B/R's 2026 College Football Winners and Losers from Week 6

From another classic Red River Rivalry to UCLA winning a rugged Big Ten battle against a contender to the defending national champs getting taken to the brink, this college football weekend provided us with some scintillating showdowns.

In the night shift, the Alabama-Georgia game was a classic with a controversial finish, USC took care of business at a Penn State White-Out Game, and Kentucky's run under Will Stein continued with more overtime shenanigans.

And next week's slate is even better on paper.

We've got your winners and losers from the week's action so far. Let's get right to it.

Forget style points. Nothing matters to UCLA besides Saturday's final score, a 17-15 win over Oregon in Eugene.

Now, coach Bob Chesney's team is a shocking 5-0 and the biggest surprise in the nation. Arguably, the No. 21-ranked Bruins will be favored in every remaining game they play.

From out of nowhere to a College Football Playoff team? At this point, you've got to acknowledge Chesney's complete turnaround of this program in Westwood, and the sky is the limit. Remember last year, he took James Madison all the way, too.

The Ducks ended that run, but Chesney's revenge may jump-start this one. Even with Nico Iamaleava leaving the game with an injury and despite three turnovers, UCLA smothered Oregon backup quarterback Dylan Raiola all evening.

UCLA's defense was incredible, forcing seven turnovers and not allowing a single third-down conversion until late in the fourth quarter (1-of-12 in the game). There was no bigger play than stuffing Jordon Davison's would-be, game-tying two-point conversion try after a frantic Oregon comeback late.

It was far from pretty, but that spotless record is, and that's all that mattered.

Chesney has implemented a stout defense and has a star runner in Wayne Knight. It's been enough for a turnaround.

Top-ranked Texas took a tumble against a hated rival once again, somehow losing to Oklahoma 27-24 in the Red River Rivalry.

Despite a miserable start to the season offensively, Oklahoma found a way to cobble together major contributions from all three facets of the game to beat the top-ranked Longhorns.

Arch Manning's second interception of the game driving for what would be the go-ahead score was huge, and John Mateer found Isaiah Satenga III for 13 and 20 yards right after to set up Tate Sandell's game-winning 47-yard field goal with no time left.

For Manning, it's the latest in a line of mixed-bag games that held more bad than good. He also threw a pick-six returned 42 yards by Peyton Bowen for the go-ahead Oklahoma touchdown with 10:07 left. Manning rebounded with a scoring drive, but then threw another huge pick at the end.

For Oklahoma, the defensive score and a blocked punt by Danny Okoye recovered by Dakoda Fields in the end zone for another touchdown helped out an offense that had been sputtering. Mateer did just enough to help supplement a huge win that makes OU 3-2 and sends Texas to its first loss.

"Everybody contributed," a hoarse Brent Venables told the ABC crew after the game. "When we needed to, we made a play."

Lane Kiffin was without a doubt the most-discussed head coaching hire in the country this offseason, but Will Stein may have been the best.

For the second week in a row, the Wildcats went for two in overtime for the win. They got it last week against South Carolina, and they did it again Saturday, shocking No. 10 LSU 35-34 in the extra session. The fans stormed the field, and Big Blue Nation is rolling.

"You gotta play to win," Stein told ESPN after the game, surrounded by a sea of blue. "I don't know what to say."

After CJ Baxter's overtime touchdown, UK first lined up in the "Willie Cat" package with tight end Willie Rodriguez set to take a direct snap. Instead, Stein called timeout and brought quarterback Kenny Minchey back in, spreading out the offense.

With LSU focused on stopping the pass, Stein made a brilliant call with a quarterback draw, and Minchey sprinted untouched into the end zone, setting off the frenzy.

The win moved Kentucky to 5-1 and erased a pair of missed Adam Zouagui field goals in regulation that would have helped the 'Cats win. Zouagui did make a 33-yarder to send the game into overtime, and Stein's play-calling and Minchey's execution did the rest.

Loser: SEC Officiating on the Biggest Stage

There has been a glaring issue with SEC officiating for several years now, and on Saturday night on the conference's biggest stage, there was another colossal gaffe.

With Alabama trailing by three points late in the game, Keelon Russell was throwing into the end zone on a would-be go-ahead drive when KJ Bolden ran into wide receiver Rico Scott early in a play that should have drawn a pass interference call.

There was no call, and on the next play, Bolden sacked Russell to end the drive. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer was visibly irate on the sideline.

Another controversial exchange happened when Georgia got the ball back as an Alabama and UGA player were exchanging words and blows, and the official flagged Dijon Lee for unsportsmanlike conduct and not offsetting flags, allowing the Dawgs to take a knee.

