Commonwealth Collegiate Rankings Week 14 (12-2-2025)
By: Joe Dillard Jr.
Headline Photo Credit: Darrell Owens-LMS Network
Boy oh boy, we need to see this final month out when it comes to the top teams and how they will finish as we are left with 5 games to cover this week with two of them playoff games while others are looking for a chance to win a conference title. Again, as I stated last week, poor Old Dominion, as they have a (9-3), (6-2) record, and will have to watch the Sun Belt title game with Troy (8-4), which has the same conference record as them. Oh yeah, they happened to beat Troy 33-0 and that quite frankly grinds my gears! Sunbelt needs to fix this, but anyway, off my rant here we go with the top 10. Virginia is for lovers remember?!?
10. Virginia State University (6-4). A couple of seasons in a row with momentum but not long enough to make it to the postseason. They jump back in the top ten with a 6-4 record for Division II and will look to fix that in-state record of 0-2 as this is already a competitive state for recruiting so the Trojans will need to get one of those games next season. 4-3 in the CIAA and posting a 3-1 home record were some of the highlights of this season. Giving Mike Vick and the Spartans their first and only win will be the story of this season.
9. Shenandoah College (8-3) Losing on a last-second field goal against Wilkes College in the Cape Henry Bowl game 35-37 marks the second consecutive season the Hornets have lost in this bowl game. Trailing 21-34 at the end of the third quarter, the Hornets fought in the fourth quarter with two 8-play drives for touchdowns that led to their first lead of the game with only 2:08 left. 14 plays later, yes 14 plays with 2:08 left to go Wilkes lines up for a 20-yard game-winning field goal. The Hornets are in a good position to continue to build and hopefully next season they will have that extra push they were missing this season.
8. College of William and Mary (7-5) Going 6-2 in the conference is a great record except as we mentioned before three of the four teams above the Tribe are post-season bound. That speaks highly of the conference however this keeps the Tribe on the outside looking in and they will need to find a year where both the offense and defense are booming on all cylinders, and I believe that it would provide a great post-season run. Losing 21-28 for the first home loss has to leave a bad taste in an up-and-down season. Finishing 1-2 with in-state battles is not a good look for trying to get some shine in your own state.
7. University of Richmond (7-5) Winning 28-21 against William and Mary propels the Spiders one slot ahead of the Tribe as they have identical records. With the move to the Patriot League, Richmond finished 4-3 in conference play and did a good job with having first-time opponents in the new conference. Going 2-0 against in-state competition shows they have a handle on what is going on in-state and will focus on finding ways to compete against Lehigh and Lafayette. Ending the season on a good note beating a rival should send good energy to the program as the win against William and Mary makes the move look good.
6. Virginia Union University #17 (9-3) After a great regular season, the Panthers lost at home in the first round of the playoffs to California University of Pennsylvania 24-27. Spotting them 14 points in the first quarter and playing from behind the whole game proved to be too much for Virginia Union to overcome. Having a great offensive line and running back is one thing but if you fall behind and don’t have a solid passing game, it will hurt you in the long run. Union had a whopping 85 yards passing and without that balance teams stacked the box for Curtis Allen and limited him to 21 carries for 128. That would be good stats in a normal game but when you rely on the run you would need more than that. In the two playoff losses, the Panthers had a total of 233 passing yards. It seems things had to be perfect in order to advance and that was not the case the past two weeks for the Panthers.
5. Randolph Macon College #17 (9-2) Dropping down to number 5 with a first-round loss to John Carroll 6-35. In the first quarter, the YellowJackets looked like they wanted all the smoke on the road trailing 6-7 (ha-ha). However, John Carroll locked the gates for the YellowJackets and outscored them 28-0 in the final three quarters of the game. This was a testament to playing a great competitor at the beginning of the season and needing to collect that win just to host a first-round playoff game as Randolph Macon has played great football over the past couple of years. Maybe they can come out early and gain that quality victory as they lost to Central College which would have earned them a home playoff game. They seem to have the same fate as William and Mary had with a great season only to go on the road to have a tough opponent. Great season, and hopefully they understand the assignment for next season as those early big matchup tests are pivotal to playoff seeding.
4. Christopher Newport University #7 (10-1) Winners of 10 straight with an undefeated regular season gives the Captains the fourth spot on the countdown as they lost at home to Susquehanna 28-42 as the River Hawks jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Great season from the captains and as I mentioned, playing the backup and then having to run it back generally takes away the home-field advantage as the first game was in Newport News. I’m sure the Riverhawks were not scared of the road trip. A week off usually means you have a slow start and this was not the time to have that happen. A lot for these young men to hang their hat on but ultimately they will have deep memories of this event.
3. Old Dominion University (9-3) If a team has a reason to be mad look no further you have the Monarchs who have had a marvelous season and will not even be rewarded with a title chance but will at least have a chance to obtain a 10-win season pending which bowl game they are in. Handling Georgia State 27-10 in the final game of the regular season proved key for all of Monarch Nation to scream BAH HUMBUG all winter as they do not get a chance to compete for a Sunbelt Championship. What a great season for ODU as they have a complete turnaround from last season and look to improve on this season as we watched them travel to Indiana and compete along with a first half of good competition against JMU which would have been a great Sunbelt Title Game.
2. University of Virginia #16 (10-2) The Hoos have exercised the demons that are known as the Virginia Tech Hokies winning 27-7 which clinches their spot in the ACC title game against Duke which could lead them right into the College Football Playoffs. As it is hard to beat a team twice, UVA will try to keep the formula for the title game as similar as the game in Durham where they beat Duke 34-17. This will be a great matchup but with the pressure all on UVA to win the conference title we will see how they respond to all this adversity that is waiting for them in Charlotte, North Carolina. Great season and with everything on the line for UVA, they seem to be battle-tested and will look to earn their first ACC title in decades.
1. James Madison University #19 (11-1) 10-game winning streak doesn’t happen every day in college football but here we are with a 59-10 thumping of Coastal Carolina which puts the Dukes in a prime position to get national recognition as they head to the SunBelt Championship against Troy at Home! A thumping again is required in order to receive some national attention which the rankings continue to raise the Dukes as they are ranked 19th but did not make the top 25 in the college football playoff rankings. This could be the last week at number one for both UVA and the Dukes to obtain conference titles. Perhaps the CFP committee could show me another way with both teams entered. Troy first and then we will be able to talk about this in depth.
