Josh's World

Second Longest Running Personal Blog on the Internet

Josh's World

Second Longest Running Personal Blog on the Internet

Football

Josh’s College Football Rankings 2025–Week 5

Ngewo

This week lived up to the hype. We got exciting finishes, unexpected blowouts, huge upsets…we had teams making statement wins. The rankings took a major beating. When a bunch of top teams lose, it is difficult to figure out where to put them. 

  1. Ohio State (4-0)–#1–W 24-6 #25 Washington. The Buckeyes went on the road, and had zero trouble with the Huskies. There were plenty of people who thought this game would be close, and possibly an upset. Ohio State ended that talk.
  2. Miami (4-0)–#2–BYE
  3. Oregon (5-0)–#6–W 30-24 2OT #3 Penn State. The Ducks proved they are a force to be reckoned with by heading to Happy Valley and winning a battle in the White Out. There will be plenty of people who put them 1 or 2, and I can see it, but I think Ohio State and Miami still have the stronger case with their multiple high quality wins.
  4. Texas A&M (4-0)–#8–W 16-10 #23 Auburn. The Aggies look for real this year. Winning these close battles with conference foes is definite must.
  5. Ole Miss (5-0)–#11–W 24-19 #5 LSU. The score was close, but the Rebels controlled this game.
  6. Oklahoma (4-0)–#9–BYE
  7. Texas (3-1)–#7–BYE
  8. Indiana (5-0)–#10–W 20-15 #32 Iowa. Heading to Kinnick and winning a close one against the Hawkeye defense? Always have to respect that kind of win.
  9. Iowa State (5-0)–#13–W 39-14 Arizona. The Cyclones definitely benefit from everyone losing. They have a very winnable schedule.
  10. Georgia Tech (5-0)–#15–W 30-29 OT Wake Forest. It was an ugly first half, but they fought hard, and came away with a victory.
  11. Penn State (3-1)–#3–L 30-24 2OT #6 Oregon. Seriously??? Another loss to a top ten team. I dropped them out of the top ten because I do not think the offense played like a team that can contend with top tier teams. The defense is there, but they need Drew Allar to step up.
  12. Alabama (3-1)–#16–W 24-21 #4 Georgia. The Crimson Tide continue their dominance of Georgia. Looks like they are rebounding nicely since that loss to FSU.
  13. Georgia (3-1)–#4–L 24-21 #16 Alabama. Do not get too down on this team, they are still scary good.
  14. LSU (4-1)–#5–L 24-19 #11 Ole Miss. The Tigers need to figure out how to run the ball.
  15. Texas Tech (4-0)–#14–BYE
  16. Missouri (5-0)–#17–W 42-6 UMass. These Tigers can run the ball, but can they continue to do it over the next few weeks against some tougher opponents?
  17. Vanderbilt (5-0)–#18–W 55-35 Utah State
  18. Florida State (3-1)–#12–L 46-38 2OT Virginia. Rough way to lose, but they cannot dwell on it. Win next week against Miami, and this loss will not mean much.
  19. Michigan (3-1)–#19–BYE
  20. Tennessee (4-1)–#21–W 41-34 OT #35 Mississippi State
  21. Illinois (4-1)–#22–W 34-32 #24 USC
  22. Notre Dame (2-2)–#26–W 56-13 Arkansas. It felt like the Irish were playing a MAC team, not someone from the SEC.
  23. Arizona State (4-1)–#27–W 27-24 #20 TCU
  24. TCU (3-1)–#20–L 27-24 #27 Arizona State
  25. BYU (4-0)–#30–W 24-21 Colorado
  26. USC (4-1)–#24–L 34-32 #22 Illinois
  27. South Carolina (3-2)–#28–W 35-13 Kentucky
  28. Washington (3-1)–#25–L 24-6 #1 Ohio State
  29. Auburn (3-2)–#23–L 16-10 #8 Texas A&M
  30. Baylor (3-2)–#33–W 45-27 Oklahoma State
  31. UNLV (4-0)–#31–BYE
  32. Louisville (4-0)–#34–W 34-27 Pittsburgh. The Cardinals came back to beat the Panthers. Still hard to tell how good this team is, maybe we will know after the Virginia game next week.
  33. Virginia (4-1)–NR–W 46-38 2OT #12 Florida State. This is where rankings become difficult. How do you rank the Cavaliers? They lost to NC State, but beat FSU…the AP has them in the Top 25, but I am not ready for that big of a jump yet.
  34. South Florida (3-1)–#36–BYE
  35. Nebraska (3-1)–#37–BYE
  36. Utah (4-1)–#38–W 48-14 West Virginia
  37. Memphis (5-0)–#39–W 55-26 Florida Atlantic
  38. Mississippi State (4-1)–#35–L 41-34 OT #20 Tennessee. Hard to punish them for losing such a close game.
  39. Houston (4-0)–#40–W 27-24 OT Oregon State
  40. Iowa (3-2)–#32–L 20-15 #10 Indiana

