the second week of the 2025 college football season

published september 7, 2025

introductory comments

week two saw much of more of the same, with a few differences. but the lists are certainly looking interesting, the belt saw some drama, and the rest of the season promises to be even more exciting than the beginning. so stick along for the ride and see how this new ranking system turns out.

the top 25

  1. south florida - 208 pts. (2-0, +29)
  2. mississippi state - 199 pts. (2-0, +21)
  3. florida state - 175 pts. (2-0, +88)
  4. oklahoma - 168 pts. (2-0, +43)
  5. vanderbilt - 160 pts. (2-0, +66)
  6. arkansas - 147 pts. (2-0, +87)
  7. texas a&m - 146 pts. (2-0, +40)
  8. lsu - 142 pts. (2-0, +23)
  9. ohio state - 141 pts. (2-0, +77)
  10. ole miss - 139 pts. (2-0, +63)
  11. wisconsin - 138 pts. (2-0, +49)
  12. auburn - 137 pts. (2-0, +53)
  13. miami - 136 pts. (2-0, +45)
  14. michigan state - 136 pts. (2-0, +19)
  15. tennessee - 134 pts. (2-0, +74)
  16. georgia - 134 pts. (2-0, +60)
  17. rutgers - 133 pts. (2-0, +31)
  18. south carolina - 132 pts. (2-0, +41)
  19. purdue - 131 pts. (2-0, +48)
  20. missouri - 128 pts. (2-0, +66)
  21. oregon - 127 pts. (2-0, +112)
  22. usc - 127 pts. (2-0, +99)
  23. nebraska - 126 pts. (2-0, +71)
  24. washington - 119 pts. (2-0, +77)
  25. kentucky - 118 pts. (1-1, +1)

the bottom 25

  1. army - -55 pts. (1-1, E)
  2. liberty - -12 pts. (1-1, +11)
  3. umass - -27 pts. (0-2, -33)
  4. akron - -6 pts. (0-2, -78)
  5. western michigan - 3 pts. (0-2, -20)
  6. boise state - 3 pts. (1-1, +10)
  7. southern miss - 8 pts. (1-1, +1)
  8. kennesaw state - 9 pts. (0-2, -48)
  9. middle tennessee - 9 pts. (1-1, -12)
  10. delaware - 12 pts. (1-1, -6)
  11. arizona state - 12 pts. (1-1, +15)
  12. toledo - 12 pts. (1-1, +16)
  13. eastern michigan - 13 pts. (1-1, -20)
  14. louisiana - 13 pts. (1-1, +22)
  15. ball state - 14 pts. (0-2, -70)
  16. northern illinois - 15 pts. (1-1, -9)
  17. san diego state - 15 pts. (1-1, +19)
  18. tulsa - 16 pts. (1-1, +21)
  19. buffalo - 16 pts. (1-1, +26)
  20. connecticut - 18 pts. (1-1, +26)
  21. north texas - 19 pts. (2-0, +54)
  22. miami ohio - 20 pts. (0-2, -45)
  23. western kentucky - 20 pts. (1-2, +8)
  24. james madison - 23 pts. (1-1, +21)
  25. rice - 24 pts. (1-1, -24)

adjustments

the belt game: south florida @ florida

south florida is the first team to truly impress the committee. they are out of the gate with two straight upset wins, and thanks to these and their actually putting together a good opening schedule this year, they are doing well. too well for their tier, and therefore south florida is promoted to c tier. congratulations, and keep it up south florida, lest you fall from the peak of college football on which you stand.

south florida +74, florida -64

further notes

moral victories are not for chokers: troy @ clemson

troy's score against clemson this week is impressive. if you didn't watch the game, that is. in other circumstances, a score like this would easily earn a moral victory for the losing team, but troy blew their 16-point lead. clemson's 27 points all came unanswered. and for a moral victory, you have to do better than that. troy's morale was surely crushed by the second half of this game, and so the committee offers them no help this week. maybe if you don't let memphis walk all over you you might get some pity points.

a second fcs loss has hit the schedule: bryant @ umass

yes indeed, a second team has lost its easy fcs matchup. umass is now well deserving of the 134th slot after losing a home game to bryant, even if it was by one point. it's a deep hole to dig out of, but it's not as deep as the army's and there are still 10 games left to dig out of it. so overall, it could be worse.

speak of the army: army @ kansas state

army has begun the long dig out of their hole with a 3-point win over kansas state. not quite impressive enough, but the difference between last and second-to-last isn't so stark anymore. maybe scoring big on that famous run game would help?

akron, factory of sadness: akron @ nebraska

it's not often that you see a team finish two games without scoring in any way. yet akron has done just that, giving up 10 points against wyoming last week and 68 against nebraska this week, all unanswered. defense wins championships, but akron doesn't have any of that... or an offense. it's looking like a rebuild this year, sorry not sorry.

dishonorable mentions: games so boring nothing happened to the scoreboard

lsu, penn state, georgia, and south carolina picked weakling opponents at least five tiers below them and couldn't even be bothered to put up a fun score on them. this ranking list is for good football. putting up less than 40 points in a game like this is not good football. for this display of absolute ennui this week, zero points are awarded for their wins. their opponents, when they are actually in the fbs (louisiana tech and florida international) have accordingly been spared from losing any points because their defenses must be amazing to have stopped such top tier teams from running right over them. congrats to the little guys.

scorigami recognition

again an easy week to land on the scorigami list for breaking the 39-point threshold. hopefully the games are more competitive next week so typing out this list doesn't take so long again. but a long list of congratulations is still due to:

the belt

in a thrilling saturday afternoon game, florida fell apart to give up the belt yet again. south florida wins the belt and five points for the first time in their history. they earn an additional five for scoring 18 points in the game, and with the two-tier upset they cash out this week with 74 points and move to the top of the table. but they will probably not be there for long, as they must defend away at miami next week.

finishing up

another thrilling week of college football has come to a close. thursday's only game will be well scrutinized, along with any further fcs shenanigans. it's too far into the season to be playing them anymore. keep an eye on this week's belt game as it promises to be a big one. article scheduled for sunday yet again.