RADIO
12: Memphis Tigers
Memphis was one of my favorites to make the college football playoff last year. Ashton Jeanty proved that one terrific player can carry a Group of Five team and got Boise there instead. Memphis still doesn’t have that one larger-than-life player, but they do have many good players. Will that be enough?
Memphis loses WR Roc Taylor, RB Mario Anderson Jr., and QB Seth Henigan from a potent offense, but the Tigers hit the portal hard to offset these losses. They hit it harder than Boise and UNLV did. Memphis brings in QB Brendon Lewis from Nevada (formerly of Colorado), RB Rashad Amos from Mississippi, and WR Jadon Thompson from Louisville. They may be a little more unproven than the departed, but Memphis also revamped the defense. Eight new starters perforate the defense and make them much better than last year. Not only that, but Memphis added a lot of depth (nine more on the two-deep on defense and four more on offense). Depth can be king in college football.
11. Georgia Tech
Indiana and SMU crashed the party last season. Who will do it this year? Georgia Tech is a strong contender. Haynes King is in Year 3 in this system, and RB Jamal Haynes was a force last year. The Bees shored up the WR room with a high-profile transfer in Florida International’s Eric Rivers. Teammate Dean Patterson is also joining King and Rivers in Atlanta.
Continuity on offense is a big plus, but even bigger is Georgia Tech’s schedule. Tech gets Colorado in the opener, but the Ralphies are replacing two of the top three players in the Heisman voting. It’s going to take some time, and Tech gets them before the offense has time to click. They also get Clemson at home this year. After that, it’s smooth sailing until Clean Old-Fashioned Hate closes the season. Georgia Tech would have won that game if not for a missed targeting call last year. Georgia is not the same team they were last year, and Tech looks better. It could be a magical season in Hot-lanta.
10: Miami (FL)
Another year, another transfer portal in which Clemson stayed put with what they have, and Miami reloaded. SMU got an easy road last year. This year, they get all the teams they dodged last season. That means SMU plays both Miami and Clemson, and the Ponies will have a hard time beating either one of them.
Given SMU’s schedule and Clemson’s lack of remarkable additions while losing Phil Mafah, this is Miami’s race to lose. The Hurricanes moved on from the flash of Cam Ward to the steady hand of Carson Beck. Georgia fans are quick to point out Beck’s shortcomings, but they’re spoiled. I’ve watched enough of Beck to know that he can excel in this offense.
Joining Beck in Coral Gables is former Liberty and LSU wide receiver CJ Daniels. Daniels is the veteran leader of a very young (and very raw) WR room that is going to feel the losses of Xavier Restrepo, Jacolby George, and Sam Brown Jr. Who will step up alongside George?
Miami has two monsters in the first month of the season (Notre Dame and Florida) before the schedule gets significantly easier. The only tough game after that is at SMU. The best part? Miami doesn’t have to travel out west for a game this year. They get Stanford at home. A three-loss ACC team made it into the playoff last year. Miami can get in this year with two.
9: Texas
You might think this is low, but I have my reasons for placing Texas here. First off, Quinn Ewers, Matthew Golden, Isaiah Bond, and Gunnar Helm are all Day 2 picks in the NFL Draft or better. The Longhorns also lost nine defensive players to the draft and only brought in two projected starters from the portal. There’s a lot of turnover on the roster, and Texas opens the season at Ohio State. Ouch.
Texas also has to play at Florida and Georgia this year. The only saving grace is that they draw A&M at home to finish the season. Arch Manning has looked good in limited time, and the Longhorns will have CJ Baxter back with Quintrevion Wisner in the backfield. There are all kinds of questions at wide receiver. True freshmen Kaliq Lockett and Jaime Ffrench will be asked to step up alongside Ryan Wingo and DeAndre Moore Jr. Not quite Bond, Golden, and Silas Bolden, is it?
Texas has enough talent to keep me from leaving them off the list completely, but a tough schedule means the Longhorns have little room for error. Georgia likely won’t be as good as last year, but Florida should be significantly better. Two September losses can have lingering effects on a team. Texas is the most tentative team in my way-too-early playoff.
8. Iowa State
The Cyclones just missed out on the playoff last year, thanks to a blowout loss to Arizona State in the Big 12 (16) Championship. The schedule is more friendly this year since the Cyclones open with Farmageddon instead of ending the season with it. After the CyHawk game in Week 3, Iowa State won’t be tested again until a mid-October meeting with BYU in Ames.
Iowa State dodges an improved Baylor team and a potentially tough Texas Tech team in conference play. Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel are going to be hard to replace, but East Carolina’s Chase Sowell and Central Florida’s Xavier Townsend should fit nicely in this offense. QB Rocco Becht returns, as does the entire backfield of Carson Hansen and Abu Sama III.
7. Oregon
That pair of Nikes in your closet helped Oregon throw buckets of money at Evan Stewart to stick around another year and brought in Florida State’s Malik Benson. Those two will form one of the better WR duos in college this year. Tulane’s Makhi Hughes takes over for Jordan James in the backfield. Who replaces Dillon Gabriel?
Oregon spent big in the portal on Bo Nix and Gabriel in the last two years to lead the team. Now, the Ducks are prepared to turn the reins over to redshirt sophomore Dante Moore. That’s a big question mark on an otherwise loaded offense.
The good news for Ducks fans is the schedule. They do have to play at Penn State, but that game is at the end of September, before it gets really cold. USC, Wisconsin, and Indiana are all home games. Oregon doesn’t have to play Ohio State, Illinois, or Michigan this year. This isn’t quite an Indiana-esque conference schedule, but it’s not far off, either. The biggest out-of-conference test is Oklahoma State. That’s an easy OOC schedule.
