US LBM Coaches Poll: Texas falls out of No. 1 spot after loss to Georgia
The latest US LBM Coaches Poll is here and Texas no longer sits at the top after losing to Georgia in Week 8.
Sports Pulse
Say what you will about the current state of collegiate athletics in the United States of America. But it’s indisputable that there are few other sporting endeavors that generate the same level of emotions, be they positive or negative, from fans.
That was on clear display over the most recent college football weekend, which featured everything from jubilant field rushes to angry debris tossing. Overreactions are therefore inevitable given such passion. We’re here once again to sort through a few involving the biggest-name programs, and hopefully provide a modicum of big-picture perspective.
Here are the top five overreactions from Week 8.
It’s true that the Crimson Tide’s SEC championship hopes are likely gone with a second league loss. There might, however, still be a path to the expanded 12-team playoff.
Alabama’s last three games in November are quite winnable. One is a tune-up against Championship Subdivision member Mercer, and the final two league contests are against Oklahoma and Auburn, teams in an even greater state of disarray at this writing.
It’s the pair of games over the next three weekends that will tell the tale for Alabama – a home date with Missouri next Saturday and a Nov. 9 trip to LSU. Should the Tide win both, they’ll have a fairly clear route to 10-2 with the win against Georgia also in the bank, a resume that would almost certainly be deemed playoff worthy. A split of those two and a 9-3 finish would leave matters in a much more ambiguous realm.
Whether Alabama could actually win the title should it be included in the at-large pool is a discussion for another day, but for now we must wait and see where things are in a few weeks. We understand that patience is not an abundant quality for many fan bases, but don’t write the Tide off just yet.
It didn’t take long for the college football universe to move from anointing the Longhorns as title favorites to wondering aloud if they’re not ready for this new conference after all. As with many such discussions, the truth probably lies somewhere between those extremes.
As has been pointed out, the foundation upon which the Longhorns’ No. 1 ranking had been constructed wasn’t as sturdy as we might have believed given the ongoing struggles of Oklahoma and Michigan (more on the Wolverines below). It is equally true, however, that Texas is hardly the first team to be humbled by an encounter with a motivated Georgia squad. Remember how post mortems for Clemson were being written after Week 1?
In short, we’ll wait and see how Texas responds to its first taste of adversity, starting next week with a visit to a suddenly frisky Vanderbilt.
MISERY INDEX: Oklahoma tops most miserable fanbase after Week 8
HIGHS AND LOWS: Georgia, Alabama headline Week 8 winners and losers
Most people probably didn’t believe Curt Cignetti when he made that bold pronouncement upon accepting the head coaching gig in Bloomington. But lo and behold the Hoosiers have steamrolled everything in their path en route to a 7-0 start that now has everyone’s attention.
There’s just one teensy weensy problem though. The penultimate week of the season involves a trip to Ohio State. We are in no way saying a win in Columbus isn’t possible. But if the Hoosiers do come up short there, they would lose a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Buckeyes for a spot in the conference title game, assuming both teams win the rest of their games. There is no Penn State or Oregon on Indiana’s schedule, which is a plus in that all their other contests are winnable but a minus in that there is no opportunity to offset a potential loss to the Buckeyes.
Now with all that said, the Hoosiers do very much have a strong at-large case for the playoff should they make it to the finish line at 11-1. That might seem overly ambitious for a program that has enjoyed limited gridiron success in its history, but we shouldn’t be surprised now if it comes to pass.
On the opposite end of the Big Ten’s expectations meter we find the Wolverines, the defending national champions in name only now flailing to find any kind of offensive identity.
