Week 8 College Football Power Rankings: Miami at No. 1 After BYU’s Surprise Loss to UCF

Cam Mellor and Oli Hodgkinson's Week 8 College Football Power Rankings Put Miami at No. 1 After BYU's Loss to UCFMiami is No. 1 in Pro Football Network’s college football power rankings after Week 8. BYU, last week’s top team, fell out of the top spot after a 39-31 double-overtime loss at UCF on Saturday.PFN college football analysts Cam Mellor and Oli Hodgkinson built their Top 25 with the PFN Power Ranking Builder and argued through it on PFN’s YouTube channel. After a weekend in which road favorites kept losing, they came away expecting two-loss teams, and possibly a three-loss SEC team, to decide the 12-team playoff field.Why Miami Is No. 1 in the CFB Power RankingsMellor moved Miami to the top because, in his view, the Hurricanes have settled on an offensive line after weeks of shuffling, and Darian Mensah has steadied behind it. “Malachi Toney’s the best receiver in football right now, it feels like,” Mellor said. He added that when he synced PFN’s grades during the show, Toney had passed Jesse Legree and Jeremiah Smith as the highest-graded receiver.Video via Pro Football Network.Hodgkinson called Smith the best player in college football and still sided with Toney on what he does after the catch. “Jeremiah Smith can’t even do the things that Malachi Toney does with a ball in his hands,” he said. For Hodgkinson, that is the gap between Miami and Ohio State on offense. The Buckeyes have to push the ball downfield to Smith when a game is on the line. “You can’t just dink and dunk it, pick up the yardage out of bounds. You can, Miami can.”Mellor called Miami “the most complete team outside of maybe Georgia” and pointed to Julian Sayin’s injury as the drag on Ohio State. Hodgkinson expects the Buckeyes’ quarterback situation to dominate the week before their next game. He circled Miami’s game against Notre Dame, which is seventh and coming off a bye, as the test: “that’s where we’ll know whether Miami is as good as we think they are.”DIVE IN:PFN’s Free CFB HQ — Team and Player Stats, Info, and MoreGeorgia stayed in the top three after the loss to Auburn that Hodgkinson described. He expects that defeat to fuel a statement game, maybe against Florida on Halloween. Mellor agreed. “I don’t want to play Georgia right now,” he said. UCLA, Indiana and Utah complete the top six, followed by Notre Dame, Kentucky at No. 8 (which Mellor called probably the most surprising team in the group), LSU at No. 9 and Alabama at No. 10. Mellor counted three unbeaten teams left in that group, including Utah and a UCLA team winning with Ty Dieffenbach at quarterback.How Far BYU Fell After the UCF UpsetBYU came in second in the AP poll and dropped out of PFN’s top 10. The Cougars now sit one spot ahead of Northwestern. Mellor credited Kalani Sitake for turning BYU into a program that is no longer an afterthought, which is why the loss stung: “this BYU team has been built up into a team that you expect to win these games at UCF.”He did not blame the officials. Mellor said that “even without that roughing the kicker penalty, they still should have lost that game.” UCF won on its second overtime possession with Keyone Jenkins’ 4-yard touchdown pass to Grayson Brousseau and a two-point conversion, then stopped BYU on downs. Bear Bachmeier went 16 of 32 for 257 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. BYU managed 116 yards on 36 carries.Hodgkinson called it the textbook trap game. He said “everything that everyone was concerned about ahead of the Notre Dame game, that never really came to fruition, came to fruition against UCF.” He also urged some patience with Bachmeier, pointing out that “this is only a second-year quarterback.” Mellor thinks BYU, now 6-1, probably has to win out to reach the Big 12 title game. That run starts with Arizona State in Provo on Oct. 31, and Utah comes after that.Is Texas a Top-15 Team?Texas came back into the rankings at No. 20 after beating seventh-ranked Ole Miss 34-27. Mellor still was not sold. He said the Longhorns leaned on a few defensive stands and needed an Ole Miss receiver not to make a play on the final Hail Mary. “Texas