The Sunday Notebook: Georgia Takes the Crown, the Polls Drop Today, and Week 7 Is Absolutely Loaded

The coronation happens this afternoon

Sometime around 2 p.m. ET today, when the AP poll drops, it will make it official: Georgia is the No. 1 team in the country. The Coaches Poll, out around noon ET, will almost certainly say the same thing. This is the least suspenseful coronation in recent memory — every ballot projection, every analyst top 12, every model agrees.

The case is airtight. Georgia went into Tuscaloosa and beat Alabama 20-17 on Saturday night, and that was only Kirby Smart's third win in ten career games against the Tide. Quarterback Gunner Stockton threw for 249 yards and a touchdown, Dwight Phillips ran for 120 yards on 17 carries, and the Bulldogs are 6-0 with the best win of any team in America. Yes, there's a late non-pass-interference call that Alabama fans will be angry about for a decade. No, it doesn't change the math.

One wrinkle worth watching: Texas held six first-place votes last week. Some of those voters might keep the Longhorns at No. 1 out of sheer stubbornness, the way poll voters do. But the consensus — from Brett McMurphy's published ballot to Danny Kanell's top 12 to the SI projection — is Georgia, and it's not close.

How far does Texas fall?

This is the actual debate of the afternoon, and it's a good one. Oklahoma stunned No. 1 Texas 27-24 in the Red River rivalry on Tate Sandell's walk-off field goal, and the question is what the voters do with a one-loss Longhorns team that mostly beat itself.

The case for keeping Texas high: the Longhorns outgained the Sooners by nearly 150 yards and lost on two Oklahoma defensive touchdowns — a blocked punt return and Peyton Bowen's 42-yard interception return. Take those two plays away and Texas probably wins going away. McMurphy's ballot reflects that thinking — he has Texas at No. 4, one spot behind Ohio State.

The case for dropping them hard: Arch Manning threw two fourth-quarter interceptions, finishing 19-of-31 for 260 yards with three touchdowns and the two picks. And it's mid-October now — that Week 2 head-to-head win over Ohio State, the one keeping Texas ahead of the Buckeyes on some ballots, is ancient history. Kanell's top 12 has Texas all the way down at No. 12. SI's projection splits the difference at No. 6.

Our read: Texas lands somewhere between 4 and 6, and honestly that's fine, because the Longhorns' season is decided in the next month anyway. Florida comes to Austin on Saturday (noon ET, ABC, Texas -10), and then it's the SEC meat grinder. Win out and nobody remembers October 10th. Lose again and the playoff conversation gets very uncomfortable.

The playoff picture, redrawn

After the dust settled Saturday night, nine FBS teams are still unbeaten: Georgia, Notre Dame, Miami, Indiana, BYU, Texas Tech, Utah, UCLA and James Madison. Five of the nine made last year's College Football Playoff. The field is narrowing, and the conference races are where it gets fun.

In the SEC, Georgia is the last unbeaten standing and holds the tiebreaker over Alabama. That's about as close to control as you get in mid-October. Behind them it's a demolition derby: Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Missouri and Tennessee all have one loss, and they all play each other. Missouri's 27-6 dismantling of Texas A&M — with Jamal Roberts going over 200 yards and scoring multiple touchdowns again — makes the Tigers a genuine dark horse nobody had in August.

In the Big Ten, three teams are unbeaten in conference play: Indiana (6-0), UCLA (5-0) and Ohio State (5-1). Indiana hosts the Buckeyes on Saturday with first place on the line, and UCLA — which hadn't won in Eugene since 2004 before Saturday's 17-15 stunner over Oregon — gets to sit back and watch two rivals bloody each other. In the Big 12, BYU, Texas Tech and Utah are all perfect, and the round-robin is coming.

And then there's Kentucky, the season's chaos agent. The Wildcats are 5-1 and have now won back-to-back overtime games on two-point conversions — Saturday's 35-34 walk-off over No. 10 LSU, with Kenny Minchey throwing the winner. Kentucky is about to be ranked, and nobody in the SEC wants to see them on the schedule.

The Heisman minute

The market has spoken, and it's barely a race right now. Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith caught two more touchdown passes in the Buckeyes' 45-16 rout of Maryland — four catches, 93 yards, two scores — and sits around -200 at the books, as short as -210 on Sunday morning. He's the biggest liability on the board at multiple sportsbooks, which tells you where the money is going.

