The start of the college football season is officially right around the corner when the AP Top 25 poll drops. It will do so on Monday.
Ahead of the big reveal, On3 has taken a stab at projecting the initial AP Top 25 rankings. We’ve included the full projection, tabbing the 25 teams we think the Associated Press will deem worthy of being ranked.
So without wasting any time, let’s get into it. Who is the projected No. 1 team in this year’s preseason AP poll?
Arguably no team in America has a quarterback as hyped as Arch Manning. He’s been waiting in the wings for two years, and now it’s his team. He’s got ample weapons to work with, too, on a clear preseason top 25 squad.
Quintrevion Wisner is a monster at running back, having already proven what he can do. Ryan Wingo will help anchor a receiving corps that includes some major new talent, including Five-Star Plus+ freshman Kaliq Lockett. The schedule is once again quite tough, though, starting with the opener against Ohio State.
Penn State has a returning starter at quarterback. Drew Allar wasn’t asked to do a ton for most of last year, but he slowly came into his own and was playing really good football by year’s end.
From top to bottom, Penn State might have the most talented roster in the country. There are still question marks about the quality of the receivers, but that might be the only real iffy spot on the roster.
Georgia lost a talented starting quarterback from the 2024 squad, with Carson Beck taking off for Miami. Gunner Stockton, who filled in for Beck due to injury in the College Football Playoffs, will take over the reins for the preseason top 25 contender.
Kirby Smart‘s recruiting over the years will, of course, always have Georgia competitive. Can the Bulldogs manage a schedule that includes games against both Alabama and Texas, as well as Ole Miss, Tennessee and Florida?
With a quarterback battle ongoing, it’s not entirely clear who will lead Ohio State out against Texas in Week 1. Whoever it is will have the luxury of working with Jeremiah Smith, arguably the best skill position player in the game, as well as an excellent supporting cast.
The Buckeyes also have talent all over the field on the opposite side, with Caleb Downs leading what should once again be a loaded defense. The good news, schedule-wise? Ohio State avoids Oregon this year.
There’s a common theme with much of the Top 10 going into the year. Most of the teams have a good returning quarterback. That’s certainly the case at Clemson, where the Tigers have Cade Klubnik back and more confident than ever.
But the Tigers are also loaded along the defensive front, potentially as talented as they’ve been there in years. The schedule starts off with a bang — a Top-10 LSU team is coming to town — so we’ll learn about how ready Clemson is in a hurry.
When you’ve got a weapon like Jeremiyah Love in the backfield, you have a chance to have a special offense. The Fighting Irish have to figure out the quarterback position after losing Riley Leonard, but that gets easier to do with a workhorse back.
The schedule might be the tricky part to navigate. Notre Dame takes on Miami and Arkansas on the road, as well as Texas A&M and USC at home. There are a handful of other potential stumbling blocks, but the four aforementioned are likely the biggest hurdles.
Jalen Milroe is gone, so Alabama will probably be much closer to Kalen DeBoer‘s ideal offense in 2025. But that’s some elite playmaking lost. Milroe ran for 20 touchdowns a year ago and that’s never easy to replace.
Still, the Crimson Tide have an abundance of talent. The schedule is difficult but not outrageous, with road trips to Georgia and South Carolina and a home date with LSU the toughest outs.
Oregon replaces starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel but has former Five-Star Plus+ prospect Dante Moore waiting in the wings. The rest of the offensive cast is loaded with talent, even after losing a couple star skill players to the NFL.
The Ducks also really lucked out on the schedule. Not only do they avoid the Buckeyes, but they also don’t take on Michigan this fall. A road trip to Penn State will be brutal, but every other game on the schedule looks like it will have Oregon favored, a surefire sign of a Top 25 team.
The Tigers have a Heisman-caliber quarterback returning in Garrett Nussmeier, and he’ll be counted on to lead Brian Kelly‘s squad out of the perennial 9- to 10-win range and into the Playoffs. He’s good enough to get that done.
As noted with Clemson, the start of the season will tell us a lot. That season opener could provide a lot of confidence for the team going forward… or it could create a wave of noise for Kelly and company to deal with.
Cam Ward is gone and replacing the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft won’t be easy. But you can’t do much better in terms of landing a high-profile guy than Carson Beck. Beck has settled in nicely early in fall camp, throwing again after his season-ending injury in 2024.
Mario Cristobal has clearly elevated the talent on the roster at Miami and there’s been tangible year-over-year improvement. Can the Hurricanes put it all together and avoid the mental slip-ups that cost them key games last year?
Rest of the Projected AP Top 25: 11-25
11. Illinois Fighting Illini
12. Arizona State Sun Devils
13. Michigan Wolverines
14. South Carolina Gamecocks
15. Kansas State Wildcats
16. Florida Gators
17. SMU Mustangs
18. Ole Miss Rebels
19. Tennessee Volunteers
20. Oklahoma Sooners
21. Texas Tech Red Raiders
22. Texas A&M Aggies
23. Indiana Hoosiers
24. Iowa State Cyclones
25. Louisville Cardinals
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