Column: Upsets jostle college rankings, but road ahead isn’t clear, even for UCLA, USC

The best news about this week’s once-in-a-lifetime miracle finish was that the hero didn’t break his hip on the play and have to have surgery the next day.

Georgia Tech’s Lance Austin was luckier than Michigan State’s Jalen Watts-Jackson, yet we’ll have to wait to see which preposterous play has a bigger impact on the national title race.

Michigan State’s miracle win over Michigan, on a botched punt for touchdown, as time expired, did two things: It probably knocked the Wolverines out of the playoff race while keeping the Spartans in it.

Georgia Tech’s win over Florida State did little for the Yellow Jackets other than put a short-term smile on the face of a five-loss team.

It did deal a possible bow-out blow to Florida State, which fell (screaming) from the ranks of undefeated.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Georgia Tech Coach Paul Johnson said after his team’s 22-16 win. “That’s college football.”

Yep, that’s it in a nutshell, with emphasis on the nuts.

The smartest play of the year so far goes to Austin, who didn’t start celebrating after teammate Patrick Gamble blocked Robert Aguayo’s 56-yard field-goal attempt with the score tied at 16-16.

It’s a good thing Austin wasn’t looking at his coach, Johnson, who was waving for his player to get away from the ball.

Austin, though, quite legally picked it up and raced 78 yards toward a lifetime of free meals in Atlanta.

“I saw a lot of green,” he said. “So I was like, OK, maybe I can return it.”

Georgia Tech’s freak-show win capped a weekend that was supposed to be a lull on the schedule.

Instead, two undefeated, top-10 schools lost, with No. 3 Utah also falling at USC.

It rescrambled the polls less than two weeks before the College Football Playoff selection committee’s first ranking release.

Things may seem clearer now than they did Friday.

Clemson emerged as America’s hottest squad after its 58-0 win over Miami. The Tigers jumped three spots, to No. 3, in Sunday’s Associated Press poll.

Stanford continues to surge, up two AP spots this week to No. 8, after Saturday night’s 31-14 win over Washington.

Late-night Heisman Trophy candidate Christian McCaffrey added 300 more all-purpose yards to his portfolio. He had a 100 yards rushing and receiving against Washington and now has amassed 669 total yards in his last two games.

McCaffrey has 1,818 all-purpose yards and has a chance to eclipse Barry Sanders’ single-season record of 3,250. That would be made more interesting by the fact McCaffrey’s backup is Barry Sanders Jr.

“The little guy never gets tired,” Stanford Coach David Shaw said of McCaffrey. “He’s just special.”

It is still too soon, though, to make any definite proclamations. Let’s hope people learned after last year, when several pundits dismissed the Big Ten in September.

Florida State might seem toppled after its first loss dropped it eight spots, to No. 17, in the AP poll.

But what if Florida State beats Clemson on Nov. 7, and then a Florida team on Nov. 28 that could be the Southeastern Conference champion?

“A lot of our goals are still out there,” Florida State Coach Jimbo Fisher said after Saturday’s gut-punch defeat.

It’s still a Jimbo jumble out there.

Baylor seems a solid second in both polls but may have to move on without quarterback Seth Russell, who broke a bone in his neck during the Bears’ win over Iowa State.

Russell will see a specialist this week. His backup, Jarrett Stidham, is a highly regarded, dual-threat player. He’s also a freshman.

To be determined is whether Baylor’s system can just keep subbing in quarterbacks with no production dropoff.

It’s worked pretty well in these handoffs: Robert Griffin III to Nick Florence to Bryce Petty to Russell.

Baylor has a bye week in advance of a closing stretch of Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Christian and Texas.

We repeat — nothing has been decided.

Utah, with one loss, could run the table and get back in the playoff chase.

UCLA, with two losses, could still shake things up.

USC, despite three losses, could win the Pac-12 South and deliver a payback win to Stanford in the Pac-12 title game.

By the way: Is there a better job in football than backup USC coach?

Two years ago, after Lane Kiffin was fired, USC emotionally rallied around interim Ed Orgeron for a late-season surge that was terrific if you ignored defeats to Notre Dame and UCLA.

The Trojans seem equally inspired to play for Clay Helton, even though he has already lost to Notre Dame.

Helton may have been the big name left out when people started drawing up replacement lists for Steve Sarkisian.

Helton could make a claim if he can keep USC playing the way it did against Utah.

Regarding last week’s “hot” candidates: Scratch Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham, who lost his audition.

And Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin has lost two straight since Sarkisian was fired. The Aggies were embarrassed by Alabama and managed three points in Saturday’s loss at Mississippi.

Texas A&M is trying not to relive the nightmare of last year, when it started 5-0 and finished 8-5.

Houston Coach Tom Herman kept his name in the mix after his team improved to 7-0 with a wipe-out win over Central Florida.

Herman is a Cal Lutheran grad and grew up in Simi Valley, playing trombone in junior high and high school.

That makes him a double USC threat as he could step in to replace a sick band member on “Conquest.”

Certainly, this season remains an open book with a lot of blank stares and pages.

Why not a campaign for Helton — “What the hey, vote Clay.”

All things are possible. Colorado proved that Saturday night by defeating Oregon State.

It snapped the Buffaloes’ 14-game losing streak in the Pac-12.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com