Week 9 Game Week Discussion Thread

Wil Vincent

Can Someone Just Explain What Just Happened (Part 2)?

I started writing, then before I know it had 2000 words down on metaphorical paper so...

Seeing as I may have figured out a new bug in real time, please follow this link in order to read. Thanks, and.. I'm sorry. Though I can promise you that the only AI in anything I produce in this new ranting segment is that god-awful banner image.

Notes

Links to the AP and Coaches' Top 25 Poll for the week ~~will be added once available~~ are available below, just keep scrolling. Non Ranked teams are included for educational purposes only, primarily in terms of working out where the Go6 race is currently heading, and how far teams have fallen / gained over the past week. A pure T25 ranking limits the ability to digest some of this data.

You can view the entire season rankings in our new, long, boring week by week breakdown. At the moment there's no additional commentary, but this may be added over time.
This Week's Pick'Em is open for business. You can choose as many games as you want, you are not confined to the entire list of 56 games for this week (Bye weeks are kicking in). You can access the complete FBS W-L records (Broken down by complete & conference W-L records) in the following Spreadsheet, as it's too long to paste here.

fbs-team-records-2026-w8-updated.xlsx
13kB
Similarly, This Week's UK:CFC Confidence 10 Pick'Em is open for business. If you have no idea what this is, then there's a nice handy guide for you to explain everything. This week's games have a variety of T25 Matchups, closely matched teams, and a curveball. Because why not!
Links to TV viewing for games will be added once available. As mentioned previously, AAW Network have been producing their own guide, including the week that I was off ill, and rather than try to replicate the wheel, I'll just link to that as it's easier and will hopefully lead to less confusion / errors.
Please remember the policy on NOT sharing non-authorised live streaming of games.
1. Adding HIGHLIGHTS of already completed games is fine, as the NCAA / TV Networks don't seem to mind, and some schools post their own content anyway.
2. ESPN, FOX, CBS etc normally post full highlights by Monday Morning. Clip highlights before that.
Finally, please remember, rivalry talk is great. Clearly hateful / person bashing (Especially fellow forum users) is not. Be Kind! :

AP Poll - Week 8¹

#	TEAM	CONF	RECORD	PTS	1PVS	PREV
1	Miami Hurricanes (FL)	ACC	7 - 0	1735	59	1
2	Ohio State Buckeyes	B1G	6 - 1	1681	10	3
3	Georgia Bulldogs	SEC	6 - 1	1511		5
4	Indiana Hoosiers	B1G	7 - 1	1459		6
5	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	IND	6 - 1	1458		4
6	Utah Utes	XII	7 - 0	1413	1	10
7	UCLA Bruins	B1G	7 - 0	1398		9
8	BYU Cougars	XII	6 - 1	1325		2
9	Kentucky Wildcats	SEC	7 - 1	1185		12
10	Alabama Crimson Tide	SEC	6 - 2	1063		13
11	Texas Longhorns	SEC	5 - 2	966		19
12	Ole Miss Rebels	SEC	5 - 2	871		7
13	Texas Tech Red Raiders	XII	6 - 1	861		8
14	Wake Forest Demon Deacons	ACC	6 - 1	822		17
15	LSU Tigers	SEC	6 - 2	813		18
16	Tennessee Volunteers	SEC	6 - 2	662		11
17	Florida Gators	SEC	5 - 2	556		20
18	Houston Cougars	XII	6 - 2	491		4
19	SMU Mustangs	ACC	6 - 1	440		23
20 =	Boise State Broncos	P-12	6 - 1	422		21
20 =	Northwestern Wildcats	B1G	6 - 1	422		24
22	Arizona Wildcats	XII	6 - 1	400		25
23	Missouri Tigers	SEC	5 - 2	329		22
24	Oklahoma State Cowboys	XII	5 - 2	180		[NR] 26
25	Wisconsin Badgers	B1G	5 - 2	125		[NR]
[NR] \| 26	Iowa Hawkeyes	B1G	5 - 2	76		15
[NR] \| 27	New Mexico Lobos	MW	6 - 1	41		[NR] 31
[NR] \| 28	Cincinatti Bearcats	XII	5 - 2	11		[NR]
[NR] \| 29	Oregon State Beavers	P-12	5 - 2	10		[NR] 32
[NR] \| 30	South Carolina Gamecocks	SEC	4 - 3	8		[NR]
[NR] \| 31	Minnesota Golden Gophers	B1G	5 - 2	7		[NR]
[NR] \| 32	USC Trojans	B1G	6 - 2	7		[NR]
[NR] \| 33	UTSA Roadrunners	AAC	7 - 1	1		[NR]
[NR] \| 34	Virginia Tech Hokies	ACC	6 - 2	1		[NR]

