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...
Indiana Fan Who Missed $1 Million Kick Had A Wild Next Move
Jackson Stallings turned a rough moment on ESPNs College GameDay into something very Indiana in a hurry. The student was on the spot for two 33-yard field goals that carried a $1 million prize, and both kicks sailed wide before the Hoosiers game against Minnesota. With Pat McAfee involved in the scene and the spotlight fixed squarely on campus, it was the kind of public miss that can linger for a while.
Instead, Stallings took the attention and pushed it somewhere unexpected, posting a viral LinkedIn message that framed the experience through business lessons. For a fan base used to seeing the football program under a microscope, it was a reminder that the days most memorable moment did not end with the kicks themselves. The bigger curiosity now is how far that post travels, and whether the miss ends up being remembered more for the money left on the table or the way Stallings handled it afterward. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Suddenly Has A Quarterback Problem It Cant Ignore
Josh Hoovers early exit against Minnesota turned a routine injury update into something more complicated for Indiana. The backup, Grant Wilson, stepped in and helped guide the Hoosiers to a win after Hoover did not return for the second half, giving the staff a live look at how the offense might function if the depth chart has to change.
Curt Cignetti said the possibility of a quarterback switch was discussed, which only adds to the pressure around Hoovers status moving forward. Indiana stuck with him for now, but with injury concerns and uneven play both in the picture, the Hoosiers are suddenly facing a decision they cant put off for long. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas New-Look Rotation Just Raised A Bigger Question For Next Week
Indianas second game of the season offered a clearer look at how much this roster can change from night to night, and the early returns were encouraging. In a 92-69 win over Bellarmine, Duke transfer Darren Harris delivered a career-high 23 points, while Villanova transfer Bryce Lindsay added 15 points and four assists off the bench, giving the Hoosiers a burst of scoring and playmaking from two newcomers who are already carving out roles.
Even with the offense rolling, coach Darian DeVries spent part of the night pointing to defensive lapses that still need cleaning up before the schedule stiffens. Indiana has enough depth to keep experimenting with lineups and roles, but next week will offer a better test of whether this new-look rotation can hold up when the margin for error gets smaller. [Read more 🡒]