the fifth week of the 2025 college football season

published september 28, 2025

introductory comments

conference play means that if you didn't realize this before, it's time to lock in. your conference record determines your ability to win the conference championship, and a conference championship is one of the few ways to be in contention for the ultimate title. today we will see who started off on the right foot.

the top 25

  1. south florida - 211 pts. (3-1, +41)
  2. vanderbilt - 208 pts. (5-0, +159)
  3. texas a&m - 199 pts. (4-0, +47)
  4. mississippi state - 199 pts. (4-1, +105)
  5. oklahoma - 191 pts. (4-0, +89)
  6. ole miss - 177 pts. (5-0, +109)
  7. miami - 171 pts. (4-0, +101)
  8. missouri - 162 pts. (5-0, +153)
  9. old dominion - 157 pts. (3-1, +68)
  10. oregon - 151 pts. (5-0, +172)
  11. georgia tech - 150 pts. (5-0, +79)
  12. tennessee - 150 pts. (4-1, +110)
  13. florida state - 150 pts. (3-1, +136)
  14. indiana - 148 pts. (5-0, +191)
  15. ohio state - 144 pts. (4-0, +123)
  16. tcu - 144 pts. (3-1, +63)
  17. usc - 141 pts. (4-1, +127)
  18. syracuse - 140 pts. (3-2, +8)
  19. lsu - 139 pts. (4-1, +74)
  20. maryland - 136 pts. (4-0, +87)
  21. michigan state - 135 pts. (3-1, +22)
  22. georgia - 131 pts. (3-1, +60)
  23. washington - 130 pts. (3-1, +94)
  24. houston - 129 pts. (4-0, +72)
  25. purdue - 126 pts. (2-2, +6)

the bottom 25

  1. army - -103 pts. (1-3, -29)
  2. liberty - -99 pts. (1-4, -31)
  3. toledo - -36 pts. (3-2, +117)
  4. umass - -15 pts. (0-4, -109)
  5. akron - -13 pts. (1-4, -79)
  6. florida atlantic - -11 pts. (1-3, -29)
  7. south alabama - -10 pts. (1-4, -33)
  8. buffalo - -8 pts. (2-3, +22)
  9. appalachian state - -2 pts. (2-2, -19)
  10. louisiana - 0 pts. (2-3, -20)
  11. middle tennessee - 1 pt. (2-3, -33)
  12. colorado state - 2 pts. (1-3, -31)
  13. northern illinois - 5 pts. (1-3, -40)
  14. connecticut - 7 pts. (3-2, +45)
  15. arkansas state - 9 pts. (1-4, -51)
  16. air force - 9 pts. (1-3, -4)
  17. virginia tech - 12 pts. (2-3, -22)
  18. ball state - 19 pts. (1-3, -71)
  19. clemson - 19 pts. (1-3, -12)
  20. boise state - 19 pts. (3-1, +55)
  21. miami ohio - 20 pts. (1-3, -10)
  22. jacksonville state - 22 pts. (2-3, +14)
  23. eastern michigan - 28 pts. (2-3, -53)
  24. rice - 28 pts. (3-2, E)
  25. oregon state - 29 pts. (0-5, -96)

adjustments

army makes everyone (except liberty) look good: army @ east carolina

army has not heard my pleas to dig themselves out of the hole over the sound of them making an even deeper hole. they are now in the negative triple digits, and the committee was shocked to see that they were still in c tier. therefore army is demoted to d tier. their conference record may already be without saving.

east carolina 16, army -16

the rebels climb back up the totem pole: lsu @ ole miss

ole miss was always on the border between a and s tiers, but now their 5-0 record and a win over an s tier team have finally given the committee enough confidence to declare that ole miss is promoted to s tier. given the state of the conference, they have a decent shot at a good run this year.

ole miss 16, lsu -16

further notes

at least it wasn't the quarterback's fault: florida state @ virginia

florida state lost their bid for perfection in double overtime while facing an exceedingly hostile crowd which attempted to trample them as soon as the game went final. before that, however, i saw for the first time live a pass get bobbled all the way through the end zone. in the vast majority of cases, 10 yards is plenty room, but not here. florida state wishes this was the cfl, but unfortunately the stadium pulse was just too high. better luck next week in your attack on the belt.

bad news bruins: ucla @ northwestern

of all the possibilities, i did not expect ucla to start 0-4. i have to commend them for not scheduling an fcs opponent this year, but they have already taken their first bye and still lost as a rested team against northwestern. the remainder of their schedule unfortunately puts them in grave danger of a winless season. then again, the big ten was supposed to just be the midwest before california teams had to come mess that up too...

shoulda taken the under: san diego state @ northern illinois

yeah, you read that score right. six to three. what a thrilling game. that's the end of that sentence. i mean, good for kickers, but beyond that i don't have any more words.

vandy to the moon again: utah state @ vanderbilt

vandy, meanwhile, has continued to excel in the sec since last year's incredible overtaking of alabama. they look to do that again next weekk to stay undefeated and rival south florida for the top spot.

bowl eligibility coming soon

as you may have seen, there are already a lot of 5-0 teams, and the few of them that play next week will be playing for a spot in an illustrious bowl game. this section next week will be reserved for the even fewer of them that succeed.

scorigami recognition

this is finally about the size i expected the list to be. no ridiculous seventy-bombs, and plenty of low scores that make you wonder how they got there. congratulations to:

the belt

the belt lies dormant. stay tuned for miami @ florida state next week.

finishing up

thursday through saturday action again next week, and it will be a great week to do the full saturday challenge with no hawaii home game and the last start being at 9:30 central. article to come next sunday. enjoy.