The 2025 college football season is just a few weeks away. Ahead of that, CBS Sports has released its Preseason Top 25 rankings.
A Preseason Top 25 ranking can be a thankless task. Particularly, in the modern era of player movement, it’s difficult to tell exactly how any individual team will perform. After all, there are times when transfers don’t work out and times when they do so better than anyone expected. There is also still some time in Fall Camp before the season begins, and some teams, even highly ranked ones, have questions to answer before toe meets leather.
For CBS Sports’ Preseason Top 25, voters came together to rank every team, through 136, in FBS football. That should give some consensus to who made it to the Top 25, as can be seen below.
The Texas Longhorns came up just short in 2024, falling in the semifinal of the College Football Playoff. It was the second year in a row the Longhorns had their season end at the semifinal. Now, with CBS Sports ranking them first in their Preseason Top 25, Texas will hope to compete for a national championship this season.
This season, Texas is going to be led by Arch Manning at quarterback. There’s a ton of excitement around him, which has, at times, overshadowed the talent around him. Regardless, Texas has a ton of talent, and if Manning reaches the expectations on his shoulders, then there’s no reason why the Longhorns won’t be back in the Playoff.
In 2024, Penn State made its first ever trip to the College Football Playoff. There, the Nittany Lions would fall in the semifinal. However, with several key players, including their entire backfield, coming back, the Nittany Lions have high hopes.
CBS Sports has Penn State coming in second in their Preseason Top 25 rankings. They’re coming into the year with seniors at quarterback and running back. The Nittany Lions have once again reloaded on defense. In fact, the only major question for Penn State to answer is at the wide receiver position.
The Ohio State Buckeyes are coming off a national championship season. It’s easy to go into the next season with a bit of a championship hangover, but head coach Ryan Day is hoping to avoid that. If they can live up to this preseason ranking, then Ohio State will be in a good spot to make the College Football Playoff once again.
Like many national championship-winning teams, Ohio State is dealing with a lot of roster turnover. The NFL took its share of starters from last season, which will always lead to some question marks. The biggest of those is at quarterback, and figuring those out is going to be vital.
The Clemson Tigers clock in as the top-ranked ACC team in the CBS Sports Preseason Top 25. This comes a year after they were able to make it to the College Football Playoff as ACC Champions. Now, there are once again expectations that Clemson can compete for a national championship.
Much of the excitement around Clemson comes from its experience. The Tigers are a veteran team full of players who look to have NFL futures. Importantly, that also includes quarterback Cade Klubnik, who hopes to prove he’s one of the best in the country.
The Georgia Bulldogs won two national championships in a row from 2021 to 2022. In the two years since then, the Bulldogs have been knocking on the door but failed to get back to those heights. Now, they want to find that national success in the era of the expanded College Football Playoff.
Like many schools, quarterback is the major concern for Georgia going into next season. Carson Beck left following the end of last season, leaving some questions about how Gunner Stockton is going to handle being the starting quarterback in Athens. If he can hit the ground running, there’s plenty of talent around him to thrive.
Amid a series of injuries, Notre Dame made a great run in the College Football Playoff. That included three massive postseason wins before falling in the national championship game to Ohio State. Still, it made it clear that the Irish are legit under Marcus Freeman and deserving of the Preseason AP Top 25 ranking.
Notre Dame comes into the 2025 season with a quarterback battle. That hasn’t been decided just yet. However, it is clear that the Irish have talent all over the field and, under Freeman, the expectations will always be high for their defense.
The Oregon Ducks had a massive year in 2024. They burst into the Big Ten, going unbeaten in the regular season and winning the conference. However, that was followed up by a College Football Playoff run that only lasted a game. Now, the Ducks want to rectify that.
Dante Moore takes over at quarterback for the Ducks. He will be their third quarterback in as many seasons. The success that they’ve had in that time has been incredible. The question is now whether or not Dan Lanning can get Oregon over the hump.
The Alabama Crimson Tide had a bit of a letdown season in 2024. They’d fail to win double-digit games for the first time since 2007. Of course, that was Nick Saban‘s first season, and now, going into Kalen DeBoer‘s second season, the Preseason Top 25 rankings again have high expectations for Alabama.
There is tons of talent on Alabama, as is often the case. The Crimson Tide are also dealing with a quarterback battle, though. Ty Simpson is expected to win that. Regardless of who wins it, though, they’ll need to be comfortable in DeBoer’s offense moving forward.
Expectations are always high for the LSU Tigers. Going into 2025 is no different. However, for head coach Brian Kelly, after not making the College Football Playoff in his previous three seasons with the program, there is some pressure to get there this season.
LSU has the weapons to get there too. Garrett Nussmeier is widely regarded as a future first round pick at quarterback. Then, the rest of the roster is littered with stars, like Harold Perkins. This could be a special year in Baton Rouge.
The Miami Hurricanes were just on the outside looking in of the College Football Playoff last season. That was with the future first overall pick at quarterback. Now, head coach Mario Cristobal wants to take another leap forward and get there.
This offseason, the first order of business was to find a replacement for Cam Ward. Miami dipped into the Transfer Portal and ended up with former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck. It’s safe to say how well that move works out is going to be key in determining what kind of season the Hurricanes are able to put together.
Rest of CBS Sports’ Preseason Top 25
11. Arizona State Sun Devils
12. Florida Gators
13. Illinois Fighting Illini
14. Kansas State Wildcats
15. Michigan Wolverines
16. South Carolina Gamecocks
17. SMU Mustangs
18. Texas A&M Aggies
19. Iowa State Cyclones
20. Tennessee Volunteers
21. Texas Tech Red Raiders
22. Ole Miss Rebels
23. Indiana Hoosiers
24. Oklahoma Sooners
25. Utah Utes
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