Josh’s College Football Rankings 2026–Week 8

Another week of chaos! By the end of the season we will have 3-loss teams ranked in the top ten because everyone keeps losing. I am sure some of my decisions will be somewhat controversial. There is plenty of debate to be had about undefeated from the Big XII and ACC versus one or two losses in the Big Ten and SEC. 

1. Miami (7-0)–#2–W 52-23 Pittsburgh. The Hurricanes are the dominant force of the ACC right now. Are the unbeatable? Probably not. But at the moment, they are undefeated and looking like a team that could win a title.
2. Utah (7-0)–#10–W 21-13 #15 Houston. This was a tough one. How good is the Big XII? Hard to say at the moment, but Utah is undefeated, and I still think they are a very good team. They have a tough stretch coming up, and if they beat Cincinnati, BYU, and Arizona…then yeah, ranking them in the top two is a no-brainer.
3. Ohio State (6-1)–#3–BYE. The Buckeyes lost their QB for the rest of the year (or at the very least, the rest of the regular season). Ohio State always has QB depth, so I am not nearly as afraid to keep them ranked high as I would other teams. Plus, the receivers are ridiculous, they will make a mediocre QB look good.
4. Georgia (6-1)–#6–BYE
5. UCLA (7-0)–#12–W 28-10 Michigan State. Another Big Ten missing their QB for the rest of the season. Now, I do not have as much faith in the Bruins as I do in the Buckeyes. I will keep a wary eye on this team.
6. Kentucky (7-1)–#9–W 34-17 Vanderbilt. The Wildcats continue to roll. I was actually worried about this game, I thought this could end up being one of those stumbles for a team like Kentucky. But Will Stein had his team ready.
7. BYU (6-1)–#1–L 39-31 2OT UCF. The Cougars really shot themselves in the foot by losing this game. Losing to a backup QB…yikes.
8. Notre Dame (6-1)–#7–BYE
9. Indiana (7-1)–#8–W 13-6 OT #35 Michigan. What the heck was this game? It was such an ugly game. I thought I was watching Iowa scrimmage themselves. The Hoosiers need to figure things out on offense, or their season could be in trouble.
10. SMU (6-1)–#14–W 59-20 California. The Mustangs just keep winning and have themselves in a good position to play in the ACC championship game.
11. Ole Miss (6-2)–#4–L 34-27 #20 Texas. The next bunch of teams are all from the SEC. I kept trying to put another team in there, but honestly, I cannot see that team winning against any of these two-loss SEC teams.
12. Tennessee (6-2)–#5–L 27-24 South Carolina
13. Alabama (6-2)–#13–W 31-20 Texas A&M
14. Florida (5-2)–#18–BYE
15. Texas (5-2)–#20–W 34-27 #4 Ole Miss. I know, Texas beat Ole Miss. But all of these teams are basically beating each other. So you could probably just say they are all tied for spots 11-16.
16. LSU (6-2)–#21–W 38-17 #19 Auburn
17. Northwestern (6-1)–#25–W 42-14 Rutgers. See what I mean? Does Northwestern feel like a team that is better than Ole Miss or Alabama?
18. Arizona (6-1)–#27–W 39-3 Iowa State
19. Texas Tech (6-1)–#11–L 37-24 Cincinnati. I have not been very high on Texas Tech this season (as opposed to last year when I think I ranked them high way before the AP). Every time I watch them, I do not see a top ten team, but instead one of the mid-tier teams.
20. Wake Forest (6-1)–#28–BYE
21. Missouri (5-2)–#23–BYE
22. Houston (6-2)–#15–L 21-13 #10 Utah
23. Oklahoma State (6-2)–#26–W 57-24 Colorado
24. Wisconsin (5-2)–#29–W 24-7 #16 USC
25. Minnesota (5-2)–#34–W 13-10 #17 Iowa
26. Iowa (5-2)–#17–L 13-10 #34 Minnesota
27. USC (6-2)–#16–L 24-7 #29 Wisconsin
28. Nebraska (5-2)–#30–BYE. Just like those SEC teams up above, this group of Big Ten teams feels right in this space. They are all pretty even, if they played each other ten times, it would probably be a 50-50 split.
29. Boise State (6-1)–#32–W 31-10 Washington State. Again, I am just not convinced that Boise State is as good as other rankings have them. Their only loss? Oregon…who just lost to Illinois.
30. Oregon State (5-2)–#36–BYE
31. New Mexico (6-1)–#37–W 21-16 North Dakota State. Good win for the Lobos. Such a solid defense.
32. Cincinnati (5-2)–HM–W 37-24 #11 Texas Tech
33. Duke (5-2)–#38–W 19-16 Virginia
34. UTSA (7-1)–#40–W 42-19 Tulane
35. Virginia Tech (6-2)–HM–W 20-16 Clemson
36. Liberty (6-1)–HM–W 34-6 Kennesaw State
37. Auburn (4-3)–#19–L 38-17 #21 LSU. Here come the three-loss teams.
38. Mississippi State (4-3)–#22–L 23-15 Oklahoma
39. UCF (4-3)–NR–W 39-31 2OT #1 BYU. I mean, you take down the top ranked team, you deserve to be in the Top 40.
40. Michigan (4-3)–#35–L 13-6 OT #8 Indiana. The defense keeps this team in any game. The offense…well they seem to keep other teams in the game as well.

