We are through week six of the 2025 season….that means after this coming weekend, everyone in the country will have played half of their regular season schedule. We can see the trends that have developed. They are surprisingly good for some programs, and well, a lot less than good for others. Here is this week’s Three up and Three down.
Three Up
Virginia
We have talked before about the patience the school has shown for head coach Tony Elliott. His first two seasons were as much about wrapping his arms around the team and the players through some tragic tumult. Now that it is more about football, the patience is paying dividends for everyone.
A week after beating Florida State at home, the Cavaliers went on the road and beat a good Louisville team. Virginia did not set the stat sheet on fire. Or maybe they should take a lighter to it. The Cavaliers managed only 237 total yards of offense. But they won. Period. Full stop. They are now 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the ACC, making them the number three team in the conference. They can play, and Tony Elliott can coach.
Georgia Tech
Yeah, we know they had the weekend off. But they are still on an upward trajectory. The Yellow Jackets are 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in the ACC. And when you look down the road at the schedule, they host Virginia Tech this week.
The two toughest games they have left on the schedule are Duke in two weeks and Georgia in the last regular-season game. GA Tech sits on top of the ACC standings, based on having played and won one more game than Miami has at this point. And GA Tech and Miami do not play against each other this season. Georgia Tech could be hard to knock off that pedestal now.
UCLA
It may be a short-lived upward climb. But for one week, it means everything to the program. They had already fired their head coach and their defensive coordinator. Then, at this time last week, they fired offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri. So that left an interim head coach to appoint an interim play caller. Jerry Neuheisel grew up at UCLA. Literally. He was born at the medical center there. Neuheiasel has been a graduate assistant, a wide receiver’s coach, and a tight end coach. He is not officially the new offensive coordinator, but that appointment could be coming at any time.
So, a guy who had been running the offense for about four days beat the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football as UCLA shocked Penn State, 42-37.
It was the first win of the entire 2025 season for the Bruins. The celebration was large. The local deli, Fat Sal’s, was very busy on Monday because late last week, they had offered free fries to go with everyone’s order if UCLA won. No one…no one…saw it coming.
So at least for the short term, UCLA takes the ride up.
Three Down
Penn State
Not too hard to figure out. If UCLA is going up, it is at the expense of Penn State. It is one thing for the Nittany Lions to lose to Michigan and Ohio State every year. And now they have to add Oregon to the list of teams that cause nightmares for head coach James Franklin.
But Penn State was a 25-point favorite at the Rose Bowl against UCLA. And they got dominated. Yeah, the final score was only a five-point margin, but let’s not pretend the game was really that close. Penn State was down by 20 points at halftime before they started playing with a sense of urgency in the second half.
For two consecutive Saturdays now, Franklin has stood on the field after the game, looking puzzled at what just occurred during the game. The downward trend is taking its toll.
Iowa State
The Cyclones went from being at or near the top of the Big 12 at 5-0 to being closer to the middle of the pack with a potentially bumpy road ahead.
Cincinnati jumped out to a 17-point lead in the first quarter on Saturday and never fell behind the Cyclones. Iowa State’s defense looked very vulnerable against a decent Bearcats quarterback (Brendan Sorsby) and run game (Evan Pryor). And it gets harder from here. In the weeks ahead, Iowa State has BYU, Arizona State, and TCU. It is a wide-open Big 12 conference, but not so wide open that three conference losses are going to get you to the championship game.
Texas
Losing to Ohio State in the season opener was a non-issue. The Buckeyes are a championship contender. The concern was with how inept the Longhorns’ offense looked. For all of the hype about it now being Arch Manning’s offense, it was a very forgettable outing.
Texas regained its footing against three subpar schools. And then came the SEC opener on the road against Florida.
The gaping holes in the Texas offense were so obvious in the 29-21 loss. Manning was a very pedestrian 16 of 29, throwing for 263 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. To make matters worse, Manning was the team’s leading rusher with 37 net yards on 15 carries. Thirty-seven net yards was the run game for the Longhorns. And while it is easy to blame Manning for much of what goes wrong with the offense, if you watch the game, you will see an offensive line that is nowhere near on par with the rest of the conference.
And coming up next is Oklahoma. Texas does have a chance to gain some equilibrium as they also have Kentucky and Arkansas on the road ahead, mixed in with Texas A&M and Georgia.
Main Image: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
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