This was the first college football weekend with three top-10 matchups since the 1970's, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Along with that trio of excellent games, there were several other stellar finishes and exciting upsets. Here is everything you need to know from the weekend:
Tennessee's magic continues
The Vols were down 17-0 early against Georgia, then seemed to have reeled off another improbably comeback in what seemed to be the most improbable of ways.
Of course, we didn't know what the last three minutes of the game had in store for us:
That will undoubtedly be one of the best games played across the country all season. Tennessee is now in first place in the SEC East and are a perfect 5-0. They will take on fellow 5-0 Texas A&M in College Station next weekend.
#5 Clemson outlasts #3 Louisville
The biggest game of the college football season so far certainly lived up to they hype. It was back and forth through the entire game, but the Clemson Tigers pulled off a 4th-quarter comeback to outlast the Louisville Cardinals and win, 42-36.
After a slow start, the Tigers scored touchdowns on four of their final five drives of the first half, capped off by this TD pass from Deshaun Watson to Artavis Scott that gave Clemson a 28-10 lead:
However, Louisville was not done. They responded by forcing three turnovers in the third quarter and scoring 26 straight points to take a 36-28 lead, capped with Jackson's second touchdown run of the game.
Of course, as back and forth as this game was, Clemson wouldn't go down without a fight. They responded with two more touchdowns of their own, winning the game with Watson's pass to tight end Jordan Leggett.
Louisville drove all the way down the field on the ensuing drive, but came up one yard short on a 4th down with just over 30 seconds left, securing the victory for Clemson.
As for the quarterback duel, Watson passed for 306 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions to go along with 91 rushing yards on 14 carries. Jackson finished with 295 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception with 162 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries.
Michigan wins defensive battle
The first top-10 battle on Saturday as between #4 Michigan and #8 Wisconsin in Ann Arbor. As you might expect this was a defensive slugfest that the Wolverines were able to win, 14-7, thanks to this long TD pass from Wilton Speight to Amara Darboh in the fourth quarter:
Wisconsin tried to get a drive going late in the game to tie it up, but cornerback Jourdan Lewis made this incredible diving one-handed interception to preserve the victory for the Wolverines:
Michigan's Jourdan Lewis with a sensational one handed pick https://t.co/CnYkHKGRTn
— The Cauldron (ICYMI) (@CauldronICYMI) October 1, 2016
Michigan is now 5-0 and will face Rutgers next weekend in their first road game of the year. Wisconsin has a bye week before hosting #2 Ohio State.
Washington blows out Stanford
The Huskies made a BIG statement on Friday night in the first top 10 matchup of the weekend, blowing out #7 Stanford, 44-6. The defense dominated from start to finish, limiting the Cardinal to just 213 total yards - and just a total of 29 rushing yards. Their offense showed out as well, racking up over 200 yards both through the air and on the ground.
Other CRAZY finishes!!
Tennessee and Georgia didn't play in the only wild finish of the day. North Carolina went on the road to Tallahassee and knocked off #12 Florida State, 37-35, thanks to this last-second field goal:
#UNC upsets #FloridaState, 37-35, with this LONG field goal as time expired!! pic.twitter.com/ZQJNQYzfO2
— Chat Sports (@ChatSports) October 1, 2016
Then #18 Utah had the ball at the two yard line with a chance to beat Cal, only to be stuffed at the goal line as time expired!
Three times they were tested.
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) October 2, 2016
Three times they stood tall.
The @CalFootball defense let the whole world know Berkeley is BEARS TERRITORY. pic.twitter.com/pn7hqDpELN
Other upsets
Florida State and Utah weren't the only teams to fall victim to the upset bug:
South Alabama 42, #19 San Diego State 24
Oklahoma 52, #21 TCU 46
Oklahoma State 49, #22 Texas 31
Cruise control
There were also several ranked teams that made it through this weekend with rather comfortable wins:
#1 Alabama 34, Kentucky 6
#2 Ohio State 58, Rutgers 0
#9 Texas A&M 24, South Carolina 13
#13 Baylor 45, Iowa State 42
#14 Miami 35, Georgia Tech 21
#15 Nebraska 31, Illinois 16
#16 Ole Miss 48, Memphis 28
#20 Arkansas 52, Alcorn State 10
#23 Florida 13, Vanderbilt 6