Josh’s College Football Rankings 2026–Week 10

Was this the most meaningful week of the season with regards to the college football playoffs? There are a bunch of teams that had to win to stay in the hunt, some of them did, and some did not.

1. Utah (9-0)–#2–W 28-20 #6 BYU. I know that the CFP will rank Georgia first since Miami lost, but there are two P4 schools that are undefeated, and I think you have to reward the one who has beat a top ten team, and also a very good (and ranked) Houston team. The Utes deserve to be #1 right now.
2. Georgia (8-1)–#3–W 42-7 #9 Ole Miss. I thought this game would be closer. Geez, the Bulldogs absolutely destroyed a top ten team.
3. Notre Dame (8-1)–#7–W 31-24 #1 Miami. They did what they had to do. They beat the #1 team in the country. This is what I hate though, they lost to BYU, but since the Cougars have lost twice since then, they are not considered as good? But if they beat BYU, they would have been the #1 team (most likely). And no one would have thought much about what BYU did after that. Like no one was looking at Miami’s opponents after they lost and saying “well they lost again by X number of points, so they are clearly not good, and Miami is not that good for beating them…”
4. UCLA (9-0)–#4–W 34-20 #26 Minnesota. The Bruins continue to find ways to win. And it looks like they are not really missing much with Nico being out. Ty Dieffenbach has stepped into the starting role, and performed well.
5. Miami (8-1)–#1–L 31-24 #7 Notre Dame. How different would this game have been if Toney was not injured? We will never know, but hard to punish the Hurricanes for that loss.
6. Indiana (8-1)–#8–BYE
7. Tennessee (7-2)–#12–W 34-6 #5 Kentucky. I had a strong feeling that the Vols would win this game, but I did not expect such a beating.
8. Alabama (7-2)–#13–W 31-13 #16 LSU. I thought this would be close as well. The Tide had something to say about that idea.
9. Wake Forest (8-1)–#10–W 77-0 Merrimack. Really not sure where to put this team. The only loss was to Miami, but how strong is the ACC? They could be a 9-14 team, or they could be 20-25 team. It is hard to say.
10. Texas (7-2)–#14–W 34-20 #18 Missouri. The Longhorns continue to stay alive in the playoff hunt. Seems like the criticism of Arch Manning worked.
11. Texas Tech (8-1)–#11–W 53-48 #40 West Virginia. I watched the first half. It was insane. WVU has one of the best offenses in college football. They also have probably the absolute worst defense. I thought Texas Tech had a stout defense, but the Mountaineers put up 48 on them. If they make the Big XII championship, it will be interesting to see how they stack up with Utah (if they make it as well).
12. Kentucky (7-2)–#5–L 34-6 #12 Tennessee
13. BYU (7-2)–#6–L 28-20 #2 Utah
14. USC (7-2)–#15–BYE
15. Arizona (7-2)–#19–W 29-28 TCU
16. Iowa (7-2)–#20–W 24-10 #24 Northwestern. I hate to keep being proven wrong by this team. They have a pretty easy schedule remaining, they could win out and if some things fall their way (like a lot of things), could find themselves in the Big Ten championship. Crazy.
17. Houston (7-2)–#21–W 31-24 Cincinnati
18. SMU (7-2)–#23–W 51-28 #34 Virginia Tech. The entire game the announcers kept hyping up the VT defense. They gave up 569 yards to the Mustangs. Jennings threw for 350 yards with 4 TDs. When the Mustangs are on…they are an impressive team.
19. Ole Miss (7-3)–#9–L 42-7 #3 Georgia. I probably would have dropped the Rebels a few spots if the game was close. But getting crushed by 35 points AT HOME…yikes.
20. LSU (6-3)–#16–L 31-13 #13 Alabama
21. Missouri (6-3)–#18–L 34-20 #14 Texas
22. Oregon (6-3)–#29–W 41-28 #17 Ohio State. The Ducks put it to the Buckeyes. Something tells me Dan Lanning and Ryan Day will not be exchanging Christmas cards or doing any other friendly activities.
23. South Carolina (6-3)–#25–W 17-9 Texas A&M. Is this team playing for Shane Beamer to keep his job? I have no clue, but LaNorris Sellers has been playing well the last bunch of games (I was very high on him a few years ago, and last year he really made me look stupid).
24. Duke (7-2)–#31–W 41-3 NC State
25. Oklahoma State (6-3)–#27–W 66-28 Kansas State
26. Boise State (8-1)–#29–W 64-38 Colorado State. The CFP seems to be with me on this team. The AP will probably have them in the top 15.
27. Ohio State (6-3)–#17–L 41-28 #29 Oregon. This has to be the lowest I have ever had Ohio State, in the very long time that I have been doing these rankings.
28. Northwestern (6-3)–#24–L 24-10 #20 Iowa
29. Wisconsin (6-3)–#32–W 31-10 Rutgers
30. New Mexico (8-1)–#30–W 31-3 Nevada
31. Liberty (8-1)–#35–W 30-14 New Mexico State
32. Louisville (6-3)–#36–W 44-7 Georgia Tech
33. North Texas (7-2)–HM–W 52-23 Rice
34. Pittsburgh (6-3)–HM–BYE
35. Minnesota (5-4)–#26–L 34-20 #4 UCLA. Ughhh….we are ranking four-loss teams now. But I mean, it is either that or rank a bunch of MAC/Sun Belt/Pac-12 teams that have two losses and would probably get curb-stomped by someone like Minnesota.
36. Oklahoma (5-4)–NR–W 23-7 #22 Florida
37. Baylor (6-3)–HM–W 42-31 Iowa State. Firing their coach seemed to do the trick.
38. UNC (5-4)–HM–W 38-21 UConn
39. Florida (5-4)–#22–L 23-7 Oklahoma
40. Ohio (7-2)–NR–W 28-20 Akron. Look, I need to give the MAC a little love. The Bobcats are the top dogs in the conference. Should reward them for that.

