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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 6

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This week was supposed to be boring, we were not supposed to have big upsets! UCLA became the first 0-4 (or worse) team to beat a top ten opponent since 1985, when UTEP upset #7 BYU. Not to be outdone, Texas lost to Florida, which probably helps save Billy Napier’s job (at least until the end of the season). Two teams that most experts had battling for the National Championship are sitting at 3-2, and look completely clueless out there.

  1.  Ohio State (5-0)–#1–W 42-3 Minnesota. Penn State fans celebrated like they won the Natty when the Nittany Lions poached Jim Knowles away from the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes defense looks like it is even better than in previous years…maybe Knowles was not the architect, maybe it was always someone else. Hmm, who has been there for years now, that maybe came from Penn State?
  2. Miami (5-0)–#2–W 28-22 #18 Florida State. This score looks close, but it was never actually close. I know many people will give the Hurricanes the bump to #1, but I think the Ohio State defense gives them the edge.
  3. Oregon (5-0)–#3–BYE
  4. Texas A&M (5-0)–#4–W 31-9 #38 Mississippi State. This was a game that people thought could be an upset. The Aggies decided to shut those people up.
  5. Ole Miss (5-0)–#5–BYE
  6. Oklahoma (5-0)–#6–W 44-0 Kent State. I hope Kent State gets a decent amount of money for these games. They played Texas Tech, Florida State, and now Oklahoma…giving up over 160 points in those three games. Not much to say about the Sooners after this one.
  7. Indiana (5-0)–#8–BYE
  8. Georgia Tech (5-0)–#10–BYE
  9. Alabama (4-1)–#12–W 30-14 #17 Vanderbilt. Ty Simpson is settling in nicely as the Tide QB. They are a dangerous team.
  10. Georgia (4-1)–#13–W 35-14 Kentucky. An easy win for the Dawgs.
  11. Texas Tech (5-0)–#15–W 35-11 #39 Houston. The Red Raiders spent the money in the off-season, and now they look like one of the premiere teams.
  12. LSU (4-1)–#14–BYE
  13. Missouri (5-0)–#16–BYE
  14. Michigan (4-1)–#19–W 24-10 Wisconsin. The Wolverines continue to win, and look like they are improving each week.
  15. Tennessee (4-1)–#20–BYE
  16. Illinois (5-1)–#21–W 43-27 Purdue. Fun fact about Purdue…they have lost every time Taylor Swift has released an album (the Saturday after the release).
  17. BYU (5-0)–#25–W 38-24 West Virginia. The Cougars continue to make me a believer.
  18. Notre Dame (3-2)–#22–W 28-7 Boise State. There were plenty of people that thought this game would be close (I think the Irish were favored by 20.5, and the betting experts kept saying to take Boise because of their run game). The Irish had zero trouble with the Broncos running game, holding them to 100 yards on the ground.
  19. Arizona State (4-1)–#23–BYE
  20. TCU (4-1)–#24–W 35-21 Colorado. Josh Hoover accounted for all five TDs (4 pass, 1 rush). When he plays well, they can compete with anyone.
  21. Cincinnati (4-1)–HM–W 38-30 #9 Iowa State. The Bearcats upset the Cyclones, and it was a pretty convincing win.
  22. Iowa State (5-1)–#9–L 38-30 Cincinnati. The Big XII continues to be the most competitive conference, no team is elite, and just about everyone can win any week. I dig it.
  23. Virginia (5-1)–#33–W 30-27 OT #32 Louisville. I was convinced the Cavaliers would lose to Louisville, it always seems like a team loses after a big win. Good job Virginia to continue winning.
  24. Vanderbilt (5-1)–#17–L 30-14 #12 Alabama
  25. USC (4-1)–#26–BYE
  26. Florida State (3-2)–#18–L 28-22 #2 Miami. The Seminoles need to regroup and figure out what was working the first three games, and what has gone wrong the last two games.
  27. Texas (3-2)–#7–L 29-21 Florida. Not an acceptable loss.
  28. South Carolina (3-2)–#27–BYE
  29. UNLV (5-0)–#31–W 31-17 Wyoming. The Rebels got the win in some light snow. Props to them.
  30. Penn State (3-2)–#11–L 42-37 UCLA. I have so much I could say about this game. But I will just say this…42 points to a winless team. Absolutely unacceptable from a championship caliber team. They have to win out for their chance in the playoffs.
  31. Washington (4-1)–#28–W 24-20 Maryland. The Huskies were down 20-0 and came back to win by scoring 21 in the 4th quarter.
  32. Auburn (3-2)–#29–BYE
  33. Memphis (6-0)–#37–W 45-7 Tulsa
  34. South Florida (4-1)–#34–W 54-26 Charlotte
  35. Nebraska (4-1)–#35–W 38-27 Michigan State. That win over Cincinnati is looking a little better now.
  36. Baylor (4-2)–#30–W 35-34 Kansas State
  37. Utah (4-1)–#36–BYE
  38. North Texas (5-0)–HM–BYE. The AAC is going to get very interesting with all these teams playing well.
  39. Louisville (4-1)–#32–L 30-27 OT #33 Virginia
  40. Iowa (3-2)–#40–BYE

