25 most intriguing storylines to follow for the 2025 college football season

We have been teased for quite some time now. From his high school exploits to the small number of opportunities he's received over his first two seasons at Texas, we've been waiting to have Arch Manning, the latest prodigy from the Manning family tree, unleashed.  Now it's time.

Quinn Ewers is no longer blocking him from the Longhorns' starting job, and Manning takes over another loaded Texas team that has reached the College Football Playoff the last two seasons. He's the clubhouse leader to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and will headline a team that is among the true national championship contenders. This is what we've waited for. And it gets off to a grand start -- opening game at Ohio State.

While what happens in Columbus won't be the final word on what Manning will be this year or his future prospects, it will be the first real taste of seeing him as "the man" at both Texas and in college football in general. 

The Big Ten is having a moment. The league has won the last two College Football Playoff national championships -- the first time the league has done that since the 1960s -- and has done so with its two traditional powers. Michigan and Ohio State won their titles. Is it now time for Penn State to grab theirs?

The Nittany Lions have the team to do it. They return much of the core that went 13-3 last year (their only losses were to Ohio State during the season, Oregon in the Big Ten championship game, and Notre Dame in the national semifinals) and their three main offensive weapons are all seniors. Quarterback Drew Allar has thrown 49 TDs and just 10 interceptions over his two seasons as a starter (he's also rushed for 10 scores). The Nittany Lions may boast the best duo of running backs in the nation with Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Singleton rushed for a hair under 1,100 yards and 12 TDs last season while Allen added 1,108 yards and 10 total TDs. If tight end Luke Reynolds can be half as productive as Tyler Warren was, this will be a dynamic offense.

The defensive side of the ball will be fortified by adding Jim Knowles as defensive coordinator. Poaching Knowles from Ohio State is a massive move that brings in championship experience and a little insight into one of the Nittany Lions' biggest obstacles to a Big Ten (and national) championship. Defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, tackle Zane Durant and safety Zakee Wheatley return to be the foundation of Knowles' 4-2-5 defense that does need to fill some holes. 

Of course, most people's red flag is head coach James Franklin. While he's done a fine job at Penn State, he tends to come up short in many of the Lions' biggest games. Franklin is 4-17 against Ohio State and Michigan during his time in Happy Valley, though you could point to their showing in the Big Ten title loss to Oregon and playoff wins over SMU and Boise State as examples that maybe he's turning the corner.

Penn State does get Oregon at home this year, and their trip to Columbus to face Ohio State will be after the Nittany Lions' bye week. They do have to travel to UCLA, Iowa and Michigan State, but in the era of the expanded playoff you don't have to be perfect to get in. You just have to be good enough to make a run when you get there. Penn State is good enough.

Rewind back to when Michigan beat Ohio State, 13-10, last November 30th. Ryan Day's job status was the top story everywhere because he just couldn't beat the Wolverines -- even when his Buckeyes were clearly the better team. And they were at home. There were large swaths of Ohio State fans who wanted him gone immediately. The coach who was beating everyone else was no longer good enough.

Of course less than two months later Day and the Buckeyes won the national championship by beating Notre Dame. And while talk of removing Day is now seen as impulsive, there are still fans who can't get over the fact that Ohio State hasn't beaten Michigan since 2019. While a national championship certainly should quiet everyone, it hasn't.

In all four Buckeyes losses in that span, Ohio State was ranked No. 2 in the polls. While the Wolverines were ranked in the top five in the first three meetings, they were unranked last year and seemingly put a major dent in the Buckeyes playoff hopes (we know now that it didn't). Still, this is a major cloud that hovers over Day and the Buckeyes fans until they do finally beat Michigan. Could that be this year when the two meet in Ann Arbor? Or will Michigan once again find away to send their neighbors to the south into chaos? I mean, what will be the narrative if Day loses to the Wolverines for a fifth straight time? 

What's going on in the SEC? From 2006 to 2022, the Southeastern Conference won 13 of the 17 national championships. In three of the four years they didn't win the title, an SEC team played in the national championship game. That hasn't been the case the last two seasons, which the SEC missed the title game in consecutive years for the first time since the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

It's not like the SEC wasn't good last season. They put three teams in the newly expanded College Football Playoff, but only Texas won a game in the playoffs and they ended up losing in the semifinal round. Six teams finished the season ranked in the top 20. But it wasn't the usual dominant self.

So is this just a blip or will the SEC get their mojo back? Texas looks like they could return to the playoff and is a legit title contender. Georgia is still a threat under Kirby Smart. Many feel LSU is ripe for a resurgent season under Brian Kelly. Alabama should be able to bounce back after a shocking 9-4 season. South Carolina has a Heisman contender in quarterback LaNorris Sellers while Florida could have the same in DJ Lagway. Ole Miss should be in the mix, even while replacing Jaxon Dart, and look for Oklahoma to have a bounce-back season. But is anyone really good enough to take back the championship trophy that the Big Ten has wrestled away? We shall see. 

One of the biggest stories this offseason has been that six-time Super Bowl champion and NFL legend Bill Belichick became the new head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. What was thought of as a long shot when rumors broke after the team let Mack Brown go, became a reality when he was announced as the new head coach on December 11. The move was debated immediately -- why would he take this job? Will his style work in college? Could he relate to 18 to 23-year-olds? Is this just a gimmick by he and the school? What will this even look like?

Belichick has sold the media and recruits on the idea that North Carolina will be run like an NFL franchise -- deemed the "33rd franchise". The university bought in, providing the financial support Belichick demanded to make it work and fully embracing their football program. There have been reports that North Carolina is trying to position itself to be ready for a move to the SEC in the next five years or so, and this would be a move that attempts to do that. This could be a brilliant move or a spectacular disaster. But at least this would be a no-nonsense program. Right?

