2025 College Football Season

[Great Lakes Roads]

Ole Miss lost to Miami... SEC adds 365 days to their days without a National Championship game (1,094 days to 1,459 days in 2027)!

Miami will have to play a BIG10 team (either IU or Oregon) in the National Championship game...

[Ted$8roadFan]

The SEC still has to adjust to the new world order, specifically the transfer portal and NIL.

[NWI_Irish96]

The SEC still has to adjust to the new world order, specifically the transfer portal and NIL.

https://nwiirish1996.substack.com/p/the-myth-of-the-sec

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm thinking Indiana is going to be a sizable favorite after this beat down.

NFL Memes got on this early:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02cUEPn9cU61w2sscsBYpapEsuG2kTfDUjpCgorS2RG8tn4izcwDK5xVid5gwvpeeQl&id=100077483761798&mibextid=wwXIfr

[gonealookin]

Our new head coach, Tosh Lupoi, isn't exactly arriving in Berkeley on the crest of a wave following Oregon's defensive performance tonight.  Although the Ducks' suckitude was a total team effort; the defense didn't really give up all 56 of those points as offense and special teams handed Indiana 28 points with either the opening Pick Six or very short fields after fumbles and blocked punts.  What a stinker.

[thspfc]

Our new head coach, Tosh Lupoi, isn't exactly arriving in Berkeley on the crest of a wave following Oregon's defensive performance tonight.  Although the Ducks' suckitude was a total team effort; the defense didn't really give up all 56 of those points as offense and special teams handed Indiana 28 points with either the opening Pick Six or very short fields after fumbles and blocked punts.  What a stinker.

Will this loss also be used to draw sweeping conclusions about entire conferences, or is 34 points acceptable while 35 is not? Have we considered Indiana is actually good?

[NWI_Irish96]

Our new head coach, Tosh Lupoi, isn't exactly arriving in Berkeley on the crest of a wave following Oregon's defensive performance tonight.  Although the Ducks' suckitude was a total team effort; the defense didn't really give up all 56 of those points as offense and special teams handed Indiana 28 points with either the opening Pick Six or very short fields after fumbles and blocked punts.  What a stinker.

Will this loss also be used to draw sweeping conclusions about entire conferences, or is 34 points acceptable while 35 is not? Have we considered Indiana is actually good?

I've never doubted that Indiana was worthy of that #1 ranking, though I was skeptical that they could beat a team as good as Oregon a second time. That's really hard to do.

The Hoosiers only had three games all year that they weren't dominant. The first was the season opener vs Old Dominion, which makes sense when your team is loaded with transfers that have never played together before. The second was at Iowa and Iowa is a hard team to dominate. They were just flat-out bad against Penn State but pulled out the win anyway.

They have a top five defense and a top five offense that has a good run-pass balance. They don't commit many penalties or turnovers, so they don't beat themselves.

[gonealookin]

Our new head coach, Tosh Lupoi, isn't exactly arriving in Berkeley on the crest of a wave following Oregon's defensive performance tonight.  Although the Ducks' suckitude was a total team effort; the defense didn't really give up all 56 of those points as offense and special teams handed Indiana 28 points with either the opening Pick Six or very short fields after fumbles and blocked punts.  What a stinker.

Will this loss also be used to draw sweeping conclusions about entire conferences, or is 34 points acceptable while 35 is not? Have we considered Indiana is actually good?

I haven't read the last several pages of squabbling in this thread.

Pretty sure Oregon's loss to Indiana can't be used directly to draw "sweeping conclusions about entire conferences" because they're in the same conference.

With other information, however, I am going to draw a conclusion about a conference.

The Big Ten team that got whomped by a fellow Big Ten team, 56-22, was coming off a shutout of a #4-seeded Big 12 team, 23-0.

Moreover, going back to the start of the four-team playoff in 2014, only one current Big 12 team has ever won a game.  TCU beat Michigan in 2022, before getting destroyed by Georgia 65-7 in the National Championship game.

