The AP Top 25 has turned into a weekly stress test, and Week 9 only sharpened the pressure. Eight straight weeks now, at least one top-10 team has gone down, which is why November already feels like a sprint with no room for error.
Miami is living that reality at No. 1.
The Hurricanes are the fourth different team to hold the top spot, and the other three all stumbled soon after. Miami has kept escaping, but barely.
It survived a double-overtime scare against Florida State, then had to rally to beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill this past weekend.
That win came with plenty of drama. North Carolina led 28-24 in the fourth quarter before Miami ripped off two touchdowns in a row and also benefited from another controversial call. The Hurricanes now head to South Bend to face Notre Dame this weekend, and they’ll have to do it without Malachi Toney.
Indiana has also been skating on thin ice. The Hoosiers have survived back-to-back overtime games against Michigan and Minnesota, but the offense has gone missing at exactly the wrong time. Josh Hoover is banged up and lacking confidence, and the scoring problems are starting to overwhelm everything else.
The defense remains elite, but that unit can only carry so much. Indiana hosts USC next, and the Trojans just crushed No. 2 Ohio State - the only team that has beaten Curt Cignetti since the start of the 2025 season.
BYU looked like a breakout team after knocking off Notre Dame and climbing to No. 2 in the country. Since then, the Cougars have started to look vulnerable. They dropped a double-overtime game to unranked UCF, then edged Arizona State 27-20 after letting a 17-3 lead slip into a tie in the third quarter.
The defensive numbers have also turned in the wrong direction. BYU has given up 20 or more points in three straight games after allowing that many only once in its first five. If the Cougars lose to Utah in the Holy War, their CFP hopes are done.
Ohio State’s issue is more straightforward, and maybe more damaging: Julian Sayin is out for the foreseeable future with an elbow injury, and there’s a real chance he misses the rest of the year. The Buckeyes are loaded, but losing a starting quarterback is a brutal hit, no matter how much talent is left around him.
In the first full game without Sayin, backup Luke Fahey threw for 260 yards, but Ohio State still couldn’t finish drives and fell 30-18 to USC. That’s the kind of loss that can derail a season in a hurry. The Buckeyes now face Oregon in a game they have to win if they want to stay alive in the College Football Playoff race.
Tennessee rounds out the list after a week off following its 27-24 upset loss to South Carolina. The Volunteers are still hanging around the CFP picture, but the path is narrow. They need to run the table, and that means getting through home games against Kentucky and LSU plus road trips to Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
The quarterback situation makes that climb even steeper. A week off may help George MacIntyre, who has topped 200 passing yards only once in his three starts. Tennessee gets Kentucky at home Saturday night in a game that suddenly carries a lot of weight.
In Other News...
BYU Road Controversy Put One UCF Player In A Tough Spotlight
The UCF homecoming game against BYU carried more than the usual conference-game edge, and some of the noise from the stands crossed a line. A group of UCF fans directed derogatory chants at BYU and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prompting security to identify them and remove them from the stadium. The Big 12 later fined UCF $100,000 under its updated discriminatory conduct policy, a reminder that the league is drawing a harder line on behavior that goes beyond ordinary game-day heckling.
Among the people caught in the middle was UCF tight end Grayson Brousseau, who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He praised the universitys response and framed the episode as bigger than football, stressing the need for respect in a setting where rivalries can get loud but should not turn personal. For BYU, it was another uncomfortable road backdrop, and for UCF it became a test of how seriously the program and school would treat conduct that reflected poorly on both. [Read more 🡒]
BYUs Utah Hopes Suddenly Center On One Crucial Return
A viral snap from former BYU offensive lineman Connor Pay has turned an otherwise routine football detail into a talking point online, with the clip drawing more than 3 million views. The video shows the ball landing in a throwing position with the laces on the fingers, prompting plenty of debate about whether it was the kind of clean exchange that deserves all the praise it received.
For BYU, though, the bigger issue is what comes next as it prepares for Utah. The Cougars are hoping running back LJ Martin can make it back from injury in time for the matchup, and his availability could matter plenty as the rivalry game approaches and the offense looks to round into shape. [Read more 🡒]
BYUs Holy War Path May Come Down To One Brutal Matchup
The buildup to this years Holy War has a familiar feel, with both Utah and BYU knowing the margin for error is almost nonexistent. The matchup brings a lot of the usual pressure points into focus, but the one that stands out most is the ground game, where Utahs rushing defense has been one of the more difficult tests BYU will face while the Cougars have spent much of the season trying to find consistency on the ground.
From there, so much of the game could hinge on who settles in first. Utah quarterback Devon Dampier adds another layer to the challenge, and a fast start, clean special teams work and avoiding turnovers all loom large in a game with College Football Playoff and conference championship implications. In a rivalry like this, the obvious strengths and weaknesses are only part of the story, but this one may come down to whether BYU can survive the kind of matchup that has a way of deciding everything. [Read more 🡒]