The first College Football Playoff Rankings of the 2025/26 season come out after Week 10 in early November. There’s a chance the Indiana Hoosiers will be ranked No. 1 and the Vanderbilt Commodores will be ranked in the top 10.
It’s a bold new world. One that the NIL era has ushered in.
As USA Today’s Paul Myerberg noted, the two teams’ success – IU’s bookended by a 56-6 destruction of the UCLA Bruins at home and Vandy’s by a 17-10 win over the previously one-loss No. 15 Missouri Tigers – represents the increased parity the sport now has with players getting paid.
Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia’s heroics and Tigers signal-caller Beau Pribula’s second-half injury were essential to the tale being told.
“This is the world we live in: No. 2 Indiana is an absolute behemoth and No. 10 Vanderbilt is pretty damn good, too. The Commodores scored one of the biggest regular-season wins in program history by beating Missouri 17-10, securing the victory with a late defensive stand after taking the lead on a Diego Pavia touchdown run with under two minutes to play. Now 7-1 and with beleaguered Texas up next, Vanderbilt is inching closer to an unexpected playoff berth that would speak to the wildly increased level of parity in the Power Four. Pavia had 149 yards of offense and that one score while Missouri lost starting quarterback Beau Pribula to an injury early in the second half,” Myerberg wrote.
Neither Indiana's nor Vanderbilt’s wins were necessarily surprising. The Hoosiers were favored by four touchdowns and won by over seven, while the Commodores were favored by a field goal and won by a touchdown.
By and large, these were cut-and-dry results within the context of this and last season. But it’s one thing to talk about these programs being in contention for the College Football Playoff and another when that’s the reality in late October.
Preseason hype is being lived up to in both cases. Or really, surpassed. IU’s success feels more sustainable under Curt Cignetti, but Clark Lea cannot be counted out until further notice.
The new world order in college football is here, and it’s the least likely suspects anyone would’ve believed two years ago.