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Mike Hlas’ AP college football Top 25 ballot: Farewell Texas, Penn State
The preseason Nos. 1 and 2 teams aren’t in my latest top 25. Nor should they be.
Oct. 4, 2025 10:53 pm, Updated: Oct. 5, 2025 12:33 am
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College football doesn’t provide too many moments of the comfortable facing affliction.
Ohio State rolled over Minnesota Saturday. Oklahoma trampled Kent State. Michigan took down poor, downtrodden Wisconsin.
Ahh, but Saturday did give us two fine bits. One was Texas losing at Florida. I don’t hold a lot of esteem for much of anything in the state of Florida that is north of North Miami Beach. I was, however, pleased to see the Gators give Texas its second defeat of the season on the first Saturday of October.
The Longhorns, who already had lost at Ohio State, were AP’s preseason No. 1 team. The best team they’ve beaten this season is, I guess, San Jose State. That, or UTEP or Sam Houston.
Get off my Top 25, Horns.
The second, and far better, result of the day was Penn State at UCLA. The Bruins had been godawful this season, bad enough to get their coach fired and have people wondering if they would win against anyone this year.
Oh, they did. They dropped preseason No. 2 Penn State 42-37 in the half-empty Rose Bowl. That was loss No. 2 for the Nittany Lions and left them at 0-2 in the Big Ten. Below Northwestern. Below Maryland. Below UCLA!
Penn State’s best win is against, I guess, Nevada. That or Florida International or Villanova.
Get off my Top 25, Lions.
Now, for those who didn’t humiliate themselves all the way off my ballot:
1. Ohio State
2. Miami
3. Oregon
4. Ole Miss
5. Indiana. The Hoosiers are at Oregon Saturday. ESPN’s College GameDay will be there. There’s no word if the U.S. military will be sent to Eugene, 110 miles south of war-torn Portland.
6. Texas Tech. The Red Raiders have decisive wins over Utah and Houston, two very decent teams, in their last two games.
7. Oklahoma
8. Texas A&M
9. Alabama
10. LSU
11. Georgia
12. Tennessee
13. Missouri. That’s SEC teams from No. 7 all the way to No. 13. That seems wrong, I know.
14. Michigan
15. Illinois
16. Notre Dame
17. Georgia Tech
18. Arizona State
19. Virginia. Meet Virginia. The Cavaliers have intestinal fortitude. They beat Florida State and Louisville in overtime in the last two weeks. Anyone can win in four quarters. Try doing it in five, or six.
20. BYU
21. Vanderbilt
22. Cincinnati
23. Memphis
24. Iowa State. Whether the Cyclones are a Top 25 team right now may be arguable, but they didn’t lose at UCLA and teams they’ve beaten (Kansas State, Iowa, Arizona) are a lot better than the ones Texas and Penn State have.
25. USF
Teams I’m watching: Tennessee Tech, Tarleton State
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
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