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The Georgia Bulldogs bit previously unbeaten Alabama and drew closer to the top of this week’s SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 rankings.
Saturday night’s “Rock ’em, Sock ’em” SEC battle in Tuscaloosa saw the 6-0 Georgia Bulldogs take a hard fought 20-17 win over the Crimson Tide (now 5-1). Georgia was rewarded by moving up eight places into the #2 spot in this week’s rankings.
Georgia is positioned to pounce on the coveted #1 spot if 5-1 Ohio State takes down defending national champion Indiana (6-0) this week. That Big Ten match-up kicks-off Saturday at 11AM CDT on FOX.
Indiana survived a close 20-17 road game against previously unbeaten Nebraska (now 5-1) in Lincoln. The Hoosiers’ winning streak is now an incredible 22 games. Their last defeat came on December 20, 2024 in a 27-17 loss to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoffs.
In case you missed last week’s initial Top 25 rankings, Indiana was named my #1 team by virtue of remaining unbeaten for nearly two full seasons. Until the Hoosiers lose a game, they will remain on top!
The unbeaten group of teams shrinks from 15 to just nine
Say “Good-bye!” to former unbeatens Alabama, Pittsburgh, North Dakota State, Nebraska, Texas, and Duke.
Pitt (now 5-1) was taken down 21-17 at home by Coach Bill Belichick’s fast-improving 3-2 North Carolina Tar Heels. The Pitt Panthers dropped to #15 this week in the latest rankings.
North Dakota State apparently left its offense back in Fargo, ND last weekend. The Bison uncharacteristically gave up three turnovers to hand UNLV (now 4-2) a 13-7 home victory. NDSU dropped to #13 this week.
Texas saw its 4-0 start come to a shocking end on Saturday. Those pesky 3-2 Oklahoma Sooners rallied to kick a game winning field goal to take a 27-24 win over the Longhorns. Texas’ killer SEC schedule now features games against 4-2 Florida, 4-1 Ole Miss, 4-1 Mississippi State, at 5-1 Missouri and at 4-2 LSU. Oof!
Duke went on the road last week to face struggling Georgia Tech (2-3). The Yellow Jackets stung the Blue Devils 28-25 on a touchdown with just 54 seconds remaining in the game. Duke dropped to 4-1 and fell out of the SwampSwamiSports.com rankings this week.
LSU now has its back to the wall
The LSU Tigers dropped a 35-34 overtime thriller at Kentucky on Saturday night to fall to 4-2 on the season. Kentucky (now a surprising 5-1 and #22 in this week’s rankings) converted a 2-point attempt in overtime with a wide-open quarterback draw to walk off with the win.
LSU wasn’t in my rankings last week when they were 4-1. The Tigers’ “signature” win was its 51-10 win over a rather mediocre 3-2 Clemson.
Why does the Associated Press continue to leave the Tigers in their Top 25 this week?
The AP has LSU at #22 and is the only 2-loss team in their poll. LSU’s two blemishes have been close road losses (32-24 loss at Ole Miss in Week #2 and Saturday’s one-point overtime loss at Kentucky).
Those of us who closely follow the Tigers will tell you that LSU’s offensive line simply isn’t doing a good enough job this season. It was LSU’s weakest link during Brian Kelly’s final year in 2025. New head coach Lane Kiffin cannot be pleased with the O-Line’s performance in 2026.
Here is an example. Coach Kiffin called a time-out with less than two minutes remaining in the Kentucky game. He pondered whether or not to roll the dice and try to convert a 4th down and one play at LSU’s 43-yard line. The Tigers took the statistically safer option and punted the ball. Kentucky quickly drove the ball downfield as the Wildcats’ erratic kicker finally converted the game-tying field goal.
LSU’s remaining SEC schedule is exceptionally tough.
Mississippi State (4-1) travels into Tiger Stadium for a rare 11AM CDT kickoff on ESPN this Saturday. LSU then travels to 3-2 Auburn and returns home for 5-1 Alabama and 4-1 Texas in back-to-back weekends. The Tigers hit the road again to finish the season at 4-1 Tennessee and at 2-4 Arkansas.
The 4-2 LSU Tigers must win all six of their remaining games to grab a spot in the 12-team College Football playoffs.
Will Coach Lane Kiffin be able to engineer a six-game winning streak? Stranger things have happened.
How good is 6-0 Notre Dame? We are going to find out this Saturday night!
The unbeaten Fighting Irish have not played a very difficult schedule in 2026. Notre Dame has dispatched such football ruffians as Rice (1-5), Michigan State (2-4), and Stanford (2-4). The Irish also took down 4-1 Wisconsin 41-13 in South Bend during Week #1 of the season.
Notre Dame will travel to Provo, Utah this Saturday night to play 5-0 Brigham Young (6:30 PM CDT on ABC). Clear skies with game time temperatures in the low 50’s should have the Cougars’ home crowd revved-up in hopes of ending Notre Dame’s dream of a perfect regular season.
The oddsmakers have established Notre Dame an overwhelming 10-point road favorite to win this game. That sounds a bit optimistic to me. We’ll find out on Saturday night.
Battle for the bottom is down to only three teams
Only a trio of teams remains without a victory in 2026.
Northern Illinois is 0-5 and will take to the road to play at 3-3 Wyoming this Saturday.
The Charlotte 49ers are 0-6 and will try to end their 14-game losing streak on Saturday at 2-4 Temple.
Our final winless team is UL-Monroe.
The 0-6 Warhawks white flag defense (?) has surrendered almost 45 points per game this season.
ULM will have a chance to break its losing streak this Saturday night as long-time arch rival Louisiana Tech comes into Monroe for a 7PM game (ESPN+).
The Bulldogs are 3-2 and have won two games in a row.
However, those two wins came by a total of just three points. Louisiana Tech beat Army by two points and rallied last week to defeat UL-Lafayette by just one point.
This will be the first football game between these two north Louisiana foes since November, 2000. The two schools are separated by only 35 miles via Interstate 20.
Let’s roll-out the latest SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 rankings for the week ending October 10, 2026:
