A ranking is an excellent way to establish how surprised television should sound. No. 8 BYU beating No. 2 Notre Dame required considerable surprise, right up to the final play, when BYU’s defense settled an argument the numbers beside the names had started.

Notre Dame had one last chance. BYU stopped it, the play concluding in the end zone, to preserve a 28-24 victory. For the fan in Hong Kong catching up on Sunday, that is the moment worth finding before opening the rankings. A defense had to finish the game with everybody watching and no time left to repair a mistake. It finished.

Notre Dame was part of a much larger Saturday demolition. Five of the top eight teams fell, a concentration of upheaval college football had scarcely seen in nearly 40 years. The rankings arrived with authority and left needing extensive clerical assistance.

There is money beneath the astonishment. Notre Dame’s national familiarity is commercially valuable. Broadcasters can buy that familiarity. They still need BYU’s permission to attach a happy ending.

The distinction gives these games their pull: the famous name helps sell the appointment, then the opponent gets equal possession of the afternoon.

Vanderbilt’s followers received a less exhilarating result. Our sports scoreboard recorded Arkansas’s 31-21 win on October 18; USA TODAY reports that Vanderbilt is now alone at the bottom of the SEC. Its next appointment is Kentucky on October 25.

The next rankings will have to accommodate Saturday. Notre Dame’s name will remain instantly recognisable. BYU supplied the result everyone has to recognise.