The Top 10 looks quite a bit different in the Associated Press Top 25 poll heading into Week 9 of the 2025 college football season.
Ohio State retained the top spot thanks to a 34-0 shutout of Wisconsin, but Miami’s 24-21 upset at the hands of Louisville opened the door for Indiana to move up another spot to No. 2.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, fell to ninth after suffering their first defeat.
Texas Tech was another big loser from Week 8 after coming up short to Arizona State. The Red Raiders went from seventh to 14th.
If nothing else, Miami fans are at least well versed in dealing with the feelings they’re experiencing right now.
The Hurricanes aren’t out of the College Football Playoff picture for good, but a sense of déjà vu on multiple fronts resulted from Saturday’s upset.
Mario Cristobal’s game management, especially in the fourth quarter, left something to be desired. Carson Beck threw four interceptions, a performance Georgia fans know pretty well. And Miami crashed back to earth after stringing together enough wins to fire up the “The U is back!” discourse.
Miami Loses 1st Game Of Season
Ohio State fans were ready to fire Ryan Day after last year’s loss to Michigan, and that quieted down after the Buckeyes lifted a national championship. People were checking into Kalen DeBoer’s buyout at Alabama after a season-opening defeat to Florida State, only for the Crimson Tide to knock off Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Tennessee in succession.
Maybe Cristobal rights the ship and silences the skeptics for good. Finding people in South Florida who truly believe that can happen might be difficult, though.
It’s probably a similar scene in Baton Rouge with Vanderbilt giving LSU its second loss of the season.
Four years and zero CFP berths isn’t what the administration envisioned when it hired Brian Kelly on a $95 million contract.
The lack of a breakthrough is frustrating when comparing LSU’s fortunes to those of SEC rivals at or even below the Tigers’ level.
DeBoer was seemingly in a no-win situation as he replaced the greatest coach of the modern era. Instead, the Tide are trending toward double-digit wins and a CFP spot.
Texas A&M is a Top-Five squad in Year 2 under Mike Elko. Ole Miss was off to a 6-0 start and could be CFP-bound for the first time under Lane Kiffin. Even Vanderbilt has leapfrogged in the SEC hierarchy for now.
The Tigers still have to play A&M, Alabama and Oklahoma.
Those matchups give Kelly an opportunity to write a different finish to 2025. Running the table would rebuild some of the confidence the fanbase has lost in him. Conversely, the final month could make it even more clear how far LSU has fallen relative to the SEC’s best.
The battle between the Tigers and Aggies is one of the biggest games on the Week 9 slate. The stakes will also be high in Missouri vs. Vanderbilt and Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma. As all four teams are sitting on one loss, the losers will see their CFP hopes suffer a big blow.
Outside of the SEC, UCLA could be a tricky foe for Indiana as the Bruins are riding a three-game winning streak. They’ll be big underdogs but shouldn’t be written off prematurely.
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