Top 25 College Football Rankings: Mike's Week 8 Standings

October 19, 2026

Mike's top 25 college football teams for Week 8 of the 2026 college football season. His complete top 25 rankings, including Ohio State, Texas, Indiana, and more.

Five teams in my top 10 lost last week, including all three top teams. Six of the AP top-10 teams lost, so I guess I was a little better off than they were. This felt like a week from 2007. Losses meant a lot more back then. Most of the teams that lost are still favorites to make the CFP.

Do you know why we have such parity in college football now? It's because of the transfer rules that nearly everyone complains about. That's one of the few things that I don't have a problem with, and those transfer rules could be improved by the NCAA actually doing something about tampering and instituting a rule that teams have to compensate the school that they are taking players from. Transferring would still be common among many top players, but more schools would think twice about doing so.

The compensation would also need to apply only to contracts over a certain amount. Teams that get a guy who is transferring because he wasn't going to start shouldn't be penalized. The "one free transfer" rule would be a bad idea, but I digress. That doesn't have anything to do with rankings. Let's do the rankings since that's what we're here for.

25. Oregon State (5-2)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 48-30 vs. Washington State

This offense is legit. Oregon State hung with both Texas Tech and Houston on the road. The Montana win is the only truly impressive one since, but many teams haven't even played teams of the caliber of Houston or Texas Tech, let alone both.

JESSE LEGREE TOUCHDOWN OMG

HE’S UP TO 1,000+ YARDS ON THE SZN https://t.co/y4qR6j0t3e

— GUCCE (@gucceCU) October 17, 2026

There's a strong case to be made for the Beavers being the best non-power team.

24. Missouri (5-2)

Previous ranking: 15 (⇓9)

Result: L 31-3 at (14) Mississippi

The win over Florida is carrying the Tigers. The losses to the Mississippi teams are still good right now, but the Tigers didn't even stay within earshot of Ole Miss.

23. Boise State (5-1)

Previous ranking: 21 (⇓2)

Result: BYE

The narrow loss at Oregon isn't even a good loss anymore.

22. Utah (6-0)

Previous ranking: 23 (⇑1)

Result: W 27-24 at Colorado 

We are halfway through the season, and Utah still hasn't played a team at or above .500 this season. FCS Idaho was 0-5 before an upset over Montana State at the Kibbie Dome a few weeks ago.

Utah State, Iowa State, Colorado, and Kansas are all 2-4. Arkansas is 3-4. I'm not impressed. Freaking play somebody! You should be embarrassed! Utah's schedule strength is 114th out of 138 FBS teams. They are three weeks into conference season...

21. Auburn (5-2)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 27-24 at (1) Georgia

DID YOU KNOW???

Texas lost to Oklahoma last week, and Georgia getting shocked by Auburn yesterday means the number one team in America lost to an unranked team in consecutive weeks for the first time since 1990.

— Miles Commodore (@miles_commodore) October 18, 2026

The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry was one for the ages. Auburn hadn't beaten Georgia since the 2017 regular-season meeting at Auburn. If it weren't for the Prayer at Jordan-Hare, Auburn would have only one win in this series since 2010. It was Auburn's first win in Athens since 2005.

Byrum Brown was a problem for Georgia for the whole game. The losses to Florida and Tennessee are better than the two losses for other two-loss teams. Is Auburn becoming a dangerous team, or was this just the juice in a rivalry game? We'll find out next week.

20. Florida (5-2)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 27-24 at (5) Texas

Florida beat Texas for the second straight season. They also beat the team that just knocked off No. 1 in their home stadium. The big win over Mississippi still looks good. Missouri and South Carolina? Florida fans don't want to talk about that.

19. Arizona (5-1)

Previous ranking: 20 (⇑1)

Result: BYE

Both West Virginia and Cincinnati have winning records. Utah hasn't even played a team with a winning record. We're not going to penalize Arizona for losing in Provo. A key win would be nice, though. Beating teams with a winning record is a relatively low bar to clear.

18. Mississippi State (4-2)

Previous ranking: 9 (⇓9)

Result: L 31-0 at LSU

If we're giving Mississippi the benefit of the doubt for losing without Kewan Lacy, we need to extend the same courtesy to their state mates. Kamario Taylor was hurt against Alabama, and Fluff Bothwell went out on the first drive of the game. Both Taylor and Bothwell missed the game at LSU.

