Texas shook up the top of the Coaches Poll in a big way, and it happened in dramatic fashion. The Longhorns’ rally against No. 1 Ohio State flipped the whole conversation two weeks into the 2026 season, with Arch Manning powering three long touchdown drives and scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter after a rough start.
That comeback didn’t just change one game. It changed the top of the rankings, too. Texas moved up two spots, while Ohio State slid five after coughing up a 20-point lead in Austin.
For Texas, the payoff was obvious. The win came with revenge for Manning, whose last outing against the Buckeyes drew a wave of criticism. This time, he may have played his way into Heisman consideration with a comeback that won’t fade anytime soon.
Ohio State, meanwhile, now has a pile of questions hanging over it. The Buckeyes have to figure out how to become more aggressive on offense, how to tighten up a defense that has lost so many key players, and who besides Jeremiah Smith can threaten deep. And the schedule is not getting any kinder, with more difficult road games still ahead.
Oregon took the steepest hit among the other heavyweights, dropping 12 spots after a bad upset loss at Oklahoma State. That’s a rough turn for a team that beat the Cowboys 69-3 a year ago.
But a lot has changed since then - 91 transfers, a new coach, a new quarterback, and a new lead rusher all reshaped the roster - and the poll punished the Ducks for it. The bigger question now is whether this team really is as good as it looks on paper.
Michigan climbed five places after doing enough at home against Oklahoma. The Wolverines came in as an underdog, but they got an early spark from Bryce Underwood’s mobility and leaned on their front to slow down the Sooners’ SEC title hopes.
Oklahoma dropped 11 spots, and the offensive concerns are still front and center. Right now, the Sooners simply aren’t doing much on that side of the ball, and the road gets tougher once the SEC schedule starts in earnest, including a trip to Georgia.
At the bottom edge of the rankings picture, Florida missed the top 25 after tying with Virginia for the final spot last week. The Gators hammered Campbell and have scored more than 50 points in Jon Sumrall’s first two games as head coach, matching Billy Napier’s entire total, but the coaches still didn’t give them enough support to stay in.
A number of other teams picked up votes without cracking the top 25: Florida 183; Louisville 160; Boise State 44; Kansas State 24; South Carolina 23; Mississippi State 20; Vanderbilt 19; Duke 19; Nebraska 18; Pittsburgh 16; Oklahoma State 16; Auburn 15; Western Michigan 10; Virginia Tech 9; UCLA 8; Tulsa 7; North Dakota State 5; New Mexico 4; Clemson 3; Wake Forest 1; Arizona 1.
In Other News...
Texas Tech Fans Are Already Sounding The Alarm After Corvallis
Two games into the season, Texas Tech has already given its fan base plenty to pick apart. A narrow win over Oregon State followed by a less competitive outing against Abilene Christian has left some supporters uneasy, and the conversation online has quickly shifted from optimism to concern. The complaints have touched just about every part of the operation, from penalties to play calling to the broader sense that the Red Raiders have not looked as sharp as expected.
Social media has become the sounding board for that frustration, with fans openly questioning why the early performances have been so uneven. It is still early, but the tone around the program has changed fast, and the alarm after Corvallis is less about one bad stretch than the feeling that Texas Tech has not yet put together a clean, convincing showing. If the Red Raiders want to quiet that chatter, the next few weeks will matter a lot. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech Escaped With A Win But A Bigger Problem Looms
Texas Tech got the result it wanted against Oregon State, but the performance left plenty to sort through. The Red Raiders held on for a 35-24 win even as the offense looked uneven at times, with J'Koby Williams providing one of the clearest positives by leading the ground game with 116 rushing yards and a touchdown. Will Hammond also did enough to steady things, throwing for 189 yards and a go-ahead touchdown pass.
The bigger issue now is what comes next at quarterback. The Red Raiders used Thomas Castellanos as well, leaving the position picture unsettled even after a victory that should have brought some clarity. An answer is expected from the offensive coordinator soon, and for a team that escaped with a win despite a shaky outing, defining those roles feels like the next step it cannot afford to delay. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Techs 2-0 Start Just Put Its QB Situation In Focus
Texas Techs 35-24 win over Oregon State gave the Red Raiders a clean result, but it also sharpened the conversation around the most watched position on the roster. Will Hammond got the start and finished 20 of 27 for 189 yards and a touchdown, yet the box score did not tell the whole story, especially with head coach Joey McGuire pointing to the kind of mistakes that tend to linger beyond a victory.
McGuire specifically called out turnovers, sacks and decision-making as issues, a sign that the staff is still sorting out how much trust to place in the offense under center. Florida State transfer Thomas Castellanos also took snaps at quarterback, which adds another layer to a situation Texas Tech would probably prefer to settle quickly as the early schedule keeps moving. [Read more 🡒]