Josh’s College Football Rankings 2025–Week 7

Who knew this week would be such a monster! Indiana stuns the folks in Eugene. Texas wins the Red River Rivalry. Northwestern knocks off Penn State. BYU wins a thriller against Arizona. And Alabama continues to roll. 

1. Ohio State (6-0)–#1–W 34-16 #16 Illinois. No change here, the Buckeyes continue to just dominate opponents.
2. Miami (5-0)–#2–BYE
3. Texas A&M (6-0)–#4–W 34-17 Florida. The Aggies had zero trouble with the Gators. They are proving to everyone that they are for real.
4. Ole Miss (6-0)–#5–W 24-21 Washington State. Almost lost this one. But, good teams find a way to overcome a rough day.
5. Indiana (6-0)–#7–W 30-20 #3 Oregon. The Hoosier defense should be the main story. They held that high-powered Duck offense to just 20 points and only 267 yards of total offense. Pat McAfee looks like a genius for picking them on GameDay.
6. Alabama (5-1)–#9–W 27-24 #13 Missouri. Ty Simpson continues to improve each week, and looks like a legit Heisman contender. Watch out SEC, the Tide are rising (yes, two terrible ‘Bama puns this week, I apologize).
7. Georgia Tech (6-0)–#8–W 35-20 Virginia Tech. These are the kind of games that GT would lose a year ago and make everyone scratch their heads. Last year I was high on them after the FSU win (and I think in the preseason they got an honorable mention). But they lost six games. Glad to see they are more consistent week-to-week.
8. Texas Tech (6-0)–#11–W 42-17 Kansas. Damn, the Red Raiders had zero trouble with the Jayhawks. This team is just rolling over their Big XII opposition.
9. Oregon (5-1)–#3–L 30-20 #7 Indiana. I would have put them higher if this had been a one-score game. But two scores at home? Yikes.
10. Georgia (5-1)–#10–W 20-10 #32 Auburn. Gunner Stockton took over in the second half. His stats do not jump off the page, but Auburn was winning after the first half. Gunner scrambled for a 10-yard TD with under 2 minutes to go, which helped seal the victory.
11. LSU (5-1)–#12–W 20-10 #28 South Carolina. The Tigers managed to run the ball. Yay? Before the season started this would have been a circled match-up of two potential Heisman, first round QBs. It did not really live up to that hype.
12. Tennessee (5-1)–#15–W 34-31 Arkansas. It is easy to forget about the Vols team.
13. BYU (6-0)–#17–W 33-27 2OT Arizona. I thought this one was going to end with another upset. The Cougars survived and stay undefeated.
14. Missouri (5-1)–#13–L 27-24 #9 Alabama. Not going to punish Mizzou too much for that loss. They are good, and can play with anyone. Just need to put this loss behind them and focus on the road ahead.
15. Oklahoma (5-1)–#6–L 23-6 #27 Texas. Not sure it would have mattered, but I think Mateer should have sat this one out. He looked rusty.
16. USC (5-1)–#25–W 31-13 #14 Michigan. The Trojans are back, baby! Maybe. I will be cautious with ranking this team too high, I have been burnt by them in the past.
17. Notre Dame (4-2)–#18–W 36-7 NC State. It will not be long until we are saying “are the Irish a top ten team?”
18. Cincinnati (5-1)–#21–W 20-11 UCF. Keep winning, keep moving up.
19. Virginia (5-1)–#23–BYE
20. Vanderbilt (5-1)–#24–BYE
21. Texas (4-2)–#27–W 23-6 #6 Oklahoma. Yes, I have Texas below a team they beat, but I need to see if this was for real, or an illusion because of the Sooners playing poorly.
22. Michigan (4-2)–#14–L 31-13 #25 USC
23. Illinois (5-2)–#16–L 34-16 #1 Ohio State. I thought for a few minutes that maybe the Fighting Illini could pull off an upset. The Buckeyes defense quickly dispelled that notion.
24. Washington (5-1)–#31–W 38-19 Rutgers
25. UNLV (6-0)–#29–W 51-48 Air Force
26. TCU (4-2)–#20–L 41-28 Kansas State
27. Iowa State (5-2)–#22–L 24-17 Colorado. The Big XII continues to beat itself up.
28. Memphis (6-0)–#33–BYE
29. South Florida (5-1)–#34–W 63-36 #38 North Texas. The Bulls decided to make a statement about how good they are this year by absolutely destroying North Texas.
30. Utah (5-1)–#37–W 42-10 #19 Arizona State. Great win for the Utes, but I am still not sold on them. Sorry Utah.
31. Nebraska (5-1)–#35–W 34-31 Maryland. Can the Terps play in the 4th quarter? This is two weeks in a row that they blew leads. Nebraska? Yeah, they are ranked about where they should be.
32. Louisville (4-1)–#39–BYE
33. Iowa (4-2)–#40–W 37-0 Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes scored 37 points, but more impressive, they shutout the Badgers in Madison. That is an impressive win.
34. Tulane (5-1)–HM–W 26-19 East Carolina. The AAC is surprisingly deep this year.
35. Auburn (3-3)–#32–L 20-10 #10 Georgia. I know, three losses should be an automatic DQ from the rankings, but I think they play well enough to win most games, they just have one of the more brutal schedules in the SEC.
36. Baylor (4-2)–#36–BYE
37. Houston (5-1)–HM–W 39-17 Oklahoma State. Nice bounce back after that loss last week.
38. Mississippi State (4-2)–HM–BYE
39. Arizona State (4-2)–#19–L 42-10 #37 Utah. How much time will Sam Leavitt miss?
40. Navy (6-0)–NR–W 32-31 Temple. Another AAC team.