The game was full of heroes on both sides with Dwight Phillips Jr. running for 120 yards for the Dawgs with their top two backs out. Freshman Trae'shawn Brown was a weapon for the Tide, too. Both quarterbacks made plays, and the defenses were stellar.

This was a pair of teams who easily could meet in the SEC title game. It's a shame it couldn't be decided on the field. Instead, huge calls clouded the outcome.

Winner: Indiana's National Champion Response

Curt Cignetti-coached teams simply make championship-caliber plays when they must.

Facing their first loss since December 20, 2024, in front of a deafening Nebraska crowd hungry for a winner and trailing by 11 points in the fourth quarter, Indiana did it again to pull off an improbable 20-17 win in Lincoln.

Josh Hoover first found Nick Marsh for a 75-yard touchdown on a skinny post, immediately answering Nebraska quarterback Anthony Colandrea's 39-yard touchdown run to trim a Cornhuskers lead to four points with 11:51 left.

Then, that duo hooked up again for 44 yards on 4th-and-1 as Marsh went uncovered from a tight formation to put the Hoosiers ahead by the final margin.

"We made a few plays on offense," Cignetti said after the game, and they did, despite only 65 rushing yards.

For Nebraska, it was a squandered opportunity on a national stage that could have given the dormant program its first win over a ranked opponent in 31 tries. Instead, the seventh-ranked Hoosiers continued their incredible run.

Cignetti's team may not be as potent as it was a year ago, but it's unbeaten heading into hosting next week's massive tilt against Ohio State.

After last year's College Football Playoff run, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko spent some money in the transfer portal and attempted to rebuild an Aggies team that lost some weapons.

They obviously didn't do enough with the offense.

Quarterback Marcel Reed is having the type of regression season that South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers experienced a season ago, and the Aggies can't muster enough offense to be an SEC threat. Following a 27-6 loss at Missouri and with a daunting upcoming schedule, they're staring down the barrel of a possible frustrating season.

Right now, A&M is 3-3, and against a resurgent Tigers defense, the Reed-led offense mustered just two first downs and 74 yards through the first three quarters as Mizzou built its lead. They wound up with just seven first downs and 146 total yards.

This is an offense that entered the road game ranked 100th nationally in total offense, and it's going to do nothing but plummet after another atrocious effort. At what point does Elko consider a change at quarterback or shaking things up to find some difference-makers?

Right now, A&M has no offensive answers.

What a difference a couple of weeks make in the SEC.

After demoralizing Ole Miss by 24 points back on September 26, Florida and first-year coach Jon Sumrall were the talk of the country, surging up everybody's rankings and being discussed as a playoff team.

All those accolades sank in the Swamp Saturday with a 38-19 humbling at the hands of a talented-but-struggling South Carolina team that had lost eight SEC games in a row. For the Gators, it was their second consecutive loss following last week's 45-17 road loss to Missouri.

Sumrall's defense obviously has some major issues stopping opponents as LaNorris Sellers had perhaps his best game in two years against the Gators. Perhaps the most stunning thing, though, is just how the Tigers and Gamecocks keyed on stopping running back Jadan Baugh and had success.

When Florida is forced to move the ball through the air, it can't sustain drives, and that has made the Gators look ordinary the past couple of weeks.

Sumrall is seeing that the mess Billy Napier left in Gainesville isn't an overnight fix, and Florida is about to go from the top 10 to unranked in two weeks' time.

On the final play of last week's lopsided win over Cincinnati, Arizona lost leading pass-catcher Tre Spivey for the rest of the season with a broken foot. Rising star Gio Richardson is still out, too.

Even missing their top two receivers, the Wildcats made the difficult, cross-country trip to Morgantown to take on West Virginia, and veteran quarterback Noah Fifita had no issues finding more weapons in dominating the Mountaineers in a 52-31 win.

Nobody is talking about Arizona in the Big 12, but maybe they should be. After dispatching the unbeaten Bearcats and beating WVU this week, they're now 5-1. Fifita makes it all tick, but Brent Brennan has stockpiled some talent in Tucson.

The biggest star Saturday was Isaiah Mizell, whose brother Aidan plays for Florida. He entered the game with just 13 catches on the year but finished with six grabs for 183 yards and two touchdowns, including a sprinting score to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.

Brandon Phelps added 88 yards and a score, and with Richardson returning probably next week, Arizona looks like it can score in bunches. Don't sleep on the Wildcats in a wide-open Big 12.

If the No. 22-ranked Houston Cougars are going to be a contender for the Big 12 title this year after losing an early-season close one to Texas Tech, they'll have to run the table in a grueling stretch that started Saturday.