Honorable Mentions
Oklahoma (4-3)–NR–W 23-15 #22 Mississippi State
South Carolina (4-3)–NR–W 27-24 #5 Tennessee
West Virginia (5-3)–NR–W 24-20 TCU
Louisville (4-3)–NR–BYE
James Madison (7-1)–#33–L 34-31 OT Appalachian State

OOOOOoooooo SPOOKY GAMES ON HALLOWEEN!!! Do not worry, I will not make any jokes about games being frightening or spooktacular or whatever else. Not this week anyway…

So who do we have this coming week? We have #18 Arizona at #19 Texas Tech, which should prove which team should be ranked higher (see, I can make bad jokes without resorting to Halloween puns). #9 Indiana travels to #25 Minnesota. Then we have #24 Wisconsin at #26 Iowa. Something tells me those two games will definitely be great if you are interested in an afternoon nap. Now, the big game this week will be #14 Florida vs. #4 Georgia (the game is being played in Atlanta). The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party! This should be a good game. The Dawgs have won the last five meetings, but the Gators would love to end that streak.

Also, if you want to watch some truly ugly football, check out Kent State at Sacramento State on Friday night. Kent State is 3-5, Sacramento State is 1-7. One of these teams has to win! And yes, this is just an excuse for me to post a picture of Hornet Stadium.

Tiny But Mighty
Tarleton State is one of the top-ranked FCS teams this year. They are currently 8-0. FCS schools being undefeated is usually a tall task since many of them end up playing an FBS opponent. Tarleton State beat Bowling Green earlier in the year, and have since rolled over the rest of their opponents. They are averaging 506 yards of offense per game and 32.9 points. They are an interesting team to watch because I truly believe the school is going to try and make the jump to FBS. 

Coaching Hot Seat
Well the firing has begun! Mike Locksley was fired at the beginning of the week. Then North Carolina State fired Dave Doeren. He has been the head coach since 2013 and was sitting at 98 wins. Kind of sad, but after losing to Stanford, I guess the administration figured there might not be a chance for him to get that 100th win this year. I assumed those would be the only two, but then Baylor shocked me by firing Dave Aranda. If I remember correctly, Aranda seemed like he turned Baylor back around during that second season (they went 12-2), but since then it has been downhill. They lost yesterday to Kansas, and that dropped his record to 40-40. I guess the school had seen enough at that point.

I will be curious to see the direction each of these teams goes in their hiring. My guess would be that Charles Huff gets the Maryland job. People keep mentioning Brian Kelly, but I honestly think he is at Rutgers next year. Baylor and NC State are interesting. I will make the prediction here that Baylor hires Jeff Traylor from UTSA. The Roadrunners are having another great year. He is 60-27 during his time there. The NC State job will have the usual names attached, coordinators from all the top teams, but there is one name that I have heard a few times that I think would be interesting: Philip Rivers. The former Wolfpack quarterback has a son who plays QB, and is a fairly high recruit. Could we see another Coach Prime situation? Father-son combo come to Raleigh…it would be cool. Rivers is coaching high school football right now, but he would have to show the school that he can hire the right staff. I mean, jumping right into a head coaching job without any other experience (minus playing) has to be tough (looking at Trent Dilfer…at least Eddie George coached at an FCS school before jumping to the FBS level). Rivers would be in the ACC, and there would be some pressure to produce. Fortunately, he has three sons, so he has a solid talent pipeline. 

Heisman Watch
Jeremiah Smith was off this weekend, and that gave Malachi Toney a chance to show what he can do: 16 receptions, 194 yards, and 3 TDs against Pitt. The only problem for Toney is that his QB will take some of his votes. Darian Mensah had another incredible game…31/37, 387 yards, 4 TDs. 

I do not always agree with Pat McAfee, but he was right about Michael Hawkins from WVU. He is ridiculous. He has 16 rushing TDs, 11 passing TDs. He has thrown for 1598 yards and rushed for 836. Oh, and he has only thrown two interceptions. If only the Mountaineers could play defense.