Week 7 Saturday was one of the most surprising days in recent college football history, with five of the top seven teams in the AP Poll (including the top two) going down.
What should we do with that? The combination of culture transfer and revenue sharing measures has widened the medium between power talks and everyone else. But inside The Power 4, all tied together, makes it inevitable that the best teams in the country will occasionally struggle against teams ranked near the bottom of the league.
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On the other hand, some losses are still very bad. How much he owes your A high-ranking panicking, on a one-to-10 scale? Let’s discuss.
Georgia (lost to Auburn, 27-24).
PANIC METER: 2
He gave the Bulldogs a game. They averaged 6.8 yards per game to the Tigers’ 4.9, but were charitable in allowing Auburn to not only hang around, but dominate for the rest of the game. The Dawgs made special teams mistakes. Gunner Stockton threw two bad interceptions and fumbled a possession that led to Auburn’s game-winning field goal. These are reasons to be angry, but also reasons to repeat doubts. Stockton has his limitations but typically avoids turnovers, and Georgia doesn’t make as many mistakes as those who cost this game. The roughing-the-passer penalty that cut short Auburn’s field goal attempt to win the game was also a notable lapse.
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At the end of the day, Georgia didn’t lose an important spot in the SEC standings, or some of the other losses that appeared on this list. Their margin for error is slimmer now, and there’s no telling what the long-term consequences would be for letting Auburn score a momentum-building win at Sanford Stadium. If a long-time rival is already revived and uses this game as a jumping off point for a future rivalry, the Dawgs will be more than sorry.
Notre Dame (lost to BYU, 28-24).
PANIC METER: 5
It’s tough with a team that narrowly lost, on the road, against which it is now the No. 2 team in the country. But Notre Dame faced its first true test of the season, and both the Irish offense and defense had their worst performances of the year. The offense posted a 38 percent success rate, per CollegeFootballData.com, its lowest figure of the year, and also had a 2026-worst 4.8 yards per game. The defense gave up a season-worst 48 percent success rate and had a tough early season against Bear Bachmeier and BYU’s passing attack. Not ideal, although Notre Dame still probably wins if QB CJ Carr remembers how to execute the pin.
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The biggest problem is circumstantial. Notre Dame only has one more game against teams that will move the hearts and minds of the NCAA’s selection committee. Losing to Miami in Week 10 meant the committee needed to accept a 10-2 team whose best wins were against SMU and Wisconsin. They saw this Irish movie lastly a season when they lost to Miami and Texas A&M, and I don’t like the ending. Their season will now come down to that game on November 7th.
Miami (beat Florida State, 43-35).
PANIC METER: 3
Turbine as a slot on this list usually lost the disorderly state of Florida. In general, let’s consider some favors for the Canes, because FSU has been competitive against talented teams this year (SMU, Alabama, now Miami), and also because teams sometimes rise up for playoff contention.
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There’s at least one reason to raise an eyebrow, though: Miami’s pass defense. The Dogs are in the deep woods of a few seasons even before back-to-back Hail Mary attempts in double overtime, which are penalties taken or canceled or with two players fighting for the ball. Miami has a solid defensive lineup at the moment, and without the same jump as the Canes team last year, the secondary has turned out to be rickety. This will become a problem at some point when the game is round.
Indiana (lost to Ohio State, 19-15)
PANIC METER: 1
The Hoosiers’ 22-game winning streak ended on a day when luck finally turned against them. Nick Marsh stepped out of bounds on what should have been the game-winning touchdown. The Hoosiers had fumbled 13 times leading into this game over the past year and a half, but retained possession on 11 of those plays. This season, Josh Hoover put the ball on the ground twice, and Ohio State defenders fell on it each time. A couple of field goals are missed or not helpful.
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The rest of the schedule favors Indiana the most, with the toughest game probably being a road trip to middling Michigan next week. This remains an elite team. This time, the Hoosiers got away, but it wasn’t enough to end the game in this game.
Texas (lost to Florida, 27-24).
PANIC METER: 9
Arch Manning took five sacks and spilled a comeback opportunity for Florida. The Longhorns need a punt return touchdown as well competitive against Florida, which held the ball for nearly 40 minutes and dominated Manning’s offense in the third quarter (while Texas was 2-for-10). The Hornets don’t have a game to speak of despite a few high profile additions to transfer goals in the backfield. I’ve lost two games in a row, essentially eliminated the SEC, and Texas still has losing games against Ole Miss, Missouri, LSU, and Texas A&M. (The Aggies are the bigger losers, but then again, they’re the same.)
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If Steve Sarkisian doesn’t quickly fix the problems that have been with this team all year, Texas will lose one of the most talented rosters in the country. This football team can make it 9-3 because Ohio State wins, but there will be no guarantees.
Alabama (lost to Tennessee, 26-10).
PANIC METER: 7
Alabama’s offense fell apart against a talented defensive front. Tennessee has one of the best tackles in the country in Xavier Gilliam, and the Heat prevailed without their starting center, Racin Delgatty. Perhaps an offense that averaged 3.7 yards per game and went 2-for-13 on third downs with 10 penalties committed once everyone is healthy. But for one evening, Alabama looked just as dysfunctional offensively as it did in 2025, when the Tide was added to the playoff bracket and dominated by Indiana in the Rose Bowl.
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The Tide lost back-to-back games in the regular season for the first time since 2007, Nick Saban’s first year. I to think Their offense will find itself again over the next few weeks. But the Tide need to get in a certain position in the playoffs, and they have a game in three weeks against LSU that is, at best, a toss-up for them. It is no longer within the margin of error.
Missouri (lost to Ole Miss, 31-3)
PANIC METER: 10
What had been one of the most exciting offenses in the country ran into a wall against an Ole Miss defense that nobody could stop all year. Mizzou’s running game has been up and down in a season without star running back Ahmad Hardy, and it was horrible in this game. The young defense fell flat, and Augustine could not compensate for Simmons.
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The Tigers failed both the eye test and the computer test, as the loss dropped them 10 spots to 27th in ESPN’s FPI and seven spots to 21st in Bill Connelly’s SP+. In other words, this weekend’s results took the Tigers from a team that looked serious to one that didn’t. They still have to play Texas, Georgia, Kentucky and Oklahoma. This is not likely to end well.