Five of the top seven teams lost on Saturday, something that had never happened since the AP poll began in 1936, according to the AP’s report. The result: the Miami No. 1 AP poll ranking is official, and the Hurricanes are on top for the first time in 24 years.
Miami (6-0, 4-0 ACC) jumped from No. 3 to the top spot with 1,697 points and 40 first-place votes. A week earlier, by contrast, the Hurricanes had 1,594 points and just two first-place votes. The last time they sat at No. 1 was the Dec. 8, 2002 poll, before they lost the national title game to Ohio State.
The carnage was historic. Georgia, the No. 1 team for exactly one week (a short lease, even by this season’s standards), lost to unranked Auburn on a walk-off field goal. Notre Dame, Indiana, Alabama and Texas all lost too.
As a result, Georgia became the second No. 1 team in two weeks, after Texas, to fall to an unranked opponent, per the AP. Our breakdown of how Georgia fell first and Miami moved up has the full sequence.
That makes Miami the fourth different No. 1 team this season. Meanwhile, Alabama dropped to 13th and Texas to 19th, and each now has two losses. If you missed how the chaos started, Georgia’s rise to No. 1 after Texas tumbled sets the scene.
Why Miami’s top ranking was earned the hard way
The Hurricanes did not exactly cruise. They beat rival Florida State 43-35 in double overtime at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, and the game was settled only after the extra frames.
Florida State entered the game unranked and sits at 3-4, so this was not a ranked-opponent résumé builder. It was survival.
Head coach Mario Cristobal did not sound interested in the rankings talk. Asked about the weekly shuffling, he said the sample size of 2026 is enough to know such things are “absolutely insignificant and irrelevant with the changing of the guard from week to week,” according to 247Sports.
He has a point. A No. 1 ranking in October guarantees nothing when the top spot has already changed hands four times.
BYU is the other big story in the college football poll
Miami’s closest chaser earned its spot the loud way. No. 2 BYU got 20 first-place votes after the Cougars (6-0) beat then-No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24 at home as a 10.5-point underdog. In fact, it is BYU’s highest ranking since its 1984 title season. Ohio State is No. 3 with 9 first-place votes.
Here is the new top 10:
- Miami
- BYU
- Ohio State
- Notre Dame
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Ole Miss
- Texas Tech
- UCLA
- Utah
The unbeaten list is tiny
Among the FBS teams still undefeated are Miami, BYU, UCLA, Texas Tech and Utah. Because so few unbeatens remain and the playoff field rewards résumés, every remaining game now carries real weight.
Miami was the national runner-up in the 2025 season, so this is not a fluke run. For more on how the season got here, see our recap of the biggest wins and rankings shakeups after October 4.
Next up is Pitt, coming to Miami as the Hurricanes try to prove the poll right. Getting to No. 1 has been easy this season. Staying there is the hard part.
