The Anxiety Rankings: Let's make the whole thing out of Anxiety Bowls

Week 7 features plenty of games pitting anxious fanbases against each other, including Florida-Texas, Michigan-Penn State, Nebraska-Oregon, Arkansas-Vanderbilt and Virginia-SMU

Oct 16, 2026 at 10:56 am ET • 8 min read

There are very few things in life that can stir emotions within you like college football. For four months a year, millions of Americans decide to put their mental well-being in the hands of a collection of 18- to 24-year-old men they do not know personally. All they know is that they've chosen to wear their preferred uniform. Sometimes this decision brings joy. Other times it brings pain.

But what it always brings as kickoff draws near every week is anxiety. There's always the nervous energy of the unknown heading into a game. You can never be sure how things will go, and where the rollercoaster will take you. However, while we all feel it, some of us feel it more than others, and each week, The Anxiety Rankings aim to find the five most anxious places in the country.

Welcome to Week 7, the most special week of the season so far. What's so special about it, you ask? It's all Anxiety Bowls. Anxiety Bowls as far as the eye can see, from sea to shining sea. Try to stay calm. You'll fail, but try all the same.

1. Anxiety Bowl I - Florida at No. 7 Texas

I was doing a hit on CBS Sports HQ this week and was asked a simple question. Which team needs this win more? I froze a bit. I wasn't sure how to answer. Both teams need it. Desperately.

Texas is coming off a loss to its most bitter rival, and it was a horrible loss. Not because it was blown out, but because it had no business losing the game. Oklahoma scored 27 points in the game, and 14 of them came on a blocked punt and a horrific pick-six by Arch Manning. Seven more came via a touchdown drive that covered only 47 yards after a horrible punt.

Basically, Texas did everything in the game it could to allow Oklahoma to beat it. It's led to a week of "what's wrong with Texas?" discussion. You've got Sark having to answer questions about whether or not anybody would think his QB was good if he had a name that wasn't Manning on the back of his jersey.

And Texas is 4-1! It's not like the season is over, and all their possible goals are gone! But they could be with a loss here. Let's not forget that while Sark and the SEC wanted everybody to believe the Longhorns were left out of the playoff last season because the CFP didn't respect strength of schedule, the real reason was that Texas lost to a Florida team that finished 4-8. The fear of it happening again lingers, and if it does, it could derail Texas' hopes once again.

This is not the last tough game on the schedule. There are plenty of losable games left to play, particularly if the offense doesn't get its act together.

And the Florida team the Longhorns are facing is desperate. The Gators have their backs against the wall. They were the talk of the sport only a few weeks ago, coming off a 52-28 win over Ole Miss that propelled them into the top-10. They've lost two straight since by a combined score of
83-36. Making matters worse, those blowouts didn't come to teams like Georgia or Alabama. They came to Missouri and South Carolina. All due respect to both, but those aren't the teams you're supposed to be blown out by in the SEC.

Now a Florida team that suddenly found itself floated as a playoff candidate only has one realistic path to get there: it needs to beat either Texas or Georgia and then win out. Well, based on what you've seen, which one of those two seems more beatable to you?

If Florida loses this weekend, it has to beat Georgia, and I have to tell you, I don't like their odds. They're more likely to follow a loss here with another loss to the Dawgs, and then suddenly the 4-0 Gators are 4-4. It's hard to imagine they miss out on a bowl entirely, but it suddenly becomes a possibility.

2. Anxiety Bowl II - Penn State at Michigan

I fully understood the possibility existed that neither Michigan nor Penn State would have an outstanding season in 2026. You can never assume anything with new head coaches, even if they've established themselves elsewhere.

What I did not anticipate was both teams being a combined 0-5 in Big Ten play coming into it. If Penn State loses, the Nittany Lions will be 0-4 in Big Ten play for only the fifth time ever, and for the second straight season. A Michigan loss would have the Wolverines at 0-3 in Big Ten play for the first time since 1967.

