(Photo: ASU Athletics)
It’s hard to imagine Buck Allen didn’t feel as though he won the game for the USC Trojans when he burst through the middle of the Arizona State defense for a 53-yard touchdown with just over three minutes to play.
Even FOX play-by-play announcer Joe Davis announced to viewers that Allen put the game “on ice” with the score that extended USC’s lead to nine following an extra point.
But the impossible happened.
One day removed from the “Jael Mary,” a recap of ASU’s miraculous come-from-behind victory hardly seems necessary. Somehow, some way, the Sun Devils pulled off a victory at the Los Angeles Coliseum (their first of the 21st century), with three touchdowns in the last four minutes of the game.
In the span of one day, ASU’s season outlook switched from a potential Rose Bowl bid to the Catcus Bowl back to the Rose Bowl again.
And while the finish for the Sun Devils in Los Angeles was the craziest of the day, it wasn’t an isolated incident on what may have been the craziest week of upsets in college football history.
Consider this: Never before have five teams ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll lost in the same week. Yet this was the carnage of the first weekend of October:
| # | Team | Result | # | Team | Result |
| 1 | Florida State | WIN, 43-3 vs. Wake Forest | 14 | Stanford | LOSS, 17-14 vs. No. 9 Notre Dame |
| 2 | Oregon | LOSS, 31-24 vs. Arizona | 15 | LSU | LOSS, 41-7 vs. No. 5 Auburn |
| 3 | Alabama | LOSS, 23-17 vs. No. 11 Ole Miss | 16 | USC | LOSS, 38-34 vs. Arizona State |
| 4 | Oklahoma | LOSS, 37-33 vs. No. 25 TCU | 17 | Wisconsin | LOSS, 20-14 vs. Northwestern |
| 5 | Auburn | WIN, 41-7 vs. No. 15 LSU | 18 | BYU | LOSS, 35-20 vs. Utah State |
| 6 | Texas A&M | LOSS, 48-31 vs. No. 12 Mississippi State | 19 | Nebraska | LOSS, 27-22 vs. No. 10 Michigan State |
| 7 | Baylor | WIN, 28-7 vs. Texas | 20 | Ohio State | WIN, 52-24 vs. Maryland |
| 8 | UCLA | LOSS, 30-28 vs. Utah | 21 | Oklahoma State | WIN, 37-20 vs. Iowa State |
| 9 | Notre Dame | WIN, 17-14 vs. No. 14 Stanford | 22 | East Carolina | WIN, 45-24 vs. SMU |
| 10 | Michigan State | WIN, 27-22 vs. No. 19 Nebraska | 23 | Kansas State | WIN, 45-13 vs. Texas Tech |
| 11 | Ole Miss | WIN, 23-17 vs. No. 3 Alabama | 24 | Missouri | BYE |
| 12 | Mississippi State | WIN, 48-31 vs. No. 6 Texas A&M | 25 | TCU | WIN, 37-33 vs. Oklahoma |
| 13 | Georgia | WIN, 44-17 vs. Vanderbilt |
Make no mistake, the Sun Devils have issues that need to be addressed. Big plays were still an issue on Saturday and for the second consecutive game, the team struggled to create rushing lanes for D.J. Foster, but it’s hard to argue that the team is out of the playoff picture right now.
Heck, there aren’t many teams that you couldn’t make an argument for, after 11 of the top 19 teams in the AP Poll lost.
After a night that will live in Sun Devils’ lore long after the buzz of Saturday’s victory, ASU weather a storm of historic proportions that placed them right back in to contention. Warts and all.
You can reach Adam Stites on Twitter @AdamStitesASU or by email arstites@asu.edu
