A Night of College Football Insanity: The Upsets of No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Washington

It has been a week of shocking outcomes, to say the least—favorites being toppled, followed by the fallout of the prophets who placed them on their pedestals. But if there's one realm (aside from politics) that you could have predicted the unpredictable, it surely would have been college football. Because it's a place where nothing is a given. But toppling the No. 2, 3, and 4 teams in the country on the same night? Seemed impossible, right?

Last night certainly proved to be nearly that—impossible—as it was the first time in 31 years that teams in those positions fell on the same day. But all the stars aligned, and it was so. Let's break this down to see exactly when shit hit the fan for these favorites:

No. 2 Clemson's loss to Pitt

The Clemson Tigers saw their first loss at Death Valley last night in 21 games, snapping the longest win streak in the country, and Pitt gleefully snatched it away from them in the final seconds.

Without seeing the final score, you might peep two lines of QB stats, and feel like Clemson had obviously won—Clemson's Deshaun Watson threw 52-70 for 580 yards compared to Pitt's Nathan Peterman going 22-37 for 308. But then there was that whole TD:INT ratio. Watson was 3:3 and Peterman was 5:0. Doesn't really matter how many yards you accumulate if they don't take you to the end zone.

But the real nail-biting moment came with 12 seconds on the clock, when Pitt's placekicker Chris Blewitt had a shot at redemption for his failed field goal attempt from before the half, when he… blew it… with a blocked kick. (Sorry. Had to.) While on the bench, with Pitt trailing 40-42, head coach Pat Narduzzi came over to Blewitt and kissed him on the face, thereby gracing him with the power to kick this 48-yard field goal clearly through the uprights:

Sorry, Clemson: no last-second victory followed by a cult-like field swarming for you. No, it certainly doesn't end Clemson's College Playoff chances, but it's definitely a shot to the old "bring it on, Bama" ego.

No 3. Michigan falls to Iowa

It seems that there was a theme to the death sentences of the mighty top 4 (minus Alabama) last night: field goals. Michigan—after plastering their wall decorations in Iowa's infamously pink visitor's locker room—stepped onto the field hoping to smoke an unranked Iowa. But that was not the case.

Yes, there was a controversial facemask penalty on a punt that put Iowa on the 36-yardline with a minute and change to go (we will be hearing from Michigan fans for a while about this one). But that doesn't account for the fact that Michigan mounted a flaccid offense the whole night. This is a team that put up 660, 600, 561, and 436 yards respectively, crippling their opponents with a 178 point collective margin of victory in the last four games alone. That's nightmare fuel for any opponents. But their yardage on the night against Iowa? 201. Iowa's Akrum Wadley alone had 115 rushing yards. Iowa also did well to dole out Michigan an obscene number of three-and-outs.

Despite all of that, Michigan seemed close to sealing out the game 13-11 when Channing Stribling caught an interception with 1:54 left.

Channing Stribling makes a HUGE interception to give Michigan the ball back with 1:54 left in the game. pic.twitter.com/gOlnzeC23n
— Evan Petzold (@EvanPetzold) November 13, 2016

But the Hawkeyes held them back, got the facemask call and then, with three seconds left from 33 yards:

Sweet dreams, @HawkeyeFootball fans. https://t.co/6XSg3CI99n
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) November 13, 2016

With a final of 14-13 going to the Hawkeyes, another undefeated season was put to rest.

No. 4 Washington gets the boot from No. 20 USC

Up next was yet another perfect season snuffed out. Being the Western-most team on the list, Washington received news of Clemson's loss to Pitt before kickoff, and fans were primed for the potential of moving up into the coveted top three with a win against USC at home.

But USC brought a tremendous passing game to the day:

The game took on a kind of interception ping-pong, as Washington QB Jake Browning and USC's redshirt freshman miracleboy Sam Darnold couldn't seem to remember the color of their receivers' jerseys. Sprinkle in a blocked field goal or two, and you've got an exciting back-and-forth. But despite throwing two interceptions, Darnold outplayed Browning, with 23-of-33 for 287 yards and two touchdowns, receiving a 151 rating compared to Browning's 106. It certainly didn't help that Browning cost his team a safety in the final moments by losing his footing. The game would close out 26-13.

After the game, Browning addressed the issue of their College Playoff chances, saying, "You see people lose all the time. I don't even know what the rankings mean with four weeks left in the season. Obviously anything can happen." If there ever was a time for Browning to be right about that last sentence, it certainly was last night.

So What's Next?

The obvious benefactor of last night's mayhem was Alabama, who absolutely wrecked Mississippi last night 51-3 and sit even prettier atop the college rankings. But the not-so-silent victors on the night were an oft-overlooked (admit it; you let them slide out of your periphery) Ohio State, who administered a lethal blowout of their own, defeating Maryland 62-3. Sitting at 9-1, they now have a chance to move in on the territory of their previously undefeated rivals. It's hard to tell where AP voters will dole out their biases in the wake of last night. But one thing remains for sure: don't count on those rankings to hold true. Because, like Browning said: anything can happen.