UK & Ireland College Football Media Top 25 Rankings: Week 1

By Simon Carroll

College Football, more than any other code of the sport, is a game of opinions. Even in the modern era that includes a 12 team playoff, there is still no mathematical way of definitively ranking every football program in the nation. Instead, a select few privileged figures hide behind closed doors, measuring performance with flawed insight and dubious metrics – and ultimately hold the power to determine who has a shot of glory when all is said and done.

Well, anyone can do that. And if the AP or CFP committe can’t get it right, then perhaps we can!

Since the start of the 2022 season, some of the UK & Ireland’s most talented writers, content creators and students of the college game have combined to deliver their own weekly set of rankings. The UK & Ireland CFB Media Top 25 is announced every Monday evening, but with Week 1 so spread out we’re a couple of days late to begin the year. Buckle up – there’s a surprise or two!

2025 - Week 1

  1. OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (↑2)
  2. LSU TIGERS (↑10)
  3. PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (↓1)
  4. MIAMI HURRICANES (↑5)
  5. GEORGIA BULLDOGS (=)
  6. OREGON DUCKS (=)
  7. TEXAS LONGHORNS (↓6)
  8. CLEMSON TIGERS(↓4)
  9. SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS (↑2)
  10. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (↓3)
  11. FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES (NE)
  12. IOWA STATE CYCLONES (↑10)
  13. ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI (=)
  14. MICHIGAN WOLVERINES (↑4)
  15. ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS (↓3)
  16. TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS (↑3)
  17. OKLAHOMA SOONERS (↑8)
  18. TEXAS A&M AGGIES (↑5)
  19. OLE MISS REBELS (↓4)
  20. SMU MUSTANGS (↓3)
  21. FLORIDA GATORS (=)
  22. INDIANA HOOSIERS (↓6)
  23. UTAH UTES (NE)
  24. ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (↓16)
  25. TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (↓1)

NE = New Entry. Teams falling out: Kansas State, Boise State

TAKEAWAYS

A Week 1 For The Ages

Wow.

What a start to the 2025 College Football season! After a high-octane teaser in Dublin the Saturday before, Week 1 delivered five consecutive days of incredible football, pockmarked with big blue-blood clashes. Expect this to be the new norm heading forward folks – with the playoff committee stressing strong non-conference wins as a way of determining the pecking order of the four heavyweight affiliations, it’s likely this week will continue to get bigger and better.

As expected, the UK & Ireland committee showed respect to teams brave enough to give themselves a challenge. The three biggest winners of the weekend – Ohio State (vs Texas), LSU (@ Clemson) and Miami (vs Notre Dame) are all in the top four, a worthy spot for such victories. But also interesting is the reluctance to punish the losers of those tilts, with the Longhorns, Tigers & Fighting Irish all still making the top 10 despite beginning the season 0-1. This should strengthen the notion that a close, high-quality loss is for all intents and purposes more impressive than blowing out a D3 school nobody has ever heard of.

One caveat? When there’s less confidence in the bouncebackability of the vanquished team. Florida State did not enjoy the same boost despite the surprise victory over Alabama – the Tide falling all the way to #24 tells us that the jury is out on Kalen DeBoer’s program, and the Seminoles suffer as a result. No doubt the opinion of all these Week 1 wins and losses will change as we learn more through the coming months.

The Chasing Pack - Early Disagreement

There was less unity amongst the panel outside the Top 10. This was evident in the sheer number of teams that received votes this past week – another TWENTY SEVEN SCHOOLS on top of the 25 that made the rankings got at least one vote from the committee. It’s significantly more than last year, and somewhat understandable – the spread of talent in the portal/NIL era means that more programs have the ability to be competitive, which in turn leads to less certainty when it comes to knowing who is better than who based on one game of football.

This variation had a devastating effect on Group of Five representation. The panel’s inability to find consensus on the best Power 4 schools towards the bottom of the rankings meant that, essentially, they all got in. That left the likes of South Florida on the outside looking in, despite setting the tone for a great week of football with their comprehensive win over Boise State back on Thursday. Tulane, winners over Big Ten opposition, also failed to make the cut. I presume this problem will rectify itself as the season progresses.

One bad habit will always endure, and that’s big names getting the benefit of the doubt. Schools such as Michigan, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Florida all found their way into the Top 25 despite wins against inferior opponents. Admittedly some were drubbings, but Auburn, TCU and Georgia Tech can all feel aggrieved to not make the cut considering impressive victories over more tougher Power-4 entities.

Other programs receiving votes were: Auburn, TCU, Arizona, South Florida, Georgia Tech, Tulane, Missouri, Rice, Kansas State, Central Michigan, Kansas, Nebraska, BYU, Cal, Navy, Washington, Wisconsin, Louisville, NC State, Fresno State, Iowa, USC, Hawaii, Rutgers, Boise State, Pitt and UCF.

Week 1 Talking Points

Belichick bombs in CFB debut – turns out six Super Bowl rings don’t count for much on Saturdays. If anyone was unsure, the project at Chapel Hill is a big one, and even if Bill Belichick does get given time at North Carolina, there’s no guarantee he’ll be a success there. The TCU social media team were sure feeling their oats about the victory following a nauseous offseason of Tar Heel hype.

Bryan Kelly breaks the Week 1 Hoodoo! And in fine fashion too, with probably the best win of the week after leaving Death Valley and going to, er, Death Valley. The Tigers (LSU version) were excellent against the Tigers (Clemson), and perhaps this is the platform for Kelly to finally win a Natty.

Quarterbacks take center stage – some incredible QB performances across the country this weekend, with Thomas Castellanos, Garrett Nussmeier, Rocco Becht, Joey Aguilar and Devon Dampier all looking excellent. No doubt I’ve missed some others off the list, but a special mention to Cal freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is in order after throwing for 230 yards and 3 TD’s in his debut.

Offensive Player of the Week: Thomas Castellanos, QB, Florida State

Defensive Player of the Week: Rueben Bain Jr, DE, Miami

Mock Draft

SIMON CARROLL

Lead Writer, Head Of Content

PREVIOUSLY THE FOUNDER OF NFL DRAFT UK, SIMON HAS BEEN COVERING COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THE NFL DRAFT SINCE 2009. BASED IN MANCHESTER, SIMON IS ALSO CO-CREATOR & WEEKLY GUEST OF THE COLLAPSING POCKET PODCAST AND COVERS THE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS FOR SB NATION.

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