2025 College Football Mid-Season Report: Success in Bloomington, Woes in Happy Valley Headline Intriguing First Half

As the frontrunners in college football’s 2025 season come into focus, multiple teams and players have highlighted the season’s first seven weeks.

The fall season brings familiar sights to college football fans across the United States. Whether it’s the SEC holding a commanding lead of the AP Poll each week or numerous quarterbacks atop the Heisman ratings, many aspects of the sport are almost guaranteed year in and year out.

Nonetheless, a bit of a bizarre beginning to the 2025 season has taken effect. For instance, Penn State has had a negatively unprecedented start in its journey to return to the College Football Playoff for a second straight year. However, after dropping three straight games, two of which to unranked teams, losing starting quarterback Drew Allar to a leg injury against Northwestern on Oct. 11, and, most recently, firing head coach James Franklin after the team’s 3-3 start to the season, the Nittany Lions have found themselves in a bit of a predicament through about the first month and a half of the 2025 campaign.

One could argue, however, that Penn State’s decline has allowed for another Big Ten team in the Indiana Hoosiers to take the limelight. After a first-round exit to Notre Dame in the 2024-2025 College Football Playoff, Indiana’s revitalized team has continued to impress in 2025.

At the helm of the Bloomington team is head coach Curt Cignetti. In just his second season with the program, Cignetti has turned around the 2023 team’s 3-9 record to 11-1 in 2024 and now 6-0 in 2025. Cignetti’s tenure in Bloomington has spurred the Hoosiers to a new level as Indiana looks to become a consistent threat in the Big Ten. 

Additionally, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, in his first season with the Hoosiers after transferring from Cal during the offseason, has played a pivotal role in the team’s success through its first six games. After taking over for Indiana’s 2024 quarterback Kurtis Rourke, Mendoza has already made a name for himself atop the Heisman watch list by guiding the Hoosiers with 17 passing touchdowns, ranking him fourth in the league in the category.

Whether Indiana’s first-half momentum continues will be a key storyline throughout the 2025 regular season. Regardless, the vibes are high in Bloomington as the Hoosiers look to make a second consecutive CFP appearance.

As with most college football seasons, the quarterback play leads the conversation across the league. What’s more, a sort of divide among these quarterbacks – between the stat leaders and the Heisman contenders – has been created as a result of schedule strengths from the players’ respective teams.

» Sawyer Robertson – Baylor

» Josh Hoover – TCU

» Jayden Maiava – USC

» Jalon Daniels – Kansas

Robertson and Hoover are the respective one and two leaders atop the passing yards and passing touchdown leaders in college football. Throw in Jalon Daniels tied with Hoover in the touchdown category and note Maiava as third in the league in passing, and you have a solid core of four players with great individual starts to the season.

However, the lack of schedule strength and AP Poll recognition are what are taking away from these stat leaders' Heisman chances. Of the four quarterbacks’ respective teams, only USC is currently ranked in the Week Eight AP Top 25 Poll at No. 20. Although each quarterback’s individual stat line has been impressive thus far, the success of their respective teams will likely cause them to fall in the Heisman watch.

» Carson Beck – Miami

» Ty Simpson – Alabama

» Fernando Mendoza - Indiana

» Haynes King – Georgia Tech

» John Mateer – Oklahoma

» Trinidad Chambliss – Ole Miss

» Dante Moore – Oregon

The Heisman race is loaded with players that have had hot starts with their respective teams in 2025. These quarterbacks include some that have been with their teams for at least two seasons, and others that found new schools through the transfer portal over the offseason.

Along with the aforementioned Mendoza, Beck, Mateer, and Chambliss have all thrived in their new roles after transferring to their respective teams during the offseason. Indiana, Miami, and Ole Miss all sit within the Top Five of the Week Eight AP Poll, and Oklahoma lies just outside the current CFP bracket at No. 14 in the poll. Mendoza has arguably the most impressive of the four thus far, after the transfer from Cal secured two wins against ranked teams for the Hoosiers with a blowout 63-10 victory against No. 9 Illinois on Sept. 20, and a solid, 30-20 win over No. 3 Oregon on Oct. 11.

Simpson, King, and Moore, all having been with their respective teams for at least one season prior to the start of the 2025 season, have led their squads to formidable starts to begin the season. Most notably, Simpson has helped rejuvenate the Crimson Tide’s offense after the Tuscaloosa team missed out on the 2024-2025 CFP.

Currently, Beck, Simpson, and Mendoza lead the Heisman odds watch through the first half of the season. However, given Simpson’s rather impressive stat line thus far, as well as his help leading Alabama to three consecutive ranked wins – No. 5 Georgia on Sept. 27, No. 16 Vanderbilt on Oct. 4, and No. 14 Missouri on Oct. 11 – the quarterback’s first-half resume on the 2025-2026 season may give him the upper hand when the season concludes.

Though the quarterback is typically the focus throughout the college football season, great play from non-quarterbacks should not go unnoticed.

With a handful of running backs going to the NFL, such as Ashton Jeanty, Omarion Hampton, and RJ Harvey, a new name in Ahmad Hardy has emerged at the top of the position. Through six games, the Missouri back has posted a whopping 782 yards and nine touchdowns and has averaged 6.8 yards per attempt. His best game of the season thus far was against the University of Louisiana, where he outburst for 250 yards and three touchdowns. In just his sophomore season, Hardy has proven to be a forbidding task for defenses across college football.

Ohio State, while still having quarterback Julian Sayin playing at an elite level, has just as good, if not better, players at their respective positions.

Coming off a monster 2024 season where he ranked fourth in receiving yards with 1,315 and tied Heisman-winner Travis Hunter for second in touchdowns with 15, Smith has already climbed to second in receiving touchdowns on the 2025 season with seven. In just his sophomore season, Smith has arguably become the current face of the college football’s wide receiver position.

Though it is still early to tell which teams will make the end-of-season tournament, here are my somewhat early CFP predictions after seven weeks:

The CFP Field:

1. Ohio State (Big Ten Champ)
2. Ole Miss (SEC Champ)
3. Miami (ACC Champ)
4. Indiana
5. Texas A&M
6. Oregon
7. Alabama
8. Georgia
9. LSU
10. Texas Tech (Big-12 Champ)
11. Oklahoma
12. USF (American Champ)

Just Missing Out: Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame

Barring any major setbacks, the top eight teams in the CFP are almost certain locks to make the tournament. Additionally, the auto-bids for conference champions will allow for Texas Tech and USF to nab first-round spots. Nonetheless, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame are all in solid position to make a second-half push to clinch a playoff berth.