Josh’s College Football Rankings 2026–Week 9

Will this year end up like 2007? Remember that year, when no one was undefeated, and I think LSU won the national championship with two losses? I feel like that will be this year, the debate will be about a three or four loss SEC team getting in over over a two or three loss ACC/Big XII team. 

1. Miami (8-0)–#1–W 38-35 UNC. The Hurricanes came close to losing this game. Miami is undefeated, but they have a big test coming up this week.
2. Utah (8-0)–#2–W 49-25 #32 Cincinnati. The Utes were up 42-6 at halftime. Not sure if they let up in the second half, but this game was over early.
3. Georgia (7-1)–#4–W 27-8 #14 Florida. The Gators scored late in this game, which goes to show just how dominant the Bulldogs were.
4. UCLA (8-0)–#5–W 27-0 Nevada
5. Kentucky (7-1)–#6–BYE
6. BYU (7-1)–#7–W 27-20 Arizona State. BYU continues to play these tight games. They blew a lead in the third quarter.
7. Notre Dame (7-1)–#8–W 35-13 Navy
8. Indiana (8-1)–#9–W 23-16 OT #25 Minnesota. Both teams kicked 60-yard field goals at the end of this game to go to OT. It was wild! But the bigger news, Josh Hoover got benched. Yikes. This team needs to figure some things out.
9. Ole Miss (7-2)–#11–W 45-15 #37 Auburn. It was close for a little bit, but then Ole Miss kept scoring, and their defense shut down Auburn.
10. Wake Forest (7-1)–#20–W 51-7 Virginia. I was a little hesitant to put Wake so high last week. But then they destroyed Virginia, and their only loss was to Miami. They are for real. Time to hop on the Demon Deacon Hype Train!
11. Texas Tech (7-1)–#19–W 34-26 #18 Arizona. Switching QBs seemed to work for the Red Raiders. I am still not sold on this team being a playoff contender.
12. Tennessee (6-2)–#12–BYE
13. Alabama (6-2)–#13–BYE
14. Texas (6-2)–#15–W 31-3 #38 Mississippi State. I do not know if this game tells us anything about the Longhorns. I mean, Mississippi State is falling apart.
15. USC (7-2)–#27–W 30-18 #3 Ohio State. The Trojan defense actually looked pretty good. Granted, the Buckeyes were down their QB, but I half-expected the backup to look amazing against the USC defense.
16. LSU (6-2)–#16–BYE
17. Ohio State (6-2)–#3–L 30-18 #27 USC. This was a pretty big drop for a top five team, but honestly, the Buckeyes offense did not look good without Sayin. Hard to justify ranking this team much higher than this.
18. Missouri (6-2)–#21–W 34-10 Arkansas
19. Arizona (6-2)–#18–L 34-26 #19 Texas Tech
20. Iowa (6-2)–#26–W 30-0 #24 Wisconsin. Here is a crazy stat: Iowa has outscored Wisconsin 67-0 the last two times they played, and since the last time the Badgers scored, Iowa has scored 81 points. 148-26…that is the total score of the last five meetings between these two teams.
21. Houston (6-2)–#22–BYE
22. Florida (5-3)–#14–L 27-8 #4 Georgia
23. SMU (6-2)–#10–L 30-27 Syracuse
24. Northwestern (6-2)–#17–L 34-26 Oregon
25. South Carolina (5-3)–HM–W 45-25 Oklahoma
26. Minnesota (5-3)–#25–L 23-16 OT #9 Indiana
27. Oklahoma State (5-3)–#23–L 51-49 Iowa State
28. Oregon (5-3)–NR–W 34-26 #17 Northwestern
29. Boise State (7-1)–#29–W 46-45 Texas State. I went to bed when it was 28-3 at halftime. I had already penciled Boise State in for the win, and had them ranked at #20. I woke up and saw that they gave up 36 points to begin the second half, and had to actually come back to win the game. Yeah, I am not convinced they are the best G6 team. I cannot understand why the AP has them ranked so high.
30. New Mexico (7-1)–#31–W 21-16 San Jose State
31. Duke (6-2)–#33–W 47-2 Boston College
32. Wisconsin (5-3)–#24–L 30-0 #26 Iowa
33. UTSA (7-1)–#34–BYE
34. Virginia Tech (6-2)–#35–BYE
35. Liberty (7-1)–#36–W 49-10 Florida International
36. Louisville (5-3)–HM–W 52-24 Stanford
37. Michigan (5-3)–#40–W 28-21 Rutgers
38. Washington (5-3)–NR–W 17-10 #28 Nebraska
39. Nebraska (5-3)–#28–L 17-10 Washington
40. West Virginia (5-3)–HM–BYE

