Greg McElroy’s midseason college football rankings are starting to separate the true contenders from the teams that are just hanging around the edges of the conversation.
At the top, there isn’t much drama. Georgia sits at No. 1 after its road win over Alabama, a result McElroy pointed to as one of the best of the season so far. The Bulldogs also moved to the top of the AP Top 25 by a wide margin, so there’s plenty of agreement that they’re the team setting the pace right now.
From there, McElroy’s list starts to get interesting. Indiana is No. 2, and the Hoosiers are still unbeaten at 6-0 after finishing undefeated a year ago.
McElroy highlighted just how long it has been since Curt Cignetti’s team last took a loss. Indiana hasn’t been quite as overwhelming as it was late last season, but it keeps finding ways to win.
Josh Hoover, who transferred in from TCU, has settled in well at quarterback, and the next big checkpoint is Ohio State.
Miami checks in at No. 3.
The Hurricanes have not had a schedule loaded with heavyweight matchups, but they’ve already handled Wake Forest, which McElroy views as one of the ACC’s better teams. A date with Florida State comes this weekend, and Miami’s offense has been so dangerous that it’s hard to picture many teams simply outscoring it.
The bigger question is whether the defense keeps progressing enough to make the Hurricanes truly complete.
Notre Dame is right behind at No. 4, and the early-season trouble that has tripped up Marcus Freeman teams in the past has not shown up yet. Road wins over North Carolina and Wisconsin are already looking stronger by the week.
The real stretch is about to begin, though, with a trip to unbeaten BYU this weekend and then a home game against Miami on Nov. 7.
Those two games could go a long way in deciding the Fighting Irish’s playoff path.
Alabama lands at No. 5 after the loss to Georgia. The defeat moved the Crimson Tide down, but hardly out of the race.
They’re still firmly in the SEC title picture and in the playoff mix. Tennessee is up next, and LSU remains the main landmine after that, but the second half of the schedule still leaves plenty in front of Alabama.
Texas comes in at No. 6 after taking its first loss of the season against Oklahoma. It was the kind of game that leaves Longhorns fans staring at the near-misses: Arch Manning’s two interceptions, a few plays that could have swung the night, and a result that never quite broke Texas’ way.
Even with that setback, the Longhorns still have one of the sport’s better résumés, built in part on the win over Ohio State and the victory over Tennessee. The next four games are brutal, though: Ole Miss, Mississippi State, at Missouri, and at LSU.
Ohio State sits at No. 7, and its lone loss still looks respectable. A road defeat at a Top 5 opponent won’t carry much weight, especially if Texas stumbles later.
But the Buckeyes can’t afford many more slips. Indiana comes to town this weekend, and the result will say plenty about how much room Ohio State still has to maneuver.
Win, and the playoff picture looks clean. Lose, and things get messy fast.
The biggest surprise in McElroy’s Top 10 is UCLA at No. 8.
The Bruins have been one of the most striking stories of the 2026 season so far, with Bob Chesney drawing comparisons to Curt Cignetti for how quickly he has turned things around. The schedule has been fairly forgiving to this point, but last week’s win over Oregon gave the ranking real weight.
Wisconsin is next, followed by road trips to Minnesota and Michigan before USC comes to town to close the season.
Utah is No. 9 after ripping through the first half of the year without much resistance. Every win has come by at least two touchdowns, and even when things have gotten a little messy, the final margin has stayed comfortable. Houston and BYU are the two matchups that stand out on the remaining slate, and both are at home, but the Utes still have four road games left, which always brings some risk.
BYU rounds out McElroy’s Top 10 at No. 10.
The Cougars are also unbeaten, and only one of their five wins has been decided by single digits, a 17-10 result against TCU. The next test is enormous: No.
2 Notre Dame is coming to town. Both teams have some room to breathe in the playoff chase, but a win here would put either one on a much faster track.
McElroy clearly believes BYU belongs in the upper tier.
Greg McElroy’s Top 15 continues with teams 11-15.
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