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 six teams that were inside the top 20 have lost at least three games through the first eight weeks of the season. And as Texas A&M (4-4) also both lost on Saturday, two of those six teams already have four losses.
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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 — and, admittedly, our national title pick — 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.
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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 that 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.
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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, consistent quarterback play has been an issue.
Marcel Reed has been one of the worst power conference passers in college football. Against the Crimson Tide, he was 14-of-21 passing for 163 yards and threw two interceptions. Reed also fumbled three times, but was lucky to lose just one.
After averaging 6.4 yards a play a year ago, the Aggies’ offense is barely above five 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 more than 20 points in a game all season.
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This week, Michigan gave up just one touchdown in a 13-6 overtime loss to No. 6 Indiana. Freshman QB Tommy Carr started in place of Bryce Underwood and it was clear that Carr is not immediately going to usurp the former five-star recruit.
Michigan needed a last-second field goal simply to get the game to overtime before Indiana QB Josh Hoover rushed for a score to open overtime.
From there, a touchdown was a mountain too tall for the Wolverines’ offense. Michigan ran 74 plays and gained just 224 yards. That’s fractionally over three yards a play.
If the Wolverines had a functional offense, they could be a national title contender. They don’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.
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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.
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.
