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Jackson's bold predictions for Week 6 of the 2025 college football season, including picks for Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia, Maryland, and more.
Loaded college football slates don't always live up to the hype, but that didn't apply to last week. We saw close matchups between Penn State and Oregon, LSU and Ole Miss, Alabama and Georgia, and Texas A&M and Auburn. The Week 5 slate might have shaped how the College Football Playoff will look in a few months.
While the Week 6 slate isn't as exciting on paper, anything can happen on any given Saturday, and in this article, we'll try to predict some potential headlines after the Week 6 action. College football will never fail to deliver surprise outcomes and performances. The "slept on" slates often end up being full of shockers and upsets.
Below, read about the bold calls for Alabama, Florida, Texas, Notre Dame, Georgia, Maryland, and Cal.
Alabama Beats Vanderbilt by 17+
Imagine someone telling you just a few years ago that Alabama beating Vanderbilt by at least 17 was a bold prediction. We're in a wild time, but the books only favor the Crimson Tide by around 10.5 points. Last season, Vanderbilt shocked No. 1 Alabama in Nashville, which signaled what was to come for the Tide. Vanderbilt had a solid team last season, but it was still an unacceptable loss for Kalen DeBoer and company.
The loss to Florida State in Week 1 has seemingly fueled Alabama to get it right, and all of DeBoer's five losses at Alabama have come away from Tuscaloosa. The days of overlooking the Commodores are over, and DeBoer and his team should be highly motivated to make up for last year's shocking loss.
Diego Pavia can never be counted out, but the atmosphere in Bryant-Denny Stadium should be electric, and Ty Simpson and Ryan Grubb appear to have the passing attack cooking. Vanderbilt won't make things easy, but I expect Alabama to pull away in the second half en route to a three-score victory.
SEC Offensive Player of the Week! 💪@ty_simpson06
🔗: https://t.co/bbuZmPU1FL pic.twitter.com/uLXQFmpchr
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) September 29, 2025
The main risk here is Alabama having a letdown performance after a huge victory over Georgia in Athens, but we'll trust DeBoer here.
Florida and Texas Combine for Fewer Than 31 Points
Saying this game is going to be low scoring is far from a bold take. But 31 points is 10.5 below the point total set by DraftKings. Although Texas hasn't necessarily played against a murder's Row of offenses, the Longhorns have surrendered just 7.8 points per game in four contests. Florida has surrendered just 16 points per game, despite facing two offenses that average over 31 points per game (Miami, South Florida).
The two programs have faced a combined four Power 4 teams and have averaged just 10 points per game in those contests. These are two legitimate great defenses and abysmal offenses based on what we've seen thus far. DJ Lagway and Arch Manning were No. 1 and No. 2 on several power rankings of SEC quarterbacks, yet the youngsters have been arguably the worst in the conference against Power 4 teams.
Both teams are coming off a bye, but that doesn't mean the offenses will come out hot. The two elite stop units have had extra time to prepare for the struggling offenses, so where do the 31 points come from? Defensive or special teams touchdowns could make the difference, but if you love offense, you can skip watching this one.
Notre Dame Hangs 55+ Points on Boise State
Notre Dame had one of its best offensive showings in program history last week on the road at Arkansas, and we expect the dominance to continue on Saturday in South Bend. CJ Carr isn't what Riley Leonard was as a runner, but the freshman might be the best passer the Irish have had since Brady Quinn. Is it too early to say that? Maybe, but we're rolling with it.
The Irish have scored at least 40 points in three straight contests, and putting up 24 points on the road against Miami while losing the turnover battle and having a quarterback making his first career start is beginning to look a lot more impressive. The Miami defense looks elite, so that might have been one of the best performances an offense will have against the Canes.
Jeremiyah Love does it again ☘️#GoIrish☘️ | @JeremiyahLove pic.twitter.com/4QX9M1BA9H
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) September 20, 2025
Boise State has allowed just 24.8 points per game this year, but the Broncos have not seen a skill group that comes close to Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, Malachi Fields, Jordan Faison, Eli Raridon, and Jaden Greathouse. Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock called plays for the 2023 LSU offense that led the nation in total offense, and he looks to be cooking up something special in 2025.
Georgia Holds Kentucky Without a Touchdown
Again, this would not be much of a bold take a few years ago, but the quality of the Georgia defense has declined rapidly. Kirby Smart was never going to be able to sustain the defensive dominance that he had with future NFL first-round draft picks all over the field, but the Bulldogs aren't even close to one of the better defenses in the conference.
That said, the matchup against Kentucky is a get-right spot, and Georgia should respond in dominant fashion after losing its first home game since 2019 last weekend. In the last six matchups between these two programs, Kentucky has failed to score more than 13 points and has averaged 7.8 points per game.
These two programs won't be facing off every year as the new SEC scheduling format begins in 2026, so Georgia will send them off with a dominant defensive showing. This will get ugly.
Maryland Upsets Washington
I'm not sure how many people had high expectations for Maryland this year, but they have taken care of business so far and are 4-0 entering this Big Ten matchup. Washington fought hard against Ohio State last week but ultimately saw its 22-game winning streak in Husky Stadium come to an end.
Now, the Huskies must get over the loss to the No. 1 team in the country and make the 2,700-mile trip to College Park. Traveling outrageous distances is now just a part of being in the Big Ten, and the only other time Washington had to travel this far as a member of the conference was against Rutgers last season. Washington lost that game 18-21. It's a tough ask for Washington, and we're taking the Terps as a six-point underdog.
You'll have a difficult time finding a more exciting matchup between young quarterbacks than Malik Washington vs. Demond Williams, so we could be getting a sneak peek at future Heisman contenders on Saturday.
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele Throws for 350+ Yards Against Duke
If you can't pronounce Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele yet, you'd better learn, because he's another freshman quarterback with unreal upside. The 19-year-old has flashed his elite talent through the first five games of his career, completing 110 of his 178 passing attempts for 1,242 yards, eight touchdowns, and four picks.
He has immediately elevated the Cal program, and he's set to draw a juicy matchup with Duke. The Blue Devils have surrendered 254.2 passing yards per game this season, which ranks 9th-worst among Power 4 programs. On the other side of the ball, quarterback Darian Mensah and company should put up enough points to force Cal to stay aggressive through the air.
MASON MINI, OH MY🤯@JaronKeawe connects with @MasonMini4 to give the Bears the lead!
📺 https://t.co/h5x4ITfQqF#SmartAndTough #GoBears pic.twitter.com/iOxH8GeniC
— Cal Football (@CalFootball) September 27, 2025
So, the take is simple here. JKS will have the most productive day of his young career in front of his home crowd. 350 passing yards feels attainable in this spot.
