Greetings, BBN!
The Top State last week was Florida, but it certainly isn’t this week! The Sunshine State beat itself up by giving USF a fantastic road win while dealing the Florida Gators a devastating home loss. That kind of zero-sum game football won’t get you anywhere with awards like this. Same in Iowa. The Hawkeyes and the Cyclones aren’t going to win their state the Top State prize on Cy-Hawk
week, no matter what happens. While it won’t be the case every week, the winner and runner-up this week were two states that (1) had no same-state schools playing each other and (2) every FBS team in that state won. Let’s dive into it:
Honorable Mention: Missouri
Only one FBS team resides in the Show-Me State, and it’s Mizzou, which made sure its neighbor, Kansas, had a winless week! The Tigers upended their fierce rivals, the Kansas Jayhawks, in an epic 42-31 battle in Memorial Stadium. Mizzou trailed 21-6 at the end of the first quarter but tied it at half and battled back and forth throughout the 3rd and 4th quarters to eventually prevail. The state of Missouri thus had a pretty good week, but not quite as good as the state before it in alphabetical order…
The Top State: Mississippi
The Magnolia State has three schools: Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Miss. All three won on Saturday, and the two SEC schools got it done against real competition—no FCS teams or mid-major buy-games. Ole Miss went to Lexington, Kentucky and outlasted the Wildcats in a 30-23 win that was back-and-forth and was greatly aided by a missed pass interference call in the 4th quarter while UK was driving into the Rebels’ red zone. Mississippi State impressed even more by taking out a top-12 opponent. #12 Arizona State came to Starkville and the Bulldogs were ready, trailing 20-17 deep into the 4th quarter but connecting on a 58-yard pass with 30 seconds left to upset the Sun Devils and improve to 2-0 on the year. Those two results made the day for the state and probably would’ve been enough to win it the award, but Southern Miss making it a state sweep with their 38-20 win over FCS Jackson State sealed it.
Thus, Mississippi is the Top State for Week 2 of the 2025 college football season.
