Commonwealth College Rankings-Week 4 (9-24-2025)
By: Joe Dillard Jr.
Headline Photo Credit: Brynne Smith-LMS Network
As we head into October with the last week of September games, teams are starting to find their stride and multiple teams still have conference championship aspirations. Winning is the first step in all of this and let’s see who is trending up. Hampton drops out of the top 10 and has lost their footing with a 34-7 loss to rival Howard and will have to turn right around to travel to Elon where hopefully they can stop the bleeding. Virginia State went on the road and won 34-33 in a thrilling conference game. Not closing out, however winning on the road moves you up one spot and maybe the Trojans can find momentum as they travel to Fayetteville State.
#10. Norfolk State (1-3) Coming off a 28-31 loss to Sacred Heart, the Spartans are barely in the top ten. The only win was against Virginia State who is waiting for their chance to leapfrog them despite losing to the Spartans. The Spartans will travel to Wagner and will have their hands full trying to stay alive in the top ten.
#9. Virginia Military Institution (1-3) took one on the chin against Richmond 38-14 and will head back home to host Chattanooga where we will need to see if this team has improved over the weeks. Hopefully, with a win the season can be revitalized into opportunistic thoughts. Again, last season the Cadets only won one game so that second win would provide some type of spark for the program.
#8. Virginia Tech (1-3) The Hokies only needed the traditional blame it on the coach situation to find the winners circle dominantly beating Wofford 38-6. With N. C State up next, the Hokies will get to compare themselves to a thriving UVA team that lost to NC State 35-31. This could be the turnaround that puts the Hokies into ACC chatter.
#7. Liberty (1-3) Losers of three straight after falling apart in the second half against JMU 13-31 and will look to rebound against a hot Old Dominion team that is steadily rising to the top. Looks like the Flames will have to figure something out as conference play is right around the corner.
#6. Virginia Union (2-1) With a 28-10 win against Johnson C Smith, one of the top teams in the CIAA propels Union into conference play where they are the favorites to win. To stay this high we will need to see complete football from this program along with dominant outcomes. They seem to be well on their way as they travel three straight weeks to North Carolina as they play Shaw University next.
#5. William and Mary (2-2) The Tribe looked the part against Charleston Southern however we are looking for back-to-back weeks of this as they have lost after both wins and will try to get things rolling with a daunting task of traveling to 20/22 Ranked Villanova. With a win we definitely can bump the Tribe up, however, this is a hard game that will determine what the Tribe is made of and we will need to see if this is a win that propels them into a playoff run or another reminder that to be ranked you must have a complete team.
#4. Richmond (2-2) The Spiders handle VMI 38-14 with no problems as they continue to show why they are a force to be reckoned with. Howard will be coming into town and that should be a victory for Richmond, but Howard just roughed up Hampton 34-7. This should be a game where they blow Howard out to prove again why they left the CAA. They also have William and Mary on the schedule to prove that point even further.
#3. Old Dominion (2-1) Perhaps the team of the year thus far and since there are no mid-season awards Old Dominion comes in at number 3 as they had a bye week and look to prepare for a struggling yet desperate Liberty Flames. With a win, the Monarchs have the right to mention themselves as the number one team, however, the winning part should be the only concern of the Monarchs. Great chance to move on to 3-1 as they had two weeks to prepare for Liberty.
#2. James Madison (2-1) The Dukes do nothing but play 4 quarters of football regardless of who the opponent is, which is why they have been one of the top programs in the state over the last decade. With a close game going into the fourth, you would not have known if you just looked at the 31-13 final against Liberty. This is why the best teams find multiple ways to win games and compete on every down. Georgia Southern is up next and the Dukes are knocking right at the number one spot.
#1. Virginia (3-1) 1-0 in the ACC is a great start beating Stanford 48-20 and starting 3-1 is another reason to get excited, however #8 Florida State is traveling to Charlottesville and if the Hoos can pull off this upset, then I just don’t see them moving from the top spot. Even with a competitive loss they might be able to hold on to the spot. It’s been a while since there has been a game this big in Virginia and we will all have to keep our eyes on this one.
