Week 4 gave the 2026 college football season a little more clarity, and it also made the AP Top 25 look shaky in a few places.
Six ranked teams fell on Saturday, with No. 16 Louisville’s home loss to Wake Forest standing out as the biggest jolt. Iowa and Oregon also went on the road and came away with top-25 wins, while Florida kept climbing after a lopsided win over Ole Miss in Gainesville.
But not every team in the poll is holding up its end of the bargain. A few rankings feel more like reputation than reality right now.
Indiana got the kind of test it should have handled cleanly, and instead Northwestern kept things uncomfortable. At home and favored by three touchdowns, the Hoosiers never fully shook loose. Northwestern trimmed the margin to 15-13 in the fourth quarter before failing on the two-point try, and Indiana escaped 29-23.
The Hoosiers did control the yardage and scored on three of their last four possessions, but this doesn’t look like the same unbeatable outfit from last season. Curt Cignetti’s team should still get through Rutgers and Nebraska, but the October 17 trip to Ohio State is the one that will tell the real story.
Utah has stayed a little out of the spotlight because so many of its games kick off late on the East Coast, but the Utes haven’t exactly blown the doors off anyone. They handled Arkansas, though the Razorbacks won’t be much in 2026, and then went on the road for a 31-17 win over Iowa State.
Even there, the second half was a concern. The Cyclones outscored Utah 14-7 after halftime. The schedule should help the Utes hang around for a while, too, since they don’t face another ranked team until October 24, when Houston comes to town.
USC’s ranking looks even harder to justify. The Trojans slipped after a 41-27 loss to Oregon, but the bigger issue is that they never looked sharp before that. They were mediocre against Louisiana and Rutgers, and the Oregon game only reinforced the same problem.
A dirty targeting call knocked Dante Moore out of the game, and even after that USC still couldn’t keep things close. Jayden Maiava completed barely 50% of his passes, the Trojans averaged 3.6 yards per carry, and the defense continues to be a mess. USC has now allowed 30 or more points in three straight games and at least 26 in four of five.
Houston is another team getting a little too much benefit of the doubt. The Cougars opened with a shaky showing against Oregon State, then earned some respect in a top-25 loss to Texas Tech. But the follow-up was underwhelming: a 42-28 win over Georgia Southern on the road.
That’s not the kind of performance that should move a team up two spots. Georgia Southern entered at 1-3 and had scored just 34 points combined against its last two FBS opponents. Houston now gets back-to-back ranked games in October against Oklahoma State and Utah.
SMU has its own warning signs. The Mustangs trailed Missouri State 10-0 at home before pulling out a 34-24 win, and that was after a Week 0 escape against Florida State in which they outgained the Seminoles by more than 200 yards.
Against Missouri State, SMU finished with a 592-239 edge in total yards, but the game still wasn’t the kind of clean statement it needed after losing to Louisville. Kevin Jennings has thrown at least one interception in each of SMU’s three games against FBS opponents, including two picks apiece against Florida State and Louisville.
The schedule may soften for a while, with no other ranked opponent until a trip to South Bend on November 21. Even so, the Mustangs are not playing to their ceiling right now.
In Other News...
Houstons Secondary Is Becoming A Real Concern At The Worst Time
Houstons win over Georgia Southern came with a familiar uneasiness on the back end, where the secondary again let too much slip through. The Cougars gave up 355 total yards and 289 through the air, a reminder that the pass defense has not been as steady as expected even with experienced players in the group. For a team trying to stay on track in the Big 12, those kinds of breakdowns have become hard to ignore.
Coverage busts and dropped interceptions have been part of the problem, and the inconsistency has pushed Houston near the bottom of the conference in pass defense. There is still time to clean it up, but the margin is getting thinner as the season moves forward. If the Cougars want this defense to hold up against better passing attacks, the secondary has to start looking like a strength instead of a weekly question. [Read more 🡒]
Houston Secondary Faces A Different UCF Test Than Expected
When No. 20 Houston hosts UCF, the Cougars secondary is preparing for a version of the Knights offense it may not have expected to see. Alonza Barnett III is out with an injury, and Keyone Jenkins will get the start, shifting the focus of Houstons defense from one quarterback profile to another. That change matters for a Cougars team trying to stay sharp at the back end while matching up with an opponent whose tendencies now look a little different than the original scouting report suggested.
For Houston, the challenge is not just replacing one name on the UCF side with another, but adjusting to how the Knights may lean on their offense with Jenkins under center. The game still carries the usual conference stakes, and the Cougars secondary will be part of the test as Houston looks to handle UCFs attack while keeping its own defensive plan intact. It is the kind of midweek wrinkle that can alter how a whole defense plays, even before the first snap is taken. [Read more 🡒]
Yordan Alvarez Just Cemented His Place In Astros History
Yordan Alvarezs season gave the Astros a rare individual milestone to celebrate in a year that kept Houston hovering around the middle of the standings. Over 158 games, Alvarez hit .316, the best average in Major League Baseball this season, and in the process added his name to a small and impressive chapter of franchise history.
Only Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel had previously won a batting title for Houston, which puts Alvarez in elite company inside an organization that has leaned on offense for much of its success. His production was a major reason the Astros were able to get back to the postseason despite finishing 81-81, and it offered a reminder of how much one bat can shape the feel of an entire season. [Read more 🡒]