Sports Illustrated’s College Football Preseason Top 25

It is win a national championship now or possibly never for Penn State, the top team in our rankings.

Drew Allar and the Nittany Lions are the No. 1 team in the Sports Illustrated preseason rankings. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Sports Illustrated counted down its preseason college football Top 25 with overviews of each team ahead of the 2025 season. Here are the full rankings.

1. Penn State Nittany Lions

It’s now or maybe never if Penn State really wants to put the past behind it and win the national championship. The Nittany Lions came ever so close a year ago. That heartbreaking ending in the Orange Bowl should fuel them all season considering how many boxes they check off that Michigan and Ohio State did too before ultimately triumphing in the CFP. There are no excuses now, it’s on James Franklin and the Nittany Lions to get the job done because they may never have a confluence of talent, experience, schedule and weakened rivals like they do in 2025. Read more on the Nittany Lions.

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2. Texas Longhorns

The Longhorns are about far more than their famous starting quarterback, but there’s little questioning that this is the Arch Manning show. If he lives up to the family name, there’s a good chance Texas is once again back in a CFP semifinal (at a minimum) and can even take advantage of a favorable schedule to make another run at their first SEC title. If the young signal-caller doesn’t live up to such a lofty billing, there’s still plenty of talent to lay the groundwork for a true championship charge in 2026. Either way, you’re probably going to be sick of hearing the name Arch and/or Manning by Week 2 unless you’re firmly on Texas’s bandwagon this season. Read more on the Longhorns.

3. Clemson Tigers

The schedule is far from being easy, with a top 10 matchup against LSU in Death Valley (the easternmost one) and a tricky test at Georgia Tech in the first month plus a tough final stretch that includes as many as three top 25 teams in the final five weeks. This looks like a Clemson team of old, however, between what it has coming back plus some of the offseason changes. Winning the ACC is the bare minimum, and if the Tigers stay healthy, it wouldn’t be surprising if a long CFP run is in store for Dabo Swinney & Co. Read more on the Tigers.

4. Ohio State Buckeyes

With a manageable schedule beyond the two bookends (against No. 1 Texas in the opener and at Michigan to end the season) and Penn State coming to the Horseshoe, Ohio State has a chance to remain one of the favorites to get to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game and make another run in the CFP. There are more new faces in starting positions, but when you have Caleb Downs covering up mistakes on defense and Jeremiah Smith snagging jump balls, life tends to work itself out. Read more on the Buckeyes.

5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The fact that you barely blink at Notre Dame replacing a defensive coordinator or its starting quarterback going into the season tells you a lot about how solid the foundation is for the program under Marcus Freeman. The Irish have some of the best units in the trenches and a very manageable schedule that probably sees them favored in every game. Even if they drop an early one, you know this group is capable of rallying and there should be an expectation that a return to the CFP and making another long postseason run is in the cards again. Read more on the Fighting Irish.

6. Georgia Bulldogs

This is a much younger Georgia team than most are used to, but it’s still the national title threat it usually is under Kirby Smart. Seeing just how good Gunner Stockton is at quarterback will play a major factor in how the Bulldogs are viewed, but the roster is excellent and they get most of their toughest games at home or at a neutral site. That’s typically a winning combination and the program is set to do plenty more of that in 2025. Read more on the Bulldogs.

7. Alabama Crimson Tide

Things may have a different look to them in Tuscaloosa but the Tide still have one of the rosters that pretty much every coach in the country would trade for. There will be plenty of pressure on new QB Ty Simpson to make it all work more consistently on offense than Jalen Milroe ever did, but if the team can cut down on the mistakes that seemed to snowball last season into terrible losses, this is a group capable of making it to Miami. Read more on the Crimson Tide.

8. Arizona State Sun Devils

Arizona State will not be surprising anybody in 2025 and can rightfully be expected to get back to the College Football Playoff given all it returns from a year ago. Not having a team leader like Skattebo could hurt in some of those close games that are inherent to playing in the Big 12, but this is still a group that will easily earn the title of the league’s best. There are not a lot of sure things in college football, but there’s a lot to like about what the Sun Devils bring to the table this season. Read more on the Sun Devils.

NFL prospect Garrett Nussmeier helms an LSU team capable of competing with any team in the country. / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

9. LSU Tigers

The tone will be set early on for LSU as to whether or not all the hot-seat talk around Brian Kelly is real or imagined with critical games at Clemson and against Florida in the first three weeks of the season. The defense should continue to make strides under DC Blake Baker and not be quite the Achilles’ heel it has been, while Garrett Nussmeier and a talented group of receivers and running backs should help mitigate having to replace most of the offensive line. This is a team capable of competing with any other in the country, but you still want to see them string together a bunch of wins in a row before firmly stamping them as a true CFP contender. Read more on the Tigers.

10. Indiana Hoosiers

Write off Indiana’s success as a one-year wonder at your own peril because there’s a lot to like between the players coming back to make another run, the incoming transfers and Cignetti’s track record in charge. The schedule is undoubtedly harder than last season but reaching double-digit wins again to remain in the CFP discussion is perfectly reasonable at a place that will be discussed much differently in 2025 than it was a year ago at this time. Read more on the Hoosiers.

