NCAAF · 6 months ago

2025 College Football Season: Ranking Best Week 5 Games

TJ Inman

Host · Writer

5. Auburn at Texas A&M - September 27
Few coaches are under as much pressure in 2025 as Auburn’s Hugh Freeze. The Tigers have been building towards this season since Freeze was hired, and the time to deliver is now. They have invested heavily in the portal and have built a good roster with strong high school recruiting, but the schedule is demanding from the outset, and Freeze will need to have new quarterback Jackson Arnold ready to roll right away. Auburn begins with a trip to Baylor, and they play at Oklahoma on September 20. This will be the third difficult road test of the season, and the calendar will not have even turned to October. Texas A&M has high hopes for Mike Elko’s second season in College Station, and they will be coming off a bye week.

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1. Alabama at Georgia - September 27
There are many storied traditional rivalries in the South. Alabama and Georgia are decidedly not one of those. There's no question that these two have been the standard-bearers in the SEC for the past decade or so, and this has quickly become one of the most important games annually in college football. The Crimson Tide have comfortably owned this series in recent years with wins in nine of the ten meetings, including a 41-34 win last season in Tuscaloosa. The Tide have not visited Athens since 2015 (a 38-10 whipping by Alabama before Kirby Smart took over at UGA), and this game figures to have large conference and national implications.

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2. Oregon at Penn State - September 27 at 7:30 pm
The rematch of the Big Ten Championship Game from 2024 occurs in Week 5. Keep in mind that the game did not involve the Ohio State Buckeyes. OSU won the national title, but the Big Ten Championship was decided in Indianapolis between the Oregon Ducks and the Penn State Nittany Lions. PSU returns its core and hopes to push for a league and national championship this season. Oregon has a lot of turnover, but the Ducks are accumulating talent nearly as well as anyone in the country. This one has already been set for the night and designated as the “White Out” game in Happy Valley, so the atmosphere will be up there with any in the country.
3. LSU at Ole Miss - September 27
The LSU Tigers and Ole Miss Rebels have met on a mostly annual basis since they began playing each other in the late 1890s. The Bayou Bengals have had the better of things, winning 66 meetings to Ole Miss’ 42, but the two have split meetings in the past four contests, and the games are typically entertaining and high-scoring affairs. The last time these two played in Oxford, Ole Miss won a 55-49 shootout! This is a big season for Brian Kelly in Baton Rouge, and it’s another tricky road test early in the season.
4. USC at Illinois - September 27
USC and Illinois are considered sleepers for one of the 12 College Football Playoff bids. The Illini will be coming off a game against the Indiana Hoosiers and will either be riding high after a big win or desperate to keep the season’s hopes alive after a defeat. USC plays Missouri State, Georgia Southern, Purdue, and Michigan State before this contest, so the Trojans should be 4-0 entering Champaign. The two schools have only met 13 times, and USC’s last trip to Illinois resulted in a 55-3 win for the Trojans. This one should be far more competitive.
5. Auburn at Texas A&M - September 27
Few coaches are under as much pressure in 2025 as Auburn’s Hugh Freeze. The Tigers have been building towards this season since Freeze was hired, and the time to deliver is now. They have invested heavily in the portal and have built a good roster with strong high school recruiting, but the schedule is demanding from the outset, and Freeze will need to have new quarterback Jackson Arnold ready to roll right away. Auburn begins with a trip to Baylor, and they play at Oklahoma on September 20. This will be the third difficult road test of the season, and the calendar will not have even turned to October. Texas A&M has high hopes for Mike Elko’s second season in College Station, and they will be coming off a bye week.

Stay ahead of the game and elevate your sports betting experience with SportsGrid.
1. Alabama at Georgia - September 27
There are many storied traditional rivalries in the South. Alabama and Georgia are decidedly not one of those. There's no question that these two have been the standard-bearers in the SEC for the past decade or so, and this has quickly become one of the most important games annually in college football. The Crimson Tide have comfortably owned this series in recent years with wins in nine of the ten meetings, including a 41-34 win last season in Tuscaloosa. The Tide have not visited Athens since 2015 (a 38-10 whipping by Alabama before Kirby Smart took over at UGA), and this game figures to have large conference and national implications.

Have all the intel you need? Free actionable info is one click away! Sign up for our daily newsletter, SportsGrid Daily.

2025 College Football Season: Ranking Best Week 5 Games

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