Josh’s College Football Rankings 2025–Week 14

The final week of college football had some twists and turns. Texas A&M falls to Texas, meaning there are tons of questions about whether the Longhorns deserve to be in the playoffs. SMU blows their ACC title game chances by losing to Cal (who fired their coach this past week–can we take a second to express how wild that firing is? The Bears lost to Stanford, but beat Louisville the week before, then beat SMU–they finish the year 7-5…was the loss to Stanford that unacceptable?). Ryan Day finally got over the Michigan hump. Miami dominated Pitt to prove they belong in the playoff picture. 

And yet none of that stuff mattered because the only story worth talking about was whether or not Lane Kiffin is leaving Ole Miss for LSU. It was mentioned during just about every game I watched, at halftime, we got updates on what he was doing at the moment. Last night, at midnight, they were still claiming an answer could come at any moment. The rest of the coaching dominoes should fall today or tomorrow (I think about four jobs were filled in the last hour or so since I started writing this). UPDATE: it looks like Lane is taking the LSU job (I guess the sticking point was Lane wanting to coach the playoffs, but Ole Miss was like “umm, no, either stay here, or leave, but you cannot do both.”

1. Ohio State (12-0)–#1–W 27-9 #14 Michigan. The Buckeyes finished out the season with a big win against their archrival to the north.
2. Indiana (12-0)–#3–W 56-3 Purdue. The Hoosiers have dominated most of their opponents all season. They will be tested next in the Big Ten Championship game.
3. Georgia (11-1)–#4–W 16-9 #22 Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs defense contained Haynes King, and the offense did just enough to win this game. They look good at the right time.
4. Oregon (11-1)–#5–W 26-14 #21 Washington. The Ducks look like one of the most complete teams.
5. Ole Miss (11-1)–#6–W 38-19 Mississippi State. The Rebels also have a complete team that could do well in the playoffs, but can they do it with an interim coach?
6. Texas Tech (11-1)–#7–W 49-0 West Virginia. The Red Raiders showed no mercy against the Mountaineers.
7. Oklahoma (10-2)–#8–W 17-13 LSU. Defense wins championships, right? The Sooners do not believe in offense, so the defense better be perfect throughout the playoffs.
8. Alabama (10-2)–#9–W 27-20 Auburn. It was another fun Iron Bowl. If they had lost this game, would Kalen DeBoer been on a flight to Happy Valley immediately? Would ‘Bama fans have helped him pack his bags?
9. Texas A&M (11-1)–#2–L 27-17 #18 Texas. I may have ranked the Aggies a little high at #2, but I honestly thought they looked like an elite team.
10. Vanderbilt (10-2)–#12–W 45-24 #17 Tennessee. Was this the Commodores first win at Neyland Stadium?
11. Miami (10-2)–#16–W 38-7 #19 Pittsburgh. The Hurricanes convinced me that they are still a team worthy of playoff consideration.
12. Notre Dame (10-2)–#10–W 49-20 Stanford. The Irish will take a ton of crap about losing their first two games then running the table against weak opponents. But this is a good team.
13. Texas (9-3)–#18–W 27-17 #2 Texas A&M. Listen Longhorns fans, the loss to the Buckeyes does not hurt you. The loss to Florida does. If Texas wins that game, they are up above Oklahoma. But instead, they lost to the Gators.
14. BYU (11-1)–#11–W 41-21 UCF. The Cougars resume is very lackluster.
15. Utah (10-2)–#13–W 31-21 Kansas
16. Virginia (10-2)–#15–W 27-7 Virginia Tech
17. Michigan (9-3)–#14–L 27-9 #1 Ohio State
18. USC (9-3)–#24–W 29-10 UCLA
19. Arizona (9-3)–#25–W 23-7 #28 Arizona State
20. James Madison (11-1)–#20–W 59-10 Coastal Carolina. I think the Dukes are the best G5 team, but I may be in the minority. Their only loss was to Louisville, and it was somewhat close. Tulane got crushed by Ole Miss.
21. North Texas (11-1)–#23–W 52-25 Temple. The Mean Green lost to South Florida and it was an ugly loss, but I feel like that was one of those games that once it go out of control, everything went wrong, and the score ballooned quickly.
22. Tulane (10-2)–#26–W 27-0 Charlotte. This team has the chance to prove me wrong against North Texas, but I feel like that loss to UTSA kind of exposed the Green Wave.
23. Georgia Tech (9-3)–#22–L 16-9 #4 Georgia
24. Tennessee (8-4)–#17–L 45-24 #12 Vanderbilt
25. Washington (8-4)–#21–L 26-14 #5 Oregon
26. Navy (9-2)–#30–W 28-17 Memphis
27. Missouri (8-4)–#29–W 31-17 Arkansas
28. Pittsburgh (8-4)–#19–L 38-7 #16 Miami
29. Iowa State (8-4)–#37–W 20-13 Oklahoma State
30. Iowa (8-4)–#32–W 40-16 Nebraska
31. Arizona State (8-4)–#28–L 23-7 #25 Arizona
32. SMU (8-4)–#27–L 38-35 California
33. South Florida (9-3)–#36–W 52-3 Rice
34. Illinois (8-4)–#39–W 20-13 Northwestern
35. Louisville (8-4)–#40–W 41-0 Kentucky
36. UConn (9-3)–#34–BYE
37. Houston (9-3)–#38–W 31-24 Baylor
38. TCU (8-4)–HM–W 45-23 #35 Cincinnati
39. UNLV (10-2)–HM–W 42-17 Nevada
40. Old Dominion (9-3)–HM–W 27-10 Georgia State