Coaches Poll - Week 8²

#	TEAM	CONF	RECORD	PTS	1PVS	PREV
1	Miami Hurricanes (FL)	ACC	7 - 0	1839	67	1
2	Ohio State Buckeyes	B1G	6 - 1	1767	6	2
3	Georgia Bulldogs	SEC	6 - 1	1646		4
4	Indiana Hoosiers	B1G	7 - 1	1578		6
5	Utah Utes	XII	7 - 0	1459		9
6	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	IND	6 - 1	1452		8
7	UCLA Bruins	B1G	7 - 0	1446	1	10
8	Kentucky Wildcats	SEC	7 - 1	1318		12
9	BYU Cougars	XII	6 - 1	1244		3
10	Alabama Crimson Tide	SEC	6 - 2	1092		13
11	Texas Longhorns	SEC	5 - 2	1002		18
12	Ole Miss Rebels	SEC	5 - 2	941		7
13	LSU Tigers	SEC	6 - 2	895		17
14	Texas Tech Red Raiders	XII	6 - 1	864		5
15	Wake Forest Demon Deacons	ACC	6 - 1	749		19
16	SMU Mustangs	ACC	6 - 1	690		20
17	Tennessee Volunteers	SEC	6 - 2	650		11
18	Northwestern Wildcats	B1G	6 - 1	545		23
19	Houston Cougars	XII	6 - 2	435		16
20	Florida Gators	SEC	5 - 2	417		24
21	Arizona Wildcats	XII	6 - 1	399		[NR] 26
22	Boise State Broncos	P-12	6 - 1	396		22
23	Missouri Tigers	SEC	5 - 2	376		21
24	Iowa Hawkeyes	B1G	5 - 2	225		14
25	USC Trojans	B1G	6 - 2	132		15
[NR] \| 26	Oklahoma State Cowboys	XII	5 - 2	120		[NR] 27
[NR] \| 27	Wisconsin Badgers	B1G	5 - 2	114		[NR] 37
[NR] \| 28	Cincinnati Bearcats	XII	5 - 2	49		[NR]
[NR] \| 29	New Mexico Lobos	MW	6 - 1	43		[NR] 35
[NR] \| 30	Minnesota Golden Gophers	B1G	5 - 2	35		[NR]
[NR] \| 31	UTSA Roadrunners	AAC	7 - 1	34		[NR] 34
[NR] \| 32	Nebraska Cornhuskers	B1G	5 - 2	27		[NR] 31
[NR] \| 33	Virginia Tech Hokies	ACC	6 - 2	16		[NR]
[NR] \| 34	Oregon State Beavers	P-12	5 - 2	15		[NR] 32
[NR] \| 35	South Carolina Gamecocks	SEC	4 - 3	12		[NR]
[NR] \| 36	Duke Blue Devils	ACC	5 - 2	12		[NR] 38
[NR] \| 37	Oregon Ducks	B1G	4 - 3	5		25
[NR] \| 38	Auburn Tigers	SEC	4 - 3	4		[NR] 29
[NR] \| 39	North Texas Mean Green	AAC	5 - 2	2		[NR] 42
[NR] \| 40	Michigan Wolverines	B1G	4 - 3	2		[NR] 35
[NR] \| 41	UCF Knights	XII	4 - 3	1		[NR]
[NR] \| 42	Oklahoma Sooners	SEC	4 - 3	1		[NR]
[NR] \| 43	JMU Dukes	SBC	7 - 1	1		[NR] 28

Week 9 Pick 'Em Is Live!

