The new AP Top 25 is about to look nothing like it did a week ago.
Saturday’s chaos hit the rankings hard, with a pileup of ranked-on-ranked matchups and several heavy favorites going down across the country. The biggest headline is simple: there will be a new No. 1 in college football after another top team fell to an unranked opponent.
Georgia was the latest giant to stumble. Auburn didn’t just steal that game with a last-second field goal - it controlled big stretches of it.
The Bulldogs grabbed a quick 14-0 lead, then watched Auburn respond with ruthless efficiency, piling up three touchdowns and a field goal to move ahead by 10 before Georgia tied it late. Gunner Stockton had a chance to win it, but his fumble - his third turnover of the day - opened the door for Auburn to finish the job as time expired.
That kind of loss is going to cost Georgia in the AP poll, especially against an unranked team with two losses. Still, given the strength of the Bulldogs’ overall resume, they should remain inside the top 10.
Tennessee, meanwhile, delivered one of the weekend’s cleanest statements. Jim Knowles’ defense smothered Alabama in a 26-10 win, holding the Crimson Tide backs to 2.5 yards per carry and 54 rushing yards total while keeping Keelon Russell out of the end zone through the air.
Big Orange is now sitting near the top of the SEC race at 6-1 overall and 3-1 in league play. DeSean Bishop kept rolling, topping 100 rushing yards for the third straight time in SEC games and continuing to drive the offense.
For Alabama, the performance was the kind that sends AP voters hunting for the next team on the ballot. Scoring only 10 points on the road is not what anyone expected from a Kalen DeBoer team. Russell turned it over twice on Alabama’s first three possessions, and the only touchdown drive he produced came after a giveaway gave the Tide a short field.
The bigger issue showed up again in the trenches. The rushing attack never established itself, a problem from last season that was supposed to be fixed in 2026, and the offense went just 3 of 16 on third down while the protection unit absorbed 10 tackles for loss and five sacks.
That’s now two straight losses for Alabama after what happened against Georgia last week, and it will cost them in the AP poll. Even so, the playoff path is not shut. Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Chattanooga, and Auburn are still on the schedule, with a trip to LSU also ahead.
Ohio State escaped Bloomington with a 19-15 win against champion Indiana, but the victory came with a major asterisk. Julian Sayin will miss “several weeks” after injuring his throwing shoulder, and the Buckeyes are heading into matchups with USC and Oregon with their playoff future hanging in the balance.
Even before the injury, the offense wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire. The lack of a reliable deep threat has been a talking point again without Jeremiah Smith’s supernatural playmaking, and now Ohio State has to figure out a Plan B. Still, the Buckeyes could climb one spot to No. 3 over Miami after a road win against the ranked national champion.
Texas, by contrast, is spiraling. Arch Manning’s rough stretch continued in a second straight loss, this time to unranked Florida. Last week it was two interceptions against Oklahoma; this week, more mistakes, missed chances, and a late fumble finished off the Longhorns.
Just two weeks ago, Texas was the AP No. 1 team and the consensus projected top playoff seed. Now the margin for error is almost gone. Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, and LSU are waiting over the next month, and the Longhorns will need near-perfect football to stay in the hunt.
BYU made sure the Big 12 had its own massive moment. The Cougars knocked off second-ranked Notre Dame in an instant classic, and that result could send BYU soaring into the top five.
Bear Bachmeier delivered the go-ahead touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter to reclaim a four-point lead, and BYU’s defense closed it out with a crucial stop as regulation expired. With losses piling up around the country - Texas, Alabama, Indiana, Georgia, and Notre Dame among them - BYU has a path to serious movement in the rankings.
That loss also shakes up the playoff picture for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were one win away from becoming the No. 1 team in college football, but BYU had other plans. Notre Dame takes its first loss of the season, and its margin for error is now much thinner with Miami coming to town in two weeks.
LSU also did its part to steady the ship. After losses at Ole Miss and Kentucky complicated Lane Kiffin’s debut season, the Tigers answered with a 31-0 win over Mississippi State to improve to 5-2 and get back to .500 in SEC play.
Kamario Taylor not playing quarterback for the Bulldogs helped, but LSU also benefited from Sam Leavitt’s turnover-free outing and four touchdown passes. The Tigers’ defense forced five turnovers on downs, and now a difficult stretch is coming fast: at Auburn, Alabama and Texas at home, and at Tennessee.
In Other News...
DeBoer Called Out What Fueled Alabamas Offensive Meltdown At Tennessee
Tennessees defense spent the afternoon turning Alabamas offense into a mess, and the numbers told the story as much as the score did. DeSean Bishop ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns in No. 14 Tennessees 26-10 win over No. 6 Alabama, while the Crimson Tide managed only 201 total yards and went just 2 of 13 on third down. The turnovers piled up, too, and the result was a game in which Alabama rarely looked settled long enough to build any rhythm.
Kalen DeBoer pointed to the same issue at halftime, when he said his team needed to stay composed and make better decisions. Thats the part Alabama will probably spend the most time sorting through after a loss like this, because the problems were not limited to one bad series or one breakdown. Against a Tennessee defense that kept forcing the issue, the Tide never found a clean offensive answer, and the frustration only mounted as the game slipped away. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Suddenly Has Two Crucial Injury Questions After Tennessee Loss
Alabamas bruising night in the loss to Tennessee brought more than just a setback in the standings, it added two injury situations the Crimson Tide will now have to sort through. Cornerback Zabien Brown and running back EJ Crowell both went down with lower-extremity injuries in the first half, forcing Alabama to keep adjusting on the fly in a game already shaped by absences and patchwork depth at multiple spots.
Brown made it back to the sideline in the second half, offering at least a small sign of hope, but Crowell did not return and left with a knee brace. With Alabama already missing several key players and leaning on replacements throughout the game, the health of both Brown and Crowell could quickly become one of the biggest questions heading into the next stretch of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Alabamas Offense Has Created A Playoff Problem Fans Cant Ignore
After a fast start that had Alabama looking like a playoff lock, the offense has hit a stretch that has made the margin for error a lot thinner. Consecutive losses to Georgia and Tennessee have put the spotlight on a unit that once seemed to have answers, with Kalen DeBoer pointing to the run game, penalties and the lack of explosive plays as reasons the Tide have stumbled.
At 5-2, Alabama is still very much alive in the College Football Playoff conversation, but the path forward looks different now. The bigger concern is whether the offense can regain enough rhythm and consistency to keep the season from turning into a weekly referendum on how much the Tide can afford to slip again. [Read more 🡒]