Takeaways from Week 9 + Predictions for Week 10 of the 2025 College Football Season

Nothing really shocked me this week, but there were some epic games, headlined by the SEC.

Two corrections: Brian Kelly was fired. And I forgot that the past week was week 9, not week 8.

It’s amazing how wild the buyouts are for Kelly and James Franklin… many people never make that much money in their lives.

Texas A&M is the real deal, and as of now, I have been justified in saying they’re a playoff team. Reasonably, they are ranked as one of the three best teams along with Indiana and Ohio State above them.

Ole Miss bounced back nicely after a tough defeat at Georgia, and Vanderbilt tries to solidify itself as a top-10 team after getting dominated at Texas last year a week after taking down top ranked Alabama.

I’m a Big Ten guy with my fandom for Michigan, but clearly the SEC is just as deep, if not deeper, of a conference. But I will say right now that the Heisman front runner resides in the Big Ten. John Mateer took himself out of the conversation last week in my opinion as well.

I believe the first playoff rankings come out tonight too, so my guess of the top 12 is as follows:

1. OSU
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Ole Miss
7. Vanderbilt
8. Georgia Tech
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas Tech
12. Miami (FL)

Predictions for Week 10 are below.

10/28 (2 games):

Kennesaw State (-11.5) def. UTEP, 35-21
James Madison (-7.5) def. 41-30

10/29 (2 games):

Jacksonville State (-5.5) def. Middle Tennessee, 31-20
Missouri State (-3.5) def. Florida International, 33-17

10/30 (2 games):

Coastal Carolina def. Marshall (-5.5), 34-31
Tulane (-3.5) def. UTSA, 35-28 (X)

10/31 (3 games):

25) Memphis (-13.5) def. Rice, 35-14
Syracuse (-2.5) def. North Carolina, 27-23 (X)
Louisiana Tech (-16.5) def. Sam Houston State, 38-14

I will put my picks for the Saturday games later in the week.

Because of my hiatus making picks on this blog and putting them in other spots and not picking all the games, I’ll refresh everyone who reads up to here with my success rate picking winners since I stopped counting after about week 6.

Record through 5 weeks: 285-72 (.798)

Week 6 record: 33-18
Week 7 record: 37-13
Week 8 record: No picks made
Week 9 record (I incorrectly labeled my picks last week as week 8 because I missed one): 25-7

Record through Week 9: 380-110 (.776)

11/1 ():

1) Ohio State (-18.5) def. Penn State, 38-24
20) Texas (-3.5) def. 9) Vanderbilt, 42-35
10) Miami (-9.5) def. SMU, 31-20
22) Houston (-12.5) def. West Virginia, 38-17
Illinois (-12.5) def. Rutgers, 34-20
Clemson (-6.5) def. Duke, 28-24
Baylor (-2.5) def. UCF, 38-34
UConn (-11.5) def UAB, 35-30
Army def. Air Force (-1.5), 27-24
North Texas (-6.5) def. Navy, 38-35
Buffalo def. Bowling Green (-2.5), 30-23
Iowa State (-7.5) def. Arizona State, 35-21
Temple def. East Carolina (-4.5), 30-27
16) Louisville (-10.5) def. Virginia Tech, 31-21
UNLV (-3.5) def. New Mexico, 34-27
2) Indiana (-21.5) def. Maryland, 41-14
5) Georgia (-7.5) def. Florida, 35-17
12) Notre Dame (-30.5) def. Boston College, 42-14
13) Texas Tech (-7.5) def. Kansas State, 31-24
Michigan State def. Minnesota (-3.5), 24-20
Pittsburgh (-13.5) def. Stanford, 34-17
Delaware def. Liberty (-3.5), 28-27
Western Kentucky (-8.5) def. New Mexico State, 34-24
Boise State (-17.5) def. Fresno State, 38-10
Old Dominion (-16.5) def. UL Monroe, 41-21
South Alabama (-3.5) def. Louisiana, 30-24
15) Virginia (-5.5) def. California, 31-26
Mississippi State def. Arkansas (-5.5), 36-30
Kansas (-24.5) def. Oklahoma State, 38-17
Western Michigan (-5.5) def. Central Michigan, 27-17
7) Ole Miss (-11.5) def. South Carolina, 38-24
21) Michigan (-21.5) def. Purdue, 38-14
Arizona (-4.5) def. Colorado, 28-21
San Diego State (-10.5) def. Wyoming, 31-10
8) Georgia Tech (-4.5) def. NC State, 45-14
18) Oklahoma def. 14) Tennessee (-2.5), 29-26
Nebraska def. 23) USC (-3.5), 30-28
Auburn (-10.5) def. Kentucky, 27-20
Washington State (-3.5) def. Oregon State, 31-17
Wake Forest def. Florida State (-10.5), 33-26
Troy (-7.5) def. Arkansas State, 27-24
17) Cincinnati def. 24) Utah (-10.5), 31-24
Hawaii def. San José State (-1.5), 31-28