Another week of the 2026 season has brought another frenzy, and after multiple losses to top 10 teams, there will be a few more changes in the new college football rankings.
No. 2 BYU and No. 8 Texas Tech each handed their first losses of the season to unranked opponents, while No. 7 Ole Miss lost at No. 19 Texas and we’re still waiting on No. 8 Utah, which hosts No. 14 Houston at press time.
Combine those results with No. 15 Iowa and No. 16 USC, both of which suffered their second losses of the season to unranked teams, and we have a week where finding the very top of the rankings could be easier than most places outside the top 10.
No. 1 Miami made things easy by putting 50 burgers on the board against Pitt, and more than half of the top five was out in Week 8 to provide little room for improvement. But some changes further down the rankings, including the result of Texas beating Ole Miss, present unique challenges for voters.
How should voters react to, say, Texas having three big wins but also two stunning losses? The Longhorns were projected to be one of the best teams in the country, and as October came to a close, they put up results that made them just one of the “very good” teams. The good news for Texas from a ranking standpoint is that “very good” looks good enough to crack the top 10, an ideal spot for College Football Playoff hopefuls.
Another thing to watch out for is the more scattered set of ballots.
Last week, voters entered the top 25. Most voters were eye-to-eye with the top 24 teams in the country, and then everyone had their own flavor for No. 25. Only 32 teams received votes in last week’s poll, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see 40 or so of those teams in the top two or three spots this week. losses outside the top 10.
Here’s what we think the new AP Top 25 will look like on Sunday after Week 8.
1. Miami (Last week – 1): The Hurricanes played their first game as the No. 1 team in the nation since 2002, and quickly made it clear that there would be no change to a third week at the top of the poll. Miami raced out to a 17-0 lead and went into the locker room on a 31-7 run before adding a couple of extra points after halftime for a 52-23 victory. The win as AP #1 is another sign of success for Mario Cristobal, who graced the 2001 title team with some throwback form and a title-standard finish of his own.
2. Ohio State (3): The Buckeyes are off in Week 8 and will be back in action next week at USC.
3. Notre Dame (4): The Fighting Irish were off in Week 8 and will be back in action next week at home against Navy.
4. Georgia (5): The Bulldogs were off in Week 8 and will be back in action next week in their annual rivalry game against Florida.
5. BYU (2): Our prediction here is that voters, by consensus, will not respect BYU’s head-to-head record over Notre Dame when re-evaluating the Cougars. Even though this game was just a week ago, voters tend to react more harshly when top teams lose to unranked opponents. Still, Notre Dame is winning on its own, better than anything some other one-loss team in the top 10 has. That makes BYU’s place on the ballot a pretty high floor for any sensitive adjustment.
6. Indiana (6): Some voters may change their ballot based on the Hoosiers’ tight but ugly overtime win against Michigan. It was one of the biggest plays of the day and had zero touchdowns in regulation. The aesthetics of the result are likely to cause a change of heart among AP voters.
7. UCLA (9): A slow start created some concerns around UCLA’s heavy focus on CBS, but the Bruins played a more impressive second half and improved to 7-0 on the season with a 28-10 win against Michigan State. Two first half plays kept the game close, but Michigan State’s offense never posed much of a threat against the Bruins defense, which has been a leading factor in their success over the past four games.
8. Utah (10): The Utes put on a wild display against No. 14 Houston in an electric and tough home environment, winning 21-13 after putting the game away in the fourth quarter. The game was 3-0 at halftime and was a complete grind with Utah going scoreless on several early drives due to an interception and a late missed field goal. But things started to get a little more congested in the second half, and Utah’s defense came up big with a fourth-quarter fumble recovery and a fourth-down stop. It’s a great win for a team that needs some validation of its ranking profile and moves the Utes up into the top 10.
9. Kentucky (12): On a very busy night in college football, Kentucky did the best thing a ranked team can do and stay silent. The Wildcats got a good push from Vanderbilt early, but took back command of the game and poured it on late for a 34-17 victory against the Commodores. Will Stein’s team is now 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the SEC and firmly entrenched as a real contender for a top-10 finish at the end of the season.
10. Texas (19): The Longhorns ended their two-game skid with a buzzer-beating top-10 win against Ole Miss, creating the most complex profile of the week for AP voters. Texas has wins over Ohio State, Ole Miss and Tennessee, while also having two losses on its profile. Since it’s a wash for voters, we expect Texas to be right in the mix as the nation’s top two-loss team, which puts it in the top 10 running back.
