Following assumptions that the SEC and Big Ten ruled college football, the Big 12 now features three squads in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 and the ACC holds the top ranking.

Five of the top seven teams fell on Saturday, the highest total for one regular season day since the AP poll began 90 years ago. In total, eight ranked teams lost during Week 7.

No. 2 BYU, No. 8 Texas Tech and No. 10 Utah reached the top 10 on Sunday, mainly because they avoided defeat while Georgia, Alabama and Texas fell in the SEC.

The Big 12 last placed three teams in the top 10 during the final 2021 poll, which included Baylor, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.

Miami of the ACC sits at No. 1 after edging Florida State in double overtime. Nearly six full seasons had passed since a team outside the SEC or Big Ten held the top spot. Miami now has 69 all-time weeks at No. 1, eighth most overall, ending a 24-year absence from the pinnacle.

BYU made the strongest case with a 28-24 victory over No. 2 Notre Dame as a 10.5-point home underdog. The Cougars became the Big 12's highest-ranked team since TCU finished at No. 2 in the final 2022 poll.

BYU has started 6-0 for the third straight season even with star running back LJ Martin sidelined by injury for the past two-plus games. Quarterback Bear Bachmeier has stepped up, and the defense ranks among the nation's top 15 units.

The Cougars recorded their highest-ranked win since defeating a No. 1 Miami team in 1990, earning a resume boost that could aid an at-large College Football Playoff bid. Their toughest remaining regular-season matchup is at rival Utah on Nov. 7.

Texas Tech returned from an open date energized against a struggling Arizona State. The Red Raiders gained 404 yards to build a 43-10 halftime lead and finished with 502 yards in the 53-25 win. Tech had not scored that many points in the first half of a conference game in 25 years.

The Red Raiders rank among four Bowl Subdivision teams with at least 28 points in every contest, though they had not shown the same dominance as the 2025 Big 12 title squad before Saturday.

“There was a sense of urgency but also anger,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said of his team's mindset versus ASU. “There's a lot of different people saying, 'Hey, this doesn't look like last year's team.' Well, it's not last year's team. But this team is still 6-0 and finding ways to win.”

Utah, back in the top 10 for the first time in two years, owns the nation's longest active win streak at 12 games after a 27-24 escape at Colorado. The Utes trailed for the first time in four games when they fell behind in the third quarter. Devon Dampier directed two scoring drives to seal the result, the second set up by James Chenault Jr.'s 30-yard interception return late.

“You look across college football today,” Utes coach Morgan Scalley said, “and every week, winning is hard.”

A sign of the weekly SEC grind: five two-loss teams sit in the Top 25, all from that league - No. 13 Alabama, No. 18 LSU, No. 19 Texas, No. 20 Florida and No. 22 Missouri.

That marks the most ranked two-loss teams in a Week 8 poll since five appeared in 2022. Six ranked two-loss teams existed at this stage in 2018 and eight in 2016.

With five straight wins, No. 12 Kentucky stands as the hottest SEC squad. The run includes two victories over top-10 foes, and Saturday's 21-13 win at Oklahoma marked the Wildcats' third road triumph. They hold their highest ranking since No. 7 in late September 2022 and, at 6-1, are bowl eligible for the first time since 2023. Wake Forest's 41-7 win at California lifted the Demon Deacons four spots to No. 17, their best mark since October 2022. Consecutive losses to Oklahoma and Florida made Texas the first team in 35 years to drop two straight regular-season games after starting at No. 1. In 1991, Florida State fell from the top spot with a loss to Miami and then dropped its next game to Florida.

This version corrects the score of the BYU-Notre Dame game. BYU won 28-24.