College football winners and losers: Savor the importance of Week 7 chaos as it disappears with the 24-team playoff

There’s usually a Saturday in the middle of each college football season where we can begin to separate the pretenders from the contenders.

This didn’t happen in Week 7. This Saturday was the opposite of the breakup Saturday.

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The chaos within the SEC, Notre Dame’s loss to BYU and Ohio State’s win against Indiana illustrate what appears to be an incredibly wide-open season as we’re officially at the halfway point. If you want to reliably pick an SEC champion, good luck. You might be more likely to be right when you pull a team’s name out of a hat.

Texas entered Week 6 as the No. 1 team in the country. The Longhorns then lost to rival Oklahoma thanks to two Arch Manning picks in the fourth quarter. After falling six spots to No. 7, the Longhorns lost again to an unranked team on Saturday, as Florida scored 24 straight goals to defeat Texas.

This is the first time since 1961 that a No. 1 team (Texas) has lost consecutive games to unranked opponents.

Georgia was the beneficiary of Texas’ first loss, as the Bulldogs beat Alabama to take first place. The win was one of the best performances of Georgia QB Gunner Stockton’s career. He has positioned himself as a legitimate Heisman contender in the group of quarterbacks behind Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith.

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On Saturday, Stockton threw two interceptions, then missed Georgia’s chance to beat Auburn when he simply ran into the back of an offensive lineman and lost the ball. The Tigers recovered then scored a field goal as time expired for a 27-24 victory.

It’s the first time since 1990 that the nation’s No. 1 team has been beaten by unranked opponents in consecutive weeks.

Alabama didn’t bounce back either. The Tide stayed at No. 6 after its three-point loss to Georgia and came out and played a sloppy, error-filled game against No. 14 Tennessee. The Vols made four field goals before finally scoring a touchdown, but those four field goals would have been enough anyway in the 26-10 victory.

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Every SEC team now has at least one conference loss, and all but four of the league’s 16 teams are in a first-place game.

In the Big Ten, things don’t seem as tense. Although Indiana may have retained its favorite status even though it lost to Ohio State on Saturday.

The Buckeyes lost quarterback Julian Sayin for “several weeks” with an apparent right arm and shoulder injury suffered on a sack in the fourth quarter. Freshman Luke Fahey is expected to start in two weeks against No. 19 USC. How much will Ryan Day have to rely on the running game for the rest of the season?

After Ohio State’s victory, Georgia’s loss and Texas’ season pushed to the brink, Notre Dame decided to join the upset party. The No. 2 Fighting Irish lost 27-24 at No. 8 BYU as Cougars quarterback Bear Bachmeier rushed for two scores, threw for another and caught a TD pass.

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Notre Dame was in position to move into first place with a win. Instead, the Irish had to try to overcome an 11-point halftime deficit before BYU regained the lead with less than two minutes remaining.

With Georgia and Notre Dame losing and Ohio State losing Sayin for the foreseeable future, the No. 1 team in the AP poll will likely be Miami. All the No. 3 Hurricanes did Saturday night was need two overtimes to beat a Florida State team that is now 3-4 and might have deserved a chance to convert a 2-pointer to tie the game.

Considering how the first six weeks of the season went, Week 7 arrived with a lot of expectations. And that somehow overtook them to set up a fascinating final six weeks of the season.

Savor it. Because a weekend like this won’t be as crucial in the future.

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Saturday’s games took place just days after it became clear that the 12-team College Football Playoff was going to expand to 24 teams in 2027. While college football has struggled to find the balance between making every regular season game relevant while still having an inclusive postseason, 12 teams seemed to find the right balance. Especially after teams like Ohio State in 2024 and Miami in 2025 went from the first round to the title game.

But the only people clamoring for 24 teams in the playoffs were Power Conference schools looking to maximize every possible revenue stream. The expanded playoffs are worth millions in ESPN TV money, even considering the conference title games will likely disappear.

Money has always ruled college football. Nothing is new on this side. But there is also a cost to every dollar. And the importance of days like Saturday will be an initial charge in 2027.

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Here are this week’s winners and losers.

Winners

Tulane: The Green Wave scored 23 points in the second quarter in a 31-17 upset win over Memphis on Friday night. Tulane entered the game 2-3 but got a pick-6 from TJ Smith as part of three interceptions from Memphis QB Marcus Stokes. Despite averaging .500 overall, Tulane’s hopes of winning Conference USA in back-to-back seasons are alive and well after the victory, and the Green Wave brings UTSA home in Week 8.

Boston College: The Eagles have now surpassed last season’s win total. Boston College improved to 3-3 with a 27-21 home win over a Pitt team sorely missing QB Mason Heintschel. BC quarterback Mason McKenzie completed 17 of 28 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. One of those touchdowns was a 69-yard pass to Landon Wright, as Wright had two grabs for 122 yards. However, a bowl is likely still out of reach for BC this season. He has games remaining against Duke, Notre Dame and Miami.

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Arkansas: The Razorbacks won’t go winless in the SEC in 2026. Ryan Silverfield’s group earned a 31-21 victory at Vanderbilt on Saturday night behind two rushing touchdowns from Cam Settles and defensive back Joker Johnson’s pick-6. Arkansas’ struggles in the SEC are now well-founded. The Hogs lost their first two conference games by a combined 55 points before losing by seven to Tennessee in Week 6. They can now say they’re out of the SEC basement, as Vanderbilt remains the only winless team in the chaotic conference.

Army QB Cale Hellums: The Army QB posted the perfect service academy stat line in the Black Knights’ 56-24 win over Florida Atlantic. Hellums was 1 of 2 passing for 2 yards and rushed 25 times for 195 yards and five touchdowns while Army had 60 carries for 479 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground as a team. The win moved Army to 3-1 in the States heading into back-to-back trips to Tulsa and Memphis.

James Madison: The Dukes lurk in the College Football Playoff race if Boise State commits again. James Madison is now 7-0 after a 49-22 win over Georgia State. George Pettaway rushed for two scores, while JC Evans had a passing touchdown and two rushing touchdowns and Camden Coleman threw for two touchdowns. A short week looms with a trip to Appalachian State on Thursday, before another midweek game against Troy to wrap up the month of October. But JMU has as good a chance as anyone to lead the standings in the regular season.

Losers

Pat Fitzgerald: The former Northwestern coach had a great opportunity to score a victory over his former employer and alma mater. Instead, Northwestern’s Jackson Kleather kicked a 34-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to give the Wildcats a 24-21 victory. Northwestern blocked a Liam Boyd field goal attempt with a minute remaining before driving 64 yards in eight plays for the victory.

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Fitzgerald was hired at Michigan State after the 2025 season and his rebuild is not progressing quickly. The Spartans are now 0-4 in Big Ten play and just 2-5 overall with a trip to No. 12 UCLA on the horizon in Week 8.

State of Pennsylvania: The Nittany Lions couldn’t even take advantage of two first-half interceptions by Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood before he was benched for Tommy Carr. Penn State led just 3-0 at the break before losing 21-18 to the Wolverines to fall to 0-4 in the Big Ten. Play. Iowa State transfer Rocco Becht’s struggles continued as he threw two more interceptions and the Nittany Lions rushed for just 65 total yards on 30 attempts.

East Carolina: The Pirates lost 30-17 at UAB on Thursday night. And that loss happened in overtime.

After UAB scored to take a 24-17 lead, ECU had a chance to send the game to a second overtime or win on a 2-point conversion. Instead, Delvon Gulley intercepted Emory Williams and returned the pass 80 yards for a game-clinching pick-6. The loss dropped ECU to 3-3 while UAB improved to 4-3.