It's been an... eventful start to the season in the Sunshine and Lone Star states. For better and for worse, and the worse makes the better even better for some. It'll make sense below, I promise.
VIBES UP
1. Miami: It's difficult to imagine a way in which this season could've started better for the Hurricanes. I mean, there has been a lot of rain so far this season, so maybe some more clear skies would've been better? Mario Cristobal's team isn't just 5-0, it's 5-0 while beating Notre Dame, Florida, and Florida State. The 'Canes also hammered then-No. 18 South Florida, leaving zero doubt on the road to their second straight Sunshine State championship. Now, the goal becomes winning their first ACC championship and seriously competing for the program's sixth national championship. The U isn't likely to play a ranked opponent until the ACC Championship.
2. Oklahoma
3. Texas A&M
4. Texas Tech: "It's not enough to succeed, others must fail." That's a quote originally uttered by Gore Vidal, but sometimes attributed to Genghis Khan or super-billionaire-turned Michigan booster Larry Ellison. It might as well be written on the heart of every college football fan, too. The Sooners, Aggies and Red Raiders starts are delicious enough on their own, but combined with Texas's epic downfall, 2025 has reached pinch-me territory.
These teams began the year No. 18 (OU), No. 19 (A&M) and No. 23 (Tech) in the AP poll, they're now No. 5 (A&M), No. 6 (OU) and No. 9 (Tech). Oh, and did you hear about preseason No. 1? Where are they today?
There is, of course, plenty to like about their own starts beyond just the collapse in Austin. Oklahoma has allowed its fewest points through five games since 1987; Texas A&M's defense is 22-of-23 on money downs in conference play; and Tech has won five straight by 20-plus points to open a season for the first time in school history.
5. UCLA: There's no delusions of grandeur here. This team still has more losing ahead of it. But when's the last time you saw a program's morale spike in the way it did for UCLA on Saturday? Forget that, when's the last time UCLA football put a smile on people's faces? This looks like a confident, joyful football team again, and that's more than enough for now.
6. Missouri: If you're Eli Drinkwitz's team, Alabama 30, Vanderbilt 14 was exactly the result you wanted to see. Now, No. 8 Bama at No. 14 Mizzou is an even bigger game on Saturday, and an opportunity for the Tigers to spring the same road-game-after-big-home-win trap that Vanderbilt and Oklahoma sprung on the Tide last season.
7. Virginia: The win over Louisville proved that the Florida State upset was more than just a flash in the pan. The Cavs avoided a late-game collapse -- a 24-14 fourth quarter lead turned into a 27-24 overtime deficit -- and showed mettle that this team previously didn't have by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in a road conference game. Tony Elliott's team is now 3-0 in conference play and gets to kick its feet up for the rest of the month: they're off this week, host Washington State on Oct. 18, and then visit the worst team in the conference (North Carolina) on the 25th.
8. North Texas: North Texas has been ranked in the AP poll twice, for a 2-week span in 1959. It wasn't even the AP Top 25 then. Now, the Mean Green are unofficially ranked 33rd, but have an opportunity to soar into the top 25 with a win over No. 24 South Florida at home on Friday night.
9. UNLV: UNLV was off to its first 4-0 start since 2024, but after winning at Wyoming for the first time since 2003, they're now 5-0 for the first time since 1974, when the Rebels competed in Division II. Even the snow wasn't enough to slow down Dan Mullen's desert dewellers.
10. Florida: Does the fact that Florida finally looked like the fierce team everyone expected make you feel better or worse if you're a Gator fan? I could listen to arguments either way, but Ben Hill Griffin Stadium seemed full of 90,000 happy Florida fans on Saturday. The team that took the field against Texas can win every single game on its schedule.
VIBES DOWN
1. Texas: The vibes have been off on this team from literally the first snap, when Arch Manning dirted a ball to a wide open receiver on a routine play they'd surely practiced 250 times, but we resisted including them here until further evidence came again. Well, further evidence is in. Florida bullied Texas well beyond the 29-21 final score, and now Steve Sarkisian's team has shattered the record for the fastest a preseason AP No. 1 to leave the rankings altogether. The offensive line is terrible, the running backs aren't much better, and the offense lacks an identity beyond Arch Manning Hero Ball. Worse, the defense played well below its paper against the Gators.
Now, Texas back against a wall with spikes coming out of it. Either the Horns figure out a way to beat No. 6 Oklahoma or the bottom really could drop out of this thing. If Texas loses to OU -- likely quarterbacked by the same backup that they beat by 31 a year ago -- talk will become harder to ignore that 2025 is just 2010 2.0. That the year the Mack Brown empire started to crumble. Texas remained in the dark ages until 2023. Could they really be headed back there so soon?
2. Penn State: After last week, perhaps Saturday's 42-37 to previously (but no longer!) winless UCLA might've been the best thing to happen to Penn State. The Oregon loss reinforced that the Nittany Lions' ceiling is clearly made out of concrete, but the floor was so high that it left fans feeling like they were suspended in purgatory. Well, maybe there's more room in the basement than previously thought. Of course, a single upset loss to UCLA is not going to force the mutual separation that some are hoping for. After all, it was just one game ago that Penn State held a lead in overtime over the now-No. 3 team in the country. If a divorce is ultimately the path forward for Penn State, it's going to take more losing, and quickly, to get there.
3. North Carolina: The 38-10 loss to Clemson wasn't even the worst thing to come out of Chapel Hill this week. When our own Doug Samuels posted a letter sent by the highest-paid GM in college football to UNC donors, it crystallized that UNC's new brain trust has no idea what they've gotten themselves into, and a 120-33 deficit in losing all three games vs. the Power 4 thus far also reinforces that North Carolina had no idea what it was getting into in hiring Bill Belichick, either. The next two years after this one are fully guaranteed on his contract, too.
4. Wisconsin: The only thing that makes sense with Luke Fickell's lack of end-game decision making is that he was pulling a George Costanza and trying to get fired. Well, if that was the goal, it was unsuccessful, at least so far. The Badgers have now lost seven Big Ten games in a row.
5. Oregon State: Being 0-6 and making a mid-season coordinator change is bad enough. But the on-field results merely just reinforce the existential dread of losing the game of thrones and being forced to wander the Riverlands in perpetuity.