The 2007 college football season is the gold standard for chaotic years in the sport, as a top-2 ranking in the AP poll became a curse rather than a reward. A top-2-ranked team in the AP poll lost in five consecutive weeks to end the 2007 season, which remains the all-time record, and, overall, either No. 1 or No. 2 in the country lost an astounding 11 times over the course of the season. The period of relative stability at the top of the college football world that followed that legendary 2007 campaign made many wonder if we'd ever see anything like it again.
Well, 19 years later, we have our hands on another season where the only certainty seems to be chaos at the top. October 2026 will go down as a historic one. The five losses by AP top-2 teams are tied for the most in a single month since November 2007 -- October 2007 also saw four such losses -- and it's also the first time since November 2007 that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the AP poll finished the month with a losing record (4-5).
Week 3: No. 4 Texas 24, No. 1 Ohio State 23 Week 7: No. 17 Kentucky 43, No. 1 LSU 37 Week 8: Rutgers 30, No. 2 South Florida 27 Week 8: No. 8 BYU 28, No. 2 Notre Dame 24 Week 10: Florida State 27, No. 2 Boston College 17 Week 11: Illinois 28, No. 1 Ohio State 21 Week 13: No. 3 Missouri 36, No. 2 Kansas 28 As the calendar turns to November, six different teams ranked No. 1 or No. 2 have lost, marking the most top-2 losses before November since 1984 -- 1981 is the only season with more top-2 losses before November (7). Five of those losses have come in the last four weeks, which means with another loss on Saturday, 2007 will suddenly have company for the most consecutive weeks with a top-2 team losing. That possibility is not at all far-fetched considering what the schedule provides in Week 10.
No. 1 Miami and No. 2 Georgia each go on the road to face a top-12 ranked opponent (No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 12 Ole Miss, respectively), meaning there is a very real chance the top of the polls get shaken up again going into Week 11. The Hurricanes have already had to pull off late escapes against a pair of unranked opponents in recent weeks, while the Bulldogs showed their vulnerability in a stunning loss to Auburn after grabbing the No. 1 ranking. The lack of a clearly dominant top tier in the sport has created a void that no one can seemingly fill for very long at the top of the rankings.
What makes the 2007 season stand out isn't just how many top-ranked teams lost, but some of the programs that put on their wings of wax and flew a bit too close to the sun. There were certainly blue-bloods and traditional powers like LSU, Ohio State and USC (and an early version of Oregon), but seeing Missouri, Kansas, South Florida, Boston College and West Virginia all grab a brief hold of a top-2 ranking made the season that much more fun. The 2026 season hasn't quite reached that level yet, with Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas accounting for five of the losses, but we aren't that many steps away from getting there.
Utah and UCLA are undefeated top-5 teams currently and could be in line to jump in if Miami or Georgia falls this weekend. Kentucky and Wake Forest are ranked No. 8 and No. 14 respectively, and if things get weird enough, perhaps a one-loss version of the Wildcats or Demon Deacons could sniff the top-2 -- not to mention we're all still getting used to "college football powerhouse Indiana" being part of this current reality. There's also the importance of who is beating the top teams in fostering that sense of chaos.
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