Six AP Top 25 teams lost over the weekend, but that didn’t impact the very top of the rankings as the first seven spots remained unchanged entering Week 11.
As for the rest, well, several teams were reminded just how weighty every loss in November can be, tumbling significantly down the poll for Saturday setbacks.
Let’s take a closer look at who made notable moves in both directions in the new rankings, as well as thoughts on the most overrated and underrated teams in the poll.
Biggest Risers
No. 8 BYU (8-0): The Cougars were on a bye, but they benefit from three teams ahead of them in the rankings losing Saturday (Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and Miami, which was tied with BYU at No. 10). Their toughest challenge now awaits at No. 9 Texas Tech this week. BYU is one of just four remaining unbeaten teams at the FBS level.
No. 9 Texas Tech (8-1): We’ve been making the case for a while that Texas Tech has been underrated, especially since it took its lone loss to Arizona State with starting quarterback Behren Morton inactive. Morton was back in action Saturday and passed for 249 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 43-20 win at Kansas State. The lopsided margin was nothing new for the Red Raiders, as all eight of their wins have come by 24 or more points. The voters took notice, leapfrogging Texas Tech over Notre Dame as well as the three top-10 teams who lost for a surge of four spots.
No. 11 Oklahoma (7-2): The Sooners shook off a home loss to Ole Miss and went on the road to Tennessee for a much-needed 33-27 win over the then-No. 14 Vols. That gives Oklahoma two wins over currently ranked teams (also No. 21 Michigan) while both of its losses have come to teams now ranked 7th (Ole Miss) and 13th (Texas). With that, Oklahoma climbed seven spots in the poll. With remaining games at No. 4 Alabama and home vs. No. 19 Missouri and LSU, the Sooners’ season could go dramatically in either direction this month.
No. 12 Virginia (8-1): The Cavaliers move up three spots after a 31-21 road win at Cal — their seventh straight victory — and have their highest ranking since 2004. Virginia was picked 14th out of 17 ACC teams in the conference’s preseason poll but is now the league’s highest-ranked team after the losses by Georgia Tech and Miami.
No. 13 Texas (7-2): What a rollercoaster of a season for the Longhorns, from preseason No. 1 to all the way out of the rankings and now charging back up the poll. Texas scored its second top-10 win of the season Saturday, holding off a big fourth-quarter rally by then-No. 9 Vanderbilt in a 34-31 victory, and vaulted seven spots up the rankings. For better or worse, the Longhorns will get more opportunity for top-10 wins with a road game at No. 5 Georgia and a regular-season home finale vs. No. 3 Texas A&M.
No. 17 Utah (7-2): The Utes certainly made a statement Saturday night with a 45-14 win over then-No. 17 Cincinnati. That snapped the Bearcats’ seven-game winning streak. Utah elevated seven spots with the win and will be an interesting case in the College Football Playoff conversation. This was a much-needed signature win for the Utes, whose best win to that point was over an Arizona State team that is no longer ranked. Utah lost its two biggest games, to Texas Tech and BYU, and doesn’t have another ranked opponent on the schedule (Baylor, Kansas State, Kansas). At No. 17, at least in the AP poll, that would suggest Utah is on the fringe of the playoff race, but it doesn’t really have a clear path to the Big 12 championship game. The conference only got one team into the CFP bracket last year, and there will be more deserving at-large teams nationally.
No. 20 USC (6-2): The Trojans move up three spots after a 21-17 road win at Nebraska. The Trojans actually have a better path to the CFP, but that just means there is opportunity ahead — not that the odds are in their favor. This win aside, USC has struggled on the road the last few years under Lincoln Riley and have a big clash at No. 6 Oregon later this month. The Trojans also have a tough home game with Iowa and the rivalry game with UCLA, which can always be unpredictable. If they can win out and get to 10-2 with a win in Eugene, they will be hard to deny. But “if” is the key word there.
