Commonwealth College Rankings-Week 3 (9-16-2025)
By: Joe Dillard Jr.
Headline Photo Credit: Suzanne Velasco-LMS Network
Commonwealth College Rankings-Week 3
The Top 12
- UVA
- JMU
- Liberty
- ODU
- Richmond
- VUU
- William & Mary
- VMI
- NSU
- Hampton
- V Tech
- VSU
Coming off a bye week is Virginia State who will have a trip to Winston Salem State for a CIAA matchup. A strong win here will get the Trojans off to a good start in the CIAA. The other honorable mention is the struggling Hokies of Virginia Tech as they are 0-3 and just fired head coach Brent Pry which is a disaster as the players have a 30 transfer portal window to leave Tech if they wish. The crazy thing is they still can win the ACC if they find a reason to play better.
#10 Hampton (1-2) with a devastating loss to North Carolina A&T 33-30 in overtime puts the Pirates at (0-1) for CAA play. With Howard up next they will have a chance to be .500 however will need to be prepared for the conference battles ahead.
Norfolk State comes in at #9, having suffered a tough loss against Rutgers. However, each game they play seems to be a learning lesson, and we have yet to see if those lessons will pay off. With Sacred Heart coming up, they look to get back on the winning side of things.
#8 is a new-looking VMI squad that took on Bucknell on the road and gave them everything they had falling short 28-35 and will have to turn right around and prepare for an in-state battle with Richmond. A win against Richmond would be huge for a program rebuilding.
#7 is William and Mary as they took everything UVA could throw at them losing 16-55 and will have Georgia Southern to pour their frustration out on. If that’s the case then the Tribe will be right back in the thick of things for a top 5 spot.
#6 is the only non-division I program in the top ten. Virginia Union has been the face of the state having successful conference championships and playoff wins however this season they have the pressure of being ranked top 5. This is the one time they will have leniency with the rankings. Losing 38-41 in Florida to Edward Waters University. I called this a playoff practice run so you can see how things go wrong. To travel to Florida and then play in front of 523 can be a little confusing but no excuse as the Panthers have used their one mulligan already.
Coming in at #5 is Richmond who took a lump as well losing to North Carolina 41-6 and really just needed to face superior competition to prepare for their first season in the Patriot League conference.
Coming off a huge win in Blacksburg 45-26, #4 ODU has its highest ranking in the CCR and we will see how they respond as they have back-to-back in-state games and will take on Liberty after a bye week so the preparation for the game should have the Monarchs with claims to an early 2-0 in-state record.
#3 is Liberty who took a loss to Bowling Green 13-23 and will have back-to-back in-state opponents in JMU and then ODU which could propel them to the top spot with consecutive wins or could drop.
#2 JMU who had a bye week travels to Liberty and will have a huge in-state matchup that will determine who is the best small school to compete with our number one team.
#1 UVA did exactly what I asked them to do which was to dominate an in-state battle and continue to move forward. 55-16 states they are defending home but will have to win some big battles in the ACC to make people believe they are the real deal. With Stanford and Florida State coming to town back-to-back weeks we will know if there is some buzz going on in Charlottesville.
