It’s that time of the year again. In just three days, the Florida State Seminoles and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will travel across the pond and open up the season in Dublin, Ireland. So with the 2024-2025 season approaching, it’s time to preview our top 25 teams in college football. We’ll be analyzing their strengths, key players, and what fans can expect from them. These rankings are based on a combination of recent performances, roster talent, and potential for playoff success.
1. Georgia Bulldogs
2023 Record: 13-1
It’s no surprise that Georgia enters our list as the best team in college football. The Bulldogs come into the 2024-2025 season with high expectations after a series of dominant seasons, and Carson Beck will be looking to make his mark before he heads to the NFL. With a solid roster of returning starters and another top-tier recruiting class, the Bulldogs are poised to win their third national championship in four years.
2. Oregon Ducks
2023 Record: 12-2
Oregon will enter the Big Ten as the best team in the conference. Last year, they fell just short of the College Football Playoff thanks to Washington who handed them both of their losses. The Ducks come into this season with an even better team than last year, but will have to go through a tough Big Ten schedule. But Coach Dan Lanning and transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel will be up for the challenge, and will look to secure their spot in the expanded 12 team College Football Playoff.
3. Texas Longhorns
2023 Record: 12-2
The Texas Longhorns are looking to return to the Playoff after a big year under Steve Sarkisian. Like Oregon, they made the jump to their new conference at the perfect time. With Quinn Ewers back for his junior year and four starters returning on the offensive line, the Longhorns have the talent to make a serious run this season. Key SEC games against Georgia and Texas A&M, and Oklahoma will be crucial in determining how far Texas can go.
4. Ohio State Buckeyes
Look for the Ohio State Buckeyes to take a major step forward offensively this season. Led by a talented transfer quarterback Will Howard and an always-talented receiving corps, the pressure is on Ryan Day to finally deliver a National Championship. Defensively they will return arguably the best unit in the country. With Michigan predicted to regress this season, the pivotal game on their schedule really comes against Oregon in week six.
5. Alabama Crimson Tide
2023 Record: 12-2
We believe Alabama’s tradition of excellence should continue under the leadership of Coach Kalen Deboer. How soon it will happen is too early to tell. But he has been a winner everywhere he goes, and should form an explosive offense in year one with quarterback Jalen Milroe. With those two leading the way, Alabama should remain in the thick of the playoff race.
6. Ole Miss Rebels
2023 Record: 11-2
This may be the best team Lane Kiffin has put together on paper. Losing top running back Quinshon Judkins to the transfer portal stung. But Ole Miss brought back most of its top talent from a successful prior season while dominating in the transfer portal. The Rebels will have one of the most explosive offenses in the country thanks to QB Jaxson Dart. Suddenly, they have very strong defense led by transfers Walter Nolan and Princley Umanmielen. Ole Miss also avoids Texas and Bama in the regular season, giving more legitimacy to the program’s SEC title hopes.
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
2023 Record: 10-3
Marcus Freeman will be looking for a spot in the Playoff in his third year with the Irish. After finding some success with quarterback Sam Hartman from Wake Forest, the Fighting Irish are once again turning to a transfer in ex-Duke signal-caller Riley Leonard. However, Notre Dame is still a defensive-first team led by superstar safety Xavier Watts. Since the team lacks any conference affiliation, Notre Dame will be ineligible to receive a crucial first-round bye. This means they’ll have to be nearly perfect if they want to make the playoff. With a relatively easy schedule, their three toughest games are against Texas A&M, FSU, and USC. We believe Notre Dame will need to beat at least two of those three teams to make the playoff.
8. Clemson Tigers
2023 Record: 9-4
Clemson doesn’t have much hype coming into this season, but the situation in the ACC makes us believe they will regain control of the conference. FSU will likely regress after losing 10 players to the draft, and Miami has never really proved anything since joining the conference. The bottom line is Clemson’s defense is good enough to keep the team in contention for the ACC championship and a College Football Playoff spot. Whether quarterback Cade Klubnik improves will determine if the Tigers can reach an even higher ceiling.
9. Utah Utes
2023 Record: 8-5
Another team going under the radar this season are the Utah Utes. They enter the Big 12 as our top team in the conference thanks to returning starters Cam Rising and Brent Kuithe. The two are grown men who decided to play one more season in college due to injuries suffered last season. Thanks to them, Utah should regain a lot of offensive production they were missing last year. They’ve always had a solid unit defensively under Kyle Whittingham, which is why we think they will compete for the Big 12 championship in their first year.
