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Mike's top 25 college football teams heading into Week 6 of the 2025 season. His complete top 25 rankings, including Ohio State Oregon, LSU, and more.
Week 6 College Football Power Rankings
A lot of college football weekends get hyped up. This was one of them. Unlike most, this weekend delivered. We had several overtime games. We even had five double-overtime games. We got a 6-3 game for good measure. We had a lot of everything, despite Miami, Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech having the week off.
We have a few movers and shakers in my rankings. I was right about Arizona State, where the AP wasn’t. I was also wrong about Auburn and Syracuse, but the Orange lost its starting QB. They can use that as an excuse.
25. BYU (4-0)
Last week: NR
Result: W 24-21 at Colorado
The Cougars have a couple of road wins at East Carolina and Colorado now. True freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier has started all season and still hasn’t turned the ball over in four games. This defense has a nasty streak to it. BYU doesn’t have a big win yet, but there are several chances coming soon.
24. Illinois (4-1)
Last week: NR
Result: W 34-32 vs. (22) USC
The Illini get back on the list for a spirited win over USC. The issues with the defense weren’t really resolved here, but the offense got back on track behind Luke Altmyer and the run game.
23. Michigan (3-1)
Last week: 24 (⇑1)
Result: BYE
Michigan is still in the rankings thanks to the quality loss at Oklahoma and a solid win at Nebraska.
22. Utah (4-1)
Last week: NR
Result: W 48-14 at West Virginia
The Mountaineers could be at the bottom of the Big 12 (16), but this is the win that Utah needed to get back on track after the disastrous fourth quarter against Texas Tech in Salt Lake City last week. Devon Dampier looked healthy in this game. Whether he was hurt or not against Tech is the topic of great debate since Kyle Whittingham isn’t always honest about injuries. At any rate, Dampier looked like the star he is in this one.
21. Arizona State (4-1)
Last week: 23 (⇑2)
Result: W 27-24 vs. (22) TCU
Arizona State has big wins over Baylor and TCU after the loss in StarkVegas. Sam Leavitt continues to will this team to wins. Raleek Brown has emerged as the go-to back. Brown is also lethal out of the backfield. He caught nine passes in the win over TCU. He could be the focal point of the offense in the same way that Cam Skattebo was in 2024. The Arizona State offense is finally finding its identity. Once it did that last year, the Sun Devils wound up in the College Football Playoff and had a win over Texas stolen from them by bad officiating.
20. Texas (3-1)
Last week: 15 (⇓5)
Result: BYE
The loss at Ohio State is a quality loss, but the wins since then are down there with Penn State’s. We’ll learn a lot more about Texas in the next couple of weeks.
19. Florida State (3-1)
Last week: 9 (⇓10)
Result: L 38-46 at Virginia (2 OT)
Alabama beating Georgia means that the Seminoles gained a high-quality win. They also lost a Friday game in Charlottesville. The real Florida State may be somewhere in between these two performances. The defense will have to be MUCH better against Miami for the Seminoles to stay in the rankings.
18. Missouri (5-0)
Last week: 19 (⇑1)
Result: W 42-6 vs. Massachusetts
The Missouri run game remains elite. The defense has looked the part so far. Missouri has the easiest schedule in the SEC and is in the middle of playing its first six games of the season at home. If not now, then when? The Tigers are staring down another 10-win season. They get Bama at home after the bye, but still have road games in Norman and Nashville.
17. LSU (4-1)
Last week: 10 (⇓7)
Result: L 19-24 at (12) Mississippi
The offense struggled once again, but this time it had an excuse with star RB Caden Durham out. The Tigers were dominated on both lines by Mississippi, resulting in the Rebels running the ball and grinding the game out down the stretch. LSU has wins over big names, but what does it mean when said big names are a combined 2-6?
16. Mississippi State (4-1)
Last week: 7 (⇓10)
Result: L 34-41 vs. (17) Tennessee (OT)
Mississippi State played well enough to win against Tennessee. Both turnovers were returned for touchdowns. That was the difference in this game. Fluff Bothwell continues to be a force. I don’t think the Bulldogs are cooked yet. That win against Arizona State is still looking good.
15. Georgia Tech (5-0)
Last week: 13 (⇓2)
Result: W 30-29 at Wake Forest (OT)
Wake went for two and the win in the first overtime and just missed. Tech was really lucky to escape in this one. They could have been called offside on Wake’s last drive, which would have given the Demon Deacons a first down and allowed them to run out the clock. The Wreck are 5-0 for the first time since 2014, but how good are the wins? Beating Clemson doesn’t feel like much right now.