is not a top 15 team, in my opinion, in our opinion,” he said.Hodgkinson thought the way Texas closed the game was the identity it should have had all along, with a loaded defense and the running game. Raleek Brown ran 23 times for 157 yards. Arch Manning threw for 212 yards and a touchdown and ran for two scores, but he also threw two interceptions and lost a fumble that Ole Miss returned for a touchdown. Hodgkinson said Texas built its national title hopes around adding Brown from Arizona State and flipping Hollywood Smothers from Alabama.BUILD THE CFP FIELD:PFN’s Free CFB Playoff Predictor“It was always about the ground game,” he said, adding that “Arch Manning isn’t that dude who is going to win you a national championship.”Hodgkinson also expects so many SEC teams to pick up multiple losses that Texas will climb back toward the top 10 anyway, even though he does not think it plays like a top-10 team. “You can’t say that, but that’s where they’re going to end up,” he said. Mellor pointed to the schedule. Mississippi State visits Austin on Oct. 31, then Texas faces Missouri and LSU, whose defense Mellor said is “playing the best defensive football in the country right now.”Arizona or Texas Tech?Texas Tech sits right above Arizona, and the two meet in Lubbock on Oct. 31. With both teams trying to stay in the Big 12 race, Mellor said the game is close to an eliminator. Hodgkinson said Texas Tech’s loss at Cincinnati answered the question he had asked all season: “when does Texas Tech have to rely on Will Hammond, and when does that prove not enough? And it was this weekend against Cincinnati.” Hammond completed 24 of 37 passes for 227 yards with no touchdowns and an interception in the 37-24 loss.Hodgkinson gave Texas Tech the better defense overall. But he said Noah Fifita is playing the best football of his life, and Arizona no longer depends on one receiver the way it did with Tetairoa McMillan. Mellor said Arizona has been on the losing side of just one of its 14 halves, the second half against BYU. He also said its outside cornerbacks have more than a dozen forced incompletions despite few interceptions. “This secondary is avoided heavily by the opposition,” he said.CHECK YOUR TEAM’S ODDS:PFN’s CFB FPMMellor expects PFN’s probabilities to favor Texas Tech at home but picked Arizona: “I don’t think Will Hammond has the chops to throw against this secondary if no other quarterback has really been able to do so, either.”Aidan Chiles and NorthwesternMellor made the boldest call of the show. “Aidan Chiles deserves to be on your Heisman Trophy short list right now,” he said. He cited a rushing touchdown every game, multiple touchdown passes and one interception. He also pointed to wide receiver Griffin Wilde, linebacker Braydon Brus and safety Robert Fitzgerald as reasons Northwestern can hold up in Big Ten play. Hodgkinson added that Chiles leads the Big Ten in completion percentage and said “this is the most successful Northwestern team I can remember.”Mellor acknowledged the schedule has been soft apart from a close loss to Indiana. He said the next three games, at Oregon, home against Iowa and then Ohio State, will show whether the Wildcats are built to last.The Big 12 After Utah Beat HoustonHouston is No. 24 after a 21-13 loss at unbeaten Utah. The Cougars trailed by one point and had the ball when Conner Weigman fumbled with 2:15 left, and Devon Dampier scored on the next play. Dampier ran for 150 yards and two touchdowns but also threw two interceptions.Both hosts said Houston is still alive in the Big 12, with Texas Tech and BYU now carrying losses. “You can’t call a team with two losses in the Big 12 out of it by any stretch of the imagination yet,” Hodgkinson said. Mellor sees an easy run home for the 6-2 Cougars: “I would not be surprised to see this Houston team 10-2, just two losses in the Big 12.” He credited Utah’s defense under Morgan Scalley for not missing a step. Both hosts expect the conference to run through the state of Utah, possibly in a Holy War with title-game stakes.Sorting the SEC’s Middle TierMellor grouped Tennessee at No. 16, Ole Miss at No. 15, Missouri at No. 12 and Alabama at No. 10. He said Ole Miss