A lot happens on college football Saturdays. It’s hard to keep up with everything.
So this season, in an attempt to bring everybody up to speed — while taking a chance to provide you with some takes in the process — I’m going to rattle off over-arching thoughts from the previous weekend. I’ll also do my best to spring thoughts forward, not just tell you what already happened.
Let’s keep it going with the latest edition of Unfiltered Takes.
1. CJ Daniels: Late in the third quarter of Miami’s 28-22 win at Florida State on Saturday night, receiver CJ Daniels took a pass from Carson Beck 40 yards to the house for what basically was a game-clinching touchdown. When Daniels got up from diving into the end zone, he walked directly to the television camera and yelled Florida State’s War Chant in the feed, mocking the Seminoles and their fans. It felt like a vintage Miami celebration in a storied rivalry game against Florida State, which was reminiscent of some of the old, flashy Miami teams. Does it have to feel like The U teams for Miami to be back in 2025?
2. The U: Asked after the game about whether he encourages players to celebrate and invoke some of the program’s past glory, head coach Mario Cristobal had an interesting response: “I don’t. I know I’ve said it before, but if you cut me open, I’m orange and green bleeding all over the place. That was a time in football that will never, ever be matched, in my opinion. We were crazy as can be. Wild. I didn’t belong on the field with those talented guys. But we are moving forward. We’re not going back. We are taking the principles and values of all those awesome teams, the physicality of those teams, the playmaking ability, the togetherness, the brotherhood of those teams and going forward. We are pushing Miami football to the modern day. I don’t encourage that stuff. We aren’t watching 80s and 90s film.”
3. Mario Cristobal: This team is a legit national title contender, if not one of the favorites. Yes, the final score got close as Florida State tried to mount an improbable comeback, but the Hurricanes physically dominated the Seminoles for more than three quarters. Watching Miami dominate in the trenches was the perfect manifestation for what Cristobal said above. This is 2025 Miami. This is modern-day Miami. And because the Hurricanes are so good up front while also mixing in incredibly efficient quarterback play, one of the best freshman skill players in the country in Malachi Toney, and perhaps the best defensive game-wrecker in the sport in Rueben Bain, there isn’t a team the Hurricanes can’t beat.
4. Ohio State: As we discuss Miami, it’s important to put the Hurricanes in the context of the other best teams in college football. That brings us to Ohio State, which hasn’t gotten a ton of attention in the last month as it beats up on overmatched opponents. Frankly, the Buckeyes are boring. They are consistently good across the board, there really is no takeaway week in and week out. Ohio State meddled around with Minnesota in the first quarter Saturday evening and still won 42-3. Ohio State’s defense gave up 66 yards on the first drive, and Minnesota finished the game with 162 yards. The defense has allowed 25 points all season, thanks in large part to first-year defensive coordinator Matt Patricia. It’s just pure domination across the board, enough so for Gophers head coach PJ Fleck to say that is one of the best defenses he’s seen in 13 years. Maybe next week at Illinois will be an entertaining game. Probably not.
5. Ryan Day: Want to hear a crazy stat about Ryan Day? With the win over Minnesota, the seventh-year head coach improved his record to 75-10. That gives him an .882 winning percentage, which passes Knute Rockne’s record .881 clip. Day joked after the game that he is just going to retire and go out on top. The truth? If Day can figure out his Michigan demons — by, well, beating the Wolverines on the road this season — you could make a straight-faced argument he’s the best head coach in college football. Think about where we were with Day last November. I’m not sure we’ve seen a more stark turnaround of a college coach’s reputation in such a short amount of time.
6. Carnell Tate: All of the attention is on Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith, and rightfully so. But Carnell Tate, who had 183 yards in the Minnesota win, would be the No. 1 receiver on virtually every other team in the country this year. The amount of talent Brian Hartline amassed in that receiver room — now and over the years – will forever be one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen in recruiting.
7. Everyone sucks? We play the “everyone sucks” game around this time every single year, but this season feels like we are closer to that becoming a reality than ever before. The truth is, there are more than 10 teams that come to mind as squads could win the national title, maybe in large part because it isn’t 2018 anymore, and the talent is more evenly distributed. That said, three teams are standing out from everyone else: Ohio State, Oregon and Miami. Will one of those three teams win it all?
8. Billy Napier: Billy Napier led his three-loss Florida team to a win over Texas, a team many figured was the favorite to win the national title heading into the season. While it’s admirable that Napier’s team has never failed to give him max effort, that win isn’t enough for him to keep his job. Yes, we got a glimpse of the Florida we were expecting this year, but it just makes it more maddening for Gators fans that the season started the way it did. Napier needs to go on an absolute miracle run for reasonable conversations about his retention to take place.
9. Florida: Florida is a good football team. It really is. The Gators have had some bad injury luck, and quarterback DJ Lagway has gotten off to a slow start, but there are elements about this team that were always good enough to be competitive in the SEC. I wonder if the return of five-star true freshman wide receiver Dallas Wilson — who had six receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns – could be the catalyst for an offensive renaissance for Florida. It looked more functional offensively Saturday than it had all year. He is a future NFL player and things are so much easier for the quarterback when an elite-level receiver is on the field. Could Florida make a run? We’ll see against Texas A&M next weekend.