Connor Weigman looked like a steady star leading coach Willie Fritz's team into the "Little Apple" of Manhattan, Kansas, and waltzing out with a convincing 35-16 win over Kansas State in a battle of one-loss teams.

The game was never in question as a team that entered an underdog proved that was ridiculous. Fritz is a proven program-builder, and Year 3 in Houston shouldn't be written off.

But the Cougars are far from home-free. They now return home to host No. 18 Oklahoma State before traveling to Salt Lake City to take on 12th-ranked Utah. Then, it's back home for Cincinnati before ending the season at Colorado, West Virginia and home against Baylor.

Houston needed this win to stay in the Big 12 conversation, and the Cougars took care of business quickly.

A couple wins in a row – including a 31-point, out-of-nowhere triumph over Virginia last week – positioned Florida State and embattled coach Mike Norvell with the opportunity to take an important step forward and flip the script on a forgettable three-season run.

Instead, Louisville used a second-half smackdown to trounce FSU 44-20 on Friday, overcoming a 14-point deficit to run away with a win behind Isaac Brown's 235 rushing yards and two scores.

FSU fell to 3-3, and with games against Miami, Clemson, Pittsburgh, North Carolina State and Florida remaining, a winning season is no guarantee.

'Noles fans want Norvell – who fell to 4-15 in his past 19 ACC games and 41-37 overall – fired yesterday. But the school would owe him and assistants $68 million if they moved on, is in dire financial straits as an athletic department and in a messy situation with the ACC.

Firing Norvell is certainly no guarantee, but the Louisville loss proved neither is on-field success. The Seminoles are a shadow of their old selves and appear a long ways away from being competitive again.

You're rarely going to be impressed with how Iowa wins, but the Hawkeyes do win. A lot.

After a convincing 41-24 road win over Washington, they're in a prime position for a playoff run. Midway through the season, Iowa sits at 5-1 with just last week's loss to Ohio State.

Quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski completed 12 consecutive passes (three for touchdowns) during an offensive outburst to close the game, and combined with Kamari Moulton's 208 yards, Iowa dominated.

Now, they've got a schedule the rest of the way that probably won't see them underdogs. At Minnesota in two weeks won't be easy, but then they host Wisconsin, travel to Northwestern, host Purdue, head to Illinois and close the season at home against Nebraska.

None of those are gimmies, but if coach Kirk Ferentz's team runs the table, they could be in the Big Ten title game. Even a pair of losses with one being in the championship game could give them a strong enough slate. At this point, you've got to pay attention.

Loser: Pittsburgh Without Mason Heintschel

When Mason Heintschel went down with a season-ending knee injury in last weekend's win at Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh likely knew the victory was bittersweet.

The sophomore was one of college football's unsung weapons, and, behind him, veteran backup Holden Geriner – who had just 21 pass attempts in four seasons at Auburn and Texas State.

Predictably, Geriner wasn't great on Saturday, completing 27 of 44 passes for 219 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Pitt traveled home only to lose to Bill Belichick's North Carolina Tar Heels, 21-17.

It was the Panthers' first loss this season as they fell to 5-1, and it marked Belichick's biggest collegiate win yet. But the story of this game was just how far Pitt fell without Heintschel.

Coach Pat Narduzzi's program had the perfect playmaker to run Kade Bell's offense in Heintschel, who'd thrown for 1,304 yards, 14 touchdowns and just one interception in a hot start. Now, they've got to find a way to manufacture some offense the rest of the way.

If Game 1 in the post-Heintschel era of this season is any indication, that isn't going to be easy.

Winner: USC's Return to the National Conversation

The past few weeks, USC has drawn the brunt of plenty of national criticism following Desmen Stephens II's egregious hit on Oregon quarterback Dante Moore and subsequent celebration. The defense has been porous, and questions abound about coach Lincoln Riley's job security.

So, getting away from Los Angeles and going across the country to Penn State may have been therapeutic.

It certainly looked that way as the Trojans got well against the Nittany Lions, taking advantage of star freshman receiver Trent Mosley's return from injury to beat PSU in a "White-Out" game, 31-23.

Mosley grabbed nine passes for 111 yards and scored a touchdown as Jayden Maiava distributed the ball around to six pass-catchers – five of which are underclassmen – in a big win.

Coach Gary Patterson's defense had a much better effort against a struggling Nittany Lions offense that continued to reel to 3-3 under first-year coach Matt Campbell. Meanwhile, despite all the noise around USC, the Trojans are now 6-1 and still firmly in the playoff mix.

This is a dangerous team with their weapons.