CFB Week Five Preview (National):
#8 Florida State-UVa, #4 LSU-#13 Ole Miss,
#6 Oregon-#3 Penn State Welcome Spotlight
(DG’s “This Week In CFB” YouTube Show = below)
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Sept. 25, 2025)
The 2025 college football season continues Thursday through Saturday with a compelling Week Five schedule.
The most prominent games nationally this time (each previewed below) include intra-league clashes in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference and Big Ten Conference, respectively: #8 Florida State at Virginia on Friday night, #4 LSU at #13 Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon, and #6 Oregon at #3 Penn State on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, in the Old North State, East Carolina is hosting Army in a Thursday night clash on ESPN, Duke and Appalachian State face difficult road trips, Wake Forest is hosting nationally ranked Georgia Tech, and NC State will try to bounce back from its first loss while taking on Virginia Tech in Raleigh.
Here are more details on our “Three To See” selections from this week’s national schedule:
National “Three To See,” Game One
#8 Florida State (3-0) at Virginia (3-1), Fri., 7 p.m. (ESPN)
While any league’s TV partners can exercise their “flexibility windows” and move the game time for a desirable matchup into a more prominent TV window within a given Saturday pretty late in the process, made-for-TV games on Thursday night and — in this case — Friday night are picked well in advance of the season.
With that in mind, it’s safe to say that both the ACC and its long-time TV partner, ESPN, really lucked out with this Florida State-Virginia matchup.
Instead of 2-10 FSU, it will be coach Mike Norvell‘s rejuvenated national contender, the 3-0 and nationally ranked Seminoles. On the UVa side, it will be a 3-1 team that is by far the best of coach Tony Elliott’s four seasons in Charlottesville, a group whose only loss — 35-31 at NC State — came down to a UVa throw into the end zone in the final minute or so of play.
The resurgence of the Cavaliers is based on a lot of things, including a fantastic dual-threat quarterback in Chandler Morris, much better play on the offensive line than what the Wahoos typically offered in recent seasons, and UVa’s willingness to throw some money around in the transfer portal.
Morris, a North Texas transfer who previously was a part-time starter at TCU, is completing more than 70 percent of his passes this season, with eight touchdown throws and only that one (very costly) interception at NC State. A nifty scrambler, he’s been sacked only once in four games while also making a ton of key plays with his legs.
NC Central transfer J’Mari Taylor has looked very good at running back, and three more transfers are leading the way at wide receiver, including Cam Ross from JMU, who’s also very dangerous as a return man.
Florida State’s defense will serve as the biggest test of the season — by far — for UVa’s explosive offense, and the key will be whether the Cavs’ improved line can still hold up against much stiffer competition.
The other key in this game will be whether UVa’s defense, which is competitive but definitely not dominant, can stand up to a Florida State offense that, according to some metrics, ranks #1 nationally.
Under new coordinator Gus Malzahn, an offensive wizard who previously served head coaching stints at Auburn and UCF, the Seminoles scored 31 points while running the ball very effectively against Alabama, then put up 77 and 66 points against inferior opponents in the aftermath of that successful opener against the Crimson Tide.
FSU’s new quarterback, Tommy Castellanos, is a Boston College transfer who’s a great athlete but who can be an inconsistent downfield passer, which is why he lost his starting job with the Eagles last season. Castellanos hasn’t had to throw the ball more than 14 times in any game this season for the Seminoles, in part because of their huge leads but also because of a rejuvenated FSU rushing attack behind a much-improved line.
For UVa (a six-point underdog) to have any chance at an upset, the Cavs’ defense somehow will have to keep Castellanos in the pocket and force him into being more of a passer, which is much easier said than done.
National “Three To See,” Game Two
#4 LSU (4-0) at #13 Ole Miss (4-0), Sat., 3:30 p.m. (ABC)
Let’s start with an extremely unusual Fun Fact for this All-SEC affair: LSU star linebacker Whit Weeks is dating Landry Kiffin, who’s both a student at Ole Miss and a daughter of Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin. That’s certainly not the sort of on-field dynamic one sees very often in major college football.
The betting line in this game has gone back and forth — LSU as a slight favorite, Ole Miss as a slight (one-point) favorite — but the bottom line is that these appear to be two outstanding SEC teams, as their perfect records and high rankings indicate.