Because I'm not completely evil, a spreadsheet below provides the W-L record (overall and conference) for a small guide for your viewing pleasure.

fbs-team-records-2026-w8-updated.xlsx

13kB

If you want further information, why not try my new favourite search engine, Lycos! (Sadly, Ask Jeeves went offline on the 1^st May of this year).

Week 8 Standard Pick ‘Em Results

Rank	Player	Points	W	L	Picks	% Correct	MPR Weeks
1	JackAshley-Price	34	34	20	54	62.96%	3
2	Wil Vincent	33	33	22	55	60.00%	3
3	Dee	33	33	19	52	63.46%	3
4	StevieGillers	30	30	26	56	53.57%	3
5	SimonAusten	30	30	23	53	56.60%	2
6	KaliBronco	21	21	23	44	47.73%	3
7	Welshtide	21	21	23	44	47.73%	3
8	CFC GameBot	18	18	38	56	32.14%	1
9	Jbeckfield	16	16	33	49	32.65%	2

Week 8 UK:CFC Confidence 10 Pick 'Em Results

Rank	Player	Points	W - L	% Correct	MPR Weeks
1	welshtide	38	7 - 2	78%	3
2	Mark	36	7 - 3	70%	3
3	JackAshley-Price	21	6 - 4	60%	3
4	Wil Vincent	4	1 - 1	50%	3
5	Jbeckfield	0	2 - 8	20%	2
6	CFC GameBot	-2	3 - 7	30%	2
7	Simon Austen	-13	0 3	0%	1

MPR Weeks stands for Minimum Participation Requirement Weeks. This recognises that the competitions have started mid - season, and therefore participation may fluctuate from early - later weeks. MPR allows for fairness in determining champions for each competition, whilst still allowing new members to participate. More detail can be found here.

And on that note, please begin! 😆

¹ Note, data for non Top 25 teams is for informational and comparison purposes only. This is generated using previous poll data alongside individual team data. Only the Top 25 teams are endorsed as such in the AP Poll.

²Note, data for non Top 25 teams is for informational and comparison purposes only. This is generated using previous poll data alongside individual team data. Only the Top 25 teams are endorsed as such in the Coaches Poll.

Wil Vincent

Here's your TLDR version of the rankings:

Almost like I predicted, the SEC has the most teams in 'playoff potential' positions. This will diminish a little bit as teams still have to play each other in places, but expect them to get the most CFP nods IF the committee agree with the AP & Coaches polls.
There's a drop off after Miami / Ohio State, then after P8 / 9, then P14 / 15 in the rankings. This of course discounts the Julian Sayin scenario (discussed below).
There are now clear win and in scenarios in each of the Power 4 conferences emerging. Miami, Utah and UCLA need to make it to the championship game, then they'll be playing for seeding, and Georgia, Indiana, Notre Dame and BYU are each in 'No more losses please' territory. OSU is the wildcard, again, discussed below.
As if it wasn't ever going to be a different scenario, Alabama are the top ranked 2 loss team at #10... Who'd have thought!?!?! Seeing how the committee sees two loss teams will be interesting with another week's worth of data before Nov 3rd.
Now JMU have lost, Boise State have the inside ticket for the Go6 bid according to these polls. It'll either be the winner of the PAC-12 / MW conference championship games at this point, which is... Ironic? No?

OSU's not been 'tested' in terms of their direction in a 'No Sayin' situation, as they were on a bye this week. There is though going to be a scrap for starter between True Freshman Luke Fahey and Sophomore Tavien St. Clair. If you want my opinion on which direction OSU will go, I'd say both. two backup QBs is harder to prepare for than one, and there can be a split playbook scenario which I actually enjoy seeing. The 70 odd home fans at the Colosseum on Saturday night may be in for a treat.

Wil Vincent

Friendly note to everyone:

The US turn their clocks back a week after us (this Sunday), so all games taking place this week (Also GameDay and BNK) are an hour early; so:

College GameDay: 1PM GMT.
Big Noon Kickoff: 2PM GMT.
Early games: 4PM GMT
Mid Afternoon Games: 7:30PM GMT
Late Games: 11PM - 12AM GMT

#Afterdark games will be normal time.