6. BYU
The Cougars had a legitimate complaint about being left out last year. They backed it up by thrashing Colorado — who was at full strength, by the way — in the Alamo Bowl. All of the skill players on offense from 2024 return in 2025, led by B-Y-Jew fan-favorite Jake Retzlaff.
The Cougars won’t be tested out of conference, and the Holy War is at home. A trip to Ames in October followed by Texas Tech the week after are potential stumbling blocks for the Cougars, but this is essentially the same team — a team that likely should have been a playoff team in 2024 — with an extra year of experience.
5. South Carolina
This was the team that I shamelessly plugged as being wrongfully left out of the 2024 playoff. The Gamecocks proceeded to lose to Illinois in one of the stranger bowl games of last season. While that loss stings, the future looks bright in Columbia. Super-freshman (now sophomore) LaNorris Sellers returns at quarterback. Utah State’s Rahsul Faison will replace Rocket Sanders. Take it from me: Faison might be just as good.
The receiver room is unproven with six true freshmen vying for roles behind Nyck Harber, Jared Brown, and Mazeo Bennett. Sellers will need at least one of those receivers to step up for the Gamecocks to expound on the promise that they showed in 2024. The defense lost 10 players from a tough unit last year, but Alabama transfer Justin Okoronkwo will anchor an all-new linebacking corps that looks really good on paper.
4. Florida
Florida had a brutal schedule — considered one of the toughest in college football history — in 2024. It’s not much better in 2025. Florida plays at LSU, at Miami, vs. Texas, and at Texas A&M in four consecutive weeks starting in mid-September. If that isn’t enough, they still get Georgia, Tennessee, and a game in Oxford against Mississippi. I likely have the Gators too high, but the talent on this team is insane.
Freshman DJ Lagway saved Billy Napier’s job last year. He could take the Gators to the promised land this year. Lagway will have a ton of weapons at receiver. Former California standout and UCLA wallflower J. Michael Sturdivant joins Snoop Mizell and Eugene Wilson III. Touted freshman Dallas Wilson is expected to see time in multi-receiver sets. In the backfield, Jadan Baugh looked really good as a freshman last year. He will take over full-time for the departed Montrell Johnson.
The Florida defense played well down the stretch. All 11 starters this year were on the team last year. Most of them started. They will miss Cam Jackson in the middle of the line, but D’Antre Robinson looks like a great fit. All in all, this team is talented enough to get through that schedule with two or three losses. If that’s the case, the Gators are playoff-bound.
3. Ohio State
The amount of talent leaving Columbus for the pros is better than the personnel on over 100 college football FBS teams. Quinshon Judkins, Emeka Egbuka, Will Howard, TreVeyon Henderson, Josh Simmons, Donovan Jackson, Jack Sawyer, Tyleik Williams, Denzel Burke, Lathan Ransom, and JT Tuimoloau are all expected to be picked within the top 100 picks of the NFL Draft this year. That’s a lot of production to replace.
Unlike last year, the Buckeyes are building from within. All 11 defensive starters were on the roster last year, led by former Alabama star Caleb Downs. The Buckeyes also didn’t spend big bucks on a quarterback again, instead opting to turn the keys to the Ferrari over to Julian Sayin. He has one of the best targets in college football in Jeremiah Smith. Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss are no slouches either.
Former West Virginia battering ram CJ Donaldson will take over the role of feature back with James Peoples and true freshman Anthony Rogers expected to take some carries. This is a differently built Ohio State team than the one that won the title last season, but that doesn’t mean they’re worse.
A tussle with Texas highlights the opening week, but after that, Ohio State won’t be tested until the Illinois game in Champaign in Week 7. The Buckeyes avoid Oregon, Indiana, and a potentially tough Nebraska team (who tested them last year) and get Penn State at home. This is a favorable enough schedule.
2. Penn State
Forget for a minute that James Franklin is coaching this team and can’t win a big game. The personnel is in place for another deep run. The only significant loss on the offense is Tyler Warren. Abdul Carter and Kobe King leave holes in the defense, but those are holes that can be filled in-house. Senior running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton will split the backfield load again.
I have been openly critical of Drew Allar for much of his three years at Penn State. His playoff performance made me look like I know what I’m talking about. However, it’s not all on Allar. He still didn’t make many mistakes, but his receivers outside of Warren did him no favors, either. The addition of Troy’s Devonte Ross and USC’s Kyron Hudson gives Allar his best tandem of receivers to date.
Penn State does play all three fellow 2024 playoff teams from the conference this season, but two of them (Indiana and Oregon) are home games. If they split those and lose to Ohio State, a two-loss Penn State is once again playoff-bound.
1. LSU
It’s no secret how I feel about Brian Kelly, but the man can build a football team. Garrett Nussmeier might lead the nation in passing yards this year. Oklahoma’s Nic Anderson and Kentucky’s Barion Brown join Aaron Anderson to form the best starting WR trio in the country. Caden Durham was an electric freshman last year and will lead the backfield in 2025.
As far as SEC schedules go, LSU has a pretty favorable one. Florida, South Carolina, and A&M all make trips to Red Stick. A trip to Clemson in Week 1 could be tough, as will a trip to Oxford. The Tigers head to Tuscaloosa and Norman in November. LSU will likely need to win both of those to live up to my hype, but the talent is in place for them to do so.
