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2025 Week 5 CFP Resume Rankings!
- John W
- Oct 1
- 4 min read
Welcome back to the 2025 College Football Playoff Resume Rankings!
Week 5 turned up the heat with a trio of high-stakes showdowns that shook the playoff landscape, delivering thrilling finishes and seismic shifts that sent our 80+ normalized team strength rating systems—like SP+, FEI, FPI, Sagarin, and our proprietary composite metrics—into a frenzy. As always, we rebuild each team’s resume from scratch every week, offering a transparent, data-driven lens on the 12-team playoff chase. With conference races tightening, we’re tracking the at-large bubble like a true “Bubble Watch.” Let’s dive into Week 5’s chaos and unpack the key moments reshaping the CFP picture!
Quick Hitters: Week 5’s Biggest Moments
Alabama Outlasts Georgia in SEC Classic
In our Game of the Week, No. 5 Georgia fell to No. 17 Alabama 24-21 in a wild Athens showdown. This marked another high-profile win for the Crimson Tide over former defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs, with the Tide moving to 10-1 in their last 11 matchups. This is a resume profile reset for Alabama following the week 1 loss to Florida State, who stumbled this weekend at Virginia, giving Alabama a huge win to stand on early in the season.
Ole Miss Defeats LSU in Oxford Thriller
No. 13 Ole Miss pulled off a 24-19 “upset” over No. 4 LSU in a game we projected the Rebels to win by 5.5 points. LSU’s season opening win at Clemson had degraded with additional Tiger losses, but the early season boost and voter reluctance to drop a winning team kept LSU elevated in the polls. In the Computer Composite the narrative was flipped with Ole Miss rising and LSU already in the low teens. This result was a decent upset in the polls but was an expected result.
Oregon Edges Penn State in Big Ten Battle
No. 6 Oregon eked out a 30-24 win over No. 3 Penn State in a Happy Valley nail-biter. After a defensive battle heading into the 4th quarter, both offenses came to life marching for late scores in a back-and-forth affair before heading into overtime, where each team would score. Oregon opened the door throwing an interception on the 2-point attempt in double overtime, but secured the win with a defensive interception of their own on Penn State’s ensuing possession. As a result of the missed resume opportunity, Penn State remains unranked on the season awaiting a win of resume significance.
Other Standouts
The Week of the Avoided Upset Bid
Week 5 stood out for a number of compelling upset potential games where the ranked team held on for a close win. #9 Texas A&M on paper outplayed Auburn by a substantial margin, but only won by a 16-10 margin. #11 Indiana needed a long touchdown pass to overcome Iowa late in a 20-15 win. #15 Tennessee needed overtime to avoid an upset at the hands of Mississippi State in a 41-34 win. #16 Georgia Tech survived a 2-point attempt in overtime to overcome Wake Forest in a 30-29 win. In the late window, #25 BYU also held on to secure a 24-21 win, coming back from 11 down early in the game to defeat Colorado. There were some epic games amongst top tier teams, but this could have been a special week if even half of these upset bids had hit.
Week 5 CFP Resume Rankings
Notes on the CFP Resume Rankings
AP Misses:
Of the AP Top 10, 8 are in the Week 5 resume ranking Top 8. There is some shuffling variance, with Indiana’s resume undervalued and Oregon’s overstated, but those 8 teams still deserve to be near the top. The missing resumes are that of the Texas Longhorns and Penn State Nittany Lions, whose resumes rank 45th and 50th respectively. UT and PSU rank 12th and 13th in the composite team strength ratings, but have the 76th and 89th best raw resumes due to a distinct lack of wins over quality teams. Close losses to top teams do not build a raw resume.
After the Top 8 bubble, the next teams are AP #16 Vanderbilt and #22 Illinois. Both teams are ranked much more closely to their strength ranking as if there is no consideration for their raw resume accomplishments. That’s certainly one way to rank at the moment, but it’s inconsistent with other teams who are ranked closer to a full resume blend of strength and raw resume.
Conference Breakdown:
If the playoff field were set today, we’d project five SEC teams (Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Alabama, Vanderbilt), four Big Ten (Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon, Illinois), one ACC (Miami), one Big 12 (Iowa State), and one G5 representative (South Florida). The SEC’s depth remains unmatched, holding five of the top 10 composite strength teams, but the Big Ten’s top-end surge (Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon) and Notre Dame’s resurgence have the top 4 strength spots locked down.
Top 10 Unexpected Results of the Season
Kansas State and Alabama battle it out this week for season’s top loss dishonors. Virginia Tech’s upset win over NC State joins the list of our top 10 upsets of the season.
Week 6 Game of the Week
No. 16 Vanderbilt at No. 10 Alabama:
While this week’s slate is diminished from the mammoth games we had last week, there is still upset potential everywhere with Vanderbilt looking to repeat last season’s upset win over Alabama. With the Crimson Tide favored by (-6.5) this game is very much in reach and could shape the SEC and CFP race. Other top games feature unbeaten Miami traveling to rival Florida State and unbeaten Iowa State on the road at Cincinnati.
Week 5 Model Honor Roll: Models that have Beaten Our Composite Over the Full Season
That’s a wrap for Week 5! If you have questions about the CFP Resume Rankings or want to follow along, find us @CFPResumeRanks on X. Our DMs are open for inquiries or partnership opportunities. Have a great week, and let’s see what Week 6 brings!
[Note: For tables instead of graphics, visit our resume rankings page at https://cfpresumerankings.wixsite.com/cfpresumerankings/cfp-resume-rankings]
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