For the first time since 1947, the Vanderbilt football team is ranked in the top 10 of the AP poll. Indiana checked in at No. 2, a new record-high for a program that continues to reimagine what’s possible. And Georgia Tech, which jumped up five spots to No. 7, has its highest ranking in more than 15 years.
Indiana, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt are three of the teams that have defined the 2025 college football season so far. It’s a true statement and still hard to process for even the most casual of fans. None of the three could be mistaken for a blueblood — not in the sport of football, at least. The Yellow Jackets have had their high-water marks, but the Hoosiers and Commodores have been best known as doormats in their respective conferences. Losing to Indiana or Vanderbilt was the kind of performance that could get an opposing coach fired. Those games were supposed to be the freebies.
Not anymore.
Indiana made the 12-team College Football Playoff last season in Year 1 of the Curt Cignetti era, and the Hoosiers look even better now. They may very well be a real national championship contender, which is a shocking thing to say about the losingest program in the history of college football. The school knows that, too, as it ponied up $93 million to keep the 64-year-old head coach in Bloomington for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile in Nashville, feisty dual-threat quarterback Diego Pavia has been the face of Vanderbilt’s quick turnaround, and he’s taken that program from one that stunned even itself in an upset of Alabama last year to a team that thoroughly outplayed then-No. 10 LSU on Saturday that fans didn’t even consider rushing the field to celebrate it. They expected it. And in Atlanta, fearless quarterback Haynes King has led Georgia Tech’s resurgence with little regard to his own physical health. He will scratch, claw and fight for any additional yardage he can get, and these Yellow Jackets never panic. They are tough and comfortable grinding out games, much like their coach is.
In short, none of these teams are fluky. Some sports fans and pundits may talk about these teams with kid gloves, treating them like they’re these Davids in a word of Goliath. But they have spent the money they needed to in order to get to this position. They have made great hires. They have identified and developed talent. And even if one or more of the teams don’t make it to the CFP this year, it’s not like anyone should expect them to disappear.
That’s what’s so great about this era of college football. We often hear coaches complain about NIL and the transfer portal. But player compensation and less restrictive player movement have helped level the playing field. So has an expanded College Football Playoff, which gives so many more teams a legitimate shot to reach the sport’s marquee postseason event. That creates more fan interest and investment. It creates more potentially enticing landing spots for players who want to chase a championship. It makes harder for schools like Alabama (under Nick Saban) and Georgia (under Kirby Smart) to stockpile so much elite talent year over year like they used to.
When talent is dispersed and everyone can pay players, weird things happen. Most people call it parity. For as great as things are in Bloomington, Nashville and Atlanta — among other hot spots such as Tempe and Lubbock — the sport’s bluest bluebloods are struggling to adapt to a new reality. Penn State and Florida are looking for new head coaches. A not-insignificant number of fans of Auburn, LSU and Florida State hope their administrations follow suit. Indiana can get to the Playoff twice, but Florida State hasn’t beaten an ACC opponent in two years. Let that sink in for a second.
College football has been flipped on its head. And it’s time we get used to the topsy-turvy.
Other stray thoughts/observations:
- LSU should not be ranked at all. The Tigers were propped up all season by their Week 1 win over Clemson. Clemson has now lost four games this season; that team is nowhere near the national title contender we expected to see way back in the preseason. Who is LSU’s best win now — South Carolina? The same Gamecocks who have one SEC win (over Kentucky)? The Tigers have struggled offensively most of the season, due in part to a nonexistent run game and also in part to Garrett Nussmeier being banged up. But even when he played well, like he did against Vanderbilt, the defense let LSU down. Pavia and co. gashed the defense on the ground and through the air and the ‘Dores outplayed the Tigers at the line of scrimmage. With losses to Ole Miss and Vanderbilt and no good wins, there is no reason to rank LSU.
- Notre Dame should be ranked higher. I understand that the Fighting Irish have a loss to Miami, so the Hurricanes’ loss to Louisville and subsequent fall impacts their ceiling. But Notre Dame has two losses by a combined four points to two teams ranked in the top nine — and the Irish have the best running back duo in the country, a terrific first-year quarterback and a defense that just held an explosive USC offense somewhat in check. I urge my fellow voters to put some respect on the Irish name!