Power Three and Group of Seven.

[ET21]

It'll either be a full Indiana blowout akin to 65-7 Georgia over TCU, or a fun shootout between the two teams.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Unsurprisingly, the SEC and its stalwarts aren't taking its absence from the national championship game well.

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/fans-accuse-paul-finebaum-hating-040000293.html

[Max Rockatansky]

Even my wife and my father in-law got into this game tonight.  This is a pretty amazing program turnaround with Indiana going 16-0.

[mgk920]

First 16-0 team in major colleges since 1894 (Yale).

Mike

[1995hoo]

"Marty, you're back from 2026!"

"Doc, O.J. Simpson's a murderer, Bill Cosby's a rapist, Bruce Jenner's a woman, Donald Trump's president, and there was a global pandemic."

"Great Scott!"

"And Indiana is the best college football team."

"Ok, now I know you're full of shit."

[mgk920]

Indiana is also a BASKETBALL state.  humphhhh . . .

Mike

[akotchi]

"Marty, you're back from 2026!"

"Doc, O.J. Simpson's a murderer, Bill Cosby's a rapist, Bruce Jenner's a woman, Donald Trump's president, and there was a global pandemic."

"Great Scott!"

"And Indiana is the best college football team."

"Ok, now I know you're full of shit."

This wins the day!

[SSOWorld]

[kurumi]

Most recent undefeated seasons in selected college sports:
football: Indiana, 2025-2026, 16-0
men's basketball: Indiana, 1975-1976, 32-0

[Henry]

Most recent undefeated seasons in selected college sports:
football: Indiana, 2025-2026, 16-0
men's basketball: Indiana, 1975-1976, 32-0

I wonder what the '72 Dolphins would think of this?

"Well, at least we're still the last undefeated team in the NFL!"

[NWI_Irish96]

My final thoughts about 2025 and a look ahead to 2026:

https://nwiirish1996.substack.com/p/playoff-recap-2026-schedule-and-more

[NWI_Irish96]

My thoughts on the passing of Lou Holtz: https://nwiirish1996.substack.com/p/louis-leo-holtz-1937-2026

[bugo]

I've been an Arkansas Razorbacks fan my entire life. My earliest sports memory is from when Arkansas beat the Texas Longhorns 42-11 in 1981. Texas was ranked #1, and were expected to roll over the Hogs, but they apparently missed their flight (Bus ride? How did SWC football teams travel in 1981?) to Fayetteville and got embarrassed. I was hooked. Lou Holtz was the Razorback head coach at the time, and he was the first Arkansas coach who I can remember. So his impact on me as a fan was significant.

Another connection I have to Holtz is the 1978 Orange Bowl. While I'm sure I was in the room when the game was on TV, I don't remember it because I was barely 5, but I had a 1978 Orange Bowl t-shirt that had the final score of Arkansas 31, Oklahoma 6 on the front. The Sooners were heavily favored, and Coach Holtz suspended three of the Hogs' best players, but the Razorbacks dominated the hapless covered wagons. A win for the Sooners would have likely given them the national championship.

He is an Arkansas legend and icon, and he will be missed.

[Henry]

I remember the 1988 season well, as that was the last time to date that Notre Dame won the national championship (with a 12-0 record to boot!), and Lou Holtz was a major reason behind that. RIP to a great man, and may his legacy live on in South Bend and beyond.

[thspfc]

Vacating wins means absolutely nothing, but it still made my day today because it happened to Iowa. Specifically, the 2023 Iowa team which was for my money the worst 10-win power conference team of all time. They'll officially go down as a 6 win team which is more appropriate.

[NWI_Irish96]

https://naacp.org/campaigns/out-bounds

NAACP has issued a call for black athletes to refuse to consider attending public universities in states that have undertaken redistricting targeted at disenfranchising black voters. I have no idea if they will get any top recruits on board, but if they do, that could be bad news for the SEC in particular.