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Tennessee is picking up the pieces after its first loss of the 2026 season, a 20-17 defeat to No. 1 Texas in a defense-controlled game that went down to the final play. The Vols now have lost seven straight games to ranked opponents dating back to a 2024 win against Alabama and also have lost four of their past five SEC games at Neyland Stadium dating back to last season. After defeat to the Longhorns, Tennessee dropped three spots spots to No. 17 in the Associated Press Top 25 and fell four spots to No. 17 in the US LBM Coaches Poll – both new top-25 rankings came out on Sunday. The Vols were one of seven top-25 teams to lose on Saturday. In the SEC, No. 4 Ole Miss lost at No. 21 Florida, No. 23 Texas A&M dropped a second straight game in a loss at No. 6 LSU and No. 19 Missouri lost at No. 24 Mississippi State in ranked matchups. In the Big Ten, No. 12 USC was beaten at home by No. 20 Oregon, No. 17 Iowa scored a final-play touchdown to stun No. 18 Michigan in Ann Arbor and No. 13 Penn State lost at home to unranked Wisconsin. The other ranked team to lose was No. 16 Louisville at home to unranked Wake Forest in the ACC. Next up for Tennessee is another SEC home game with Auburn coming to Neyland Stadium for the first time since 2013. Tennessee spoiled a defensive performance limiting a talented Texas offense to just 262 yards, 14 first downs and 3-of-12 third-down conversions and a special teams effort including a Qua Moss punt-return touchdown and a successful onside kick by punter Jackson Ross with a miserable performance on offense. The 221 yards for the Vols were the lowest in 69 games under head coach Josh Heupel, whose teams had been held under 300 yards just four times in his tenure. Texas won despite committing 11 penalties for 115 yards and losing the turnover battle 2-0 thanks to an outstanding defensive effort led by 10 sacks of Tennessee freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon, who left the game in the first half before returning and was clearly in pain during the frantic final possession when his final-play heave to the end zone was batted away by Texas safety Jelani McDonald with no time on the clock. Texas maintained its No. 1 ranking in both polls after the win on Rocky Top. AP TOP 25 – WEEK 5 Texas Georgia Notre Dame Miami Ohio State Indiana Alabama Florida Ole Miss BYU LSU Texas Tech Utah Iowa Oregon Mississippi State Tennessee USC Oklahoma State Houston SMU Boise State UCLA Kentucky Missouri US LBM COACHES POLL – WEEK 5 Texas Georgia Notre Dame Miami Indiana Ohio State Alabama Florida BYU Texas Tech LSU Ole Miss Utah Iowa Oregon Mississippi State Tennessee USC SMU Houston Duke Penn State UCLA Michigan Missouri