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A to Z’s Top 25 for Week 6

Last weekend, we were blessed with a fantastic slate of college football games. The hype that was built for one of the greatest regular-season weekends ever somehow exceeded our expectations.

With numerous Top 25 battles, so much has changed in the landscape of college football. From Georgia’s stunning home loss to Penn State being exposed, a lot was revealed heading into October.

With the first month behind us, the A to Z Sports college football staff released their latest Top 25 ranking. Let’s dig into which teams stood out the most.

9. Indiana

“Their win over Illinois was extremely impressive, even if the Fighting Illini were a little shorthanded. That being said, I both want and need to see more. This weekend will be huge for IU as they play an Oregon Ducks team that may have the best quarterback in college right now, via Dante Moore. Should they beat the Ducks in Oregon, I will have no choice but to rank the team within the top five. But as I said, I need to see it first.” —Rob Gregson

Indiana suffered a massive letdown against Iowa after their 63-10 win over Illinois. This week, the Hoosiers struggled to separate from a hapless Iowa team, ultimately winning 20-15. I understand where Gregson is coming from, wanting to see more consistency. However, the evidence of how good this team is, as seen in the Illinois domination, is clear. Most top teams in college football will have games where they stumble, especially when they face defensively stellar programs like Iowa. The Hoosiers’ ceiling was established against Illinois. If anything, Illinois’ rebounding against USC exemplifies how talented Indiana really is.

10. Georgia

“I don’t see how the Georgia Bulldogs can lose a close game at home to Alabama and drop nine spots in the AP poll. That was a very close game between rivals in the SEC, and the Bulldogs have been good so far this year, including a win on the road against Tennessee. This isn’t the same Georgia team that ran the gauntlet and will run away with the National Championship. However, Kirby Smart has these players playing well and the talent on the team is still among the best in the nation. It’s a leveled playing field, and Georgia is still heavy in the mix.” —Tyler Forness

I am in complete agreement with Forness on his perspective of Georgia. A significant amount of doubt has been cast on the Bulldogs following their home loss to Alabama. While their defensive issues were highlighted, they still played a hard-fought game and had an impressive road victory against Tennessee. Georgia, under Kirby Smart, has consistently been a team that excels at rebounding. If anything, an early-season loss is what this squad needed to reflect and adjust. They’ll be back in the top five before we know it.

11. Alabama

“After an ugly performance against Florida State in week one, and a lot of Kalen DeBoer questions that followed, many wrote off the Alabama Crimson Tide and their preseason hype. Over the last couple of weeks, this Alabama team has continued to turn things around, leading to a nice victory over Georgia this past weekend. With how well quarterback Ty Simpson if playing, this offense looks like it has an identity for the first time under DeBoer. That defense will also always have talent, and it should round into form. This is a team trending in a great direction quickly.” —Ryan Roberts

My biggest qualm with this week’s ranking is the placement of Alabama at only 11. Understandably, the Florida State loss doesn’t look great at the current moment after the Seminoles fell to UVA. However, teams are allowed to improve, and they have clearly done so since that opening loss. Their issues were fundamentals, effort, and silly penalties. None of those things hurt the Tide on Saturday, and we should respect them as a legit threat to win a national championship in 2025.

14. LSU

“LSU is plummeting at the wrong time right now. If you watched Saturday’s loss at Ole Miss, the score was not indicative of the actual game. Ole Miss dominated from top-to-bottom and outside of a timely punch out which led to a fumble inside the five-yard line, it could’ve been much worse for the Tigers. I don’t think Garrett Nussmeier is 100 percent healthy. I don’t care what Brian Kelly says. I don’t care what Joe Sloan says. And I don’t care what Nussmeier says. He’s not the same quarterback he was last year and it’s severely affected the trajectory of this season for LSU.” —Zach Berry

Trying to accurately place LSU after its multi-week offensive struggles is near impossible. The Tigers have the potential to be an elite football team due to their smothering defense. But for this team to be stumped the way they were on offense against a shaky Ole Miss defense is troubling. As Berry points out, their starting quarterback, Garrett Nussmeier, has to play better or they’ll continue to tumble down the rankings.

20. Notre Dame

“Notre Dame might just be 2-2 right now, but they’re still far better than the AP Poll wants to admit (ranking them 21st overall). Their two losses to Miami and Texas A&M (both consensus top six teams in the nation) came by a combined four points. Their two wins over Purdue and Arkansas? The Irish scored 56 points in both contests, blowing their opponents away.” —Travis May

Whenever Notre Dame starts a season slowly, everyone wants to drop them as far as possible. It felt like I was one of a small number of people who wanted to give the Fighting Irish the benefit of the doubt and keep them in the Top 20 because of who they suffered their first two losses to. As May pointed out, this Notre Dame team is out for blood and will capably run up the score to boost their resume for the College Football Playoff. CJ Carr’s emergence as a dominant passer should justify this squad deserving to be a top 20 team.

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