10. Missouri Tigers
2023 Record: 11-2
Missouri’s offense should be one of the best in the country next season. Headlined by the nation’s best receiver in Luther Burden III and one of the SEC’s best QBs in Brady Cook, Missouri could find a way to get back to back 10 win seasons for the second time in program history. For the Tigers to truly hit their ceiling, the defense will need some unproven players to step up. For an SEC team, they have a pretty favorable schedule. Missouri’s toughest games will come against Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Alabama. If they win at least one of those games and don’t slip up elsewhere, a playoff appearance could be within reach.
11. Miami Hurricanes
2023 Record: 7-6
We like the makeup of Miami’s roster, their solid recruiting and work in the portal might make it the best in the ACC. But they still need to prove it to us. Miami has been no stranger to preseason hype, only to completely squander it just a few weeks in. Maybe we’re being unfair, but Miami needs to show that they’re for real before they deserve to be in anybody’s preseason top ten. The good news for us is their first big test will be massive rivalry game against Florida on week one. Win or loss, we’ll find out if this is a top 25 team in college football very quickly. Regardless, Miami should have a team good enough to win most of their ACC games. Their biggest challenge will be handling their in state rivals Florida and Florida State.
12. Penn State Nittany Lions
2023 Record: 10-3
Penn State has been a model of consistency in the Big Ten, but we don’t believe James Franklin will be taking them over the hump anytime soon. The Nittany Lions will stay afloat thanks to a strong defense, but will only go as far as QB Drew Allar takes them. Luckily, they only play two preseason ranked opponents in USC and Ohio State. With a favorable Big Ten schedule ahead, Penn State will need to be nearly perfect to challenge Ohio State or Oregon for the conference title and a spot in the College Football Playoff.
13. Arizona Wildcats
2023 Record: 10-3
Even with a new head coach, Arizona has a great chance of winning the Big 12 and thus making the College Football Playoff. The Wildcats have a few potential first-round picks and a top-10 quarterback in the nation in Noah Fifita. That, along with a relatively easy schedule, should help Arizona find double digit wins and challenge Utah for Big 12 supremacy.
14. Tennessee Volunteers
2023 Record: 10-3
The Nico Iamaleava era has finally begun in Knoxville. He started the Citrus Bowl in Milton’s place and gave Tennessee a glimpse of his potential, racking up four total touchdowns (three rushing, one passing) in a 35–0 win over Iowa. If Iamaleava lives up to the hype, Josh Heupel and the Vols have a chance to recapture their magic from 2022. They’ll also return possibly the best edge rusher in the country, James Pierce Jr. If Tennessee can get by NC State and Oklahoma early in the season, look out.
15. USC Trojans
2023 Record: 8-5
Losing a QB like Caleb Williams should cause most offenses to regress heavily the following season. But for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans, the opposite may be more likely to happen. The Trojans will air it out heavily with QB Miller Moss, who will have former five-star recruit Zachariah Branch at his disposal. They also put a lot of work into their defense after surrendering the third most points per game last season (34.4). But we are tempering our expectations as they move into the Big Ten. They’ll have to open up the season against LSU, followed by conference matchups against Michigan and Penn State. Finally, they end the season against rival Notre Dame. With a schedule like that, USC will have a big challenge reaching a 10-win season.
16. Michigan Wolverines
2023 Record: 15-0
We think a variety of factors will lead to Michigan having a bit of a down year after coming off of a National Championship. Losing Harbaugh and several players to the NFL, a new-and-improved Big Ten, and an unproven starting QB are amongst the biggest reasons we think they’ll fall behind this year. On top of all that, they have to open up the season against Texas. With USC looming in week three, the Wolverines could find themselves in big trouble early in the season.
17. Oklahoma State Cowboys
2023 Record: 10-4
The Cowboys will be poised to get back into the Big 12 Championship in Ollie Gordon’s final year. Their crucial matchup will come against Utah in week four. Coach Mike Gundy will need to show significant improvement in last years 123rd ranked defense if they want another shot at winning the Big 12.
18. Florida State Seminoles
2023 Record: 13-1
After a great yet disappointing 2023, the Noles will look to win the conference again, but this time secure a playoff spot. Unfortunately, we believe neither will be happening for FSU this season. Last year’s team was largely made up of quality transfers, most of which are not on the team anymore. They’ll look to replace Jordan Travis with DJ Uiagalelei, a decent QB but almost certainly a downgrade. Defensively they lost so much, but the elite talent is there on the defensive line. The pass rush duo of Patrick Payton and Georgia transfer Marvin Jones Jr. is still one of the ACC’s best. Opening the season early against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland, would scare me as an FSU fan. Games against Florida, Miami and Notre Dame won’t make this year any easier. The way we see it, FSU will need one more year to rebuild before they challenge for the ACC title again.
