College Football
College football: the Saturday five of the top seven lost
College football 2026 · Saturday 17 October
5
of the seven teams
in the top seven lost
Georgia fell on the last snap, Notre Dame lost in Provo and two days later the Big 12 admitted the closing sequence had been judged wrongly.
Of the seven teams sitting in the top seven on Saturday morning, five lost. Only Miami and Ohio State won. Eight ranked teams went down in total, and for the first time since 2012 the number one and number two lost on the same day of the regular season.
Miami took over at the top after beating Florida State 43-35 in double overtime. BYU climbed from eight to two. Texas fell from seven to nineteen.
Eight ranked teams that fell
AP poll position going into this weekend
Four of those eight defeats came against a ranked opponent. The other four came against teams that were not ranked at all, and those are what make this Saturday stand out.
The five moments
Georgia fell on the very last snap
Auburn 27 · Georgia 24
The number one team in the country led 14-0 at home. Auburn then scored 24 unanswered. Gunner Stockton brought Georgia level at 24 with 2:58 left through a four-yard touchdown pass to London Humphreys, then gave the ball away once more.
Alex McPherson ended it from 34 yards as the clock ran out. It was Auburn's first walk-off field goal in regulation since the 2010 national championship game, and the end of a Georgia run of 53 straight wins over unranked opponents.
Notre Dame lost in Provo, and was proved right afterwards
BYU 28 · Notre Dame 24
Bear Bachmeier had a hand in all four BYU touchdowns: two running, one thrown and one caught. The decisive one was a six-yard pass to Walker Lyons on third and goal, with 1:47 to play.
Notre Dame then stalled on the four-yard line. Two days later the Big 12 admitted its replay crew had erred: one second should have been put back on the clock and Notre Dame was owed one more play. The result stands and the conference is reviewing the rules.
Texas lost to an unranked team again
Florida 27 · Texas 24
Arch Manning managed 14 of 20 for 173 yards and was sacked five times. Texas finished under 300 total yards. Florida, unranked themselves, led by ten after three quarters.
It is a second straight defeat for Texas, and the second week running in which the number one team in the country lost to an unranked opponent. That had not happened since 1990.
Alabama were taken apart in Knoxville
Tennessee 26 · Alabama 10
No closing sequence needed here. Tennessee, ranked fourteenth, held Alabama to ten points and won by sixteen. Alabama are 5-2 and dropped from sixth to thirteenth.
Indiana lost for the first time in 22 games
Ohio State 19 · Indiana 15
The longest winning run in the country ended at home, along with a streak of nineteen home wins. Ohio State won on two Connor Hawkins field goals and touchdown passes from Julian Sayin to Bo Jackson and Jeremiah Smith.
The price was high. Sayin hurt his right shoulder in the fourth quarter on a Mario Landino sack and spent the rest of the game on the sideline with his arm in a sling. Ryan Day said he is out for several weeks. Freshman Luke Fahey finished the game.
Who is catching the most
Jeremiah Smith was double-covered on almost every play at Indiana and finished with four catches for 68 yards, one of them the 38-yard touchdown that made the difference. Across the first six games he sits on 48 catches, 916 yards and eleven touchdowns, second in the country in all three and first among all Power 4 receivers in yards and touchdowns. In the Big Ten his 39 receiving touchdowns are a share of the all-time record.
He is still not the most productive receiver in the country. That is Jesse Legree, a freshman at Oregon State, on 1,040 yards and fourteen touchdowns. On Saturday he caught eight for 108 yards and two scores, including a ninety-yard touchdown. It was his seventh straight hundred-yard game, a school record. Oregon State are 5-2 and have won five in a row.
What happens next
Next weekend's fixtures
Saturday 24 October
Ole Miss at Texas. The biggest game of the weekend. After two straight defeats Texas has to show the season is still going somewhere.
Indiana at Michigan. Indiana come off the defeat to Ohio State and go straight back on the road.
Texas A&M at Alabama. Alabama managed only ten points at Tennessee on Saturday.
LSU at Auburn. Auburn are at home, a week after the biggest upset of the season.
Pitt at Miami. Miami start the weekend as the number one team in the country.
Ohio State are off this weekend and do not play again until 31 October, against USC. Whether Sayin is back by then is not known. Luke Fahey would be making a first start.
On Saturday the biggest game is Ole Miss at Texas, who after two straight defeats have to show the season is still going somewhere. Indiana visit Michigan, Texas A&M go to Alabama, and Auburn host LSU a week after the biggest upset of the season. Miami open as number one against Pitt.
If this Saturday showed anything, it is how little a ranking in October predicts. Four weeks ago I wrote that eight ranked teams losing on one day is unusual. It happened again, and this time the one and the two went with it.