Honorable Mentions
North Texas (5-0)–HM–W 36-22 South Alabama
Old Dominion (3-1)–HM–W 21-7 Liberty
Tulane (4-1)–HM–W 31-14 Tulsa
Cincinnati (3-1)–NR–W 37-34 #29 Kansas
Ohio (3-2)–NR–W 35-20 Bowling Green

TDECU Stadium

This week was all sorts of big time matchups…well next week is the opposite. There are not too many great games. #12 Alabama will look for revenge for last year’s lost to Vanderbilt, when the #17 Commodores come to town. #38 Mississippi State heads to #4 Texas A&M. The Bulldogs would love to ruin the Aggies season with an upset. #33 Virginia plays at #32 Louisville, the Cavs want to continue their winning ways, while the Cards need to prove they are for real. #15 Texas Tech goes to #39 Houston. The Cougars need an upset to let the rest of the Big XII know they are part of the conference.

The big game this week is #2 Miami traveling to #18 Florida State. The Seminoles are still a solid team despite that loss. If the receiver hangs on to that ball, we are looking at battle of two top six teams. But, a little bobble means they are ranked #18. The Hurricanes have a chance to win big, and possibly move into the first spot with another high quality win.

Tiny But Mighty
We are at the time of the year when FCS teams stop playing against FBS (I think there were two this week, and then we have those weird SEC ones at the end of the schedule). We are also getting into conference games, so not too many chances for G5 to play P4 schools. So this will be a spot to highlight a team from either the G5 or FCS.

Louisiana Tech is 4-1 this year, with their only loss coming to LSU, 23-7. The Bulldogs are in a good position to win Conference USA. If they could win out, and then win the conference championship, they could end up in the Top 25 (C-USA gets almost no respect from the AP, so they have a long road to travel to get ranked by them). 

Coaching Carousel
Arkansas wasted no time and fired Sam Pittman this morning. He was 32-34 in five seasons. That is just not going to cut it in the SEC. It looked like a few years ago they might be turning things around, but then their season fell apart. Getting destroyed 56-13 by Notre Dame did not help his cause. 

That means there are four major programs looking for a coach: UCLA, Oklahoma State (the Cowboys fired Gundy after I wrote my post), Virginia Tech, and Arkansas. There are plenty of names being tossed around for all four (Dan Mullen, Michael Vick, Jimbo Fisher, Nick Saban…hahaha), and there are also the usual ideas of guys like Ryan Silverfield or Jeff Traylor getting a bigger job. There are also rumors of Lane Kiffin going to Florida, or wherever else. Penn State fans are hoping James Franklin is fired, and honestly, they would probably be happy with anyone (be careful what you wish for is all I can say to that). 

Heisman Watch
1. Dante Moore (QB)–Oregon
2. Fernando Mendoza (QB)–Indiana
3. Trinidad Chambliss (QB)–Ole Miss
4. Carson Beck (QB)–Miami
5. Jeremiah Smith (WR)–Ohio State

I think as Julian Sayin continues to get comfortable as the starter, Jeremiah Smith will have bigger and bigger games. A few new QBs entered the Heisman chat this week: Trinidad Chambliss and Dante Moore. Josh Hoover saw his chances kind of evaporate after losing to Arizona State (I took him for $5 at +5000 early in the season, and after last week there was a cash out option for almost $14, now that option is down to $1.41, way to go Josh!).

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