2025 SID Sports Bowl Season Top 25

Ranking the top programs heading into the postseason

Dec 08, 2025

Conference Championship week was a bit of a mixed bag, wasn’t it? On one hand, the games I was most excited and hyped for - Tulane-North Texas, BYU-Texas Tech, Alabama-Georgia - all ended up as non-competitive blowouts.

But we still got some quality football. Ohio State against Indiana was the clash of the titans we all hoped it would be. And while there weren’t many offensive fireworks, the defenses showed why they’re the two best in the nation during the best defensive battle this season by far.

Then, the ACC Championship enjoyed its patent-pending chaos with Duke and Virginia trading big plays and big mistakes to send the game to overtime, where Chandler Morris threw a backbreaking interception on a trick play to put the Hoos playoff hopes on the kibosh.

All that to say, it was still a fun weekend.

Now, as we head into the playoff and bowl season, it’s time for a final Top 25. In the interest of time, I’m only going to comment on teams that moved in the rankings due to their conference championship results.

2025 Bowl Season Top 25

Indiana (13-0) LW: 2
All Hail 1ndiana and Coach Cignetti! Let me rattle off some dates for you here to understand how massive this is. Indiana last won the Big Ten conference in 1967 - Hot Wheels were invented in 1968. Beat that! Indiana last beat the Buckeyes head-to-head in 1988, with Saturday night’s win snapping a 32-game losing streak. The Hoosiers are heading to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1967. This is historical levels of turnaround in Bloomington.
Georgia (12-1) LW: 3
A blowout of Alabama where the Dawg defense held the Tide to -3 rushing yards and just seven points scored in garbage time has Georgia up to the best one-loss team in the nation. Avenging your only loss in dominant fashion has a way of doing that. I still have concerns with the Georgia offense, but they played enough bully ball over Alabama to alleviate those concerns some.
Ohio State (12-1) LW: 1
You can’t win them all, I suppose. The Buckeye defense continued to play well, forcing Heisman hopeful Fernando Mendoza into a few mistakes, but it wasn’t enough. I talked in the preview about if Ohio State’s offense had enough gas to beat the truly elite teams. They didn’t this weekend, but this isn’t a Buckeye team that makes the same mistakes twice.
Texas Tech (12-1) LW: 5
Complete and utter domination is the only way I can describe what Texas Tech did to BYU. They somehow made their previous blowout of the Cougars look like child’s play. Granted, BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier was dealing with a very rough-looking ankle injury that left him to gut the game out on one foot, but still. These Red Raiders have the makeup of a title contender.
Oregon (11-1) LW: 5
Texas A&M (11-1) LW: 6
Ole Miss (11-1) LW: 7
Miami (10-2) LW: 10
Notre Dame (10-2) LW: 11
BYU (11-2) LW: 8
To me, considering the two losing top-10 conference championship teams was more of a head-to-head battle. Who played the best? Which decimation was more the team’s own fault or that they couldn’t play? And, to me, it all came down to Bear Bachmeier’s injury. The Cougars were right in the game until Bachmeier was hurt and even hung around a while after that. Alabama doesn’t have that same excuse for why they had no answer for anything Kirby Smart did. So, the Cougars stay a top-10 team.
Alabama (10-3) LW: 9
What happened in Atlanta? I get Jam Miller being out hurt the Tide offense, but why couldn’t they do anything? Alabama mustered just 207 yards of total offense against Georgia in a nightmare SEC Championship appearance. Pairing that with losses to Oklahoma - who I don’t like - and a non-bowl eligible Florida State kicks the Tide out of the top 10. Don’t like it? Don’t lose those games.
Texas (9-3) LW: 12
Oklahoma (10-2) LW: 13
Vanderbilt (10-2) LW: 14
Utah (10-2) LW: 15
Tulane (11-2) LW: 20
Wow, what a performance by the Green Wave. We always knew a gutsy Jake Retzlaff game was on deck, but Jon Sumrall had his defense cooking on Friday night. North Texas entered the game with the nation’s best offense. Tulane held them to 415 yards, which is an accomplishment against an offense averaging 504.3 yards per contest. The Mean Green were held to just seven points in the first half as the Green Wave punched North Texas in the mouth and proceeded to stuff them in a locker. They’re locked in and ready for their playoff moment.
James Madison (12-1) LW: 18
It took way longer than it needed, but the Dukes took care of business against Troy. Still, I expected more from James Madison on all sides of the ball. It wasn’t a bad game by any stretch, but letting a poor Troy team hang around doesn’t bode well for their upcoming trip to Autzen Stadium.
USC (9-3) LW: 17
Georgia Tech (9-3) LW: 21
Michigan (9-3) LW: 22
Arizona (9-3) LW: 23
North Texas (11-2) LW: 19
Losing Caleb Hawkins to an injury early in the game hurt, as did trying to pass in a gross-looking rainstorm. But still, the Mean Green offense disappearing act was frustrating to say the least. The offensive line couldn’t give Drew Mestemaker any time to work in the pocket, and without the rushing threat of Hawkins, the Green Wave could just pin their ears back and attack the star quarterback. Not the way Eric Morris wanted to go out in Denton.
Navy (9-2) LW: 24
Iowa (8-4) LW: 25
Houston (9-3) LW: Next Five Out

The coaching carousel stops for nobody. To stay up to date on each job opening, take a look at our Coaching Shortlists!

Next Five Out: UConn, Missouri, Duke, Virginia, South Florida

Duke’s upset of Virginia lands both teams way down here. I was already down on the Cavaliers in recent weeks, but hoped they could keep the Cinderella story going. Instead, Manny Diaz had possibly the boldest gameplan I’ve seen filled with fake punts, fourth down conversions and stellar play from his quarterback, Darian Mensah. Credit to Diaz and he clearly had his boys ready to avenge their earlier blowout at the hands of Virginia. Tony Elliott’s Hoos can’t say the same.

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