The 2026 college football season keeps throwing curveballs, and the AP Top 25 after Week 8 looks every bit as shaky as the results behind it. Top-10 teams have been falling for seven straight weeks, and the No. 1 spot has already changed hands four times. With that kind of chaos, the rankings are starting to feel more like a snapshot of the moment than any real measure of who’s truly rolling.
Indiana is one of the clearest examples. The Hoosiers bounced back from their heartbreaking loss to Ohio State, which snapped a 22-game winning streak, but the 13-6 win over Michigan was anything but convincing.
Indiana didn’t score in the second half, and its first touchdown didn’t come until overtime. The offense never found a rhythm, with Josh Hoover throwing for a season-low 81 yards and recording his first interception of the year.
The ground game wasn’t much better either, finishing with 131 rushing yards at 3.7 yards per carry.
Even so, Indiana climbed two spots after getting past a Michigan team that has disappointed. At 7-1, the Hoosiers are still in strong position, but the recent stretch hasn’t exactly inspired confidence.
They also had to rally from a fourth-quarter deficit to beat Nebraska 20-17 not long ago. Curt Cignetti at least gets a manageable closing run, since Indiana doesn’t have another ranked opponent left in the regular season.
Minnesota, fresh off upsetting Iowa, could still make things interesting.
Utah is another team that raised more questions than answers, even in victory. The Utes finally picked up a win over a team with a winning record by beating No.
14 Houston 21-13, and Morgan Scalley deserves credit for that. Still, Utah was shut out in the first half and trailed 10-0 in the third quarter before turning it around.
There’s a sense that this ride may not stay smooth for long. Utah now heads to Cincinnati, which just knocked off undefeated Texas Tech, and after that come back-to-back games against No.
8 BYU and No. 22 Arizona.
Soon enough, we’ll know whether Utah belongs in the College Football Playoff conversation or is headed for a hard fall.
Alabama remains the highest-ranked two-loss team in the country after jumping three spots for its win over Texas A&M. The résumé has some weight to it, since both losses came against ranked teams. But the Crimson Tide were still down 20-17 entering the fourth quarter at home against the Aggies, and that makes the size of the leap hard to fully justify when others are sitting below them.
The schedule isn’t getting any easier. Alabama opens a two-game road stretch next week at No.
15 LSU. The Tigers are the only ranked team left on the Crimson Tide’s regular-season slate, although the finale against Auburn should draw attention after Auburn beat No.
1 Georgia.
Texas snapped its two-game skid by beating No. 7 Ole Miss 34-27, and that should count for something.
But the Longhorns also showed the same uneven tendencies that have been following them around. They led 24-3 at halftime, then let Ole Miss storm back with a 21-0 run to tie the game in the fourth quarter.
Texas escaped, but the late wobble was familiar.
That’s why trust remains such a problem with this team. Three of Texas’ remaining five games are on the road, and if the Longhorns don’t win out, their College Football Playoff path likely closes.
Tennessee also spent the weekend proving how fast things can unravel. Coming off an emotional win over Alabama, the Volunteers walked straight into a trap at South Carolina. The Gamecocks held Josh Heupel’s team to three points in the second half and pulled out the win with a field goal as time expired.
Opponents are daring Tennessee to win through the air, and the Volunteers still haven’t shown they can answer the challenge. George MacIntyre finished with 136 passing yards and lost a costly fumble in the final minute, which all but sealed the loss. Tennessee fell five spots and could slide again after next week’s matchup with Kentucky.
In Other News...
Josh Hoover Is Already Earning Indianas Locker Room Respect
Josh Hoover has already started to change the way Indianas locker room sees a quarterback. Through a season that has demanded plenty, he has kept playing through injuries in multiple games, including matchups with Ohio State and Michigan, and the steady presence has not gone unnoticed by his teammates. For a group looking for poise and accountability at the games most important spot, Hoover has given them both.
Center Bray Lynch has been among those speaking up about the respect Hoover has earned, pointing to the quarterbacks toughness and the way he keeps competing when things get uncomfortable. For Indiana, that matters as much as any stat line because it speaks to how much trust the offense can place in its leader when the pressure rises. [Read more 🡒]
Mark Cuban Just Sent Another Strong Signal About Fernando Mendoza
Mark Cuban keeps finding ways to stay attached to Fernando Mendozas rise, and his latest move came on the collecting side. Cuban acquired a one-of-one rookie patch autographed card of Mendoza from the 2026 Topps Flagship Football set after a collector who pulled it offered it to him, another sign that his interest in the quarterback goes well beyond casual fandom.
Cuban even consulted his son Jake before finishing the purchase, which fits the pattern of how closely he has followed Mendozas story. He previously funded Mendozas NIL deal at Indiana University, where the quarterback went on to win the Heisman Trophy and lead the Hoosiers to a national championship, so every new gesture from Cuban feels like another reminder of how invested he remains in one of the programs biggest modern stars. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas New-Look Roster Is Already Fueling A Huge March Debate
Indianas retooled roster is already drawing attention well before the season starts, and the early consensus from national media outlets, polls and computer models is clear enough: this group looks like a tournament team, even if it is not being sold as a sure-fire title threat. Projections for the 2026-27 Hoosiers generally land somewhere in the mid-20s to the upper 40s nationally, which is the kind of range that invites optimism in Bloomington and skepticism elsewhere.
The intrigue comes from how much faith evaluators are placing in Indianas transfer portal additions and the scorers who are back in the fold. Some polls leave the Hoosiers just outside the top 25, while still signaling that they are close enough to the field to be part of the March conversation. For a program that has spent enough time under the microscope, that sort of middle ground is exactly where the debate starts to get loud. [Read more 🡒]