We’re officially halfway through the college football season, and with each passing week, the College Football Playoff picture gets clearer and clearer. Here are the winners and losers from the latest week of college football action:

Winner: LSU

Is LSU finally for real this year? The Tigers (6-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) have fooled us before, making themselves out to be championship contenders once or twice, campaigns that usually ended in disappointment against that team from Tuscaloosa. But the AP Top 25 Poll seems to think this year might be different, as the Tigers’ recent victory over No. 7 Florida catapulted LSU over Clemson and into the second place spot in the poll. It isn’t hard to see why, especially when comparing Clemson’s stale start to the season with LSU’s electric play thus far. The Bayou Bengals have the best offense they’ve had in years, as redshirt senior quarterback Joe Burrow is finally playing his best game possible. Burrow threw only three incomplete passes against the Gators (6-1, 3-1 SEC) on Saturday, accumulating 293 yards and three touchdowns in the process. LSU scored 42 points overall against a Florida defense that was averaging fewer than 10 points coming into that contest. Maybe this is finally the year that LSU returns to the top of the SEC West. Then again, Alabama head coach Nick Saban will certainly have something to say about that in a few weeks.

Loser: The SEC East

On the flip side of that coin, you have the top two teams in the SEC East suffering their first defeats of the season. In Florida’s case, the defeat was understandable, even though it obviously wasn’t great for them. The Gators were on the road, playing a team that is better than they are, and even though he has played above expectations so far, redshirt junior quarterback Kyle Trask is still a backup. No. 10 Georgia, however, has a lot more to worry about after the performance the Bulldogs displayed against South Carolina. The Bulldogs (5-1, 2-1 SEC) were at home against an inferior opponent, yet they had no answers on offense. Junior quarterback Jake Fromm threw three interceptions in the game, all to the same guy and one was returned for a touchdown. Those were only the worst of his bad decisions that day. And of course, a crucial kick in overtime to keep Georgia alive went wide. The only two championship contenders in the SEC East both suffered major setbacks in week seven. It remains to be seen if they can recover.

Winner: Rivalry Games

I cannot remember the last time there were so many big rivalry games in the same week of college football outside of rivalry week at the end of the season. Not only did we have so many, but they were all great games. Many of college football’s greatest rivalries have become very one-sided in recent years. For every five Iron Bowls that occur, Auburn wins one. Ohio State has dominated Michigan this whole decade and Minnesota only recently ended a 14-game win streak by Wisconsin in the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. Yet, Saturday’s three rivalry games were close, entertaining contests. The Red River Showdown between No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 11 Texas was close the entire way, and the aforementioned Georgia-South Carolina contest came down to an overtime kick. Additionally, USC took archrival No. 9 Notre Dame down to the wire. It was nice to see so many intense rivalry games this early in the season.

Loser: The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)

After a few seasons of being among the top three conferences in the country, the ACC may be losing its touch. At the top of the conference, No. 3 Clemson does not seem like the dominating force it has been in recent years. Moreover, in order to be considered among the best of the Power Five, a conference has to have some depth of good teams beyond its top teams. The Big 12 has Oklahoma, but they also have Texas and Baylor. The Big Ten has Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan, in addition to the Buckeyes. The SEC has an ungodly number of great teams. But beyond Clemson, the ACC has no teams ranked in the AP Top 25, with Virginia and Wake Forest both dropping from the Top 25 after losing on Saturday. Even the Pac-12 has more than one team ranked. I still don’t see Clemson missing the Playoff, but because of the weakness of the conference, the margin of error for the ACC to be represented in January is slimmer than it was previously.

Honorable Mention: First and Very Short

Last week, I wrote about how Oklahoma had a fourth and goal from outside its own 40-yard line, and I thought that would be the strangest down and distance I ever saw. Then, the Alabama-Texas A&M game came along. Thanks to two offsides penalties, football’s half the distance to the goal rule and perfect field position, the Aggies ended up with a first and inches. Yes, a first and inches. The likelihood of all of things going right for that to occur is unbelievably small, so I had no choice but give it this week’s honorable mention.