Honorable Mentions
Duke (7-5)–NR–W 49-32 #31 Wake Forest
Kennesaw State (9-3)–HM–W 48-42 2OT Liberty
Western Michigan (8-4)–HM–W 31-21 Eastern Michigan
New Mexico (9-3)–NR–W 23-17 2OT #33 San Diego State
Clemson (7-5)–NR–W 28-14 South Carolina

Conference Championship Time!
C-USA: Kennesaw State at Jacksonville State
Sun Belt: Troy at #20 James Madison
MWC: #39 UNLV at Boise State
AAC: #21 North Texas at #22 Tulane
MAC: Miami OH vs Western Michigan (at Ford Field)
Big XII: #14 BYU vs. #6 Texas Tech (at AT&T Stadium
SEC: #3 Georgia vs. #8 Alabama (at Mercedes-Benz Stadium)
Big Ten: #2 Indiana vs. #1 Ohio State (at Lucas Oil Stadium)
ACC: Duke vs. #16 Virginia (at Bank of America Stadium)

Tiny But Mighty
I would like to point out that Villanova had a big first round win of the FCS playoffs. They took down Harvard 52-7. You may remember that Villanova is the team Penn State beat 52-6 in week two. They played the game hard, and scored on the final play. The Wildcats only lost one more game, and they finished in second place in the CAA behind Rhode Island. For all the PSU fans that complained about playing ‘Nova, they were a solid FCS programs, and I am rooting for them to make a deep run in the playoffs (I doubt they can compete with North Dakota State, South Dakota State, or Montana, but it would be cool to see them win the championship).

Coaching Carousel
It has been hard to keep up with all of the moves! 
Lane Kiffin to LSU
Jon Sumrall to Florida
Alex Golesh to Auburn
Eric Morris to Oklahoma State
Ryan Silverfield to Arkansas
Tavita Pritchard to Stanford
JaMarcus Shephard to Oregon State
Jim Mora to Colorado State

Jonathan Smith was fired by Michigan State, and it looks like they are going to hire Pat Fitzgerald. This also means that Tulane, South Florida, North Texas, Memphis, and UConn all need coaches. Ole Miss has decided to promote DC Pete Golding to the head coach position. 

Oh yeah, and there are still the Penn State rumors. Bob Chesney is now linked to the UCLA position, which would open up the JMU job (I wonder if they look at a coach from the FCS ranks who has had tons of success, since it has worked the last two times). There are rumors that Kalen DeBoer is going to leave Alabama for Happy Valley. If that happens then Alabama would be available. A name that has now popped up is Lincoln Riley. There is a rumor that there is a mystery candidate out there, and people are speculating that it could be Lincoln Riley (the inside source has said the mystery candidate is a name that was not previously mentioned–which only leaves like three people, since fans have said just about everyone). 

Heisman Watch
1. Fernando Mendoza (QB)–Indiana
2. Julian Sayin (QB)–Ohio State
3. Jeremiyah Love (RB)–Notre Dame

I think this is now a three-man race. If Mendoza has a monster game against Ohio State, it is his. If both QBs look bad, then I think Jeremiyah Love leapfrogs them both to take home the trophy.