Halloween Edition
Fangs: Miami has a stranglehold on the top spot of these rankings.
The Hurricanes (7-0, 5-0 ACC) locked down another double-digit victory during Week 8, this time a 52-23 blasting of Pitt. Miami – which was second in these rankings last week, though No. 1 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll – rolled up 506 total yards.
That included virtuoso performances by quarterback Darian Mensah and wide receiver Malachi Toney. Mensah went 31 of 37 for 387 yards and four touchdowns, while Toney caught 16 passes for 194 yards and three scores.
Miami has its toughest stretch of the season to come. It has a Halloween Night game at North Carolina before a Nov. 7 matchup at Notre Dame.
Bewitched: BYU stay atop these rankings was brief.
One week after beating Notre Dame for arguably their biggest home win in history, the Cougars (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) had a letdown at Central Florida. BYU lost, 39-31, in double overtime. Most troubling, it surrendered 463 total yards to a UCF (4-3, 2-2 Big 12) that was playing without its Week 1 starting quarterback.
Keyonne Jenkins made his fifth start for the injured Alonza Barnett III, who continues to recover from a mid-September hamstring injury. Jenkins was 25 of 41 passing for 293 yards and three touchdowns against BYU. He also had 35 yards and a touchdown rushing.
Bump in the night: Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame each had Week 8 off. BYU’s upset defeat, however, caused some ripples that moved each member of that trio up a spot. The Buckeyes, Bulldogs and Fighting Irish now occupy Nos. 2-4 in these rankings.
Brewing: Trick-or-treat night will come and go, and Kentucky will still be atop the SEC standings. The Wildcats (7-1, 5-1 SEC) beat Vanderbilt, 34-17, and have Week 9 off. That means, at worst, they will be tied with Georgia for the SEC lead when it plays at Tennessee on Nov. 7. Kentucky will have sole possession of first place if the Bulldogs lose to Florida.
Kentucky’s path is a curious one. The Wildcats have two wins by a single point (both in overtime) and its not been exceptionally good on either side of the football. Kentucky is seventh in the SEC in scoring offense (32.9 points per game) and 10th in scoring defense (24.8 ppg) and
But the Turnover Fair has been kind to the Wildcats, who have a plus-13 turnover margin – five better than No. 2 Alabama. And they’ve been flagged an SEC-low 36 times this season.
Hair-raising: Alabama and Texas were in a frightening situation heading into Week 8. But both avoided what was once unimaginable, snapping two-game losing streaks with wins over Texas A&M and Ole Miss, respectively.
The Crimson Tide (6-2, 4-2 SEC) has Week 9 off before playing at LSU on Nov. 7. The Longhorns (5-2, 2-2 SEC) host Mississippi State on Halloween.
Ghastly: Indiana rebounded from its Week 7 loss to Ohio State, though barely. The Hoosiers (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) – whose 22-game win streak was snapped by the Buckeyes – avoided back-to-back losses by winning at Michigan, 13-6, in overtime. And it was actually even closer than the final score indicates, as Josh Hoover’s 4-yard touchdown run in overtime was the game’s lone TD.
Speaking of Hoover, he didn’t complete a pass during the second half. He finished 8 of 18 passing for 81 yards and an interception.
Ghosts: Iowa and Southern Cal each took losses and are no longer with us in the rankings.
The Hawkeyes (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten) were defeated by Minnesota, 13-10. Iowa lost despite holding the Gophers to only 209 total yards.
A few hours later, the Trojans fell in kind of the same manner at Wisconsin. Southern Cal lost 24-7 even though it limited the Badgers to 200 total yards. But it really doesn’t matter when you total only 248 yards yourself (including minus-17 yards rushing) and commit two turnovers.
Iowa and USC had been ranked 15th and 16th, respectively.
Walking dead: Week 8 wasn’t great for the Big 12. Had the conference handled things appropriately, it could’ve furthered its chances of sending three teams to the CFP. But with BYU and Texas Tech no longer among the undefeated teams, the Big 12 is back to wandering around kind of aimlessly – and likely sending only one team to the playoff.
The Invisible Man: Texas A&M’s season has been shot for a couple of weeks, and was essentially put on life support after losing to Alabama, 31-20. The Aggies (4-4, 1-4) are only one game away from the SEC’s basement, a confounding position for a 2025 College Football Playoff team with legit hopes of returning.
Especially confounding is the play of quarterback Marcel Reed. The senior’s performance against the Crimson Tide was an ideal summation of his 2026 season – 14 of 21 passing, 163 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Reed has totalled 1,390 yards passing this season while completing only 56.2 percent of his passes and throwing as many touchdowns as interceptions (eight each).
Reed was on many preseason Heisman Trophy watchlists, with his odds usually around 25-to-1 of winning.
Witchcraft: XXXX
Coven: The SEC again had the most teams in these rankings with nine, four more than any other conference. The Big 12 has six with the addition of Oklahoma State, while the Big Ten drops to five. There are three teams from the ACC. Boise State of the Pac-12 is only Group of 6 team included, while Notre Dame – as usual – is the lone independent.
Hamilton’s rankings (last week):
1. Miami (2)
2. Ohio State (3)
3. Georgia (4)
4. Notre Dame (5)
5. Indiana (7)
6. Utah (10)
7. BYU (1)
8. UCLA (13)
9. Kentucky (12)
10. Alabama (11)
11. Texas (20)
12. Wake Forest (17)
13. Texas Tech (8)
14. Ole Miss (6)
15. LSU (22)
16. Missouri (18)
17. Tennessee (9)
18. Florida (19)
19. Boise State (23)
20. SMU (21)
21. Wisconsin (NR)
22. Arizona (24)
23. Houston (14)
24. Northwestern (25)
25. Oklahoma State (NR)
Follow Scott Hamilton on X @ScottHsports
