College Football Preview 2025
It is August so you know what that means, college football is just around the corner. So let’s get you ready for the season with everything you need to know before game 1 and week 0!
Rankings, New Rules, Betting Odds, 2025 Tidbits and tune into the podcast episode to hear my CFP Predictions!
Rankings:
Wrapping up last year: 49 teams ended up ranked at some point during the season. 13 teams that were ranked at the end of the year in the final rankings that weren’t at the beginning of the season including 3 in the top 10. Arizona State was the highest at #7. On the flip side, Florida St started the year as preseason #10 and ended up being 2-10.
This year’s rankings: the AP poll isnt out yet but the Coaches is. The SEC has the most teams with 8 in the Top 25. Texas, Ohio St, Penn St, Georgia and Notre Dame are the top 5.
New rules:
- If medical personnel enter the field of play to look at an injured player after the ball is spotted, that player’s team will be charged a TO. If they don’t have any TOs remaining they will get a 5 yard penalty.
- The Dan Lanning rule: if a penalty of 12 men on the field happens in the final 2 minutes, then there is an option for the offensive team (the one not getting the penalty) can chose to add time back on the clock.
- If any player on the return team for kickoffs makes a T signal then it is considered a fair catch and the ball cannot be advanced.
- Sec defensive delay of game. Shifts that cause linemen to jump offsides will be a penalty.
- Universities can now pay athletes as well. There is essentially a salary cap of $20.5MM to give out to their players (all sports).
There is also a new seeding system for the CFP and its more straight forward. The top 4 teams ranked #1-#4 will be byes and the top seeds. Super simple. No more preferential treatment for the conference champions. Notre Dame is super happy about this.
2025 Season
First game of the year is Farmegedon: Iowa St vs K St in Ireland for the Aer Lingus Classic @11am on ESPN (KSt -3)
Only other P4 in action in Week 0 is only Kansas and Stanford.
Week 1: Action begins on Thurs – Mon.
- Thurs: Neb vs Cinci is in arrowhead
- Fri: Auburn vs Baylor, GT vs CU
- Sat: Tx vs Ohio St, Bama vs Florida St, LSU vs Clemson, Cal vs Ore St, Utah vs UCLA
- Sun: ND vs Miami, VT vs South Carolina
- Mon: TCU vs UNC
Upcoming great matchups:
Week 2:
- Michigan vs OU
- Kansas vs Mizzou – old big 12 rivals
- Arizona St vs Miss St
- Iowa vs Iowa St
- Baylor vs SMU
Week 3:
- Texas A&M vs ND,
- Wis vs Bama,
- Pitt vs WV – the Backyard Brawl
Week 4:
- Apple Cup: Wazzu vs Wash
- Civil War: Ore vs Oregon St
- Iron Skillet: SMU vs TCU
- Florida vs Miami
Week 6: Boise St vs Notre Dame
Week 8: USC vs Notre Dame
Transfer Portal Drama Games:
- Duke quarterback Darian Mensah at Tulane on Sept. 13
- Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold at Oklahoma on Sept. 20
- Texas A&M receiver Mario Craver vs. Mississippi State on Oct. 4
- Ohio State tight end Max Klare at Purdue on Nov. 8
- Oregon defensive tackle Bear Alexander vs. USC on Nov. 22
- LSU receiver Nic Anderson at Oklahoma on Nov. 29
Superlatives:
- Toughest schedule: Florida
- Easiest: Wake Forest
- Toughest home games: Miss St (they have a O/U of 1.5 SEC wins – Yikes!)
- Easiest home games: Texas
- Toughest away games: Syracuse
- Easiest away games: Mizzou
- Homebody: Miami doesn’t leave the state of Florida except SMU on Nov 1
- Friday Night Lights: Houston plays 3 Friday games
- Jet setters: Washington has a tough travel schedule.
Favs:
- Big 12: K St even with Texas Tech but 5 teams all at +650 or lower
- ACC: Clemson -110 (Next 2: Miami, Louisville)
- Big Ten: Ohio St +200 then Penn St +225 (Ore +350)
- SEC: Texas +250, UGA +360, Bama +400
Heisman Odds:
- Arch Manning (TX) +700
- Cade Klubnik (Clemson) +900
- Garrett Nussmeier (LSU) +900
- Jeremiah Smith (Ohio St) +1100 – only non-QB in the top 6
Some Tidbits:
According to the Playoff Predictor there are 32 teams with a 10% chance or better of reaching the playoff – the most variability in a long time.
Group of 5 top chance at CFP: the odds say it should be Boise St, Tulane, Memphis, Liberty and James Madison.
This is supposed to be Penn State’s year; they are #1 in the power rankings. They have a tenured QB, 2 powerful RBs, and seem to be set up for another CFP run. But they have to beat defending champs Ohio St and flying under the radar but last year’s Big ten champs, Oregon.
There are a lot of new QBs this season. Think about it, how many can you name? Clemson has one of the most tenured QB with Cade Klubnik. Remember Nico Imaleava from Tennessee – well he is now at UCLA. Michigan is supposed to have one of the most talented QBs in Bryce Underwood.
Big 12 is projected to be crazy again. 18 is the highest ranked Big 12 team. Texas Tech is outspending the rest of their conference in football. Let’s see if it pays off. It certainly did on the softball diamond.
New old coaches: WV Rich Rod is back in Morgantown. He was born in WV, played at WV, was a HC for WV from 2001-2007 and now he’s back. Also turns out he has a vendetta against Tik Tok. UCF Scott Frost is back to UCF which is the school he left to go to Nebraska and we all know how that went. he put the Corn Huskers on blast at Big 12 media days too. Not a good look! In case you dont follow College Football in the offseason or have been living under a rock, Bill Belichick is now the head coach of UNC. His new fiance Jordan is also helping him manage today’s players in this new role. We will see if Super Bowl rings can translate to a CFP run.
New conferences:
- Pac 12: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State, Utah State, Washington State and Texas St.
- Sun Belt: pictured
Claire’s CFP Predictions:
- Ohio St
- Oregon
- Penn St
- Texas
- Alabama
- Florida
- Clemson
- Georgia Tech
- Texas Tech
- Baylor
- Tulane
- Notre Dame
