The top of the AP Top 25 already looks incredibly different than it did ahead of the season.
Thanks to Oregon’s loss at Illinois on Saturday, three teams in the top 10 of the preseason AP poll and five teams that were inside the top 20 have lost at least three games through the first eight weeks of the season. That list includes Oregon, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Michigan and Penn State.
And with Texas A&M (4-4) losing Saturday, two of those six teams already have four losses.
The Aggies and preseason No. 18 Penn State (3-4) are having seasons so bad that they’d already be out of contention if next year’s 24-team playoff was in effect this season.
Oregon’s spiral is the most shocking of the six. The Ducks were 12.5-point favorites against the Illini despite missing QB Dante Moore for a third straight game because of his concussion as well as four of the team’s top five receivers.
Those are absences that can’t be discounted. But Oregon was the No. 2 team entering the season because of the depth of the roster. While the plan was to obviously not count on Dylan Raiola for meaningful snaps in 2026, it was nice to have a two-year starter on the roster to learn from Moore.
Outside of a stellar effort in relief of Moore immediately after he was injured against USC, Raiola has struggled. The Ducks scored a touchdown on their opening drive on Saturday and proceeded to need 89 yards for a 20-yard field goal late in the second quarter.
Minus those two drives, the Ducks averaged under 25 yards over their other 11 possessions.
Given the success Kentucky is having under Will Stein, it’s clearer by the week just how important the former Oregon OC was to the infrastructure in Eugene. In Week 2, Oklahoma State’s players had already keyed in on stance tendencies exhibited by the Oregon offensive line. And now the Ducks have scored a combined 42 points over their last three games.
The playoff is assuredly out of the question now for Oregon, even with a game at No. 3 Ohio State remaining. Yes, the Buckeyes don’t have QB Julian Sayin, but you have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to envision Oregon ending the season on a five-game win streak.
Texas A&M started the season at No. 8 in the AP Top 25 and is now 1-4 in the SEC after a 31-20 loss to No. 13 Alabama. Like Oregon, its offensive coordinator from a year ago got a power conference head coaching job as Collin Klein went back to Kansas State. And, also like Oregon, lack of consistent quarterback play has been an issue.
Marcel Reed has been one of the worst power conference passers in college <a offense is barely above 5 yards a snap in 2026.
Yet both the Oregon offense and the Texas A&M offense look like well-tuned Ferraris compared to what’s happening at Michigan. The preseason No. 16 Wolverines are 4-3 despite not allowing <a offense. Michigan ran 74 plays and gained just 224 yards. That's fractionally over 3 yards a play.
If the Wolverines had a functional offense, they could be a <a t, so they're instead reduced to playing spoiler in the Big Ten after dropping to 1-3 in conference play. Upcoming games against Rutgers and Michigan State could be a nice salve, but the season ends in a suddenly meaningless game at Oregon before No. 9 UCLA and No. 3 Ohio State.
Like Oregon, Michigan should get bowl eligible. But all three of the Aggies, Ducks and Wolverines are going to be much closer to 6-6 and a bottom-tier bowl bid than sniffing the College Football Playoff.
Here are the rest of this week’s winners and losers.
Winners
Wyoming QB Tyler Hughes: Hughes threw for two scores and rushed for another while producing one of the best runs you’ll see all season. And it somehow didn’t end up as a touchdown. Just look at how Hughes stayed upright.
The Cowboys beat Air Force 28-14 on Friday night to move to 4-1 in the Mountain West and 5-3 overall. With a late-season game remaining against New Mexico, Wyoming is very much in the mix for the Mountain West title.
Virginia Tech: The Hokies got bowl eligible by moving to 6-2 with a 20-16 win at Clemson on Saturday night. What’s the big deal? Well, Virginia Tech was 3-9 in 2025. The Hokies could flip that record in James Franklin’s first season.
Virginia Tech outscored Clemson 10-0 in the fourth quarter as Ethan Grunkemeyer hit Luke Reynolds for the game-winning score with 1:44 to go. Clemson is now 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the ACC after freshman QB Tait Reynolds was 20-of-26 and threw for just 153 yards.
Florida Atlantic WR Easton Messer:The Owls’ 51-49 win over Rice was a game full of big plays. And Messer had his fair share. The 100-point contest featured nine touchdowns that were 30 yards or longer. Messer had 12 catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns, rushed three times for 18 yards and two scores and also had an 82-yard punt return. The two teams combined for over 1,000 yards as Rice rushed 51 times for 499 yards.
Kansas: The Jayhawks were not going to let their losing streak to Baylor hit 20 years. Kansas QB Isaiah Marshall scored on a 15-yard run with 1:13 left to give KU a 25-24 win over the Bears after blocking Baylor’s go-ahead field goal attempt.
It was Kansas’ first win over Baylor since 2007. Before Saturday, Baylor had won 14 straight games over the Jayhawks. It’s also a victory that’s a massive boost to Kansas’ hopes of making a bowl game. The win pushed KU to 3-4 overall with games remaining against BYU and at Oklahoma State.
Losers
No. 16 USC:The Trojans lost another Big Ten road game they were supposed to win. USC fell to 4-7 on the road in the Big Ten with a loss at Wisconsin. USC is now 15-14 overall on the road or at neutral sites under Lincoln Riley as USC is still a second-class team in the Big Ten. If there was ever a year for the Trojans to be in contention for the Big Ten title, 2026 is it. Instead, USC scored seven points.
<p>TCU is now 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12. They also have three of their five remaining games against ranked opponents.</p></div>”>