19. LSU Tigers
2023 Record: 10-3
Speaking of rebuilding, the Tigers are another team that we think lost too much production coming into this season. But even after losing three superstars on offense (Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr.), LSU should still be able to put up some points in 2024 with its elite offensive line. However, we still have questions about how much better LSU’s defense got after finishing outside the top 100 last year. LSU also has a pretty rough SEC schedule in addition to facing USC to start the year. That USC game may be the most important on their schedule, since it could decide the trajectory they go on for the rest of the season.
20. Iowa Hawkeyes
2023 Record: 10-4
Iowa’s defense has been known to keep them in most games, and that theme should continue this year. Losing DB Cooper Dejean hurts, but the Hawkeyes return 10 starters on defense. There is also hope that they will improve their abysmal offensive production after Brian Ferentz was fired by his father, head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa acquired Tim Lester, who oversaw four top-35 offenses in his five seasons as head coach at Western Michigan. But we haven’t mentioned the best thing about the Hawkeyes this year—their schedule. They somehow avoid every elite team in the Big Ten except for Ohio State, which means a 10 win season really isn’t that far out of reach.
21. Kansas Jayhawks
2023 Record: 9-4
The Big 12 will be deeper than most expect this year thanks to teams like Kansas and Kansas State putting themselves in the mix. The Jayhawks should be able to build on last year’s momentum if quarterback Jalon Daniels can stay healthy. The duo of Daniels and Devin Neal should allow the Jayhawks to put up plenty of points. Their secondary headlined by some of the Big 12’s best corners, Cobee Bryant and Melo Dotson. A very favorable schedule should give Kansas a chance to reach their first double-digit win season since 2007.
22. Texas A&M Aggies
2023 Record: 7-6
We think a competent coach like Mike Elko will get the most out of this roster Jimbo Fisher left him. The Aggies had an unbelievable amount of transfers this offseason, but they still field one of the top 25 teams in college football in terms of talent. Unfortunately, the Aggies must replace top returning rusher Rueben Owens (season-ending lower-body injury). However, Texas A&M projects to be strong up front with Purdue transfer Nic Scourton — last year’s Big Ten sack leader — joining Shemar Turner, DJ Hicks and Shemar Stewart on the defensive line. Connor Weigman should continue his efficient play at QB, ultimately resulting in a decent turnaround for the Aggies in a loaded conference.
23. Boise State Broncos
2023 Record: 8-6
Boise State is our favorite non-power five team to finish in the top 25 and secure a spot in the College Football Playoff. They return a Heisman-hopeful running back in Asthon Jeanty, who rushed for 1,916 total yards and 19 touchdowns last season. On the recruiting trail they landed five-star QB Malachi Nelson, who was expected to start immediately. As it turns out, Nelson lost the job to Maddux Madsen, a former three-star recruit who started some games for the Broncos last year. We look at this as a positive for Boise State, who also returns a top 20 offensive line. Whoever the signal caller is for them, they should enjoy a huge year and a potential playoff bid.
24. Oklahoma Sooners
2023 Record: 10-3
We’re pretty sure most people have the Sooners way higher than this, and if they were still in the Big 12, we would too. Brent Venables has the Sooners headed in the right direction, but they ended up with the worst schedule in College Football out of the top 25 teams. Oklahoma will have to face six teams ranked in AP’s Preseason College Football Top 25. And unlike Texas, the Sooners aren’t fully retooled just yet. Former five-star recruit Jackson Arnold is still unproven at quarterback and they will be fielding a brand new offensive line. Their talented receiver corps and loaded defense will have to keep them competitive in their first year of SEC play.
25. Liberty Flames
2023 Record: 13-1
Few programs in the country have as dynamic a QB as Kaidon Salter. He and RB Quinton Cooley will make up one of the most dynamic rushing attacks under Jamey Chadwell. While the team No. 1 WR C.J. Daniels for LSU, Liberty should dominate the Conference USA en route to another undefeated regular season. Their offensive prowess alone should make them good enough to be one of the top 25 teams in college football.
Final Thoughts
That caps off our list of the preseason top 25 teams in college football. Let us know who we snubbed, who we overrated, and who we overlooked. The 2024-2025 college football season is set to be one of the most competitive in recent memory. With a mix of traditional powerhouses and rising programs, the battle for the 12 Playoff spots will be intense. Each of these college football teams in the top 25 have a legitimate shot to make the postseason, something I never thought possible just a few years ago.
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