It is worth mentioning that both of LSU’s biggest wins so far — at Clemson and against Florida — don’t look nearly as good as they once did, because both of those teams are really struggling right now. It also should be noted that Ole Miss just destroyed a pretty good Tulane team, 45-10, after posting narrow conference wins over Kentucky and Arkansas.
So far this season, Ole Miss has been elite offensively, and LSU has been elite defensively, so it will be strength-versus-strength when the Rebels have the ball.
With Jaxson Dart now starting for the New York Giants in the NFL, Ole Miss has utilized two quarterbacks this season, and the Rebels really like both of them. Kiffin said redshirt sophomore Austin Simmons is definitely the team’s QB1 when fully healthy, but he’s been battling hip and ankle injuries. Senior Trinidad Chambliss, a transfer from Division Two national champion Ferris State, played most of the way in the Rebels’ last two victories, over Arkansas and Tulane.
LSU, meanwhile, has the higher-profile QB in NFL prospect Garrett Nussmeier, but the Tigers’ offense hasn’t yet hit on all cylinders.
Finally, the Ole Miss and LSU depth charts are overflowing with players the Rebels and Tigers snagged from the ACC and/or the state of North Carolina via the transfer portal.
For the Rebels, the list includes starting left tackle Diego Pounds (UNC), wide receiver Deuce Alexander (Wake Forest), starting tight end Dae’Quan Wright (Virginia Tech), starting linebacker TJ Dottery (Clemson), starting cornerback Chris Graves Jr. (Miami) and starting kicker Lucas Carneiro (Western Carolina). For LSU, it’s starting center Braelin Moore (Virginia Tech), starting safety Tamarcus Cooley (NC State), starting cornerback Mansoor Delane (Virginia Tech), starting defensive end Patrick Payton (Florida State) and starting linebacker West Weeks (Virginia).
It’s actually stunning how many former ACC players — and typically former ACC starters — will be participating in this game as starters for these teams.
National “Three To See,” Game Three
#6 Oregon (4-0) at #3 Penn State (3-0), Sat., 7:30 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
Back in 2008, the “Football Outsiders” website created a college football efficiency metric called “SP-plus,” which makes adjustments to each team’s game-by-game data for both tempo and the caliber of its competition.
According to that metric here in 2025, 4-0 Oregon is the best team in college football so far this year, and 3-0 Penn State is #2. These teams also are both in the top six nationally in this year’s polls, so this could be a truly special matchup on Saturday night, with Big Ten implications and College Football Playoff implications and all the rest.
Both head coaches in this game, Oregon’s Dan Lanning and Penn State’s James Franklin, have done pretty much everything you can do except win a national championship, although there’s a lot more pressure on Franklin because he’s in Year 12 with the Nittany Lions.
The Ducks went 13-1 and won the Big Ten title just last season, in their first year as members of that league and just their third year under Lanning, although they lost 41-21 to eventual national champion Ohio State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
Franklin led Penn State to the Big Ten title in 2016 and had five top-10 finishes in his first 11 seasons with the Nittany Lions. There’s a decent chance both of these squads could be in the playoff again this season.
Oregon has defeated its four opponents this season — including Oklahoma State, Northwestern and Oregon State — by an average score of 50-9. Similarly, Penn State has won its three games by an average score of 44-6.
The Nittany Lions’ top NFL prospects include 6-foot-5, 235-pound senior quarterback Drew Allar and senior running back Nicholas Singleton, who’s in his fourth season as a starter in Happy Valley, while the Lions’ top tackler so far this season is linebacker Amare Campbell, a post-spring practice transfer from UNC.
Meanwhile, the Ducks could have four first-round NFL picks next season, including junior edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei, fifth-year senior offensive tackle Isaiah World (a Nevada transfer), junior safety Dillon Thieneman (a Purdue transfer) and junior tight end Kenyon Sadiq.
The biggest questions in this game are probably whether Penn State’s oft-criticized offense can deliver big numbers against a highly ranked opponent, and whether new Oregon QB Dante Moore — who had only five career starts, all at UCLA, prior to this season — can build on his impressive start with the Ducks against a really good defense in a really difficult environment, with more than 100,000 spectators expected at Beaver Stadium on Saturday night.
NOTE: For the in-state edition of our Week Five college football preview, including analysis on the highest-profile games, plus schedules and TV/streaming options for all 32 teams (FBS, FCS, Division Two, Division Three) in the Bold North State, please click HERE.
