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...
Texas Just Learned How Costly That Red River Loss Really Was
The Red River loss to Oklahoma did more than just knock Texas out of the win column. A 47-yard kick by Tate Sandell sealed the 27-24 defeat and ended the Longhorns four-week run at No. 1 in the AP Poll, a stretch that had given the program some early-season breathing room at the top.
The fallout was just as jarring as the finish. Texas dropped to No. 7 in the AP Poll and No. 6 in the Coaches Poll, and with several other top-25 teams also stumbling over the week, the rankings shuffled around the Longhorns in a way that makes the defeat look even costlier in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Suddenly Has A Coaching Question Fans Cant Ignore
Texas left the Red River Rivalry with more than a frustrating 27-24 loss to unranked Oklahoma. The Longhorns were undone by a messy special teams performance, highlighted by a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown and a missed late field goal, while the offense also had trouble sustaining drives and converting on third down.
Steve Sarkisian was asked afterward whether the special teams operation needs to be re-evaluated, a question that can linger when a game turns on hidden-yardage mistakes. For a Texas team with bigger goals, the concern now is not just the loss itself, but whether one phase of the game has become too costly to keep overlooking. [Read more 🡒]
Arch Manning Is Now At Center Of Texas' Biggest Debate
Texas left the Red River Rivalry with the kind of loss that lingers, a late field goal handing Oklahoma the win and putting Arch Manning right in the middle of the conversation. Manning was sharp enough in the first half and showed comfort on throws inside the numbers, but the finish turned on a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions that helped swing the game and reopened questions about how the Longhorns are putting him in position to succeed.
For Texas, the larger issue is no longer just one bad stretch in one rivalry game. Mannings decision-making is under the microscope, but so is the play-calling around him, with the debate centering on whether the offense is asking too much at the wrong moments or not enough to keep him on the right track. As the Longhorns try to move past a painful loss, those questions are only going to get louder. [Read more 🡒]