Another week brings another set of wild chaos that throws everything into flux yet again. If it’s not clear at this point, over halfway through the season, 2025 is one of the hardest years to predict in recent memory. Anybody can win at any point, and the flip side is that anyone can lose at any point.
Last week had the flourish you’d expect from this season, with upsets, rivalry wins and pure, fun, nonsensical football. Now, let’s take stock of what the state of the nation looks like with the SID Sports Top 25.
2025 Week 9 Top 25
Indiana (7-0) LW: 1
For the second year in a row, Indiana backed the Brinks truck up to keep head coach Curt Cignetti in Bloomington, likely until his retirement. And, just like last year, Cignetti rewarded Hoosier faithful with a win. Fernando Mendoza continues to impress and is my Heisman 1A. Indiana is a top contender.Ohio State (7-0) LW: 2
Another week, another ho-hum Buckeye win. Wake me up when Ohio State faces an actually challenging foe, because striking another nail into Luke Fickell’s coffin isn’t exciting to me, even if it was another 34-0 masterclass.Texas A&M (7-0) LW: 4
They survived a scare from Bobby Petrino’s Arkansas, but Mike Elko’s Aggies are playing great ball. You can’t fault the offense, as they’ve come out on top of every shootout they’ve been in. The defense has to tighten up, and I still have belief in Elko to right that ship.Alabama (6-1) LW: 6
The Tide are really a changed team. They’ve ran through some solid SEC programs. The offense is balanced and thriving behind Hesiman 1B Ty Simpson. The defense is playing lights out. Look away, elite Alabama is back.Georgia (6-1) LW: 4
Every week, I have concerns about Georgia. Every week, they fix what went wrong last week. This time, it was playing true complimentary football in the second half for a come from behind win over a good Ole Miss team. 17 unanswered in the fourth quarter is what contenders do, especially against a top five foe. I’m all the way in on Georgia now.Oregon (6-1) LW: 8
A 56-10 win over a solid Rutgers team is a great way to bounce back from a tight loss to Indiana at home. Oregon was back to their dominant ways after Indiana was clearly the better team on the Autzen turf last week. I still think, if Dante Moore plays his best, Oregon can top anyone in the nation.Georgia Tech (7-0) LW: 10
Yeah, that’s firmly Top 10 Georgia Tech, to you. The Yellow Jackets were going to get challenged by Duke, and then proceeded to barely break a sweat, trouncing Duke in convincing fashion. Georgia Tech is now in the ACC driver’s seat, just as we all thought going into the season.Ole Miss (6-1) LW: 5
It was the same issues we’ve seen throughout the Lane Kiffin tenure in Oxford that sunk the Rebels’ road upset: shaky defense that couldn’t hang down the stretch and an offensive disappearing act. Kiffin simply got outcoached by Kirby Smart in the second half after posting long scoring drives at will in the first. They clearly have the talent to make serious noise, but you have to figure out what went wrong and get this team ready to go down the stretch.Notre Dame (5-2) LW: 19
Here’s the controversial pick. Like we talked about last week, Notre Dame is only four points against top-15 foes away from being unbeaten and in contention for the number one ranking. Their win over USC was what we were waiting for from the Chris Ash-led defense, who was able to slow down the nation’s best and most efficient offensive attack from the Trojans. Oh, and Mike Denbrock remembered Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price existed when C.J. Carr started to struggle.
BYU (7-0) LW: 21
I was out on BYU for way too long. The Holy War was all Cougars for most of the game, as their defense routinely stood up the Utah offense and Bear Bachmeier looked like the nation’s best freshman quarterback. Bryce Underwood who? The Cougars have a dude wearing number 47 under center that has made the loss of Jake Retzlaff, which seemed damning in the preseason, into an afterthought. A top 10 defense helps matters, too.Vanderbilt (6-1) LW: UR
I have no idea what I was thinking leaving Vanderbilt off of last week’s rankings, but yes, the Commodores currently hold what looks like a playoff spot. They took down LSU on the road and it wasn’t just Diego Pavia making plays. It was a whole team effort. Clark Lea’s built a seriously solid program in Nashville and has turned around one of the nation’s perennial cellar dwellers into a playoff threat. Don’t let them sneak up on you.Miami (6-1) LW: 2
If you read last week’s Games of the Slot, you knew that I was having issues with Miami heading into their Friday matchup with Louisville. And that it had trap game upset written all over it. Well, won’t you look at that? Another second-half of the season loss to a team that they shouldn’t has sullied the good name of a Mario Cristobal-coached Miami team. If only this doesn’t happen every year. Except, this time it was the offense disappearing, not the defense. Concerning stuff.USC (6-2) LW: 9
I’m not writing off the Trojans. They have one of the nation’s best offenses. The defense has played well, up until Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price saw them. Still, stringing together some solid wins could keep the Trojans in the playoff contention. At least, in my eyes.Oklahoma (6-1) LW: 15
Is Oklahoma that good? Is South Carolina that bad? Who knows! Either way, it was good to see the Sooner offense rolling without an elite performance from John Mateer, who is still very much recovering from his hand surgery that took place just three weeks ago. Having an elite defense doesn’t hurt either.Missouri (6-1) LW: 18
Once again, if you can escape the Jordan-Hare voodoo, you get a quality win in my eyes, no matter how good or bad Auburn is. Missouri really had to get creative as Ahmad Hardy was ineffective and Beau Pribula got bit by the turnover bug. But they pulled it out in overtime to keep the ride going. Missouri hasn’t been a one-trick pony this season - this win just shows that further.
