BYU Projected to Claim AP No. 1 After Beating No. 2 Notre Dame

Q: After Arch Manning's late-game meltdown, can Texas salvage their playoff hopes before the season completely slips away?

Yes, but Texas is out of room for error. At 4-2 and 1-2 in SEC play after blowing a 17-3 lead to Florida, the Longhorns still have a path to the College Football Playoff because the 12-team format leaves more room for a two-loss SEC team. But the loss was damaging because it came at home, against an unranked opponent starting a backup quarterback, and exposed problems that have lingered for weeks. The biggest issue is that this no longer looks like a one-game collapse. Arch Manning was sacked five times, lost the late fumble that helped seal the defeat, and has now struggled for several games. Texas also failed in short-yardage situations, gave up long, clock-draining drives, and may now have to deal with injuries on defense, including concern around Colin Simmons. Those are not playoff-team trends. The schedule gives Texas opportunity, but not much margin. Ole Miss comes next, followed by Mississippi State, road trips to Missouri and LSU, then Arkansas and Texas A&M. That stretch is strong enough that if Texas runs the table, its résumé would recover quickly and likely put it back in serious CFP contention. It would also keep alive an outside shot at reaching the SEC title game. If Texas loses again, it likely falls into needing major help from other teams and committee comparisons. So the answer is simple: the playoff hopes are still alive, but they are now fragile, and Texas probably needs six straight wins to avoid watching the season slip away.

3 articles · Updated · CBS Sports · Oct 18

BYU is projected to rise to No. 1 in Sunday’s AP Top 25 after the unbeaten Cougars beat No. 2 Notre Dame on the final play in Provo.
Week 7 upended the poll because newly minted No. 1 Georgia lost at home to unranked Auburn, while former No. 1 Texas fell at Florida and several other ranked teams were beaten.
Miami is projected at No. 2 after surviving a double-overtime scare against Florida State, with Ohio State at No. 3 following a top-five road win over Indiana despite quarterback Julian Sayin’s injury.
Georgia is projected to slide to No. 4 and Notre Dame to No. 5, while Tennessee jumps to No. 9 after holding Alabama to 10 points and 101 total yards.
The shake-up points to a second straight week with a new AP No. 1 and underscores how midseason conference play is scrambling the College Football Playoff picture.