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On one side: An upstart program with just 13 bowl appearances and a single 10-win season in its 95-year history, now vying for the College Football Playoff (as its coach is set to be one of the most coveted names in this year’s coaching carousel). On the other: An FCS superpower, playing at college football’s top level for the first time, with its sights on the CFP in Year 1.
Saturday’s night slate is relatively light, and as Mississippi at Texas winds down and you prepare for a major Big 12 matchup between Utah and Houston, you’ll need to find a screen for North Dakota State at New Mexico. The Bison and Lobos have just one loss a piece, with NDSU taking its first L as an FBS program at UNLV a few weeks ago, while New Mexico fell by just a touchdown at Oklahoma.
Both programs have some work to do to take over as favorites to reach the CFP, but with the Mountain West looking pretty deep, the winner will have a pretty strong argument, assuming they finish at 12–1. Saturday’s game in Albuquerque will lock in either the Lobos or Bison as the clear favorite to take the league. And, of course, with no divisions, this could be a preview of that eventual conference championship matchup.
Before we check in on where New Mexico and North Dakota State stand in our Group of 6 power rankings heading into Week 8, let’s take a look at the teams that have dropped out of the top 10.
Last week: Lost to San Diego State, 26–23
This week: Bye (vs. Oregon State, Oct. 31)
The Aztecs had been in free fall, with four losses in five games and a mumps outbreak sidelining players throughout the fall. But on Saturday, they got the best of a Fresno State team that has now dropped back-to-back games after a competitive loss to Boise State. The upcoming bye comes at a good time, ahead of a game against the buzzsaw Beavers offense.
Last week: Lost to Air Force, 41–31
This week: Bye (vs. Northern Illinois, Oct. 31)
UNLV remains one of the nation’s most unpredictable teams, the G6’s answer to Missouri in some ways. After a slugfest win over North Dakota State, the Rebels’ offense got untracked a bit, as quarterback Jackson Arnold put up 324 total yards and three touchdowns, but the defense that held the Bison to a single touchdown was run over by the Falcons in the fourth quarter, giving up four touchdowns in as many second-half possessions.
Last week: Bye
Next week: at Kennesaw State (Thursday)
One-loss Liberty makes its debut in our rankings, quietly putting together a solid bounce-back season after an ugly 4–8 campaign had Jamey Chadwell on some preseason hot seat lists. The Flames’ Week 1 loss to James Madison, a one-touchdown defeat in which not a lot of offense was played on either side, has aged about as well as a loss can. Their Week 2 game over FCS squad Gardner-Webb, a 24–23 victory, was deeply troubling, but Liberty has gone about its business in the games since, winning by more than 25 points per game. The competition has been about as weak as it gets, and there aren’t many major threats moving forward without Jacksonville State (5–2, 3–0 in CUSA play) on the schedule, putting those two on a collision course for the conference title game. Even if the CUSA champion has a single loss, the league is very weak top to bottom; it would be very difficult for them to jump even a top three-loss team from the American or the Pac-12.
Last week: Bye
Next week: at Navy
North Texas got a week off to prepare for Navy’s option attack, a huge benefit for a program with the 117th-ranked defense in FBS, per SP+. On the contrary, Neal Brown’s offense is already deadly in Year 1, ranked 38th nationally. Saturday’s game in Annapolis, Md., should be a fun styles-make-fights affair.
Last week: Lost to Air Force, 41–31
This week: Bye (vs. Northern Illinois, Oct. 31)
Never count out Troy Calhoun. The longtime Air Force coach is coming off of a pair of lean, sub-.500 years, but is off to a fast start to 2026: a 5–1 record with a single, six-point loss to North Dakota State. That includes a 14–9 win over Navy in the first leg of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, which the Falcons last won in 2022. Before Air Force takes on Army on Nov. 7, however, they get a warm-up against new conference foe (and one of the worst teams in FBS), Northern Illinois.
Last week: Lost at Tulane, 31–17
This week: vs. East Carolina (Thursday)
Memphis looked like it had reestablished itself as the American favorite in the weeks after its loss to Boise State. The Green Wave, meanwhile, have been a serious disappointment under first-year coach Will Hall. And in many ways, the game confirmed many priors about these two teams; the Tigers won the yardage battle handily, 488–325, and more than doubled the amount of first downs that Tulane picked up. But turnovers remain one of the best indicators of which team will win a game, and Memphis could not stop giving the ball away. Marcus Stokes threw three interceptions and the Tigers fumbled it away three times. Tulane was sloppy as well, with two turnovers and 80 penalty yards, but it’s tough to overcome a -4 turnover differential.