Aside from a home date with Northwestern, Michigan’s November slate is a veritable murderers’ row in the new-look conference. The Wolverines will be heavy underdogs against Oregon, Indiana and Ohio State, even with the Ducks and Buckeyes coming to Ann Arbor. This makes next week’s rivalry game against Michigan State a virtual must-win if the Wolverines hope to reach the six-victory threshold for bowl eligibility. Of course the Spartans aren’t likely to be terribly sympathetic having their own challenging second-half schedule ahead of them. But Michigan State has made progress under coach Jonathan Smith in recent weeks, and the Spartans will come into the Big House with confidence after showing they could solve a tough defense like Iowa’s. It won’t top the must-watch list for next week, but it’s a game to keep an eye on, especially if you’re the organizer of a bowl game with a Big Ten tie-in.
30 for 30 voice: What if I told you there’s a team currently without FBS conference affiliation with an excellent chance to go 11-1 – and it’s not Notre Dame? Sure, the Fighting Irish could get there as well. But there’s another non-affiliated team that could provide the CFP with an interesting test case.
Washington State, of the once-and-future Pac-12, has made it to 6-1 with its lone blemish coming against Boise State. That would be the same Broncos’ squad that came within a field goal of the current No. 1 team. In addition to a hard-fought Apple Cup win against former league foe Washington, the Cougars also have another Power Five victory against Texas Tech in their column.
But now comes the bad news for the Cougars. That Texas Tech result lost some value over the weekend when the Red Raiders were thumped at home by Baylor for their first Big 12 loss. None of Washington State’s remaining opponents figure to add much to its schedule strength calculation. It would help the Cougars’ cause if Boise State made the playoff field, but that might require help from Notre Dame in the form of knocking both Navy and Army from the ranks of the undefeated. Those results would in turn enhance Fighting Irish’s credentials as an at-large candidate, at the expense of the Cougars and others.
As things stand, Washington State would need a whole lot of breaks to go its way to earn consideration. But complete chaos always seems to be right around the corner in this sport, so fans on the Palouse should stay tuned.
NORMAN, Oklahoma — The stage was set for Oklahoma. Heck, the Sooners earned the right to set it. This was supposed to be the ushering in of a new era of postseason football for the No. 8 team in the country that had won 10 games in what was one of the toughest schedules this year.
No. 9 Alabama was even one of those teams that Oklahoma beat on its way to earning this spot. And Saturday night, all was going well for the Sooners. It was going so well, in fact, that after the first quarter, some Oklahoma fans might’ve peeked at flights and hotel rates for the Rose Bowl from inside Memorial Stadium.
And then the Alabama Crimson Tide curled and rolled the Sooners, 34-24, and are headed to Pasadena. After opening with 17 unanswered points, Oklahoma collapsed under the weight of that wave, becoming the only team in College Football Playoff history to blow a 17-point lead. And now, the Sooners have done it twice — before Saturday, in 2018 against Georgia.
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Here are my takeaways from Alabama’s College Football Playoff first-round victory against Oklahoma on Saturday:
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Zabien Brown #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide stiff-arms John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter during the 2025 College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is an avid reader and listener of college football news. Following the largest comeback win in Alabama postseason history, Simpson took a moment to facetiously thank media members for choosing Oklahoma to win on Saturday night.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” an emboldened Simpson said. “You guys kind of wrote us off in a sort of way. So I appreciate that.”
After building a three-score lead, the Sooners watched the Crimson Tide recover a fumbled punt, pick off Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and return it 50 yards to the end zone — all before their First Team All-American kicker Tate Sandell missed not one but two field goals in the final minutes to solidify the worst collapse in College Football Playoff history.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide will prepare to take on No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl for the CFP quarterfinal game. This team that punches back and played its best football with its back against the wall is one that the Hoosiers must prepare for on New Year’s Day.
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NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners is hit by Deontae Lawson #0 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter during the College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide began down — just like they did against Georgia in the SEC championship game. But the last three quarters of Saturday’s game demonstrated Alabama to be just who it says it is: the kind of team that can open with a loss to a bad Florida State and also be the first team in six years to walk into Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and come out with a win.
