the eighth week of the 2025 college football season

published october 19, 2025

introductory comments

the article has taken a long time to write this week because the game volume has gone nearly back to its peak, so let's get going right away.

the top 25

  1. south florida - 246 pts. (6-1, +131)
  2. texas a&m - 236 pts. (7-0, +89)
  3. vanderbilt - 220 pts. (6-1, +150)
  4. oklahoma - 197 pts. (6-1, +135)
  5. virginia - 179 pts. (6-1, +117)
  6. northwestern - 177 pts. (5-2, +53)
  7. iowa - 172 pts. (5-2, +107)
  8. houston - 171 pts. (6-1, +73)
  9. missouri - 170 pts. (6-1, +156)
  10. usc - 169 pts. (5-2, +135)
  11. georgia - 168 pts. (6-1, +99)
  12. miami - 168 pts. (5-1, +104)
  13. indiana - 166 pts. (7-0, +226)
  14. ohio state - 165 pts. (7-0, +214)
  15. tcu - 165 pts. (5-2, +70)
  16. georgia tech - 162 pts. (7-0, +103)
  17. mississippi state - 160 pts. (4-3, +81)
  18. pittsburgh - 159 pts. (5-2, +127)
  19. ole miss - 158 pts. (6-1, +104)
  20. washington - 158 pts. (5-2, +100)
  21. ucla - 158 pts. (3-4, -35)
  22. tennessee - 150 pts. (5-2, +96)
  23. texas tech - 147 pts. (6-1, +208)
  24. oregon - 142 pts. (6-1, +208)
  25. utah - 141 pts. (5-2, +151)

the bottom 25

  1. army - -95 pts. (3-4, -1)
  2. liberty - -83 pts. (3-4, -17)
  3. umass - -63 pts. (0-7, -170)
  4. south alabama - -58 pts. (1-6, -41)
  5. middle tennessee - -55 pts. (1-5, -75)
  6. toledo - -55 pts. (4-3, +147)
  7. texas state - -53 pts. (3-4, +34)
  8. louisiana - -40 pts. (2-5, -42)
  9. northern illinois - -27 pts. (1-6, -84)
  10. penn state - -25 pts. (3-4, +102)
  11. akron - -21 pts. (2-5, -86)
  12. eastern michigan - -20 pts. (2-6, -72)
  13. sam houston - -16 pts. (0-7, -153)
  14. boston college - -8 pts. (1-6, -47)
  15. virginia tech - -8 pts. (2-5, -44)
  16. appalachian state - -5 pts. (4-3, -2)
  17. rice - -4 pts. (3-4, -54)
  18. san jose state - 4 pts. (2-5, -36)
  19. colorado state - 7 pts. (2-5, -36)
  20. arizona state - 8 pts. (5-2, +12)
  21. florida atlantic - 10 pts. (3-4, -38)
  22. oregon state - 14 pts. (1-7, -93)
  23. clemson - 16 pts. (3-4, +36)
  24. air force - 24 pts. (2-5, -7)
  25. buffalo - 24 pts. (4-3, +30)

adjustments

another great southern upset: lsu @ vanderbilt

vanderbilt continues to prove that they can hold their own in the sec this week by beating lsu. this has solicited a rare double action by the committee, in which vanderbilt is promoted to a tier and lsu is demoted to a tier. vanderbilt has raced into the top of the list and will continue to attempt to win conference games for the rest of the season. we will see how it turns out.

vanderbilt +16, lsu -16

fine i'll talk about this one: texas state @ marshall

normally i would just ignore this one and put the points right into the board, but texas state was just racing to the bottom too fast. this loss to marshall snuck into my attention, so i referred it to the committee and texas state has been promoted to d tier as a result. that's about it really, aside from the fact that marshall crossed the scorigami threshold, but that's for later.

marshall +21, texas state -16

two guys i wanted to kick out of the top 25: old dominion @ james madison and mississippi state @ florida

these teams are what i feared in creating this system. they made hard schedules, got a lucky win, and were tiered low enough that losses hardly meant anything. but no more. i have personally adjusted their point totals myself and have reasons for doing so. old dominion was down one point going into the half and let in 35 unanswered points in the second half, so they will lose that many in the table. mississippi state should have gotten billy napier fired, but let florida score 23 points on them, so they lose that many in the league table. you may notice this did not result in mississippi state falling out the bottom of the list, and that's acceptable because florida is pretty good. oh and florida gets a moral loss as well. there. top 25 definitely fixed, no issues. everyone in deserves to be in.

james madison +9, old dominion -39 florida +4, mississippi state -31

update: billy napier got fired. i considered giving mississippi state some points for that, but it's late and i have other things to do.

return of the cardinal: florida state @ stanford

to finish off the week we got a late night matchup between florida state and stanford which florida state probably should have won. they did not, and the committee was impressed enough by this win that stanford has been promoted to c tier. you may notice that they started there. but the loss to hawaii doesn't really sound that bad for them anymore, so that and the florida state win put them back where they were.

stanford +32, florida state -32

further notes

why 25 is a special number: delaware @ jacksonville state

sometimes i feel like giving the scorigami bonus for scoring 25 points results in too many awards. then i saw how delaware got there this week, namely only through touchdowns. they scored four, went for two three times and missed all of them, and kicked one extra point. how very interesting. so 25 remains on the special board.

football is neither horseshoes nor hand grenades: memphis @ uab

memphis looked poised to have a chance at representing the lesser conferences in the playoff until this week. then they lost. the scoreboard does not care that it was on a last second goal stand, memphis loses and that means their playoff hopes are essentially dead. sucks to suck. score more touchdowns.

penn state continues the choke against... iowa?: penn state @ iowa

yes, you read that correctly. penn state has lost four straight. now they are in the bottom 25, under zero league points, the whole thing. they have five games against tough teams to finish off, and they can only afford two more losses before bowl elimination. they can only hope it doesn't get worse.

and then there were two: lafayette @ oregon state

oregon state finally got a win. sam houston and umass are the only remaining winless teams. that's about it.

bowl eligibility: qualification

more teams showed up this week, and here they are. congratulations to:

bowl eligibility: elimination

and the undefeated teams have joined the rebuild list. mind the difference between cincinnati and sam houston, as it must be apparent they are separated. better luck next year to:

scorigami recognition

the list has grown again, and teams continue to find it difficult to surpass fifty points in a game. congratulations to:

the belt

who could forget? louisville takes the belt and five points for the first time in program history after a historic collapse by miami on friday that included four interceptions. the likelihood that the belt will make the playoff has gone down, as it will have to go through either the atlantic coast champion or notre dame. louisville begins their defense next week against boston college. stay tuned.

finishing up

we will see tuesday through saturday action again this week as the homecomings begin. enjoy.