line of trying to manage the clock. We found a way to pull it out. That’s a massive win.”

Sorsby’s 214-yards and three total touchdowns included an 82-yard reception from Caleb Goodie, who later recalled his thinking ahead of the play: “When it was called, I was thinking touchdown. I took a deep breath and said, ‘Let’s go’.”

The aerial attack was also supported by a strong ground game, with RB Evan Pryor accounting for 111 yards.

“He was looking like a beast mode out there today,” Satterfield said of the industrious back, “He was running through guys. Refusing to go down. Whatever he ate for pregame meal, he needs to eat it again.”

Iowa State will hope this is just a blip in the road on their quest for a conference championship, with coach Matt Campbell remaining stoic in defeat.

“We’re not flinching,” he insisted. “We feel we have some really good football players and they will only get better. They got a chance to show up today and did some really good things.”

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Miami 28 @ 22 Florida State

Beck still the guy with fourth consecutive win over opponents from Florida.

Carson Beck’s renaissance in Miami continued with a four-touchdown performance that added further evidence to his case for being an elite FBS quarterback and NFL prospect.

Beck has been able to flourish behind an indomitable Hurricanes offensive line, and coach Mario Christobal had nothing but high praise for his signal caller.

“He was on fire!” Christobal said. “He made a lot of really, really good plays. His leadership, the way he pours into preparation, into his team-mates. Everything about him, it screams winner. We’re glad he’s on our side.”

Beck was complimentary of the whole team effort after victory over a competitive Seminoles side.

“This whole year we’ve played really good, complementary football,” he noted. “Whenever we’ve needed the defense, the defense has stepped up. Whenever they’ve capitalised on a turnover, we’ve been able to turn around and go punch it in the end zone or go get three [points]. Continuing to do that is really, really good. It shows signs of a really good team.”

After last week’s overtime loss to Virgina, FSU coach Mike Norvell explained the bitter taste left by a narrow loss against a top-ranked opponent.

“To come up short in this one is utterly disappointing in every way,” he grimaced. “Our guys battled. We just had too many mistakes.”

Those mistakes included two costly interceptions from Seminoles QB Tommy Castellanos, who needs to tighten up his game after strong early season showings.

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West Virginia 24 @ 38 BYU

Cougars demonstrate aerial prowess to remain undefeated.

It was a career night in Provo as BYU put on an offensive showcase to overcome the Mountaineers. Cougars QB Bear Bachmeier’s 351-yards were a personal high, as were the 161 yards from Chase Roberts and 111 yards from Parker Kingston, both coming from just four catches apiece.

Kingston vocalised how pleased he was with the aerial performance and the team proving they don’t have to rely on the running game.

“We’ve always known we can throw the ball around,” he said, “It was good to get it out on film, letting teams know they can’t stack the box against us and that we have weapons on the outside, too.”

This was seconded by comments from Roberts who said: “You start throwing the ball a little more every game and, this game, it kind of blew up. I think now we’re a big threat in the pass game and teams got to prepare for that and that’s only going to open the box up for L.J. [Martin] and our running backs. I think we’re just a dangerous offense that’s hard to prepare for.”

West Virgina linebacker Chase Wilson rued the big plays the Mountaineers gave up on defense, reasoning that “if we limit a lot of the explosives, I think this is a different football game.”.

West Virgina coach Rich Rodriguez felt his defense’s deficiencies made Bachmeier look better than he maybe is, stating that the Mountaineers had made the opposing QB ‘look like the Heisman winner in the first half’.

BYU now find themselves atop the Big 12 alongside Texas Tech. With a tough, but winnable, slate of games ahead, the Cougars are very much in the running for a title game appearance.

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AP Poll Top 25 (entering week six):

1. Ohio State

2. Miami

3. Oregon

4. Ole Miss

5. Texas A&M

6. Oklahoma

7. Indiana

8. Alabama

9. Texas Tech

10. Georgia

11. LSU

12. Tennessee

13. Georgia Tech

14. Missouri

15. Michigan

16. Notre Dame

17. Illinois

18. BYU

19. Virginia

20. Vanderbilt

21. Arizona State

22. Iowa State

23. Memphis

24. South Florida

25. Florida State