Notre Dame is staring at a rare opening in the College Football Playoff era, and it all comes down to what happens in hostile territory against BYU.
With No. 1 Georgia stunningly knocked off 27-24 by unranked Auburn, the No.
2 Fighting Irish now have a real shot to grab the top spot in Sunday’s AP Top 25. But the path is simple only on paper: Notre Dame has to handle No.
8 BYU on the road first.
Georgia’s loss came in brutal fashion. The Bulldogs were tied 24-24 and moving with about a minute left, looking like they had a chance to deliver the finishing blow.
Instead, they coughed it up, and Auburn turned that mistake into a moment Georgia won’t forget anytime soon. Alex McPherson then drilled a 34-yard field goal as time expired to complete the upset, with quarterback Byrum Brown powering the Tigers’ ground game throughout the night.
That defeat marked the second straight week the AP No. 1 team lost to an unranked opponent, following then-No. 1 Texas’ loss to Oklahoma last Saturday. Georgia had the game in hand, only to let it slip away late, and now the Bulldogs have to live with the fallout while Notre Dame tries to cash in.
The Irish have not been No. 1 in the AP Poll since November 2012, when Brian Kelly guided them through an undefeated regular season. Notre Dame also hit No. 1 in the BCS standings that November before falling to Alabama in the national championship game.
Fourteen years later, the chance is back in front of them. Georgia opened the door. Notre Dame has to finish the job.
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Georgia Suddenly Faces A Brutal Reality After Auburn Shocker
Georgias loss to Auburn at home landed with an extra punch because it snapped a run that had stretched back to 2017, and it did so in a game the Bulldogs had every reason to believe they could control. Instead, late-game execution turned into the deciding theme, with Gunner Stocktons fumble setting up Auburns game-winning field goal and leaving Georgia to stare at a result that changes the tone of the season.
The immediate challenge is not just absorbing the setback, but regrouping after the bye week with a schedule that only gets more demanding from here. Georgia still has the SEC Championship and College Football Playoff in sight, but the path forward now feels a lot narrower, and there is little margin for the kind of mistakes that turned this one into a shocker. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Faces One Auburn Worry Fans Cant Ignore
Georgia heads into its next matchup still riding the glow of a win over Alabama and sitting at No. 1 in the AP Poll, but the attention in Athens has already shifted to Auburn. The Tigers arrive with a 3-2 record under new head coach Alex Golesh, and the setting only adds to the intrigue with the game coming on Georgias home field.
The bigger concern for the Bulldogs is less about the opponents record and more about their own health. Georgia has several players listed as injured or doubtful, including running back Chauncey Bowens and defensive back KJ Bolden, and those availability questions could shape how the Bulldogs handle a team that is trying to settle in under a new coach. The ranking still gives Georgia the edge on paper, but the injury report is the kind of detail that can complicate even a favored teams week. [Read more 🡒]
No. 1 Georgia Suddenly Faces Big Questions After Rivalry Shock
Auburns 27-24 upset of top-ranked Georgia turned a routine rivalry night into a jolt for the Bulldogs, who saw their nine-game winning streak in the series come to an abrupt end. It also marked Georgias first home loss to an unranked team since 2019, a surprising result in a game that kept swinging back and forth and featured big defensive stops on both sides.
Gunner Stockton still put together a productive passing night with 272 yards and two touchdowns, but his two interceptions proved costly in a game where Auburn finished with 366 yards of offense and never let Georgia settle in. For a team used to controlling this matchup, the bigger concern now is how quickly it can regroup after a loss that raised real questions about its margin for error. [Read more 🡒]