All 4 Downs Podcast | Week 8 | October 18, 2026

By Ovi Muniz | TheRealTalkPlaybook.com

College football is supposed to be about one thing: what happens on the field. Wins, losses, strength of schedule, quality opponents, and how a team performs when the pressure is on should determine where teams belong in the national rankings.

But after reviewing the Week 8 AP Top 25 and comparing it with my own Top 25 on the All 4 Downs Podcast, I have one serious question:

Are we ranking the best teams in college football, or are we protecting the biggest names?

There are some major disagreements between my rankings and the Associated Press poll. While we agree on 22 of the 25 teams, we have only one team ranked in exactly the same position: Georgia at No. 5.

That tells me we are watching the same games but evaluating the results very differently.

Let's break it down, four downs at a time.

🏈 1st Down: Ohio State Is My No. 1, Not Miami

The AP voters have Miami at No. 1, BYU at No. 2, and Ohio State at No. 3.

My rankings tell a different story.

I have Ohio State at No. 1, Miami at No. 2, and Texas Tech at No. 3.

Ohio State's 19–15 victory over Indiana was enough for me to move the Buckeyes into the top position. It was a competitive game against a highly ranked opponent, and Ohio State found a way to win.

Miami deserves tremendous credit for remaining undefeated at 6–0. I have the Hurricanes second in the country, and they have earned their place among the national championship contenders.

But here's where my philosophy differs from the AP.

An undefeated record does not automatically make you the best team in the country.

We must examine who a team has played, how it performed against those opponents, and whether its victories demonstrate championship-level football.

BYU is another example. The Cougars are undefeated and ranked second by the AP, but I have them sixth.

That is not disrespect toward BYU. It is an evaluation of the entire college football landscape.

The question is not simply whether a team wins. It is whether that team's overall résumé justifies its ranking compared with everyone else.

🏈 2nd Down: The Big 12 Deserves More Respect

One of the biggest differences between my rankings and the AP Top 25 is how we evaluate several Big 12 programs.

Look at these comparisons:

Team Ovi's Ranking          AP Ranking
Texas Tech 3                                8
Utah 7                                          10
Houston 8                                   14
BYU 6                                            2

Texas Tech is undefeated at 6–0, yet the AP has the Red Raiders eighth. I have them third.

Houston is another team that deserves attention. The Cougars are 6–1 and ranked fourteenth by the AP, but I have them eighth.

Why should Houston remain outside the Top 10 while other programs continue receiving the benefit of the doubt?

Utah is also undefeated at 6–0. I have the Utes seventh, compared with tenth in the AP poll.

College football fans and media personalities spend enormous amounts of time discussing the SEC and Big Ten. Those conferences have outstanding programs, but they do not have exclusive ownership of championship-quality football.

Winning consistently should matter regardless of the conference logo on your jersey.

The Big 12 deserves to be evaluated on the same standards as every other conference.

🏈 3rd Down: Indiana, Notre Dame, and the Reputation Problem

Here is where my rankings really separate themselves from the AP.

The AP has Indiana sixth. I have Indiana nineteenth.

That is a difference of 13 positions, the largest disagreement between our two polls.

Indiana lost to Ohio State 19–15. The AP clearly believes Indiana remains one of the nation's elite programs despite the defeat.

I see it differently.

A competitive loss against a strong opponent deserves consideration, but it should not automatically protect a team's ranking.

If we reward teams simply for losing to another highly ranked program, are we evaluating performance or reinforcing our previous opinions?

Notre Dame presents another interesting situation.

The Fighting Irish are ranked fourth in the AP poll despite having a 6–1 record. I have Notre Dame twelfth following its 28–24 loss to BYU.

Meanwhile, BYU is undefeated.

I understand that Notre Dame has a strong football tradition and an enormous national following. However, tradition does not score touchdowns, make tackles, or win games.

The name on the front of the jersey should never carry more weight than the results on the scoreboard.

The same philosophy applies to Alabama.

The Crimson Tide are ranked thirteenth by the AP and fourteenth in my poll. After losing to Tennessee 26–10, Alabama must prove it belongs among the championship contenders.

Georgia, meanwhile, sits fifth in both polls. It is the only exact ranking agreement between the AP voters and me.

A team's history can tell us what it has accomplished in previous seasons. It cannot tell us what that team deserves today.

🏈 4th Down: Stop Ranking the Brand and Start Ranking the Résumé

This is my biggest takeaway from Week 8.

College football rankings should be based on performance, not television ratings, social media popularity, preseason predictions, or historical reputation.

Take LSU.

The AP ranks LSU eighteenth. I have the Tigers eleventh.

Boise State is another example. The Broncos are twenty-first in the AP poll, but I have them fifteenth.

And look at SMU. The Mustangs are ranked twenty-third by the AP, while I have them seventeenth.

These are teams that deserve a serious evaluation based on their records, competition, and overall performance.

There are also three teams in my rankings that the AP leaves out completely:

• No. 21 Oklahoma State

• No. 22 Oregon

• No. 23 James Madison

Meanwhile, the AP includes Texas at No. 19, Missouri at No. 22, and Arizona at No. 25, while those programs are outside my Top 25.

I am not suggesting that my rankings are perfect. Rankings are subjective, and reasonable people can disagree about the order.

But there must be consistency in how we evaluate teams.

If a loss hurts one program, why does a similar loss barely affect another?

If an undefeated record is enough to place BYU second, why is undefeated Texas Tech eighth?

If Indiana remains sixth after losing to Ohio State, what makes its résumé stronger than other teams that continue winning?

These are the questions that poll voters should be answering every week.

Ovi's Week 8 Top 10

Rank Team
1 Ohio State
2 Miami (FL)
3 Texas Tech
4 Ole Miss
5 Georgia
6 BYU
7 Utah
8 Houston
9 Tennessee
10 Kentucky

Final Whistle: Respect the Game, Respect the Results

As we move deeper into the college football season, the stakes continue to rise.

Conference championships, playoff positioning, and national championship opportunities will eventually depend on how these teams perform.

The College Football Playoff selection committee will have its own decisions to make, but the weekly polls help shape the national conversation long before those decisions arrive.

My philosophy is simple.

Every team should earn its ranking every Saturday.

It does not matter whether you are Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Texas Tech, Houston, or James Madison.

If you win, your performance deserves recognition. If you lose, that result must be part of the evaluation. If you dominate quality competition, you deserve consideration over teams relying on reputation.

The rankings should reflect the football being played today, not the championships won yesterday.

That is how I evaluate my Top 25, and that is the standard I believe college football should follow.

Now I want to read from you:

Is Miami truly the No. 1 team in college football? Does Indiana deserve to remain in the Top 10? Is the AP giving enough respect to the Big 12? And which teams are receiving too much credit because of their reputation?

Join the conversation on the All 4 Downs Podcast, every Tuesday, where we break down the games, challenge the rankings, and talk college football without the media hype.

The scoreboard tells the story. The rankings should reflect it.

🌐 TheRealTalkPlaybook.com

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