Honorable Mentions
Virginia Tech (6-3)–#34–L 51-28 #23 SMU
Penn State (5-4)–NR–W 28-25 #38 Washington. Listen, this is a total homer move, but the Nittany Lions are playing…better. Cautiously optimistic is how I feel at the moment.
Cincinnati (5-4)–HM–L 31-24 #21 Houston. I just cannot give up on this Bearcat team. I think they are good. Like, if their schedule was a little different this year, they might be 7-2 instead of 5-4. I guess a few teams could probably say that.
North Dakota State (7-2)–NR–BYE
Air Force (7-2)–NR–W 24-21 Army

This upcoming week will give us a chance to breathe. There are some solid games, but it is nothing like the last few weeks with so many ranked teams playing each other. I would say the most intriguing games are #9 Wake Forest at #18 SMU, which will be a huge test for the Demon Deacons. If they win this one, it will give us an idea of how good they really are. Next up we have another ACC matchup: #24 Duke at #5 Miami. Can the Hurricanes rebound from that loss to Notre Dame? Or can the Blue Devils ruin their season with a big upset. Next up we have #14 USC at #6 Indiana. The Hoosiers have been so close to losing just about every week. Can the Trojans put a loss on them, and get themselves into the playoff discussion? Another interesting game to me is #21 Missouri at #2 Georgia. Listen, Mizzou is out of the playoff hunt (were they ever really in it?), but how do they respond? If they could upset Georgia, wooooo boy, that would make things interesting for the committee. I love a little chaos!

Also, we have #35 Minnesota coming to Happy Valley to take on Penn State. PJ Fleck loves to get his team fired up for a game against the Nittany Lions. If Penn State can beat the Golden Gophers, that will get them to bowl eligibility, and help Matt Campbell quiet some of the fans. 

And since we are taking a tour of MAC stadiums. This week we stop by the Glass Bowl. The home of the Toledo Rockets, who take on UMass on Wednesday night. Are you folks aware that I have posted a new stadium every week? If you went back through all of these posts, you would have quite the slideshow of college football stadiums. 

Tiny But Mighty
Ferris State (located in Michigan) defeated Wayne State, 80-0. That was their 40th consecutive win, which ties the Division II record (held by Grand Valley State). They take on Roosevelt next week, and it will be cool to see if they can break the record. The Roosevelt Lakers are 5-5, so it is not a guaranteed win for the Ferris State Bulldogs. 

Coaching Hot Seat
I do not think I had Matt Rhule on my list of coaches in trouble this year. But you know what? After Nebraska’s fourth straight loss, he might be in trouble. Also, it looks like NC State is finalizing a deal to hire Phillip Rivers. I think that could either be a great hire OR it could end up being a colossal failure. 

Heisman Watch
Jeremiah Smith had another nice game (133 yards, 1 TD). And he was very vocal about whatever the offense was doing against the Ducks. He looked slightly mad at certain points. If it does not end up going to him or Toney, who else do we have? Drew Mestermaker? Easton Messer from FAU? That dude is impressive. I think he is the only player to have a receiving TD, rushing TD, passing TD, and a special teams TD.