Oct. 26, 2026 by Tucker Hills (‘27)
If you are a college football fan, you just witnessed one of the wildest weekends of recent CFB history. Last Saturday, five of the nation’s top seven teams lost. These results drastically changed the Associated Press Top 25 rankings and created new opportunities in the race for the College Football Playoff.
Unranked Auburn defeated No. 1 Georgia 27-24 in exciting fashion, with Alex McPherson drilling a last-second 34-yard field goal. Georgia started strong, taking a 14-0 lead, but Auburn responded with 24 straight points. Georgia later tied the game, but a roughing the passer call set McPherson up with great field goal position.
Auburn head coach Alex Golesh praised his team after the victory, saying, “I’m just grateful to our guys.” Georgia coach Kirby Smart admitted his team’s mistakes were costly, saying, “We like to say the dogs don’t beat the dogs, but they found a way to beat themselves today.”
In Utah, No. 8 BYU defeated No. 2 Notre Dame, 28-24. BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier delivered an outstanding performance, throwing for 224 yards while scoring touchdowns by rushing, passing, and even caught a reverse screen pass from receiver Kyle Kasper and ran it in for receiving touchdown. Notre Dame had five opportunities in the red zone to score during the last thirty seconds, but their last play fell incomplete in the end zone.
The crazy weekend roller-coaster continued as No. 11 Tennessee defeated No. 6 Alabama, 26-10, while unranked Florida stunned No. 7 Texas, 27-24. No. 3 Ohio State also defeated No. 5 Indiana, 19-15, ending Indiana’s historic 22-game winning streak.
The previous No. 1 ranking also changed hands, with Miami moving to No. 1 after beating Florida State, 43-35, in double overtime.
The last time something like this happened, when five of the top seven teams lost on the same weekend was January of 1989. If this weekend proved anything, it’s that rankings do not guarantee victories, and that the race for a spot in the college football playoff is becoming more and more unpredictable, leaving teams and fans wondering what surprises the rest of the season might bring.