No. 22 Memphis (8-1): Memphis moves up three more spots after a 38-14 win at Rice. The Tigers remain the only ranked Group of Five program, but ultimately all that is going to matter in terms of earning the CFP berth reserved for the Group of Five is winning the AAC.
No. 24 Washington (6-2): The Huskies were on a bye but nonetheless move into the AP top 25 for the first time since the end of the 2023 season.
Teams Dropping In The Rankings
No. 15 Vanderbilt (7-2): Vandy’s momentum ran out at Texas as it found itself trailing by 24 points entering the fourth quarter. The Commodores then ripped off three straight touchdowns to make it a 34-31 game with an onside kick to come — and it was there for the taking — but they couldn’t secure the loose ball. With the loss, Vanderbilt drops six spots in the rankings.
No. 16 Georgia Tech (8-1): The Yellow Jackets were off to their first 8-0 start since 1966, but a 48-36 loss against a middling NC State team dealt a deflating blow to another one of college football’s best stories this year. Georgia Tech fell eight spots to drop out of the top 10.
No. 18 Miami (6-2): Mario Cristobal has long carried the reputation of being a great program builder and strong recruiter who is perennially prone to late-season letdowns. The Hurricanes were once ranked No. 2 nationally with a clear view at the playoffs, but losses to Louisville and now SMU within their last three games have damaged those hopes severely. Miami doesn’t have a good path to the ACC championship game and will need to win out and hope that’s enough for at-large consideration.
No. 23 Tennessee (6-3): The Vols did drop nine spots after losing at home to Oklahoma, but it’s not clear why they’re even still ranked at all. Tennessee has lost its three big games — to Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma — and doesn’t have a single notable win.
No. 25 Cincinnati (7-2): We were pushing Cincinnati as perhaps the most underrated team in college football, and the Bearcats had their shot to make that case on the field Saturday night at Utah. They did not. That 45-14 loss was humbling for Cincinnati, which had won seven straight games leading into it. The Bearcats drop eight spots.
Unranked Houston (7-2): The Cougars had a very brief stay in the rankings at No. 22 last week, but bad 45-35 loss at home to West Virginia (which was 0-5 in the Big 12) ended that emphatically.
Most Overrated Team
It’s got to be Tennessee. We’ve ranted in this space before about teams getting too much credit just for playing good opponents and losing. There has to be more to the resume than that the Vols were scheduled to play Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma and made it to the stadium on time for the games.
Sure, they pushed the Bulldogs to overtime way back in Week 3, but they got blown out by Alabama (37-20) and lost at home in a must-win game against the Sooners.
They also needed overtime to beat Mississippi State, beat Arkansas by only three points at home and played a light-as-air nonconference schedule.
Tennessee’s best win is … over Kentucky? Only because it went on the road and asserted itself in a 56-34 victory against the SEC’s worst team.
The Vols are the only three-loss team in the AP top 25, and it makes not a bit of sense.
Most Underrated Team
Believe it or not, it’s Texas. We never thought we’d be saying that about the Longhorns and their formerly-maligned quarterback Arch Manning, but two impressive top-10 wins, a competitive loss to No. 1 Ohio State and one bad loss to Florida, albeit in a tough road environment, is a strong resume.
Manning has thrown for more than 300 yards in back-to-back games too and looks far more settled in than he did during his turbulent struggles the first half of the season.
The most glaring rankings mistake is that No. 13 Texas is slotted two spots behind No. 11 Oklahoma despite having the same record and beating the Sooners dominantly, 23-6, last month. Oklahoma has solid wins over Michigan and Tennessee, but that’s not better than Texas’ pair of top 10 wins.
Furthermore, the Longhorns over No. 12 Virginia, which is still getting credit for an overtime win over a then-ranked Florida State team that is now 4-4 and a coin-flip overtime win at Louisville. Otherwise, the Cavaliers haven’t been all that impressive most weeks and lost to NC State.
Texas could also be ranked ahead of No. 10 Notre Dame (6-2), which beat USC at home for a decent notch on the resume and lost its other two big games to Texas A&M and Miami.