We can't know if the Bulldogs would have won either one of those. I'm going to say no because Alabama was dominating before Taylor got hurt, and a full-strength Mississippi State team would have had problems beating the version of Sam Leavitt that was out there on Saturday.

17. Texas (4-2)

Previous ranking: 5 (⇓12)

Result: L 27-24 vs. Florida

Wins in Knoxville and over No. 1 Ohio State still have to matter, no matter how bad the last two losses look. Texas lost to an Oklahoma team that is going to be lucky to win five games and lost to a Florida team at home with its backup quarterback.

If this is what Texas has to offer for the rest of 2026, we're not going to have to worry about where to rank them much longer.

16. Northwestern (5-1)

Previous ranking: 18 (⇑2)

Result: W 24-21 at Michigan State

Northwestern's win over FCS powerhouse South Dakota State is better than any win Utah has. The only loss was on the road to the defending national champions.

It has been a solid year for the Wildcats, and it has a chance to be a special one since Oregon, Minnesota, and Illinois are all struggling this year. Northwestern may also face Ohio State without Julian Sayin.

15. Alabama (5-2)

Previous ranking: 3 (⇓12)

Result: L 26-10 at Tennessee

It was a sloppy game for Alabama, and Tennessee took advantage of it at home. Alabama lost for the third consecutive time at Neyland Stadium. This is the first time that the goalposts didn't wind up in the Tennessee River. Alabama hadn't lost three straight at Neyland since 1996 to 2000.

The win in Lexington and the win in Starkville still have to matter. Alabama also demolished the South Carolina team that beat Florida in the Swamp.

14. Iowa (6-1)

Previous ranking: 19 (⇑5)

Result: BYE

Iowa claims wins over decent Michigan and Washington teams on the road, and they beat their rival. You would be surprised how many teams can't say that this year. Losing to Ohio State is understandable. Iowa's schedule is nothing to write home about, but it's better than most in this era of super-mega-big-ass conferences.

13. Kentucky (6-1)

Previous ranking: 16 (⇑3)

Result: W 21-13 at Oklahoma

I'm not sure that a win over Oklahoma means much this year, but Kentucky has beaten the teams that have beaten others. They beat the South Carolina team that ousted Florida and beat the Oklahoma team that knocked off Texas.

True road wins in College Station and Norman are pretty impressive, even if the teams playing there this year aren't.

12. Houston (6-1)

Previous ranking: 17 (⇑5)

Result: W 35-32 vs. (13) Oklahoma State

Houston's only loss was by about two inches on the road in Lubbock. The win over Oregon State looks strong, and we know that the win over Oklahoma State is. The Cougars have a tough test in Salt Lake City this week against an untested Utah team.

11. UCLA (6-0)

Previous ranking: 12 (⇑1)

Result: W 17-7 vs. Wisconsin

This was another dominant win because of the defense. UCLA reminds me a lot of Tennessee this year. Nico Iamaleava performed well, but his injury to him is likely going to alter UCLA's season.

Ty Dieffenbach was serviceable, but if some team is able to shut down Wayne Knight, I'm not sure Dieffenbach can put the team on his back and carry them to victory. This was the only year that I think Nico may have been able to do it. He was playing much better this year.

10. Georgia (6-1)

Previous ranking: 1 (⇓9)

Result: L 27-24 vs. Auburn

You know, I figured that Auburn would beat one team this year that no one expected them to beat. This was not one of the games that I thought it would be. Georgia looked practically invincible until Alabama exposed a few things. Ball security was a huge problem for Gunner Stockton, who turned it over three times.

That's what beat Georgia. Despite missing Chauncey Bowens again, the Georgia running game was solid. The run defense did a good job on the backs, but couldn't solve Byrum Brown.

9. Notre Dame (6-1)

Previous ranking: 11 (⇑2)

Result: L 28-24 at (10) BYU

We'll give Notre Dame some credit for losing to a good team (now our new top team) on the road. The Irish had a chance to win this one in yet another clock controversy.

"I think it warranted a flag. That's a lot of contact where you're not playing the ball... I would've supported a DPI."

ESPN/ABC rules analyst Matt Austin on the Notre Dame-BYU finish.

(There's also the question of the field clock, which showed 1 second remaining) https://t.co/JzKewlL57a

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 18, 2026

As far as pass interference, it was not. Both the receiver and the defender were holding each other. If there has been one spot where officiating has been consistent this year, it's with not calling pass interference when both players are clearly holding each other. The clock, on the other hand...