Honorable Mentions
Cincinnati (5-3)–#32–L 49-25 #2 Utah
Baylor (5-3)–NR–W 41-9 #39 UCF
North Texas (6-2)–NR–W 48-41 Florida Atlantic
UNC (4-4)–NR–L 38-35 #1 Miami
Pittsburgh (6-3)–NR–W 34-11 Georgia Tech

There are some huge games this weekend. First up we have the Holy War: #6 BYU at #2 Utah. This is Utah’s biggest test of the season, and this is BYU’s chance to get back into the top five. Another big one is #13 Alabama at #16 LSU…they should call this one the Saban Bowl. #5 Kentucky heads to #12 Tennessee (did you know this used to be called the Battle for the Barrel?–it has a sad history, so probably good they stopped that tradition). One of the interesting games is #28 Oregon at #17 Ohio State. Probably should call it the Battle of Backups. #3 Georgia plays at #9 Ole Miss…they should have a name for this game. Something tells me it would also be inappropriate. 

The big game is #1 Miami heading to South Bend to take on the #7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish have to win this game. Their schedule is too weak to have a loss to their only tough opponent. The Hurricanes can afford to lose this game, but honestly, the ACC is not looking too good at the moment, they need to be undefeated if they want to at least shut folks up about the weak conference.

This week also begins MACtion! Listen, there will be some fun games to watch during the week that will either be defensive battles, or insane shootouts. I am looking forward to Tuesday to see Buffalo at Miami OH. 

Tiny But Mighty
Sticking with the small schools in Pennsylvania theme that I have been going with this year…Lehigh defeated Bucknell 31-30. Lehigh is now 7-2 on the season, while Bucknell is 1-8. These two teams have played each other 90 times, with the Mountain Hawks leading 52-35-3. Fun fact: Lehigh once defeated Penn State 106-0 on November 11, 1889 (Penn State arrived with only 9 players, since some were at a funeral in Philly–Lehigh officials refused to pay the travel expenses if the game started late). 

Coaching Hot Seat
Florida State has finally pulled the trigger and fired Mike Norvell. The Seminoles lost to Clemson on Saturday, which was their third straight loss. He was 41-39 during his time at Florida State, but the majority of those wins came in 2022 & 2023 (they were 23-4 in those two seasons). 

Not sure who FSU will hire next. There are plenty of names that will be mentioned, such as Rhett Lashlee, Jake Dickert, and Manny Diaz. There are also a few coordinators who could be tapped, like Mike Shanahan from Indiana. I am going to throw out a name that is probably totally out there: Mike Tomlin. I know that his name is being mentioned for a few pro teams, and I am guessing he would prefer to coach in the NFL. BUT, he has ties to Florida (I mean, he coached for Tampa Bay). And it would be kind of funny if he took over at FSU, turned them around, then dominated UNC every year just to rub it in to Bill Belichick. 

Heisman Watch
I think that Jeremiah Smith still has the edge on Malachi Toney. BUT, that gap is closing. Ohio State will need to figure out their offense and how to get Smith the ball more, if they want to win, and if Smith wants to win the award.