Commonwealth Collegiate Rankings Week 5 (10-1-2025)
By: Joe Dillard Jr.
Headline Photo Credit: Arturo Jones-LMS Network
With coaches fired and players entering the portal, it makes you appreciate when your program is having a good year. We have been keeping an eye on those teams that are ascending in the rankings and those wasting opportunities to gain momentum we have some interesting views this week. We start to enter conference play where we can almost root for up to 7 different teams from the state to win their conference. CAA, MEAC, ACC, Patriot League, CIAA, ODAC, NJAC, SoCon, Conference USA, so there are plenty of reasons to be rooting for local teams trying to achieve national recognition.
We must give credit to the teams that have not lost this season yet and that puts Christopher Newport (3-0) and Hampton Sydney (4-0) in our honorable mention slot as they will eventually collide if they continue to stay undefeated. Using the local state talent CNU beat #13 Susquehanna University 41-27 which should give them a ranking in the Division III poll. Meanwhile, Hampton Sydney went to Guilford College and handed them a 69-14 beatdown and will host Washington and Lee at home. The Captains will travel to Rowan University in a huge matchup.
#10. Hampton (1-4) taking a 20-41 loss to Elon on the road puts Hampton at risk of falling out of the top 10. The Pirates have had issues on defense all season long and that is not a good recipe for success. With Norfolk State coming across the bridge and tunnel, one can only wonder if the Pirates will show up and earn an in-state victory. We know the loser of this one is out of the top 10.
#10. Norfolk State (1-4) With a tough loss against Wagner 13-18 the Spartans come back in state after playing up north and will travel to Hampton in the Battle of the Bay where the winner will have bragging rights while the loser will find themselves out of the top 10. It appears that Norfolk State needs to bring all three phases of the game together and find a rhythm and good things can happen, but we have yet to see that.
#9. Virginia Military Institution (1-3) Coming off a Bye week, we hope the Cadets are prepared for Chattanooga to come in town and look to win their second game of the season, surpassing last season’s total of one victory. With other teams struggling it appears they have more time to find some momentum going into conference play.
#8. Liberty (1-4) The wheels have completely fell off the wagon as they fall to ODU 7-21 and will have to jump into conference play with very little momentum having head coach fired and just not having any luck this season with the in state opponents so hopefully with conference games in front of the Flames maybe they can catch a vibe and start to string together some complimentary football. They travel to Texas to face UTEP and hopefully will have their backs against the wall and play with urgency.
#7. William & Mary (2-3) Traveling out to number 20/22 Villanova and competing until the end coming up short 24-31. This was a huge test where they needed all three phases to compete against a tough Villanova squad. The Tribe will welcome North Carolina A&T to Zable looking to improve to 2-1 in the conference which only has the Villanova loss as a strong loss along with UVA and that would leave the opening loss to Furman. If the Tribe can run off the conference games, they could be respected by the playoff committee respecting the out-of-conference schedule and having more home games for a playoff push.
#6. Virginia Tech (2-3) Putting 2 wins in a row means they are trying to turn a new leaf as I projected previous weeks back and now, they find themselves with an ACC title in reach with a victory over North Carolina State 23-21 which gives the Hokies more reason to believe they are still the best team in the state. With Wake Forest up next and Georgia Tech after that, a (4-3, ACC 3-0) team would be looking to fit in the college football playoff. Just like we told the Cavaliers, one game at a time.
#5. Virginia Union (3-1) With a 59-7 thrashing of Shaw, the Panthers are starting to focus on the big picture if they can run the rest of the CIAA out and have a big chance to win a Division II National Championship which is why they are so high among the Division I programs. Some would believe that the Panthers could compete with all the mid-majors in the state.
#4. Richmond (3-2) A close narrow win puts the Spiders at number 4 with a win against Howard University 13-12. By any means necessary as the Spiders transition into the Patriot League and this looks like a good Richmond team that is trying to make a good run. This week the Spiders travel to Bucknell for a huge challenge and will see if they can improve to 4-2.
#3. Old Dominion (3-1) Winning the state right now is ODU who handled Liberty 21-7 and will continue to gain national recognition. They are rooting for the Hokies to go on a run since they handled them convincingly and control their own destiny to a conference championship. The Monarchs welcome Coastal Carolina this week as the only thing that matters is winning each week. I hope the Monarch nation show out for the game.
#2. James Madison (3-1) The Dukes 35-10 win over Georgia Southern shows they are not satisfied with anything but going 1-0. The Dukes are starting to play some great football and will travel to Georgia State which could be a trap game before homecoming where they welcome ODU for what could be the biggest in-state game of the year. Only if both teams win, then can we anticipate that, but Georgia State might have plans of its own.
#1. Virginia (4-1) 95 Vibes!!! That was the theme as UVA handed #8 Florida State their first loss 46-38 in double overtime and made a splash nationally. The hard part starts now as they will be targeted by the rest of the ACC trying to prove their value. A trip to Louisville is not a party like 1995, but if Virginia gets this win, then we could be looking at the highest ranking in over two decades. No pressure at all just continue playing complimentary football and focusing on the goal at hand. This is my favorite out of the state to make the college football playoffs. We shall see but taking one week at a time makes you fall in love with the process which should yield the results of your work.