11. Oregon Ducks

There’s confidence in Dante Moore taking over at quarterback to do enough to keep the offense afloat, but all the new faces on defense will ultimately determine the Ducks’ ceiling in 2025 with how things ended last season. A title game rematch with Penn State in Happy Valley looms as the measuring-stick game, but the slate is manageable where a return to Indianapolis is there for the taking. The way Oregon has been built under Dan Lanning, the program looks like a regular contender in the Big Ten and for the CFP. Read more on the Ducks.

12. Illinois Fighting Illini

Any time you return all but a handful of starters from a 10-win team, you have to like that group’s chances the following year. Such is the case with Illinois, which has production in droves and a hunger that comes from missed opportunities. The schedule sets up nicely if they can take advantage of it, leaving a playoff bid in reach for what could be the best window to win the Illini have had in decades. Read more on the Illini.

SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings will hope to build upon last year’s success and rewrite the Mustangs’ disappointing ending in 2024. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

13. SMU Mustangs

A thud of an ending colored outside perception of SMU last season, but it was an unequivocal success that shows the program is on the rise as a regular contender on the national stage. They have a good head coach, lots of staff continuity, a stellar returning quarterback and a lot to like even if the schedule could make getting back to the CFP much more difficult. Read more on the Mustangs.

14. Texas Tech Red Raiders

If Texas Tech manages to make it to Dallas for the Big 12 title game for the first time, it will certainly have earned it. The Red Raiders play most of the real contenders in the Big 12 this season in what might be the most difficult slate in the league. It will fall on head coach Joey McGuire’s shoulders to get it all to work out, but there’s little doubt Texas Tech is really going for it. Read more on the Red Raiders.

15. Miami Hurricanes

Most years, going 10–2 in the regular season will probably be enough to make the playoffs, and Miami has to kick itself (again) for not having a defense that could match its incredible offense. There may be some natural regression on the latter side of the ball, but if the reset that happens under a new defensive coordinator leads to enough gains, the Hurricanes could be right back in the thick of things come November. Read more on the Hurricanes.

16. Florida Gators

The Gators’ schedule does not give the team many breathers and there are coin-flip games all over. The talent level has taken a step forward overall and they have the type of quarterback to hitch your wagons to in a league like the SEC. Whether that will result in enough wins to keep Billy Napier in charge for another season is something a lot of folks will have an interest in. Read more on the Gators.

17. Texas A&M Aggies

Texas A&M returns the bulk of a team that was still alive to win the SEC going into the final weekend of the regular season. They surely experienced plenty of bumps in their first year under Mike Elko, but also have a lot of key starters back and a schedule that’s manageable by league standards without either Georgia or Alabama. Progress is always hard to discern in Aggieland, but there’s a good chance for improvement in 2025. Read more on the Aggies.

18. Michigan Wolverines

There’s nowhere to go but up for the Wolverines offense, so it’s not foolish to think Michigan can return to the playoff conversation while dealing with a more manageable schedule. Read more on the Wolverines.

19. Tennessee Volunteers

Some natural regression from being a fringe SEC and CFP contender is probably to be expected for Tennessee this season, but the schedule and a salty defense still keep the Vols’ floor pretty high in 2025. Read more on the Vols.

20. Missouri Tigers

After losing so much production from last season, it’s easy to see why Missouri might regress some on the field. But the floor is set pretty high given the schedule and, if the Tigers get better than expected on offense, they should once again be punching above their weight as a consistent Top 25 squad. Read more on the Tigers.

Without Ashton Jeanty, Boise State will rely heavily on quarterback Maddux Madsen (pictured) to get the team back in the College Football Playoff picture this season. / Brian Losness-Imagn Images

21. Boise State Broncos

The schedule isn’t dramatically different from last season with a marquee trip to South Bend to face a likely CFP team in Notre Dame and a handful of question marks on offense. Still, until proven otherwise, this remains the team to beat in the Group of 5 and a dangerous matchup in the first round if all of its players live up to expectations with another season under their belts. Read more on the Broncos.

22. USC Trojans

The Trojans implemented a lot of changes since moving to the Big Ten but still haven’t quite found their footing in the league amid disappointing results—especially on the road. The 2025 season offers the chance to prove some wrong about the direction the program is headed. If the group can turn those close losses from last season into wins in this one, that would get USC back into the national conversation. Read more on the Trojans.

23. Kansas State Wildcats

A lot of the narrative about Kansas State will be set based on how well it plays in the Week Zero opener against a fellow Big 12 contender. The talent level is high enough in Manhattan, Kans., to keep the Wildcats in the thick of the conference race through the end of the season. Read more on the Wildcats.

24. Louisville Cardinals

We all expect—heck, know—the offense will be good under Jeff Brohm & Co., but it will likely be the defense that determines Louisville’s ceiling in 2025 and whether some of those close losses turn into enough wins to be an ACC challenger to Clemson. Read more on the Cardinals.

25. Oklahoma Sooners

It would not be a surprise if Oklahoma became one of the most improved teams in the country simply as a result of having an offense that goes from atrocious to slightly above mediocre. The SEC slate is always difficult, but the overall talent level is better in what promises to be a 2025 season that will go a long way in determining whether Brent Venables’s massive buyout gets paid in December or not. Read more on the Sooners.

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