11. Alabama (13): Tuscaloosa was another place we could see another upset, but the Crimson Tide turned the game around at Texas A&M with a 14-0 fourth quarter run to pull away with an 11-point victory. Keelon Russell returned to the road with 311 passing yards and three touchdowns, sending Alabama into the off week with a 6-2 record.
12. Texas Tech (8): The strength of Texas Tech’s ranking was its undefeated status, and the Red Raiders’ resume will face even harsher scrutiny after Saturday’s loss at Cincinnati. The good news is that the team got a quality win early in the season to boost its profile by beating Houston in September.
13. Wake Forest (17): The Demon Deacons are off in Week 8 and will be back to face Virginia next week.
14. Ole Miss (7): The head-to-head advantage against LSU serves as a nice landing spot for voters looking to downgrade Ole Miss after the loss at Texas. The Rebels didn’t play a particularly clean game, but they also didn’t excel in any way that would dramatically change the way they were viewed against their peers. Ole Miss has two wins against ranked opponents (LSU, Missouri) and two losses against ranked opponents (Texas, Florida) to make them perfectly average teams in the midseason AP Top 25 poll.
15. LDU (18): The off week comes with Lane Kiffin’s Tigers sitting at 6-2 overall, but still lacking any high-profile wins that could make an argument for big moves up the rankings. LSU’s ceiling is clearly higher than its current ranking, and those opportunities will come on the other side of byes against Alabama, Texas and Tennessee in consecutive weeks.
16. Florida (20): The Gators were off in Week 8 and will return to action next week against Georgia.
17. Tennessee (11): After beating Alabama, the Vols outlasted Texas, where they lost earlier in the season. Now, after a 6-2 loss to South Carolina, voters will group Tennessee with a group of quality two-loss teams in the SEC. Unlike BYU, there might not be as much of a hit for the “lose to an unranked team” adjustment here, as oddsmakers had South Carolina as a narrow favorite in the game.
18. Boise State (21): Add the Broncos as another team that got off to a bit of a slow start in a tough spot before righting the ship late. Boise State tied Washington State 10-10 late in the third quarter, but scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull away for a 31-10 win that looked even better for voters scanning the top 25 scoreboard.
19. Missouri (22): The Tigers were off in Week 8 and will be back in action next Saturday night against Arkansas.
20. SMU (23): Kevin Jennings passed Tanner Mordecai for the SMU career three-point touchdown record, and running back Kendrick Raphael scored three times (two rushing, one receiving) against his former team in a 59-20 win over Cal.
21. Northwest (24): We don’t predict voters will overreact after beating Rutgers, but the Wildcats continue to prove their worth as one of the Big Ten’s best teams. Northwestern is now 6-1 overall, with the lone loss coming by six points to Indiana. Admittedly, there isn’t a lot of meat on the profile in terms of top-level wins, but it’s impressive that this offense has been rolling down the stretch. Aidan Chiles was the star in Saturday’s 42-14 win against the Scarlet Knights, totaling five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) in the win.
22. Arizona (25): It was Arizona that held steady on a day near the maximum carnage in the Big 12. The Wildcats never gave Iowa State an inch of breathing room and led their defense to a comfortable victory, improving to 6-1 on the season.
23. Houston (14): The Cougars are set to fall outside the top 25 after giving up a late lead at Utah. Houston struggled to take control early while standing and now sits at 6-2 with last week’s close win against Oklahoma State, which serves as a drop spot in the rankings.
24. Oklahoma State (NR): If only nine of the 41 non-Oklahoma voters on last week’s ballot ranked them No. 25, then the Cowboys probably aren’t down after losing to Houston. Incidentally, they were ranked 26th in the poll and now look to easily climb back into the rankings after a 57-24 win against Colorado. While the Oregon win didn’t have the pop it once had, the Pokes beat a Ducks team featuring Dante Moore and took care of business against the same UCF team that also beat BYU.
25. Wisconsin (NR): One reading of Wisconsin’s profile from a ranking standpoint might be “quality loss,” considering the Badgers are now 5-2 with the only losses coming to Notre Dame and UCLA. But Wisconsin didn’t just beat USC Saturday night in Madison; put a clamp on an offense we knew had enough talent to overwhelm lesser competition. After a 24-7 win against the Trojans, we predict the program’s first AP poll appearance since 2023, a top-25 finish that will mark Luke Fickell’s second season in Madison.
It is predicted to be released: No. 15 Iowa, No. 16 USC