Honorable Mentions
Old Dominion (4-1)–HM–W 47-7 Coastal Carolina
Tulane (4-1)–HM–BYE
Houston (4-1)–#39–L 35-11 #15 Texas Tech
Mississippi State (4-2)–#38–L 31-9 #4 Texas A&M
Kansas (4-2)–NR–W 27-20 UCF

DATCU Stadium

Another week of great games. We kick things off on Friday night with an AAC battle: #34 South Florida at #38 North Texas. Some other good games include Florida at #4 Texas A&M (can Billy Napier upset the Aggies, and continue to make a case for keeping his job?), #14 Michigan at #25 USC, Kansas at #11 Texas Tech, #28 South Carolina at #12 LSU, and #19 Arizona State at #37 Utah. 

Then there are four monster games. #1 Ohio State heads to #16 Illinois. I have a feeling this one will not be remotely close, but maybe Illinois can pull off an upset. This next game should have been a huge matchup, but after this past week, it does not look that great. #6 Oklahoma at #27 Texas. It does not look like Mateer will be playing, so the Longhorns definitely have a chance to win the Red River Rivalry. Beau Pribula and #13 Missouri have a huge test as they host #9 Alabama. But the biggest game is #7 Indiana heading out to Eugene to take on the #3 Oregon Ducks. If Cignetti can pull off this upset, he will probably get an immediate offer from one of those big time schools looking for a new coach (I hope not, I would love for him to stay at Indiana and make them into a powerhouse). 

Tiny But Mighty
This week we should talk about Temple. They are 3-2. They went 3-9 last year and did not get their third win until their tenth game. Coach Keeler has them trending in the right direction. They lost big to Georgia Tech and Oklahoma, but they have wins over Howard, UMass, and UTSA. This week they face undefeated Navy. I will be interested to see how that game goes, since the Owls have a solid defense, which will be tested by that Navy offense.

Coaching Carousel
Mark Stoops and Luke Fickell are probably in trouble. Fickell had a weird rant after his loss to Michigan. Stoops is out there saying he is not going anywhere. But you know what coach I want to talk about? You guessed it…James Franklin. Listen, I have defended him for years. I constantly make the argument that he may not win the big games, but he wins those games that he should. There are coaches out there that have a huge win every year, but end up with three losses because they lose to a crappy team (Shane Beamer is a great example). 

But yesterday Coach Franklin broke that trust. He lost to UCLA, who was 0-4. They fired their coach, and brought in an interim coach. The OC was brought in like two days ago. And it was his first time as an OC (I think they said that a few hundred times during the game). And yet, the Bruins looked like the team with an experienced, brilliant coaching staff. 

This was never more evident than the end of the game. Ignore the play-calling when Penn State has the ball and is driving for a TD. They turnover the ball on downs, then stop UCLA on 3 plays, only taking up like 12 seconds. Great job! The Bruins are going to punt from their own end zone. Now…I think everyone watching knew what the smart move would be: snap the ball, and have the punter run around the end zone, then take a safety so you can get the free kick, and you waste some time (Bill Belichick did this years ago in a similar situation if I remember correctly). The announcers said that would be the smart move. And that is exactly what happened. But Penn State seemed like they never even considered it. They were in their regular punt formation. I get that you do not want to over commit, because the punter could then throw it and get the first down. But you know, keep one guy back for the punt, and go after the punter, make him run out the back fast. Instead, he wastes 5 seconds. 

To make matters worse, the first play after the free kick? Drew Allar throws it for zero yards to Nick Singleton. Why was that the throw? You need yards to get into range for a hail Mary, but instead you waste time and a play getting nothing. Then instead of being able to go for a deep ball, they have to try to the lateral play, but it looked like they had no clue what to do. It was a terrible attempt. 

Listen, if this team finishes 8-4 (which is a real possibility), I think the Nittany Lions need to suck it up and eat the buyout, and look for a new coach. 

Heisman Watch
1. Dante Moore (QB)–Oregon
2. Fernando Mendoza (QB)–Indiana
3. Carson Beck (QB)–Miami
4. Jeremiah Smith (WR)–Ohio State
5. Ty Simpson (QB)–Alabama

I think Simpson works his way into the conversation after another strong performance. The betting markets are now leaning towards Carson Beck, but I do not think that is very fair to the guys off this week. 

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