Ranked teams lost 5 games to unranked opponents for a 2nd straight week

Ranked teams lost 5 games to unranked opponents in Week 9, matching the 5 from Week 8, per SportStrata's count of every completed FBS game on ESPN's scoreboard. They went 11-5 in the 16 such matchups, a loss rate of 31.3%. Across the last 2 weeks they are 21-10 in 31 such games.

The 5 losses

• No. 2 Ohio State lost to USC, 30-18
• No. 19 SMU lost to Syracuse, 30-27
• No. 20 Northwestern lost to Oregon, 34-26
• No. 24 Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State, 51-49
• No. 25 Wisconsin lost to Iowa, 30-0

All 5 on the road, again

All 5 losses came in the unranked team's stadium, as all 5 did in Week 8. Ranked teams went 8-0 at home against unranked opponents in Week 9 and 3-5 away. Over the last 2 weeks, ranked teams are 15-0 at home and 6-10 on the road in these games.

The No. 2 team lost again

For a 2nd straight week, the No. 2 team lost to an unranked opponent: BYU fell 39-31 to UCF in Week 8, and Ohio State fell 30-18 to USC in Week 9.

Not bottom-feeders

The skeptic's case is that the winners were unranked for a reason. Fair, but the 5 winners are a combined 26-15 now, and none has a losing record: USC is 7-2, Iowa is 6-2, Oregon is 5-3, Syracuse is 4-4 and Iowa State is 4-4.

The caveat

16 games is a small sample, and 2 weeks is 2 weeks. Week 9 ties Week 8 for the most ranked losses to unranked opponents in a week this season; the previous single-week high was 4, in Week 6. What can be said: ranked teams have now dropped 10 games to unranked opponents in 2 weeks, and every one of those losses came on the road. Whether that is a pattern or 2 loud Saturdays, the data can't say yet.