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You want chaos? October college football delivers!

A goal post was carried through the streets of Nashville in the wake of Vanderbilt’s upset over Alabama (you read that right), Arkansas took down its goal post after upsetting Tennessee and, in total, five of the top 12 teams in the AP poll suffered a loss Saturday.

It’s the first time that’s happened on the same day since Oct. 2, 2021.

And I haven’t even mentioned Miami’s 25-point comeback victory over Cal or Indiana (the football program) clinching bowl eligibility ahead of any other FBS team.

Week 6 is over, so you know how this works: Let’s run through College Football Overtime, highlighting everything you need to know from the week that was in college football.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY: HOW VANDERBILT BUILT AN ALABAMA SLAYER

What if I told you the origin of No. 1 Alabama’s destruction was in Las Cruces, New Mexico?

I don’t think you’re going to see a 30 for 30 from Vanderbilt’s 40-35 upset of No. 1 Alabama, the first Commodores win over an AP No. 1 team in school history. But it’s difficult to overstate how unusual Vanderbilt’s roster and coaching staff construction is in a conference defined by big-named brands and often way bigger coaching buyouts.

Clark Lea found himself at an inflection point last December. The Commodores had recruited well and largely followed Lea’s plan to build the program with a foundation of high school recruiting. Yet the Commodores finished 2-10 in his third season, failing to play a Power Four team to within 15 points all season.

So Lea did what so few coaches are willing to do when their plan goes awry: He pivoted. Hard.

Lea replaced both coordinators. He took over the defensive play calling. And most drastic of all he went to New Mexico State and found his offensive coordinator (Tim Beck), quarterback (Diego Pavia) and head coaching mentor (Jerry Kill). Sure, that trio helped rip up Conference USA the year prior with the nation’s No. 12 offense in terms of yards per play. But this is the SEC! How could a former Pittsburgh State coach and New Mexico Military Institute quarterback hold up in the big, bad SEC?

Quite well.

Vanderbilt knows it needs to be different on offense. There’s a legit talent gap between them and the Alabamas of the world. So Lea identified Beck, a wizard who uses pistol and option looks to give defensive headaches, and Pavia, the quarterback who runs the system so well, to help carry the program forward.

It’s worked all season and did against Saturday. Pavia went 16 of 20 for 252 yards and two touchdowns against ‘Bama. Vanderbilt only averaged 3.3 yards per carry, but the run game controlled things as the Commodores squeezed the clock with 42 minutes of possession. Those short runs opened up lanes on the outside and passes over the top.

Changes didn’t end at play callers and the quarterback. Lea also pivoted to the transfer portal.

Lea wanted to build Vanderbilt as a high school-first program. It’s what he believed. Vanderbilt signed only 14 transfers across Lea’s first three classes. But it didn’t work as the Commodores lost key starters to the portal (all three of their starting receivers from last year, for example) with no real recourse to replace them.

So Lea and general manager Barton Simmons, formerly of 247Sports, joined the rest of the sport in the portal.

Vanderbilt brought in 22 players via the portal, hoping to change both the results and the personality. The Commodores preferred to stick with mostly older transfers who had experienced winning, a fabric that’s changed the culture.

Some coaches would have stubbornly stuck to the plan. Some would have made big swings on players who didn’t fit their program or add coaches who were just names instead of results.

Lea did none of that. He embraced change. He embraced an era of football defined by the portal and NIL without losing the identity of his program. Now all of Nashville gets to celebrate because of it.

REPORT CARD

A. Texas A&M

This is the Texas A&M that we’ve been looking for.

Few programs have had more hype (and more letdowns) than the No. 25 Aggies over the past decade. Contender resources. Mid-tier SEC team results.

A 41-10 win over No. 9 Missouri (4-1) Saturday, however, showed just what Texas A&M can be as a program. Not just this year but into the future.

Eliah Drinkwitz flippantly dismissed the idea that Conner Weigman might play earlier this week. He probably should have prepared for him more. Weigman returned from a shoulder injury, sending redshirt freshman quarterback Marcel Reed back to QB2 duties, and finished 18 of 22 for 276 yards.

Finally healthy, Weigman looked like the same passer who, for three games last season, seemed like a potential ceiling raiser. That same player showed up Saturday, aided in large part by excellent line play on both sides of the ball; the Aggies’ defense totaled six sacks while the A&M run game averaged 6.6 yards per carry.

It’s the type of effort that removes any potential ceiling you might have wanted to place on A&M this season. Yes, the Aggies lost a tough Week 1 game to Notre Dame.

But the version of A&M on display Saturday — led by a high-level quarterback and elite in the trenches — is fully capable of pushing into the playoff conversation with a friendly schedule. This is, after all, the program’s first 3-0 start in SEC play since 2016.

More so than anything, however, A&M fans should be bullish on what Mike Elko‘s done in Year 1. The Aggies immediately crafted an identity built on defense (allowing 20 points per game so far this season) and have largely eliminated the silly mistakes that crippled the program under Jimbo Fisher.

Throw in a top-10 recruiting class of 2025 and the vibes in College Station couldn’t be much better.