Oct. 17, 2026 will go down as one of those college football Saturdays that just keeps getting stranger the longer it goes. By the time the dust settled, the sport had been turned upside down: five of the AP Top 25’s top seven teams had taken losses, chaos had reached every corner of the country, and even the nation’s No. 1 FCS team wasn’t spared.
The headliner results alone were staggering. Georgia fell 27-24 to Auburn.
Notre Dame dropped a 28-24 decision to BYU. Alabama was blown out 26-10 by No.
14 Tennessee. Texas lost 27-24 to Florida after Steve Sarkisian said his team “bled out.”
And Indiana’s defeat to Ohio State snapped a 22-game win streak.
Meanwhile, Miami needed overtime to escape Florida State, 43-35, and Ohio State held off Indiana, 19-15. That made it the first time in AP Top 25 history that five of the seven top teams lost in the same week.
South Dakota State, the No. 1 team in the FCS, also went down in a shocking loss to No. 15 North Dakota.
The injuries piled on top of the upsets. College football sack leader Colin Simmons was carted off after suffering a leg injury.
Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin left with an arm injury, was seen in a sling, and is expected to miss multiple weeks. Florida State running back Ousmane Kromah exited the Miami game early on a cart.
The quarterback decisions were almost as dramatic as the scoreboard. High-profile former five-stars Bryce Underwood at Michigan and Dylan Raiola at Oregon both came in late and helped swing their games, after having been benched. The gamble from coaches Kyle Whittingham and Josh Heupel paid off.
Then there was the mess in the final minutes of BYU’s game against Notre Dame. The Big 12 admitted its officials got it wrong, saying there should have been a second left for another Irish play. Miami, too, benefited from two favorable calls late: a holding penalty wiped out a Florida State touchdown on fourth down, and the next play a 50-50 Hail Mary was ruled an interception instead of a touchdown.
The fallout extended beyond individual teams. Alabama’s back-to-back regular season losses marked the first such stretch for the program since 2007.
Texas, once ranked No. 1, suffered its second loss. And for the SEC, there is now no unbeaten team through Week 7 for the first time since 2007.
It was a day that started in chaos and never let up. By night’s end, the playoff picture looked very different, and a long list of contenders was left picking through the wreckage.
In Other News...
Rece Davis Turns BYU Win Into Bigger Officiating Fight
The aftermath of Notre Dames loss to BYU has stretched beyond the scoreboard, with Rece Davis adding his voice to the growing frustration over how the game ended. A clock error denied the Irish one final play, and the Big 12 later acknowledged that one second remained when the last snap was over, setting off a review of the replay officiating process. For Notre Dame, it was the kind of finish that leaves little room for consolation, especially when the final sequence becomes part of the larger story.
Davis also widened the lens beyond one controversial ending, tying the officiating discussion to the bigger argument around College Football Playoff expansion. For a program trying to navigate every high-stakes detail of a season, the point is bigger than a single mistake or a single game. It is about how much room there should be in the sport for missed calls, replay review and the possibility that one late officiating issue can shape not just a result, but the broader conversation around the postseason itself. [Read more 🡒]
Former Irish Stars Made Their Presence Felt Across The NFL Sunday
Former Notre Dame players were all over NFL box scores in Week 6, turning in the kind of across-the-league impact that keeps the program visible long after Saturdays on campus. Audric Estim, Cam Hart and Michael Mayer were among the former Irish standouts who made their mark, while several other alumni chipped in with tackles, receptions and other timely plays for their respective teams.
The most notable individual steps forward came from Estim and Hart, two players whose early pro careers are still taking shape but who both flashed in meaningful spots. Mayer also kept his name in the mix by leading his team in receptions, a reminder that Notre Dames NFL pipeline remains active and productive as the season moves deeper into October. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Fans Still Can't Ignore How The BYU Finish Unfolded
The ripple effects from Notre Dames loss at BYU are still hanging around the program, and not just because it was a tight game on the road. The Irish had been in the thick of the national picture, so the defeat carried real weight in the latest AP Top 25, even as the debate around how the finish played out never really faded for fans who watched it unfold.
For Notre Dame, it has been a frustrating stretch of reminders that little margins can reshape a season in a hurry. The football loss landed on the same weekend the mens basketball team dropped an exhibition game to Dayton, with Ethan Roberts leading the Irish in scoring, so there has been no shortage of reasons for supporters to keep looking for a cleaner break in the action. [Read more 🡒]