On the Michigan side, nothing has gone smoothly this season. You started with a controversial win over Western Michigan and haven't been much smoother since. The win over Oklahoma that followed felt like a much bigger deal at the time, and losses to Iowa and Minnesota wiped out any positive feelings from it anyway. Now you're facing a Penn State team that's reeling. If that team comes into your house and beats you as Iowa did, and Western Michigan nearly did, you're sitting at 3-3 with no guarantee of reaching a bowl.

Remember, the Wolverines still need to play Indiana, Oregon, UCLA and Ohio State. If you end up missing a bowl game, it's hard to imagine Kyle Whittingham getting a second crack at it in Ann Arbor.

As for Penn State, things looked better last week against USC, but moral victories aren't worth much in the grand scheme of things. You're 0-3 and staring 0-4 in the face. Your saving grace remains what appears to be one of the easier remaining schedules in the Big Ten, but everybody talked about how easy your Big Ten schedule was all offseason, and you're sitting here at 0-3.

You can probably still get to a bowl with a loss to Michigan, but nobody will feel good about how you got there.

3. Anxiety Bowl III - Nebraska at Oregon

The best thing that happened to Nebraska this week is Oregon falling out of the AP Top 25. Now that the Ducks aren't ranked, perhaps Nebraska has a chance to beat them! Or perhaps it only makes things a little worse.

As an outside observer, I have no problem saying my confidence in this team rose after last week's loss to Indiana. Nebraska blew a chance at a great win, but the fact that this team had a chance to win at all is a pretty great improvement based on what I've seen from them in recent years. But I'm an outside observer. I'm not a Nebraska fan with emotional scars of watching this program fail me repeatedly.

What happens if you follow up last week's close call by losing on the road to an Oregon team that's fallen way below expectations and could be starting its third-string QB? Or worse, what if Dylan Raiola starts for the Ducks and tears you apart a week after he was an absolute turnover machine that was benched against UCLA?

Not that things are much better for Oregon. The Ducks' playoff hopes took a serious blow last week with the loss to UCLA. A loss here would erase them entirely. Even if they found a way to beat Ohio State a few weeks from now, I'm not sure a 9-3 Oregon team can get in with the resume it would have.

What's worse is neither team has much to gain from a win in the minds of everybody outside the building. If Oregon wins, it'll be viewed as a game they should've won against a Nebraska team that has once again proven it doesn't belong in the conversation. If Nebraska wins, the reaction will be, "wow, congrats on beating a 3-3 team that lost to Oklahoma State and UCLA, we're all very proud of you."

4. Anxiety Bowl IV - Arkansas at Vanderbilt

This one is pretty simple. No matter what power rating you believe to be the best, most reliable, or least biased, these two are seen as the worst two teams in the SEC, usually by a significant margin. They both enter this game at 0-3 in conference play, with Vanderbilt's losses coming by an average of 21.7 points and Arkansas' at 20.7.

This is your best chance at avoiding a winless record in conference play.

Four of Vanderbilt's final five games are against currently ranked teams, with the fifth a road game at Florida. Arkansas' schedule is a bit lighter. Only three of their final five games are against ranked teams, but I don't know how confident the Hogs can be about winning at Auburn or at home against the Gamecocks.

This one is the best shot you got. Don't blow it.

5. Anxiety Bowl V - Virginia at No. 24 SMU

I've long joked that the most likely outcome in any ACC game is the one that hurts the conference the most. It's come true so often that it no longer feels as much like a joke as it does an admonition.

Which should terrify both of these teams this week. It's very clear that Miami is the best team in the league, and if anybody else wants to get to the College Football Playoff, their only path is winning the ACC. Well, both Virginia and SMU are alive in the ACC title race, but the loser of this game won't be.

Both already have a conference loss, but a second would be extremely punitive. SMU would drop to 2-2 in ACC play with games left against Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Virginia would be 2-2 as well and still have to play Duke, Wake Forest, North Carolina and Virginia Tech. Sure, that's not as difficult as others, but in the context of the ACC, there are easier paths.

At least SMU still gets Syracuse and Stanford, even if both are on the road!

This feels like an absolute must-win for both in ACC play. They'll probably figure out a way to finish this game in a tie.