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 8

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This week was a new era at Penn State. The first week without James Franklin on the sidelines as the head coach. Terry Smith did a solid job as the interim coach, almost beat Iowa at Kinnick Stadium at night. There have been 35 head coaches fired during the season since 2021. Interim coaches are 16-19 during that first game. Kind of crazy, right? Aside from Smith, there were two other interim coaches getting the start this weekend: Alex Mortensen at UAB and Robb Akey at Oregon State. They both picked up wins.

  1. Ohio State (7-0)–#1–W 34-0 Wisconsin. Buckeyes are just steamrolling their opponents.
  2. Texas A&M (7-0)–#3–W 45-42 Arkansas. No defense in this game, but the Aggies picked up the win against a good Arkansas team, who has a terrible record (four of their losses have been by six or less).
  3. Indiana (7-0)–#5–W 38-13 Michigan State. The Hoosiers are committed to the future by paying Cignetti the big bucks, but they also kept their eye on the future by not overlooking the Spartans.
  4. Alabama (6-1)–#6–W 37-20 #12 Tennessee. They are playing great football right now during a tough stretch of their schedule.
  5. Georgia Tech (7-0)–#7–W 27-18 Duke. Fun fact, Brent Key was an interim coach who won his first game (he then turned that into the full-time job).
  6. Georgia (6-1)–#10–W 43-35 #4 Ole Miss. This was an exciting game. The Bulldogs pulled it out after like nine lead changes I think.
  7. Oregon (6-1)–#9–W 56-10 Rutgers. The Ducks looked like they were mad about losing last week. I almost felt bad for Rutgers.
  8. Ole Miss (6-1)–#4–L 43-35 #10 Georgia. Tough loss for the Rebels, but they have a very winnable schedule, so they are still right in the thick of the SEC hunt.
  9. Vanderbilt (6-1)–#20–W 31-24 #11 LSU. I have not been very respectful to the Commodores, but they keep winning, and they look like a top ten team right now.
  10. BYU (7-0)–#13–W 24-21 #30 Utah. It has been hard to get excited about this BYU team, but beating their heated rival helps give them some street cred.
  11. Miami (5-1)–#2–L 24-21 #32 Louisville. Miami takes a big tumble because they lost at home. They cannot afford to another loss if they want to make the playoffs.
  12. Missouri (6-1)–#14–W 23-17 2OT #35 Auburn. This was not a pretty win. Missed field goals in the first overtime? The kickers were 2 for 6 on the day. Not impressive.
  13. Oklahoma (6-1)–#15–W 26-7 South Carolina. Mateer played smarter, and the Sooner defense did their thing.
  14. Virginia (6-1)–#19–W 22-20 Washington State. Just keep stacking those wins.
  15. Louisville (5-1)–#32–W 24-21 #2 Miami. A huge upset over the Hurricanes gets the Cardinals into the top 15. They have some easy games the next four weeks, so they need to win those games, and keep climbing the rankings.
  16. Notre Dame (5-2)–#17–W 34-24 #16 USC. The running game looked great against the Trojans.
  17. Cincinnati (6-1)–#18–W 49-17 Oklahoma State
  18. Texas Tech (6-1)–#8–L 26-22 #39 Arizona State. The Big XII loves to make the rankings difficult.
  19. Tennessee (5-2)–#12–L 37-20 #6 Alabama
  20. Michigan (5-2)–#22–W 24-7 #24 Washington
  21. LSU (5-2)–#11–L 31-24 #20 Vanderbilt
  22. Texas (5-2)–#21–W 16-13 OT Kentucky
  23. Illinois (5-2)–#23–BYE
  24. USC (5-2)–#16–L 34-24 #17 Notre Dame
  25. Arizona State (5-2)–#39–W 26-22 #8 Texas Tech. Sam Leavitt is healthy, this team is a Big XII contender.
  26. TCU (5-2)–#26–W 42-36 #36 Baylor
  27. Iowa State (5-2)–#27–BYE
  28. South Florida (6-1)–#29–W 48-13 Florida Atlantic
  29. Washington (5-2)–#24–L 24-7 #22 Michigan
  30. Iowa (5-2)–#33–W 25-24 Penn State
  31. Utah (5-2)–#30–L 24-21 #13 Utah
  32. Tulane (6-1)–#34–W 24-17 Army
  33. Houston (6-1)–#37–W 31-28 Arizona
  34. Northwestern (5-2)–HM–W 19-0 Purdue
  35. Pittsburgh (5-2)–HM–W 30-13 Syracuse
  36. Navy (6-0)–#40–BYE
  37. James Madison (6-1)–HM–W 63-27 Old Dominion
  38. Boise State (5-2)–NR–W 56-31 #25 UNLV. Only losses are to South Florida and Notre Dame. Maybe we were a little quick to write them off this year.
  39. Minnesota (5-2)–NR–W 24-6 #31 Nebraska. The Gophers work their way back into the rankings.
  40. Baylor (4-3)–#36–L 42-36 #26 TCU. They need to start winning some of these close games.

Honorable Mentions
Nebraska (5-2)–#31–L 24-6 Minnesota. Maybe the Matt Rhule to Penn State talk distracted this team.
UNLV (6-1)–#25–L 56-31 Boise State
San Diego State (5-1)–NR–BYE
SMU (5-2)–NR–W 35-24 Clemson. The Mustangs are undefeated in ACC play, keep an eye on them.
UCLA (3-4)–NR–W 20-17 Maryland. Yeah, I know, they have four losses, but they have won three straight, and they are playing much better, and they were ranked preseason. Looks like they finally figured it out, and could be a dangerous team. 

Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium

I feel like the last few weeks have been mostly solid SEC games with like one or two huge Big Ten games. This week we kind of flip it. The Big Ten has a bunch of solid match-ups, whereas the SEC has some big ones. #8 Ole Miss at #13 Oklahoma, #12 Missouri at #9 Vanderbilt, and #2 Texas A&M at #21 LSU. The Big Ten has #34 Northwestern at Nebraska, #39 Minnesota at #30 Iowa, #23 Illinois at #29 Washington, and finally the game I am most excited for: UCLA at #3 Indiana. Can the Bruins continue their streak? 

Believe it or not there are other conferences, but only like two games that I am excited about. #10 BYU at #27 Iowa State. The Cyclones have the chance to make the Big XII even more crazy. And last, but not least we have #28 South Florida at Memphis. The Tigers lost to UAB, but I have a feeling they will be ready for their game against the Bulls. 

Tiny But Mighty
Hey, one of those winless teams picked up a win this week! Way to go Oregon State, you beat Lafayette. Now it just UMass & Sam Houston. But if you want to talk about tiny, but mighty how about the performance of Montie Quinn on Saturday? The D-III running back from Curry College rushed for 522 yards with 7 TDs. That is an NCAA record (no RB has ever crossed the 500-yard mark). He had more yards in one game than some teams have on the season. Way to go kid! 

Coaching Carousel
All reporting suggests that Billy Napier is done after this season. I feel like Florida is actively searching for a head coach. Luke Fickell continues to keep his job, and continues to lose spectacularly. I get not firing someone until the end of the season (look at Penn State, they fired Franklin, and now all of their recruits are decommitting and being picked up by guys like Curt Cignetti). 

A name to keep an eye on these next few weeks is Brian Kelly. I think LSU fans are sick of the Kelly Experience, and ready to move on from him. A win against Texas A&M would help, but a big loss may seal his fate. 

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

Carson Beck drops out of the top five after that 4 INT performance against Louisville. Ty Simpson is the front-runner now after another great performance against a tough opponent. Diego Pavia has entered the conversation.

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