Last week: Beat Navy, 38–34
This week: at Tulane
With Memphis’s second loss, UTSA—which has the American’s best overall record and is one of just two teams unbeaten in conference play (along with 2–0 North Texas) takes over as the favorite to win one of the G6’s best leagues. And the Roadrunners’ résumé is solid in its own right: wins over fairly dangerous Texas State, South Florida and Navy teams, and a single loss to Texas. The biggest knock: They aren’t exactly putting up style points with an average margin of victory of 6.4 points in their five FBS wins, but wins are wins. We’ll see if they can do what the Tigers couldn’t last week: snag a road win against the Green Wave, who haven’t lost at home since 2024.
Last week: Beat Nevada, 31–17
This week: at New Mexico
NDSU remains in very solid position, especially for a first-year FBS program, though we’re starting to see where the adjustment period is. The Bison defense is very strong, ranked 19th in SP+ and No. 2 in both total and scoring defense in the FBS. The offense, however: 93rd in yardage (362 per game) and 112th in passing, at just 187.3 yards per game. You can win a lot of G6 games with an elite defense alone, but you may not be able to win the 11 or 12 necessary to crash the CFP party.
Last week: Beat Hawai‘i, 21–10
Next week: vs. North Dakota State
The team that ranks ahead of the Bison in scoring defense? Jason Eck’s New Mexico squad, which is allowing just 10.5 points per game. The two Week 8 foes mirror each other in many ways. After losing their starting quarterback ahead of the season, the Lobos have dedicated themselves to ground-and-pound offense, with just 113 pass attempts to 271 rushes through six games. Even with a questionable quarterback situation, New Mexico is 10th nationally with 39.7 points per game. Something tells me that Saturday’s must-watch contest will be more of a defensive struggle, however. Personally, I cannot wait.
Last week: Beat Washington State, 48–30
This week: Bye (at Fresno State, Oct. 31)
When Wazzu and Oregon State were left holding the bag, with the rest of the previous iteration of the Pac-12 departing for new homes in the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12, it was the Cougars that looked to be on much more solid ground. Jake Dickert led Washington State to an 8–4 record in 2024, the first of two years in which the schools were de facto independents as they looked to rebuild the league, before leaving for Wake Forest, while his offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterback John Mateer went to Oklahoma. Oregon State, meanwhile, went just 7–17 in two seasons in the wilderness under Trent Bray.
The Pac-12 took on its new form this season, and both programs hired new coaches this offseason. Kirby Moore is off to a tough start in Pullman, Wash., while JaMarcus Shephard’s Beavers program is one of the stories of the season. Oregon State has the fourth-highest scoring offense in FBS, a perfectly solid defense, the nation’s leading passer by almost 600 yards in Braden Atkinson, and the nation’s leading receiver in yardage (1,040) and touchdowns (14) in true freshman Jesse Legree.
In scoring 48 points against the Cougars, the Beavers were held under 50 points for just the second time during their five-game winning streak.
Last week: Beat Georgia State, 49–22
This week: at Appalachian State (Thursday)
James Madison was one of the various top Group of 6 programs that struggled in Week 6, outlasting Georgia Southern on the road, 27–24. It followed that up by welcoming Georgia State, one of the Sun Belt’s true pleasant surprises at 4–1, up to Harrisonburg, Va., and got right back to business to make clear that last week was a single-game slump. With Week 1 starting quarterback JC Evans getting back into the mix along with Camden Coleman, the Dukes threw for three touchdowns and rumbled for 250 yards and four scores on the ground, two of which came on Evans’s legs. Week 8’s Thursday trip to Appalachian State and a November road game at UConn are the two biggest obstacles between James Madison and an undefeated regular season.
Last week: Bye
This week: at Washington State
The bye came at a decent time for Boise State, which got a tough run in a trip to Fresno State in its last game. The Broncos have an advantageous road ahead, with four of their five remaining scheduled opponents—Washington State, Texas State, Colorado State and San Diego State—all at .500 or worse with a combined record of 9–17. The fifth: the mighty Beavers of Oregon State on Nov. 14. The regular season will end with a yet-to-be-scheduled game of the Pac-12’s choosing, and the league will be motivated to help Boise State get to the playoff however it sees fit, if the Broncos remain their No. 1 option by that point—a fascinating wrinkle for this first season of the reborn Pac-12.
PODCAST: Listen to Sports Illustrated’s college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, hosted by Pat Forde, on Apple and. Watch the show on SI’s college YouTube channel or on SI TV.
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