UAB wide receiver Iverson Hooks (0) makes a touchdown catch against Memphis during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The seabed of college football is littered with multiple shipwrecks of a promising season.

While Penn State’s season seems destined to be regarded as the supreme cataclysm, the implosions of Florida State, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Arkansas — all winless in conference play — constitute programs in need of a near-total overall.

Negative outcomes that were far from anticipated have imperiled the College Football Playoff prospects of several contenders.

Surveying the last two weekends of competition, seven Top-25 teams, including two in the Top-10, were beaten by unranked opponents.

Previously undefeated power conference teams Miami and Texas Tech still possessed a margin for error when they lost to Louisville and Arizona State, respectively.

But a loss by then-6-0 Memphis to a 2-4 UAB team that just fired its head coach had calamity written all over it.

Like all other Group of Five conference members with aspirations of competing in the CFP, Memphis must now extend its season by qualifying for the conference championship game, win the title and then place higher than other Group of Five teams in the CFP final rankings.

In the CFP era, ranked teams suffer good losses when they are defeated by teams that are ranked higher or slightly lower.

When No. 5 Ole Miss lost at No. 9 Georgia, the word upset only applied as a technicality. Parity re-defines the language of sport.

Bad losses for ranked teams are setbacks to unranked teams that will then portray the victory as a statement win for the future of the program.

Kind of like what UCLA and UAB will be doing for the rest of the season and beyond.

In the SEC, a three-loss season in conference play is not an unforgivable offense or a nonstarter for CFP consideration. In fact, it’s the cost of doing business in that league.

As the last month of the regular season begins, 10 of the 16 SEC teams already have two or more conference losses.

Attribute those losses mainly to strength of schedule. The SEC boasts nine ranked teams.

In the titanic struggle to merit selection for the CFP, the chosen 12 are generally the teams that navigate around the catastrophic loss to a huge underdog.

The teams that barely miss out are typically the ones that were sunk by the upset that they didn’t see coming.

Anchors away

American Conference member Navy has won its first seven games for the first time since 1978 by defeating a string of unranked teams. The remaining portion of the schedule is considerably more challenging, and includes games against three teams that are 3-1 in conference play (North Texas, South Florida and Memphis), Notre Dame and rival Army.

With a 42-32 victory over Florida Atlantic last Saturday, Navy extended its overall winning streak to 10 games, tying the

program record set in 1959-60. The FBS leader in rushing offense, Navy totaled 397 yards on the ground in 56 attempts against FAU.

OK, your turn

With Massachusetts failing to break into the win column last weekend, Sam Houston will try to secure its first win of the season tonight at Louisiana Tech.

UMass and Sam Houston are the only winless teams in FBS.

The Minutemen dropped to 0-8 after losing to Central Michigan last Saturday. If the Bearkats (0-7) are unable to break their skid tonight, UMass will get the next shot on Tuesday at Akron.

Steady as she goes

By besting Missouri, 17-10, Vanderbilt recorded its third win this season over a Top-25 opponent, which is a first in program history. At 7-1, the Commodores are off to their best start since the 1941 team went 8-1.

Reaching deeper into the historical record, Vanderbilt has won seven games before November for the first time since 1915.

Reversing course

In consecutive weeks, Troy has beaten four conference opponents that defeated the Trojans last year. Since absorbing back-to-back losses to Clemson and

Memphis, Troy (6-2 overall, 4-0 Sun Belt) has won five straight games and shares the top spot in the conference’s West Division standings with Southern Miss.

“Huge congrats to our players and staff for getting us bowl eligible,” said Troy head coach Gerad Parker after a 35-23 win over Louisiana. “I just told them the best part about bowl eligibility is getting us more time together, and that’s the most precious thing on this planet is time.”

Parker is a former PSU receivers coach under James Franklin.

Notables

Texas A&M (8-0) is off to its best start since finishing the 1992 regular-season 12-0, Georgia Tech is 8-0 for the first time since 1966 and BYU is 8-0 in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history. In setting a Pitt freshman record for single-game passing yards with 423 against North Carolina State last weekend, Mason Heintschel became the first freshman quarterback of a Power 4 conference team to throw for 400-plus yards this season.

With two successful field goal attempts against Baylor, Cincinnati’s Stephen Rusnak is the only kicker in FBS not to have missed a field goal attempt this season. Rusnak is 11-for-11 and has made 22 straight field goals over the last two seasons. Twenty teams entered play this week without a conference win. Notables among this underperforming group include Penn State, Boston College, which is led by former Nittany Lions coach Bill O’Brien, and Nevada, which opened the season at Beaver Stadium.

Quotables

“We’ve already accomplished one of our goals, which was to qualify for a bowl game. And so now it’s free football to see what kind of opportunity we have next.”

— Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz on his 6-2 team’s postseason prospects after a loss at Vanderbilt

“You start to see a team wave the white flag. It usually happens sometime in the third quarter. It may have been what happened here.”

— Head coach Curt Cignetti after his Hoosiers held UCLA to three points in the second half of a 56-6 romp that extended Indiana’s school-record home winning streak to 14 games

“If you look at the track record of coaches that were successful here, some of their second years weren’t great. We’re building, and I think recruiting’s headed in the right direction and I feel good about where we’re headed.”

— Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien on the state of his program after fielding a 7-6 bowl team in his first year at the helm and a squad that now stands 1-7 in his second.

Jim Caltagirone, a former member of Penn State’s sports information department, comments on the national scene for Gameday. He can be reached at jimclion4ever@gmail.com