10. DJ Lagway: Florida’s offense is always going to excel when it is running the ball well. The Gators make so much bread off of play action, so it’s no wonder everything seemed easier against the Longhorns. Running back Jadan Baugh rushed it 27 times for 107 yards and the Gators averaged 4.3 yards per carry. Lagway got some help and began to look more comfortable. Weird, isn’t it? While preseason takes about him being the No. 1 quarterback in college football were certainly off the mark, if you watch the way he plays when things are working, you can at least see it was a reasonable prediction. He oozes with athleticism and has a rocket arm. He’s far from cooked.
11. Arch Manning: There’s something wrong. There’s no other way to put it. Though it’s too early to definitively say he stinks like so many people are doing, it’s impossible to watch Texas play this year and not see that the quarterback isn’t playing at a high level. He just looks uncomfortable, is erratic with accuracy and has been prone to throwing bad interceptions. Maybe the lens through which we’re grading him is skewed as a result of how hyped he was as a prospect, but the entire country was expecting high-level production. That’s not happening.
12. Texas: What’s going on with Texas is deeper than Manning, though criticizing the quarterback is always easy, low-hanging fruit. The offensive line is bad, offensive playmakers are struggling to be difference-makers, and the defense — stacked with proven, elite-level talent — got pushed around by the Gators. The quarterback hasn’t been what we’ve expected. However, the team, as a whole, has arguably underperformed collectively even more than Manning.
13. Oklahoma: Oklahoma came into the season looking at an impossibly tough schedule, hoping it could have a good first half of the season and at least play a competitive game with Texas in the Red River Rivalry. The Sooners got some bad luck with quarterback John Mateer a few weeks ago and they’ll be without their quarterback against the Longhorns. Guess what? Oklahoma looks like a better all-around team this year and the expectation for Sooners fans should be to win this game, even with Michael Hawkins. It’s going to be a crazy day in Dallas next Saturday.
14. James Franklin: Penn State’s head coach said during the offseason that he felt this was the best combination of personnel and coaching the program possessed during his leadership. That felt so true at the time. But now? How could Penn State go on the road and get beaten by one of the worst teams in college football? James Franklin hasn’t lost to an unranked team since 2021 and the Nittany Lions have been excellent under his leadership at beating the teams they’re supposed to beat. But a week removed from the heartbreaking loss at home to Oregon, Penn State suffered the most shocking upset in college football this season. Last week, people were saying this is the same old Penn State. No, this is worse.
15. Penn State and Texas. Who would have thought we’d be heading into week seven and neither Penn State nor Texas would have a single win over a Power 4 opponent? Texas and Penn State were two of the trendiest national title picks in the offseason, and their record is a combined 6-4. Both fell out of the Associated Press Top 25 poll altogether. When was the last time we all got two teams this wrong? Maybe one or both will fight back to do something this year, but I’m not holding my breath.
16. Nico Iamaleava: There isn’t a single player in the sport that has taken more punches this season than UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava. After leaving Tennessee in the offseason over an NIL dispute, he has had a dumpster fire of a season. But against Penn State on Saturday, he accounted for five total touchdowns and looked as confident and comfortable as we’ve seen him during his time in Westwood. If you’re going to pile on someone when things go bad, it’s important to give them their flowers when they go well. Have your moment, Nico.
BONUS: Want to hear something funny? UCLA interim head coach Tim Skipper now 25 percent as many wins over top-10 opponents as James Franklin at Penn State. He accomplished that feat in one game. Franklin’s record against AP Top-10 teams is 4-21.
17. Texas Tech: Could billionaire oil baron and Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell write enough checks to buy a championship team in Lubbock? That was the question heading into the season. In the Big 12, the best team in the conference is always in danger of losing, regardless of who they play each week. The conference is drunk. But given what the Red Raiders did to an undefeated Houston team on the road Saturday — blowing the Cougars out, 35-11 — they are making Big 12 wins look easy. Texas Tech is the most talented team in the Big 12 and moved its way into the top 10 in my poll. The Red Raiders deserve respect and are the clear favorite to win the Big 12.
18. Scott Satterfield: Coming into the season, it felt like Scott Satterfield was on the hot seat. But the Bearcats are off to a 4-1 start, and their only loss was a close game in the season-opener with Nebraska. Cincinnati beat up on previously unbeaten Iowa State this weekend — a difficult thing to do to a Matt Campbell-coached squad — to improve to 2-0 in Big 12 play. Cincinnati’s remaining schedule consists of UCF, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Utah, Arizona, BYU and TCU. The last four games are extremely difficult, but with the way quarterback Brendan Sorsby is playing, it may be time to start considering the Bearcats a contender in the Big 12.
19. Bill Belichick: It cannot be overstated how awful North Carolina is this season. Though it was always irrational to expect Bill Belichick to wave his magic NFL wand and deliver a 10-win season, the unit he put on the field isn’t even competitive. Just watching North Carolina try to tackle Clemson in the first half of their blowout loss to the Tigers on Saturday reminded me of watching the movie “Little Giants” (before the Giants got new uniforms). It’s truly difficult to watch and I can’t figure out how someone who won six Super Bowls could want to continue to subject himself to this.
20. Alabama is back: So many people gave up on Kalen DeBoer after Alabama got beaten up in the season-opener at Florida State. But Alabama now has consecutive wins over Georgia and a very good Vanderbilt team, making it feel like the Crimson Tide are fully back. Of course, the SEC schedule ahead of Alabama isn’t getting any easier, as it heads to Missouri next weekend. Alabama could lose another head-scratcher this season and lose the goodwill it has built up in the last month, but the Crimson Tide are a really good team. Quarterback Ty Simpson is playing out of his mind, enough so that he’s a Heisman Trophy favorite at the moment.
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