The Longhorns are the new No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 after a big win vs. the Buckeyes
Page S2From§Eachthe supper edition — 13 September 2026
Ryan Day's late-game collapse costs Ohio State the No. 1 ranking in both major polls, again
Hot Mic Moment
Somebody get this to the political desk — a man fired by one Big Ten program is this week coaching another one's sideline, and this reporter has covered plenty of firings; he cannot recall an autoworker let go for cause getting rehired at the plant down the road by kickoff Saturday.
Gushis side
This reporter arrived in the press box for Ohio State's season opener against Ball State on September 5th prepared to type what he's typed for a decade: the Buckeyes are, and shall remain, the finest program in the sport.
By September 7th this newspaper's own power rankings had Ohio State and Texas bookending the top five ahead of what everybody called the season's marquee matchup, a phrase this reporter uses to mean the game the network wanted.
Then came Week 3, and this reporter can confirm the final score sent the No. 4 Buckeyes reeling to the surging, freshly crowned No. 1 Longhorns.
The AP Top 25 responded instantly, crowning Texas the new No. 1, and this reporter considers that poll's word final on the sport.
Credit belongs to Arch Manning, who channeled his uncle Eli with a slow start, a big deficit, and a comeback that had this reporter checking whether the Giants had relocated to Austin.
What CBS Sports won't say plainly is that Ryan Day's late-game decisions, not some Texas miracle, are why the Buckeyes' hold on the top spot lasted exactly one week.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten power rankings, a name resurfaced from Evanston: Pat Fitzgerald, fired by Northwestern, now drawing up a game plan for Michigan State against Notre Dame on NBC.
Trudyher side
Nobody's arguing Ball State, sugar. The receipts start mattering the minute somebody with a pulse shows up.
That's CBS Sports, and "bookending" means exactly what it sounds like — one team on top, one closing in.
Flip it around, hon. CBS Sports has it as the No. 1 Buckeyes losing to the No. 4 Longhorns — Ohio State was on top before kickoff, not after.
There's a second poll, sugar. The Coaches Poll dropped Ohio State from the top spot that same week — two separate ballots agreeing without so much as a phone call.
That's the New York Post's line, not an actual relocation — but you're not wrong it played like a Manning bowl.
They said it plainly, Gus — "Ryan Day's decisions continue to cost Ohio State," same paper, this weekend. The pattern's not a mystery. It's a byline.
Take the mic off before you say something the FCC remembers — and the New York Post already confirms the hire: Fitzgerald's 2-0 running Michigan State, same paper, same paragraph as the firing. Go lie down, sugar, and let the polls do the arguing tomorrow.
“Two different polls, same coach, same fourth-quarter collapse — that's not bad luck, that's a pattern with a paycheck attached. Ohio State keeps handing Texas the trophy in real time and calling it a rivalry.”
“This is a wild-game outlier, not a Ryan Day problem — CBS Sports itself called it a wild win, so if anything that's on the officiating, not the coaching. Did I say officiating? Nobody's blaming officiating, forget I said that.”
The receipts
Day's troubling tendency of not being able to hold a lead was on display again as the No. 1 Buckeyes' lost to the No. 4 Longhorns
A slow start. A big deficit. A crazy comeback out of what felt like nowhere.
Ben Bolch’s Big Ten Power Rankings Game of the week: Michigan State (2-0) at Notre Dame (2-0), 4:30 p.m. PDT Saturday on NBC. After notching two victories in his redemption tour following his firing from Northwestern, new Spartans coach Pat Fitzgerald will quickly find out if he can work some early magic against one of...
There's a new top team in the country after college football's second full weekend of action
· College Football Power Rankings: Ohio State, Texas bookend top five ahead of Week 2 showdown from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· What Channel Is The Ohio State Game On Today? Where To Watch Ohio State vs. Ball State from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
· Steve Sarkisian's defining moment at Texas has arrived as No. 1 Ohio State comes to town from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.