Isn’t college football the best?
Perhaps the best weekend of college football yet has come and gone, leaving us with a new No. 1, dejected fanbases and some major stakes heading into another great slate in Week 7.
Before we dive into the coming week, however, let’s take a look at our biggest winners and losers from Week 6.
Winner: Will Stein and Kentucky. Again.
A note for SEC head coaches — you may want to consider going for 2 if you find yourself facing Kentucky in an overtime game across the next few years. Will Stein is an unhinged and fearless individual. You will pay for not heeding this advice.
Fair warning.
The Kentucky Wildcats are 5-1 after securing their 2nd ranked win of the season. The Cats earned their 5th win of the year the same way they earned their 4th — with a gutsy decision to go for 2 in overtime. All or nothing. That’s how Stein operates.
And how about Kenny Minchey? The Notre Dame transfer has improved week after week since his rough outing against Alabama, leading Kentucky to 4 straight wins. According to Stein postgame, Minchey called his own number on that fateful 2-point conversion that sealed it.
Loser: Folks who tweeted “Nebraska is back” with 12 minutes still on the clock
It’s a tradition unlike any other.
Nebraska, stunned to silence after a promising start against No. 7 Indiana, choked away yet another opportunity to knock off a top 25 opponent with an agonizing 20-17 loss.
With just 12 minutes remaining in front of a home crowd, Huskers quarterback Anthony Colandrea sprinted past Indiana defenders for a 39-yard touchdown to put Nebraska up 17-6. One or two defensive stops stood in the way of Nebraska’s first ranked win in over 10 years.
Indiana responded with a 75-yard touchdown connection from Josh Hoover to Nick Marsh the very next play. Nebraska promptly went 3-and-out, punted and essentially did nothing but watch as Indiana marched 80 yards in just 5 plays to take a 20-17 lead.
The entire sequence described above happened across less than 5 minutes of game time.
For those counting at home, Nebraska has now lost 32 straight games to ranked opponents. One-third of those losses have come under head coach Matt Rhule.
Winner: Georgia
The result speaks for itself here. Thanks to Texas’s loss to unranked Oklahoma, Georgia is the No. 1 team in the country following a gutsy win on the road over a damn good Alabama team. Quarterback Gunner Stockton was excellent, completing all but 4 of his 22 passing attempts for 249 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception alongside 12 rushing yards and 1 rushing touchdown.
Once again, Georgia looks like the best team in the country. Now, it boasts one of the best wins of the season.
Georgia’s remaining schedule, by SEC standards, is pretty tame. The Bulldogs’ toughest remaining contests are at No. 9 Ole Miss and at home vs. No. 13 Mizzou. Other opponents include the following: Auburn, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia Tech.
The Bulldogs need just 4 wins to punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff. My question is this: Who, if anyone, can take down these Bulldogs? Miami? Notre Dame? Name your team, I wouldn’t put money on any of them over this Bulldogs squad right now.
Loser: Mike Elko
Mike Elko has completely torched any momentum he had entering his 3rd season in College Station. Texas A&M now sits at 3-3 on the year and 1-3 in SEC play after starting last season 11-0.
That’s bad enough on its own. Making matters worse, Elko decided — for some reason — to call out part of his fanbase following Saturday’s 27-6 loss to Mizzou.
“There’s a difference to me between the fan base and social media,” Elko said. “So, there’s one group that I really don’t care much about. Billy’s cesspool can go be Billy’s cesspool. Our fan base stay with us.”
“Billy’s cesspool,” refers to Billy Liucci, the owner of TexAgs.com. Elko contends that fans who criticize the pitiful product he’s put to the field this year are a problem, not the coach who makes millions to hitch his wagon to Marcel Reed and this truly gross offense. Texas A&M is far too talented to be this lost in Year 3 — but this comment tells me A&M’s problems run a little deeper. You just cannot say this as an SEC head coach.
I’ll let Billy close up here:
Winner: UCLA’s defense
Only 9 teams across FBS college football remain undefeated through the first 6 weeks of the season. Bob Chesney’s UCLA Bruins are one of these teams.
The Bruins secured their first win over Oregon in Eugene since 2004 on Saturday, and it’s all thanks to a simply astounding defensive effort. The Bruins forced 7 (!) turnovers, including 5 forced fumbles and 2 interceptions of Dylan Raiola, who entered this week on fire in place of injured starter Dante Moore.
Are the Bruins flawless? Absolutely not. Nico Iamaleava struggled on Saturday, and his health is in question after suffering a lower-body injury (and a punch to the neck, mind you) in the 2nd half. In addition, UCLA averaged just 3 yards per rush and finished 4-for-16 on 3rd down. Despite securing the win, UCLA committed 3 turnovers of their own, too.
UCLA’s toughest game is now behind them. Are the Bruins College Football Playoff contenders? Here’s UCLA’s remaining schedule:
- Wisconsin
- Michigan State
- Nevada
- at Minnesota
- Illinois
- at Michigan
- No. 19 USC
Loser: Texas
The Texas Longhorns have been exposed — they are good, sure, but far from elite.
Oklahoma finished 2-for-13 on third down and totaled 150 less yards than the Longhorns, but still won 27-24 to dethrone Texas as the No. 1 team in the country. Texas currently has the highest 3-and-out rate among SEC teams. Arch Manning continues to underwhelm.
The following 24 hours weren’t very kind to Texas, either.
Following the loss, star edge rusher Colin Simmons insisted “We definitely beat ourselves. Only Texas can beat Texas.” Weeks after his strange celebration against Tennessee nearly cost them, when is Steve Sarkisian or a Texas staffer going to tell Simmons to stop calling attention to himself?
Then, on Sunday, the No. 1 WR prospect in the country, Easton Royal, flipped his commitment from Texas to Florida, opting for Jon Sumrall‘s squad over the team he’s been committed to since November of 2025. Can you blame him? Texas’s passing game has been the definition of anticlimactic and inconsistent for some time now — especially in 2026.
Texas still has road matchups against LSU, Mizzou and Texas A&M on the schedule alongside home games against Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Better figure it out, Horns.
Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
