Every week, the AP top 25 stirs the same argument: some teams get punished too hard, some get a lift they haven’t earned, and a few just flat-out get overlooked. Week 6 was no different, and there are a handful of programs that came out of the latest poll feeling shortchanged.
Texas is the clearest example. The Longhorns lost a rivalry game on the road on a walk-off field goal and fell from No. 1 to No.
- No one is arguing they should have stayed put after that kind of defeat, but the size of the drop feels excessive for a loss that came down to the final kick.
What makes it even harder to square is that Ohio State, the team Texas beat in Week 2, is sitting at No. 4 and still positioned ahead of them.
Kentucky has a similar gripe, even if its spot looks respectable at first glance. The Wildcats were knocked out of the poll a week ago after winning as a road underdog, and now they’re back at No.
- That’s not an insult on its own.
The issue is how that ranking stacks up against the rest of the SEC around them. Missouri, Tennessee and Ole Miss are all sitting above Kentucky, even though the Wildcats’ resume stacks up just as well - and in some cases better.
Missouri’s best wins are over now-unranked Florida and Texas A&M, with a loss to Mississippi State. Tennessee beat Auburn and Arkansas and lost to Texas.
Kentucky, meanwhile, beat Texas A&M and LSU and has only lost to Alabama. Ole Miss has wins over LSU and Louisville, but it also got blown out by unranked Florida.
On paper, Kentucky has every reason to be higher if these rankings are supposed to reflect what teams have actually done rather than what people expected before the season.
Oklahoma is another team that looks underappreciated. The Sooners knocked off the No. 1 team in the country and still aren’t in the poll, while two-loss LSU remains in the top 25.
LSU’s defeats came against Ole Miss and Kentucky, while Oklahoma’s losses were to Michigan and Georgia. If the biggest question is which team owns the better win, that answer belongs to Oklahoma.
And then there’s James Madison, which may be the most glaring case of all. The Dukes are 6-0 but sit 31st with 29 total points, while LSU, with two losses, remains ranked.
The reality is that James Madison doesn’t have a schedule loaded with marquee names, and there’s no denying that Power Four teams aren’t lining up to play a program that has produced Curt Cignetti and Bob Chesney and is now led by Billy Napier. But the record is the record.
James Madison has kept winning against the teams it can play, and that has to count for something.
In Other News...
Three Overlooked Sooners Transfers Just Changed How Fans See This Team
The win over No. 1 Texas did more than reshape the Big 12 race for Oklahoma, it also offered a fresh look at the transfer class that has quietly become part of the Sooners identity. Lloyd Avant led the team in rushing, Dakoda Fields found the end zone on special teams, and offensive lineman EMarion Harris helped keep John Mateer upright in a game where protection mattered on nearly every snap.
For a roster still taking shape, those kinds of contributions carry real weight because they show how many different paths this team can win with. The Sooners did not just get star turns in the rivalry upset, they got useful, game-changing snaps from players who arrived with less fanfare, and that kind of depth tends to change how a team is viewed long after one Saturday has passed. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Has A New Argument Against The AP Poll
Oklahomas win over No. 1 Texas in the Red River Rivalry should have sharpened the case for the Sooners in the AP Top 25, especially with the schedule they have already survived. At 3-2, Oklahoma has taken its lumps against Michigan and Georgia, but the bigger picture now includes a victory over the nations top-ranked team, which is the kind of result poll voters usually reward.
Instead, the Sooners were left out of the latest poll, opening the door to a broader conversation about how teams are being judged early in the season. Compared with some of the ranked teams ahead of them, Oklahomas mix of strength of schedule and quality wins gives it a real argument, and the Texas result only adds to the frustration of being overlooked. [Read more 🡒]
Sooners Fans Got The Rivalry Moment Arch Manning Couldn't Escape
Arch Manning put together plenty of bright moments against Oklahoma, finishing with 260 passing yards and three touchdowns, but the game turned on the kind of mistakes that never go unnoticed in a rivalry setting. He completed 19 of 31 passes and still walked away with a loss after two fourth-quarter interceptions helped swing the outcome, a result that sent Texas tumbling from the No. 1 spot.
For Sooners fans, it was exactly the sort of moment that lingers after a Red River meeting, especially with the Longhorns staring at a difficult stretch ahead. The conversation around Manning has only grown louder since then, with fans and commentators questioning what the performance says about him, and the debate is likely to keep following Texas as the season moves on. [Read more 🡒]