stayed as high as 15th only because it had been in PFN’s top six the week before. Trinidad Chambliss went 25 of 52 for 250 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions against Texas, and Hodgkinson said the offense never found its rhythm in the biggest moments.When SEC teams grade out about the same, Mellor said he gives the edge to the one with the better quarterback. That helps Alabama with Keelon Russell, Missouri with Austin Simmons and Ole Miss with Chambliss. It hurts Tennessee, which he described as a one-dimensional running team with a great defense. Hodgkinson said LaNorris Sellers picking apart Tennessee’s defense in South Carolina’s upset should worry Volunteers fans. He also said Alabama’s narrow win over Texas A&M mattered mostly because Russell came through when it counted.Why Florida Is No. 25The hosts struggled most with the last spot and settled on Florida, which was idle. Hodgkinson pointed to a top-15 scoring offense, the wins over Texas and Ole Miss, and back-to-back losses to Missouri and South Carolina. “So they on their day look like a team that could be ranked a lot higher than where they are now,” he said.DIVE IN:PFN’s NFL Draft HQ: Draft Prospect Analysis, Stats & InfoMellor was cooler on the Gators. He said “right now the data … does not indicate that this Florida team is gonna be a player.” Their path runs through Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Oct. 31, followed by Oklahoma, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Florida State. Mellor said a win over Georgia would send Florida past the SEC teams ranked ahead of it, and a blowout loss would settle the question the other way.SMU and the ACC Chase Behind MiamiMellor flagged SMU’s habit of slow first halves, against Florida State, Virginia and then Cal, before Kevin Jennings carried the 6-1 Mustangs. He said Jennings set SMU’s career record for touchdown passes. In his view, a Wake Forest game in two weeks will show whether SMU can challenge Miami in the ACC.Hodgkinson sees SMU and Wake Forest as the clear second tier behind the Hurricanes. He also praised SMU’s growing balance with Kendrick Raphael running the ball. Virginia Tech, 26th in PFN’s rankings, is just outside after beating Clemson, which both hosts said is the kind of game James Franklin would have lost at Penn State.Group of Six Playoff ContendersMellor and Hodgkinson both pointed to Nov. 14 as the key Saturday for the Group of Six. Boise State against Oregon State should decide the leader, Mellor said, and North Texas against UTSA will sort out the American. Boise State leaned on Dylan Riola late against Washington State, and Hodgkinson said any opponent without a strong run defense is in trouble against the Broncos. He called UTSA “the real deal” after it beat Tulane.MORE: CFB World Reacts to Refs’ ‘Insane’ Penalty During Wisconsin-USC MatchupHodgkinson also pushed New Mexico under Jason Eck. He said the Lobos’ win over North Dakota State made them bowl-eligible in consecutive seasons for the first time in a decade. “If you’re not watching Lobo football, you don’t like college football,” he said. Mellor would not be surprised to see New Mexico finish 11-1, and he named James Madison as the Sun Belt team that could crash the field with an 11-1 record. Hodgkinson added two-loss Toledo as a team to watch if Boise State slips.How Many Two-Loss Teams Make the Playoff?Hodgkinson said the defining question of the 2026 race is how many two-loss teams, and perhaps three-loss teams, get into the 12-team field. He pointed to LSU sitting ninth with two losses and expects maybe one unbeaten team to remain by the end.Mellor said PFN’s grades put LSU’s defense at 99.9. LSU is off on Halloween, then hosts Alabama and Texas before visiting Tennessee. “There’s probably going to be a three-loss SEC team that you’re not going to want to face come December,” he said.Mellor’s point about LSU’s schedule makes the SEC math concrete. Alabama, Texas and Tennessee all have to go through that defense in November, so at least some of the teams now ranked around it should pick up more losses before the committee picks the field.This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.