Week 7 brought the kind of shake-up college football lives for. A messy Saturday at the top helped clear the runway for a new No. 1 in ESPN’s Football Power Index, and Ohio State is the team taking over the top spot after a win at Indiana.
The Buckeyes climbed two places to reach No. 1 in the latest FPI update, but the move came with bad news attached. Quarterback Julian Sayin is expected to miss several weeks after suffering a shoulder injury in the game, a significant blow for an offense that has leaned hard on his work with Jeremiah Smith.
Notre Dame, meanwhile, slid just one slot to No. 2 after its loss to BYU. The Cougars’ win was part of a broader Week 7 shake-up that saw several highly ranked teams take losses and sent the rankings into a fresh shuffle.
ESPN’s FPI is not a simple win-loss list. It’s a computer model built to measure team strength and project what comes next, using 20,000 simulations of the season and individual games. That combination of results and projections is what pushed the latest rankings into a new order after a chaotic Saturday.
Here’s the full ESPN College Football Power Index 2026 after Week 7:
- Ohio State
- Notre Dame
- Georgia
- Miami
- Indiana
- Alabama
- Texas
- LSU
- Texas Tech
- Oregon
- Ole Miss
- Tennessee
- Utah
- BYU
- Nebraska
- Wake Forest
- USC
- Houston
- Florida
- Texas A&M
- Auburn
- Oklahoma
- Louisville
- Northwestern
- Iowa
In Other News...
BYU Win Over Notre Dame Just Sparked A Brutal New Debate
The aftermath of BYUs win over Notre Dame has quickly shifted from celebration to scrutiny, with the Big 12 acknowledging that the game clock should have shown one second remaining after an incomplete pass by Irish quarterback CJ Carr. Instead, the replay officiating crew cleared the play and the contest ended, leaving Notre Dame without the chance to run one more snap from BYUs 8-yard line.
Now the conference is set to conduct a full review of the end-of-game officiating process, which only adds to the frustration around a finish that already had people debating what should have happened next. For BYU, the result still stands for the moment, but the closing sequence has become the kind of replay controversy that can linger long after the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
BYUs Notre Dame Win Just Took A Controversial Turn
BYUs 28-24 win over Notre Dame now comes with an awkward asterisk after the Big 12 acknowledged that the final sequence was handled incorrectly. According to the conference, there was still time left when Notre Dames last pass hit the ground, but the replay officiating crew cleared the play anyway, ending the game before the Fighting Irish could get another snap.
The admission doesnt change the result, but it does put the finish under a brighter spotlight than anyone in Provo expected. The Big 12 said it will review its end-of-game officiating procedures after the mistake, leaving a major win for the Cougars attached to a conference-wide replay issue that is sure to linger a while. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Was Left Fuming After A Brutal Endgame Officiating Controversy
Notre Dames frustration from the Week 7 finish against BYU came from more than one call, or no-call, in the games closing moments. A missed defensive pass interference flag and a series of clock management mistakes by the officials shaped the final sequence, turning the ending into the kind of controversy that tends to linger long after the final whistle.
The Big 12 later acknowledged there was still one second left on the clock after the final play, meaning the replay officiating crew should not have ended it when it did. The result left Notre Dame fuming and added another layer to a night already marked by debate, with former NFL player Breiden Fehoko also stoking the conversation by publicly claiming officials rig games at both the NFL and college levels, a charge that remains unverified. [Read more 🡒]