Behind him, the board reshuffled hard. Alabama quarterback Keelon Russell is second at +650 after the loss to Georgia — he played well enough in defeat that the market didn't bury him. Miami's Darian Mensah (+1200, 15 touchdowns and no interceptions, idle this week) and Notre Dame's C.J. Carr (+1200, rolling after the 58-7 Stanford rout) are the co-third choices. Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (+1500) kept pace in the 52-17 win over Vanderbilt, and Gunner Stockton (+3000) played his way onto the board by winning in Tuscaloosa.

And then there's Arch Manning, the preseason favorite, who is now +6500 at FanDuel and was listed at +10000 by Sunday morning. That's not a slump, that's a crater. The draft conversation has shifted too — ESPN's latest 2027 quarterback rankings have Manning fifth, behind Oklahoma State's Drew Mestemaker, Mensah, Chambliss and Carr, while Smith is the +230 favorite to go No. 1 overall. October is cruel.

The injury report

The biggest one from Saturday: UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava hurt his leg in the second quarter against Oregon and never returned. Backup Ty Dieffenbach finished the game, and the Bruins still won 17-15 in Eugene — which says plenty about where this UCLA team is. The tackle that injured Iamaleava drew scrutiny after replays circulated, though no flag was thrown on the play. Coach Bob Chesney told the CBS sideline crew it was just a quad bruise and "he's fine," then admitted after the game that Iamaleava wasn't close to returning and needed further evaluation. That's a situation to watch all week.

Elsewhere: Oregon played without Dante Moore, who remains in concussion protocol, with Dylan Raiola starting in his place. Cal started backup Jackson Brousseau against Virginia Tech with Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele still working back from the concussion he suffered October 3rd against UNLV. Kansas State remains without quarterback Blake Barnett, with Dillon Duff a game-time decision. And a reminder from Friday: Pitt's Mason Heintschel is done for the season with a torn ACL — which made North Carolina's 21-17 win over the Panthers hurt even more in Pittsburgh.

The carousel is quiet — for now

No head coach lost his job this weekend, which in this sport counts as news. But the temperature changed in a few buildings. Bill Belichick picked up his first ranked win at North Carolina, going on the road and knocking off Pitt 21-17 behind 249 passing yards and two touchdowns from Billy Edwards Jr. For a program that hired a 74-year-old NFL legend to win immediately, that's the first real receipt.

On the other end, Mike Norvell's seat got warmer. Louisville snapped its skid by running Florida State out of its own building 44-20, with Isaac Brown going for 235 rushing yards and two touchdowns. And the week's loudest off-field chatter came from "The Herd," where Lincoln Riley and Deion Sanders took heat for leaning on NIL money and the transfer portal — with Joel Klatt pushing back that a change at USC "would be a massive mistake." October is when these conversations stop being theoretical.

Week 7, at a glance

Put the phone down next Saturday. This might be the best slate of the season.

Ohio State at Indiana, noon ET, FOX. The last two national champions, both unbeaten in Big Ten play, with first place on the line. It's a rematch of last season's Big Ten title game. Indiana quarterback Josh Hoover is averaging 210.7 passing yards with 17 touchdowns and zero interceptions; Ohio State counters with Jeremiah Smith, who has eight of his eleven touchdowns in conference play. The Buckeyes are four-point favorites. Indiana's last regular-season win over Ohio State came in Bloomington on October 8, 1988. Curt Cignetti's team has been waiting a year for this one.

Notre Dame at BYU, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC. The only game in America matching two unbeaten teams. The Irish have won sixteen straight, all by double digits, and open as 12.5-point favorites — but they haven't been to Provo since 2004, and the Cougars won that one 20-17. C.J. Carr against Bear Bachmeier, under the lights, with both teams' playoff hopes on the line. This is the one.

Alabama at Tennessee, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN. No time for a hangover in Tuscaloosa. The Vols have won the last two meetings in this series at Neyland Stadium, both teams are 5-1, and the loser takes a second loss that all but ends their SEC title hopes. Alabama is favored by 6.5.

Florida at Texas, noon ET, ABC. The Longhorns' bounce-back test, and the Gators just got run off the field by South Carolina. Texas is laying 10. If this is close in the fourth quarter, Austin will get very nervous.

Mississippi State at LSU, noon ET. The Tigers are 4-2 and reeling after the Kentucky loss; the Bulldogs are 4-1 and ranked. LSU is favored by 11.5 at home, which feels like the market saying the name on the jersey still matters.

Plus: Oklahoma State at Houston (7:30 ET, FOX), Kentucky at Oklahoma (7:30 ET, SEC Network), Auburn at Georgia (3:30 ET) and Missouri at Ole Miss (3:30 ET). Nine games, zero breathers. Yesterday's notebook and our full Week 6 chaos recap have everything that got us here.