DeBoer’s task now is to find a way to make certain that the team that showed up at Georgia earlier this season and at Oklahoma in the first round is the same one against the Hoosiers. Linebacker Deontae Lawson said that’s his job too. But Bama’s best trait isn’t one that shows itself until it’s in a fight for its life.
“Man, I just think we’re a resilient team,” Lawson said. “And even though we were down 17-0, we didn’t really look at the scoreboard. Coach DeBoer always says, ‘Keep playing the game. The game will come back to you.’ … We just keep fighting.”
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners speaks to an official during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Let’s look at the bigger ones:
These are blunders. Errors that aren’t forced but self-inflicted. It’s difficult to win any game with those kinds of mistakes on your drive chart. It’s nearly impossible in a game of this magnitude, against a team as talented and as resilient as the Crimson Tide.
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Keon Keeley #31 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff first-round game. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Oklahoma usually plays 50 Cent’s “Many Men” before the start of the fourth quarter. In an attempt to make a statement for its first CFP game at Owen Field, the Sooners brought the rapper himself out onto the field to perform the song for fans in a Hard to Kill Hoodie.
“I didn’t know it was live,” DeBoer said.
“I didn’t know who 50 Cent was,” Simpson said, “but I know that song.”
“We play that song at practice on Fridays,” Lawson said.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
Hello college football fans, and welcome to The Athletic’s live coverage of the 2025 College Football Playoff!
Yes, after a 2025 season full of an incredible amount of twists, turns, controversy and pure chaos, the second edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff gets underway tonight. Our opening matchup is a battle of blue-bloods whose first meeting this season contributed to that chaos, as No. 9 Alabama takes on No. 8 Oklahoma in Norman.
Follow along for live pregame build-up and the latest news, play-by-play updates and real-time analysis from The Athletic’s college football staff!
The College Football Playoff gets underway Friday night as Alabama heads to Norman to take on Oklahoma. But to ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, there’s even more at stake for Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer.
DeBoer’s name has been the subject of rumors throughout the offseason in the coaching carousel. Most recently, he received questions about the opening at Michigan following Sherrone Moore’s firing for cause, though he made it clear he intends to be at Alabama in 2026.
However, Wilbon didn’t sound as convinced. He predicted Alabama would not only lose to Oklahoma on Friday night, but DeBoer would also be on a flight to Ann Arbor to take the Michigan job afterward.
“Let me tell you about … two schools that could be in the coaching carousel after [Friday night],” Wilbon said Thursday on Pardon The Interruption. “Because when Alabama loses to Oklahoma – let me say it again, when Alabama loses to Oklahoma – the coach of Alabama, half the people in the state will want to run him out. And he’ll be on the carousel – oh, wait, that’s a G5 being flown to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he has said, ‘Oh, no. I ain’t got no interest in that.’ He’ll have interest [Friday night].
“And then, Alabama will be in the coaching carousel because they’ll be looking for a coach. … The Alabama coach is going to have a job-on-the-line situation in 24 hours and then, headed to Michigan once he loses. And then, Alabama’s looking. Then, what are you going to say?”
During a press conference this week ahead of the College Football Playoff opener, Kalen DeBoer was directly asked if he intended to be Alabama’s head coach next season. He responded, “Yes.”
Earlier in that press conference, DeBoer received a question about the rumors surrounding him. He again spoke highly of his tenure at Alabama so far and made it clear he’s happy in Tuscaloosa.
“A lot of the same things I said before, a couple weeks ago, when asked really the same question, just feel completely supported,” DeBoer said. “My family loves living here. Just all the things that we continue to build on, love the progress. Haven’t talked with anyone, no plans of talking with anyone. So just, I think that’s a lot of what I said a couple weeks ago, and continues to be the same thing.
“Feel strong about it. And our guys, if there’s been any distraction, I haven’t seen it, haven’t felt it. I’m really proud of the way they’ve handled whatever noise is out there. And again, we probably all season long, have dealt with enough noise to where it wouldn’t surprise me on how they handle this.”
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