14. South Florida (3-1)
Last week: 14 ⇔
Result: BYE
Wins against Boise and in the Swamp keep USF up here, but for how much longer? Some big games are coming up that will knock USF down the list through no fault of their own.
13. Iowa State (5-0)
Last week: 17 (⇑4)
Result: W 39-14 vs. Arizona
I don’t know for sure what Arizona is, but they’re not a bad team. Iowa State needed a win like this after struggling heading into the bye week. The Cyclones finally had a 100-yard game from a wide receiver this year. Chase Sowell picked up 146 yards on just four catches for the Cyclones. If they get the deep pass working this year, look out!
12. Vanderbilt (5-0)
Last week: 11 (⇓1)
Result: W 55-35 vs. Utah State
The offense looked good once again. Diego Pavia threw for five touchdowns and ran for another. The defense struggled with Bryson Barnes in the first half and gave up two garbage touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
11. Tennessee (4-1)
Last week: 18 (⇑7)
Result: W 41-34 at (7) Mississippi State (OT)
It took everything Tennessee had to come out with a win in StarkVegas. Joey Aguilar had a lot of yards, but was picked off twice. Tennessee scored two defensive touchdowns off two Blake Shapen turnovers to escape with a win.
10. Georgia (3-1)
Last week: 3 (⇓7)
Result: L 21-24 vs. Alabama
Kirby Smart is now 1-6 against Alabama. The defense did its part in the second half by not allowing any more points. The offense couldn’t get it going against the tough Alabama defense. It feels like Georgia needs an impact player at receiver. That seems to be the only thing limiting Gunner Stockton right now.
9. Indiana (5-0)
Last week: 5 (⇓4)
Result: W 20-15 at Iowa
The defense looked good. The offense was an adventure against Iowa. This wasn’t really a bad game against Iowa, but it wasn’t good either. It was a letdown after the domination of Illinois last week. I think that affected the ranking of the Hoosiers more than anything else.
8. Texas A&M (4-0)
Last week: 8 ⇔
Result: W 16-10 vs. (20) Auburn
The offense had three touchdowns called back, but the defense was a force against Auburn. They sacked Jackson Arnold seven times and held Auburn under 200 yards of offense. Le’Veon Moss was a force on the ground for the Aggies. A&M is 4-0 for the first time since 2016.
7. Texas Tech (4-0)
Last week: 6 (⇓1)
Result: BYE
The win over Utah looks even better after the Utes throttled West Virginia in Morgantown.
6. Alabama (4-1)
Last week: NR
Result: W 24-21 at (3) Georgia
I was unimpressed by the quality of opponents after the loss to Florida State, but now Alabama has the best road win of any team, not just the one-loss teams. Ty Simpson had a really good game, even after Georgia shut down Ryan Williams. Alabama’s ownership of Georgia transferred from Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer. The Tide is 10-1 in the last 11 games against Georgia.
5. Oklahoma (4-0)
Last week: 4 (⇓1)
Result: BYE
John Mateer’s hand surgery from an injury suffered in the first quarter against Auburn was the talk of the town. First, for beating Auburn with a broken throwing hand. Second, regarding the speculation about his availability for the Red River Shootout in two weeks.
4. Mississippi (5-0)
Last week: 12 (⇑8)
Result: W 24-19 vs. (10) LSU
Mississippi controlled this game. The defense got redemption after struggling against the Arkansas offense. The offense had its way with the vaunted LSU defense, including a clock-bleeding drive over the last five minutes to seal the win. Trinidad Chambliss gives this team an element that it didn’t have with Austin Simmons.
3. Oregon (5-0)
Last week: 15 (⇑12)
Result: W 30-24 at Penn State (2 OT)
I didn’t think much of Penn State’s early schedule, and it turns out that it did them no favors. This spot goes to Oregon for getting a tough road win in a Whiteout. The Ducks dominated the first 50 minutes of this game. Dante Moore looked really good in this one, and the Oregon defense showed that it is a force to be reckoned with.
2. Ohio State (4-0)
Last week: 2 ⇔
Result: W 24-6 at Washington
It was a good road win in a tough environment. Julian Sayin looked good in his first road start, and the Ohio State defense was able to lock down all of the talent on the Huskies’ offense. Miami’s wins over South Florida and Notre Dame are slightly more impressive than beating Texas at home and Washington on the road. The race at the top is still very close.
1. Miami (FL) (4-0)
Last week: 1 ⇔
Result: BYE
Miami rested up before what could have been a big game in the final leg of the Seminole Cup…until Florida State lost in Charlottesville on Friday night.
