Saturday’s shakeup should leave the top of the AP Top 25 with a new face, and Texas looks headed for a steep fall after losing to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry.
Georgia is the clear candidate to move into No. 1, but the rest of the poll is where things get messy. Texas losing on a neutral field to a rival raises the question of just how far the Longhorns slide. Alabama also took a loss, yet the Crimson Tide still appear strong enough to stay in the top 10.
That leaves little room for UCLA to make a huge leap despite its upset of Oregon. The Bruins have a real argument as one of the weekend’s biggest risers, but with Texas and Alabama still likely hanging around near the top, a top-10 breakthrough may be too crowded to happen. LSU’s loss to Kentucky only adds to the churn, and the Tigers look like the team most likely to be nudged aside by Texas Tech or Utah.
Oregon’s spot is far less secure. After a second loss, the Ducks may not even remain in the rankings, and the hit could be severe after a season that has already gone sideways. The Ducks have not started this slowly since Dan Lanning’s first year in Eugene, and for a program that has lived near the top of the poll, this is a real scramble back into relevance.
The revised projection has Georgia at No. 1, followed by Notre Dame, Miami, Ohio State and Indiana. Texas lands at No. 6, with Alabama at No. 7 and BYU, Ole Miss and Texas Tech rounding out the top 10. Utah is next at No. 11, then Missouri, UCLA, Tennessee and Mississippi State.
The rest of the projected top 25 lists Oklahoma State, LSU, USC, Iowa and Kentucky before Houston, Boise State, SMU, Wake Forest and Wisconsin.
Another projected version has Texas still at No. 1, Georgia at No. 2 and Notre Dame at No. 3, but the more likely result appears to be Georgia taking over the top spot after the chaos-heavy weekend.
For Oregon, the concern goes beyond one bad Saturday. Questions are already swirling about the Ducks’ offense, especially with former offensive coordinator Will Stein and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi gone. Oregon was without starting quarterback Dante Moore, but the problems on offense looked bigger than one missing player.
The comparisons to Penn State’s 2025 collapse have already started after the Ducks’ loss to Oklahoma State, though a full unraveling like that still feels unlikely. Even so, the frustration could linger. Penn State saw transfer portal losses and recruiting de-commitments after James Franklin was fired, and Oregon’s future under Lanning does not appear to be in immediate jeopardy.
The bigger question now is whether the Ducks can hold this roster together and avoid any fallout on the recruiting trail while trying to climb back into the AP rankings.
The poll will be updated when the AP Top 25 is released on Sunday.
In Other News...
Texas Opens Red River With Early Drama Beyond The Score
The Red River Rivalry opened with the kind of first-quarter buzz that always seems to follow Texas into the Cotton Bowl. Arch Manning found Cam Coleman for a touchdown to get the Longhorns on the board early, and the game immediately settled into the familiar mix of emotion, urgency and big-game tension that defines this matchup. Even before the score line had much time to breathe, the opening stretch had already delivered the sort of energy Texas fans expect when Oklahoma is on the other sideline.
Beyond the touchdown, the early going carried plenty of its own storylines, from pregame warmups to the injury notes and key plays that shaped the first quarter. Those details mattered in a game like this because every snap can shift the tone, and Texas had to navigate all of it while trying to keep control of the moment. The scoreboard gave the Longhorns an early edge, but the first quarter made clear this one was going to be about much more than one drive. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Looked Vulnerable In Dallas For One Frustrating Reason
Texas left Dallas with a bitter 27-24 loss to Oklahoma, and the frustration had less to do with one isolated mistake than with how the game unraveled after halftime. The Longhorns offense stalled repeatedly in the second half, stringing together multiple three-and-outs before Arch Manning was picked off late, while special teams problems kept adding pressure to a team trying to stay afloat in a tight rivalry game.
The blocked punt and missed field goals only deepened the sense that Texas kept finding new ways to make the path harder on itself. In a game where every possession mattered, the Longhorns never quite settled into rhythm, and the combination of offensive inconsistency, coaching choices, and special teams breakdowns left them vulnerable in a way that should linger well beyond one afternoon in Dallas. [Read more 🡒]
Steve Sarkisians Career Turnaround Adds New Emotion To Oklahoma Week
Oklahoma week always carries its own edge in Austin, but this one comes with a little more personal history for Steve Sarkisian. The Texas coach has been open about how Nick Saban played a major role in helping steady his career after a difficult stretch, bringing him to Alabama as an offensive analyst in 2016 after Sarkisian was fired by USC. It is the kind of reminder that gives a rivalry week already loaded with meaning a more human layer.
Sarkisian and his wife, Loreal, have both expressed gratitude for Sabans support, and Saban in turn has credited Sarkisian for doing the work needed to rebuild his career and add value to the program. For Sarkisian, that connection is part of the path that brought him back to this stage, where the Longhorns are trying to manage the usual Oklahoma Week intensity while their coach carries a little extra emotion into it. [Read more 🡒]