South Florida (6-1) LW: 16
Another week, another blowout. This time it comes over the overmatched Florida Atlantic. Just like with Ohio State, wake me up when the Bulls run into a true test. These American non-contenders just aren’t doing it for me. We know the offense is better than anyone in the conference, outside of the teams we’ll talk about later.Texas (5-2) LW: 13
I’m starting to think this is where Texas caps out this year. The offense just isn’t good enough to take advantage of what the defense is giving them. Going to overtime against Kentucky - Kentucky! - is a reason to drop in the polls, regardless of where you were ranked before or any expectations.
Arizona State (5-2) LW: Next Five Out
Just like that, chaos returns to the Big 12 as the football gods had intended. The Arizona State offense, now with Sam Leavitt healthy, looked like the team that raced to the playoff last year, running straight through a solid Texas Tech unit. Granted, the Red Raiders were without starting quarterback Behren Morton, but the Sun Devils reasserted themselves as contenders, like we all expected.Texas Tech (6-1) LW: 7
Speaking of the Red Raiders, this may be a little harsh, but we’ll see in the coming weeks. Like I said, they were without their starting quarterback. But my read is that there isn’t much separation between Morton and his backup, Will Hammond, so it shouldn’t impact the team much. The offense definitely took a step back with Hammond under center, so I was wrong on that. But the defense had no answer for Jordyn Tyson all day. That’s something to watch down the stretch.Cincinnati (5-1) LW: 24
You still can’t count out the Bearcats in the Big 12. Like a good team, they beat the brakes off of Oklahoma State. The stars flexed their muscles. Brendan Sorsby continues to be one of the nation’s most underrated passers. Watch this space.
Louisville (5-1) LW: UR
You better be giving credit to the Cardinals instead of heaping blame on Miami. I’m watching you. Chris Bell finally had the breakout game that many were waiting for. Isaac Brown was unstoppable. The defense played a great game, forcing Carson Beck into one of his worst games in his long career. Let’s place the Cardinals firmly into ACC contender status in a rapidly heating up race.Virginia (6-1) LW: 22
Washington State has to be better than we’ve given them credit for, since they keep forcing good teams into close games. This week, it was Virginia that nearly got bit by the Wazzu bug. But the defense stepped up for a CW classic tiebreaking safety to make a subpar Chandler Morris performance get ignored.LSU (5-2) LW: 11
Something is fundamentally wrong with the LSU offense. They can’t run the ball. They can’t string together solid completions. Garrett Nussmeier looks broken. The defense for once wasn’t up to the task and Vanderbilt made the Tigers pay. Difficult conversations will come to Baton Rouge if this can’t get fixed.Michigan (5-2) LW: Next Five Out
That was a pretty telling defensive performance, shutting down a strong and varied Washington attack. The Wolverine offense played well as well, with Bryce Underwood looking like an actual starting quarterback instead of whatever he was in other weeks. They’re not ready to contend, but you can see the plan going forward.Tulane (6-1) LW: 23
I said that Army could pull the Green Wave into an uncomfortable, ugly game and that’s what happened. Tulane was still able to pull out the win. Jake Retzlaff’s passing is looking better and better each week, but the defense struggled with Army’s triple option look. Luckily, they won’t see much more of that outside Navy.
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: Tennessee, Illinois, Navy, Utah, James Madison
I’m really confused on Tennessee this year, but the Vols are very clearly a live by the sword, die by the sword, risk-taking program. Chaos potential is through the roof. Illinois was off, so we’ll leave you in the same place as last week: they’re good, not great and have the potential to get better as they cut down turnovers. Navy was also idle last week, so spend your week watching Blake Horvath highlights. Utah came up short in the Holy War, but the Utes had some strong defensive stands until BYU really took over. There’s things to fix and still a path to Big 12 contention. Finally, James Madison is really good now that Alonza Barnett has claimed the QB1 position. I think.
Have any questions, ideas, article pitches, or information? With the new Substack features, you can directly message me! Hit the button below to send me a message, or reach out via email to griffin@sid-sports.com, or find us on your favorite social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, Substack Notes and Bluesky.