UK & Ireland College Football Media Top 25 Rankings: Week 3

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 3

  1. OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (=)
  2. LSU TIGERS (=)
  3. MIAMI HURRICANES (↑2)
  4. OREGON DUCKS (↓1)
  5. GEORGIA BULLDOGS (↑1)
  6. PENN STATE (↓2)
  7. FLORIDA STATE (↑1)
  8. OKLAHOMA SOONERS (↑2)
  9. TEXAS A&M AGGIES (↑10)
  10. IOWA STATE CYCLONES (↑3)
  11. ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI (=)
  12. TEXAS LONGHORNS (↓5)
  13. OLE MISS REBELS (↑2)
  14. GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS (NE)
  15. TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS (↓1)
  16. UTAH UTES (↑2)
  17. ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (↑5)
  18. TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (↑3)
  19. VANDERBILT COMMODORES (NE)
  20. INDIANA HOOSIERS (=)
  21. AUBURN TIGERS (↑3)
  22. MISSOURI TIGERS (↑1)
  23. MICHIGAN WOLVERINES (↑2)
  24. USC TROJANS (NE)
  25. TULANE GREEN WAVE (NE)

NE = New Entry. Teams falling out: South Florida, Clemson, Notre Dame, South Carolina

TAKEAWAYS

Notre Dame a Litmus Test for Voting Style

College Football is awesome. But it can also be cruel. Now, sympathy is in short supply for Notre Dame fans, who routinely have a team battling it out for a playoff spot and are accustomed to success. And yet, it’s hard not to empathise with the Fighting Irish when they’re 0-2 and have a points differential of -4 against two ranked programs. In Week 1, it was a 47 yard field goal with just over a minute remaining in the game that gave Miami the win. This weekend it was even more heartbreaking; a dramatic fourth down touchdown pass from Marcel Reed to Nate Boerkircher with just 13 seconds left on the clock that allowed The Aggies to avenge last year’s defeat in College Station. And this after a botched snap on an extra point from their own touchdown scored just a couple of minutes earlier. That proved the difference, and the Irish have a monumental task getting back into playoff contention.

More interesting in all of this though, is how the UK & Ireland voters view Notre Dame. Yes, two defeats speak for themselves. But is this a team that is still one of the best 25 programs in College Football this year? There’s a case to be made that ND’s two losses to ranked teams by such small margins is probably more impressive than what undefeated state neighbours Indiana have put on paper; squeaking by Old Dominion and handling Kennesaw State and Indiana State. None of those tests come close to what Notre Dame have faced, but The Hoosiers find themselves sitting pretty at #19 in the AP poll.

And that’s because, ultimately, football is about winning and losing. And no doubt Indiana will take a tumble if and when they lose tougher games to come. In the end, our panel agreed – Notre Dame drops out of the Top 25. But they did receive some votes. Ranking is an art ladies and gentleman – and it ain’t easy.

Firing Season Is Upon Us

In both cases, it was coming.

Deshaun Foster may have presided over the worst P4 program in the nation this year before he was unceremoniously fired on Sunday. The UCLA Bruins have a rich and storied sporting history – albeit mostly on the basketball court. But even by slightly tempered standards their move to the Big Ten and the football they have played since they got there has been nothing short of a dumpster fire. 2024 was bad, but this year has been embarrassing; a drubbing by Utah in Week 1 could be put down to a feisty Utes team looking for a playoff spot. But then losing to UNLV by a touchdown compounded the misery, before being trounced by New Mexico on Saturday – a program that hasn’t beaten a Power conference team in 17 years (22 games ago). Opening the chequebook to bring in Nico Iamaleava has raised expectations but honestly reduced the ability at quarterback. And Foster has paid the price.

Over in Blacksburg, Virginia, the intimidating noise of Enter Sandman blasting out as the Hokies ran onto the field has slowly reduced in effectiveness under the tenure of Brent Pry. One of the nicest coaches in football he may be, but a 16-24 record at Virginia Tech was underwhelming to say the least. And whilst losses to SEC duo Vandy and South Carolina can be forgiven, getting humped by in-state minnows Old Dominion cannot. Frank Beamer set high standards with this program, and nobody has been able to maintain them. Pry was relieved of his duties on Sunday, and the Hokies are preparing for another reset.

This is just the beginning folks. Buyouts are expensive nowadays, but so is losing; keep an eye on Billy Napier at Florida, Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State, and Trent Dilfer at UAB – their seats are all getting a little too warm.

Week 3 Talking Points

The SEC has joined the 21st Century: The SEC has always been the best conference, but traditionally prided itself on smashmouth, ‘Southern’ snot-nosed football that endured even as the game adapted and embraced a more aerial approach to offense. Well, they’re fully on board now; shootouts have become a staple diet of Saturdays in the SEC, and Week 3 backed it up. We had Taylan Green and backup QB Trinidad Chambliss going toe to toe as Ole Miss outlasted Arkansas, Diego Pavia lighting up South Carolina as Vandy march on, and a crazy end to end battle in Knoxville that saw Gunner Stockton just about lead Georgia past Joey Aguilar’s Tennessee. This isn’t what they’re used to down there, but I think they kinda like it.

Is the Big 12 better than the Big Ten? It’s hard to make such a case at the top of these two respective conferences, with Oregon, Penn State and Ohio State likely superior to anything the Big 12 has to offer. But get beyond that trio of talent and I’m not sure the Big Ten has the depth that the Big 12 does. The numbers so far bear that out, with the Big 12 enjoying a REAL winning percentage of 42.9% against non-conference Power 4 opponents compared to the Big Ten’s 38.4%. This is a stat that includes shock losses to Group of Five teams, so UCLA aren’t doing their conference any favours. And there’s plenty more ball to be played, with USC and Nebraska looking sneaky good. All I’m saying is, the Big 12 is competitive. Watch this space.

Serious Group of Five chat: Okay; South Florida aside, it’s been difficult for the Group of Five to make an impact on the rankings this year. A lot of that is to do with NIL and the portal spreading out talent and making more P4 programs competitive. But eventually, some of them will start losing to each other. And when that happens, there’s a host of non-autonomous teams looking extremely strong. The Bulls notwithstanding, Tulane are close to breaking into the Top 25 with two wins over P4 schools so far. Then Memphis, Navy, UNLV and North Texas all sit undefeated to date. Keep an eye on this quintet as the weeks go on.

Offensive Player of the Week: Trinidad Chambliss, QB, Ole Miss

Defensive Player of the Week: Mansoor Delane, CB, LSU

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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