Honorable Mentions
Northwestern (4-2)–NR–W 22-21 #30 Penn State. Tulane’s win over the Wildcats looks more impressive now.
Pittsburgh (4-2)–NR–W 34-31 #26 Florida State
South Carolina (3-3)–#28–L 20-10 #12 LSU
James Madison (5-1)–NR–W 24-14 Louisiana
Florida State (3-3)–#26–L 34-31 Pittsburgh. At least they beat Alabama, that has to count for something, right?

We have games every day! And it is not MACtion. Other conferences figured out that people like watching football on Tuesday & Wednesday. Honestly though, this is a big week, there are plenty of upset opportunities. 

Friday night we get #32 Louisville at #2 Miami. The Hurricanes should have zero troubles with Louisville, and a big win would help cement their case as the number two team in the country. #36 Baylor travels to #26 TCU. I love this kind of game, these teams will battle each other. #24 Washington at #22 Michigan. Another solid game. The Huskies have something to prove, and need a big win to get some notice. Old Dominion heads to James Madison this week, which could be an important fight for the Sun Belt East Division. Maryland has the honor of facing the newly resurgent UCLA. The Terps have had a rough stretch, the Bruins are playing great (listen, everyone had high expectations for UCLA, I had them ranked during the preseason–now they are playing like we thought, so teams better be ready for them). And lastly, we have Penn State heading to Iowa for a night game. Without Drew Allar, and a defense that looks terrible at times? Yeah, Iowa may give them an embarrassing loss.

Some other games to pay attention to:
#11 LSU at #20 Vanderbilt–Vandy could pull off a big upset here
#17 Oklahoma at South Carolina–this all depends on Mateer
#25 UNLV at Boise State–Boise State was supposed to be the top G5 teams, could they spoil the Rebels season?
#8 Texas Tech at #39 Arizona State–If the Red Raiders are for real, they have zero trouble with ASU
#14 Missouri at #35 Auburn–can Auburn win one of these tough games?
#30 Utah at #13 BYU–these teams hate each other, this should be fun.

There are three huge games this week. First up we have #16 USC heading to South Bend to face the #17 Fighting Irish. The Trojans could end Notre Dame’s season. Or the Irish could remind everyone that they are still here. We also have #12 Tennessee at #6 Alabama. The Volunteers need a big signature win, the Tide need another impressive ranked victory. And finally we have #4 Ole Miss at #10 Georgia. The Running Rebels have not won in Athens since 1996. Lane Kiffin did win last year at home, but heading to Georgia is a different beast. 

Tiny But Mighty
This week I want to focus on the teams that have a tiny win total. Yes, the winless teams: Oregon State (0-7), Sam Houston (0-6), and UMass (0-6). The Beavers are the most shocking because they are not some perennial loser. They brought in Maalik Murphy to be the QB, but maybe they needed some defense. They do have Lafayette next week, so they should be able to get a win. Plus they face Sam Houston in a few weeks, so someone should win that game. The Bearkats do not have a great path to a win. They will need to upset someone, maybe UTEP or Middle Tennesee State, since they only have one win. Or maybe Oregon State. But UMass? I do not think they have a chance for a win. Maybe Akron, but that might take a miracle.

Coaching Carousel
Oregon State just fired their coach, Trent Bray. He was 5-14 since last season. 0-7 is not an acceptable start for a school of the Beavers caliber. Luke Fickell will probably be fired soon, especially after getting shutout at home to Iowa. I know, I keep saying it every week, but the Badgers are going to move on from him, and it is just a matter of when, not if. Billy Napier is probably done at the end of the season as well. I think Curt Cignetti is going to have a bunch of teams tossing insane amounts of money at him. 

The same goes for James Franklin. I think they are going to get rid of him at the end of the season. They probably negotiate a deal where he finishes out the season, and he agrees to a lower buyout. I will write more about Franklin and Penn State later in the week, I need time to process my emotions after that awful loss.

Also, I think Trent Dilfer goes soon. His tenure at UAB has been a disaster. He is 9-21 since 2023, and it has not been pretty. They just lost to FAU 53-33. 

Heisman Watch
1. Fernando Mendoza (QB)–Indiana
2. Ty Simpson (QB)–Alabama
3. Carson Beck (QB)–Miami
4. Julian Sayin (QB)–Ohio State
5. Marcel Reed (QB)–Texas A&M

Mendoza has to be the leader after a strong performance against a team that in the past had his number. Simpson continues to impress. I got Sayin in the mix because he gets better each week, but I think the Ohio State receivers cut into his votes. Marcel Reed is a wildcard. He has the potential to improve his stock by having big games against LSU, Mizzou, South Carolina, and Texas.