The Big 12 has admitted that the game shouldn't have been over. A lot of good that does. Notre Dame is already back in South Bend. It's just like the Western Michigan-Michigan game. You can admit the error after the fact, and there are no repercussions.

Since the TV networks seem hell-bent on turning the college football season into something as irrelevant as the college basketball regular season, I think we'll see clocks as we do in college basketball. They'll start showing them in fractions of a second after this season. They almost have to at this point.

8. Wake Forest (6-1)

Previous ranking: 8 ⇔

Result: W 41-7 at California

Do you ever notice that it's the "lesser" teams traveling multiple time zones that rarely seem to struggle in those games? Maybe it's because they know it's a fact of life now and they don't complain about it.

Two Q1 passing TDs for Gio Lopez ?

? ESPN2 x @WakeFB https://t.co/PBu7g7DeYk

— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) October 18, 2026

Gio Lopez would be the Heisman Trophy frontrunner if he had a different brand on his uniform. The only ones remotely close to him in sheer numbers are Braden Atkinson of Oregon State and Michael Hawkins Jr. of West Virginia.

7. Tennessee (6-1)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 26-10 vs. (2) Alabama

Tennessee is still having growing pains at quarterback, but this defense might be the best in the SEC. DeSean Bishop has been the second-best back in the conference, even though he was barely discussed before the season started.

Besides, Tennessee beat the Auburn team that beat No. 1 Georgia at home. That's good enough for me! This was Tennessee's largest win over a top-10 Alabama team in the AP Poll era.

6. Mississippi (5-1)

Previous ranking: 14 (⇑8)

Result: W 31-3 vs. (15) Missouri

The SEC is getting really tough to rank right now, so I'm moving Mississippi up. Why? Because I still don't think they lose to Florida with a healthy Kewan Lacy.

Wins over LSU, Missouri, and Louisville don't mean as much as they once did. I'm giving Mississippi the benefit of the doubt because this isn't even close to the same offense without Lacy in it.

5. Miami (FL) (6-0)

Previous ranking: 7 (⇑2)

Result: W 43-35 vs. Florida State

The ACC officials bailed out Miami once again. If you ever have any doubt about which team the ACC views as elite, watch a Miami game. Especially a Miami game in which they have a chance to lose. The officiating becomes heavily slanted toward the Hurricanes. It isn't on plays that go to review. It's on penalties.

That penalty on the touchdown to Duce Robinson in the bottom of the second overtime was a bush-league call. That's a weak holding call, and it likely decided the game. The last play was an interception, but the play before should have been a Florida State touchdown.

4. Indiana (6-1)

Previous ranking: 2 (⇓2)

Result: L 19-15 vs. (6) Ohio State

Unfortunately, this game was decided by a hobbled Josh Hoover and an Ohio State backup who threw only two passes and didn't complete either one. That's the kind of game this was. It was a heavyweight fight, and injuries happened accordingly. Indiana did a really good job on Jeremiah Smith.

Where Omar Cooper Jr. saved Indiana's perfect season against Iowa last year, it was Nick Marsh who let perfection slip away this year. Marsh should have caught that pass in bounds.

INDIANA WR NICK MARSH WAS OUT OF BOUNDS ON WIDE-OPEN TD ?

OHIO STATE WINS, 19-15 ? https://t.co/a4f5eDajLo

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 17, 2026

3. Texas Tech (6-0)

Previous ranking: 4 (⇑1)

Result: W 53-25 vs. Arizona State 

I have given Tech a lot of grief for the easy schedule so far, but it's not as easy as we think. Oregon State could be a CFP team this year, and Tech won in Corvallis. They also beat a Houston team that keeps climbing the ranks. That's better than Miami's win over Wake.

2. Ohio State (6-1)

Previous ranking: 6 (⇑4)

Result: W 19-15 at (2) Indiana

Ohio State just beat the defending National Champions on their home field. Argue with a wall. That Texas loss is looking worse and worse, but at least it was on the road. Where did Florida beat Texas? Oh...right...

1. BYU (6-0)

Previous ranking: 10 (⇑9)

Result: W 28-24 vs. (11) Notre Dame

Notre Dame hadn't been tested like many of the teams ahead of them. Once again, we really don't know if the Irish are that good. They have lost to the last three ranked teams they have played in the last two seasons.

Still, BYU's win over the Irish is the best win among undefeated teams. They'll take the top spot for this week and maybe longer. The Holy War will be an absolute battle this year. We learned that Bear Bachmeier can carry the team on his back. We still don't know if CJ Carr can.

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