College Football
Five Top-Eight Teams Fell in One Day, and Honestly, the Rankings Needed a Nap
Georgia, Notre Dame, Indiana, Alabama and Texas all lost on Saturday. ESPN Research says it is the first time that has happened since the AP poll began in 1936.
Saturday in college football did not so much shake up the top of the rankings as pick them up, turn them upside down and empty their pockets. Five of the top eight teams in the AP poll lost on the same day, and ESPN Research says it is the first time five top-eight teams have lost on the same day since the poll began in 1936. If you had a favorite in the top ten and still feel okay today, you are either lucky or lying.
Start in Athens, where top-ranked Georgia hosted Auburn, an unranked team nobody was handing the game to. Auburn rode quarterback Byrum Brown, who ran for more than 100 yards, all afternoon, and Alex McPherson finished the job with a 34-yard field goal as time expired. Final: Auburn 27, Georgia 24. The sting gets worse when you remember that last week's No. 1, Texas, also lost on the final play. Two straight weeks of the top team in the country getting walked off. The No. 1 ranking is starting to feel less like an honor and more like a hot potato.
Texas, meanwhile, had its own problems at home. Florida started a backup quarterback, Tramell Jones Jr., in his first career start, and still came back from a double-digit deficit to win 27-24. A late fumble by Texas quarterback Arch Manning helped seal it, but the story was a team that simply refused to leave. Over in Knoxville, Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10, with DeSean Bishop running wild and the Crimson Tide giving the ball away four times. That is the kind of afternoon you want to forget, delete from your phone and never mention at Thanksgiving.
Up in Bloomington, Ohio State edged Indiana 19-15 in a rematch of last year's Big Ten title game. The Hoosiers thought they had the go-ahead touchdown late, but the receiver's foot landed out of bounds. Inches, as they say, matter. Ohio State's win ended Indiana's winning streak at 22 games, but it may have cost the Buckeyes too, since quarterback Julian Sayin left hurt and head coach Ryan Day said he could be out several weeks.
Then came the nightcap in Provo. Eighth-ranked BYU beat No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24, with Bear Bachmeier throwing the go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes and the Cougars holding the Irish at the goal line. The fans stormed the field. Party time, or so everyone thought.
Later, the Big 12 put out a statement saying that when Notre Dame's last pass hit the ground, time remained on the clock, and the replay crew incorrectly cleared the play. In plain English, the Irish should have had one more snap from the 8-yard line. The conference says it will review its end-of-game process before next week's games. Nothing changes the final score, but it is the kind of footnote that will get argued about at tailgates for years. To be fair to everybody involved, the game itself was a gem, and the Cougars did have to stop the Irish at the goal line to earn it.
So who is No. 1 now? The new polls had not come out as we wrote this on Sunday, so we will only talk contenders. Six FBS teams are still unbeaten: BYU (6-0), James Madison (7-0), Miami (6-0), Texas Tech (6-0), UCLA (6-0) and Utah (6-0). Miami is the loudest name. The Hurricanes beat rival Florida State in double overtime, and AP noted that they staked a claim to the top spot for the first time since 2002. BYU just beat the No. 2 team at home, clock controversy and all. Ohio State has a strong résumé but a quarterback question. Nobody has an easy case, which is exactly why it will be fun.
Our take: a week like this is a gift. The sport reminded us that the rankings are a conversation, not a trophy. Grab a snack, because the next poll is going to start some arguments.
Sources: ESPN, including ESPN Research, and The Associated Press. Poll rankings and records are as of Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, before the new AP and Coaches polls were released.