It didn't help when the spring was filled with gossip about Belichick's 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson rather than anything about football. Now instead of this being a football story, his relationship has become pop culture theater. Of course what happens during the season will truly determine whether this was a success or failure. We will see this fall. 

Deion Sanders has been a jolt of electricity to both the Colorado Buffaloes program and college football as a whole, but this will be a bit of a new era for him. It will his first true full season without his son, Shedeur Sanders, as his quarterback and he will be without Heisman trophy winner Travis Hunter. Both were instrumental in Coach Prime's transition from Jackson State to Colorado and taking a program that was 1-11 before he got there to a tie for the Big 12 regular season title in just two years. They are gone now, so it's up to Sanders to show that his coaching is the reason his teams can win and not just because he can bring in the biggest names in the sport.

Late in the summer, Coach Prime announced that he had been dealing with bladder cancer in the off-season. The tumor was removed, and he is deemed cancer-free. This is the latest in a line of health issues Sanders has fought in recent years that highlight the humanity in a man who commands every room he enters. He has already proven he makes a difference. It may not be a championship-level difference yet, but what he's done to revive a dormant program is simply remarkable. Still, there is a bit of interest to see how his team performs this season without his sons and Hunter. 

One of the more controversial aspects of the expanded College Football Playoff in 2024 was who received the four first-round byes. Last year, the byes were reserved for conference champions, meaning No. 9 Boise State (Mountain West) and No. 12 Arizona State (Big 12) earned byes ahead of No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Penn State. All four teams that received byes lost their first games (that does include No. 1 Oregon and No. 2 Georgia), and the format created an Oregon-Ohio State quarterfinal match-up many felt was too early in the bracket.

That has changed for the 2025-2026 playoff (the bracket is seeded by rankings), but there may be collateral damage with this change: the conference championship games.

While we can point to last year about why byes to conference champions could be bad for the playoff, you can also point to last season to why the change may be harmful to one of the best weekends in college football. In the SEC championship game last year, Georgia QB Carson Beck was injured against Texas, knocking him out of the playoffs and severely damaged the Bulldogs chances to win the national championship. The SEC championship game was important because the winner of that game was essentially guaranteed a first round bye while the loser had to play an extra playoff game. That's a massive advantage that both teams needed to fight for. While Georgia won the battle that night, they ultimately lost the war.

Using last year as an example, Oregon was far and away the top team heading into the postseason when their Big Ten championship game against Penn State rolled around. Oregon likely could have lost that game and still be able to retain a top four ranking. This year, that means they would essentially have a bye locked up before the Big Ten title game. Last year, the bye week was tied to be a conference champion. So under the new rules, wouldn't it be wise for Oregon to just rest all its stars and keep them out of harm's way? Just tank the Big Ten title game so you are rested and healthy for the College Football Playoff? Since you've locked in a bye, what's the point of trying your hardest to win the Big Ten title?

That's a huge blow to the sanctity of college football. We've already watched how bowl games have become shells of themselves with their shrinking importance and players deciding to opt out instead of playing. To have an entire season only to have a conference championship game where one or both teams don't bother to try to win because its ultimately meaningless to the bigger picture seems like a gut-punch to what these games have meant over the last 30 years. We've watched it play out a bunch in college basketball (Duke's Cooper Flagg sat out the last two rounds of the ACC tournament after suffering an injury in the quarterfinals because they knew the Blue Devils had a top seed locked in).

Sure, that scenario won't be the norm -- in fact, conference games can be more important as teams must win them just to get into the playoff. Clemson, Arizona State and Boise State only got playoff berths because they won their conference championship games. That creates an intense atmosphere where seasons are on the line. The two most important conference championship games, however, are in the SEC and Big Ten and to have either of them not taking seriously would be a shame ... especially considering how good the games should be.

I am not saying this will definitely happen, but after what happened to Georgia last season, don't think there won't be some consideration to sitting certain guys in those title tilts if it isn't worth winning those conference championships.  

None of the ten players who received Heisman votes last year are back in school. We have an entirely new crop of candidates who are salivating over the chance to grab one of the greatest individual awards in sports.

The list starts with Texas' Arch Manning, who we've already discussed. He's on arguably the best team in the country and is viewed as one of the top selections in the 2026 NFL Draft. He already walks into the season with the most hype around him that if he produces at a high level then it will be tough to keep him away from the Heisman.

The SEC, though, is filled with potential Heisman winners. According to the odds, LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier is just behind Manning. LSU has been known to produce a Heisman winning QB recently and Nussmeier spent two years backing one up in Baton Rouge. He's the son of an NFL coach and was sixth in the nation in passing yards per game last year. South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers was a cheat code late last season that had defenses on edge with his mix of running and passing. Florida's DJ Lagway will have full control of the Gators' offense in his sophomore season. He battled injuries and playing time behind Graham Mertz to put up a 6-1 record and a Gasparilla Bowl win over Tulane. Oklahoma brought in John Mateer from Washington State. He threw for 3,139 yards and 29 TDs in a weird season for the Cougars.

Outside the SEC you have Cade Klubnik from Clemson. Klubnik was considered an NFL talent coming out of high school and showed why in bits and pieces last season. If the Tigers can win the ACC and make a run in the College Football Playoff then he should be right there for the award. Ohio State has a pair of candidates in Alabama transfer QB Julian Sayin and WR Jeremiah Smith. As a freshman, Smith was typically the best player on the field for the national champion Buckeyes. Sayin now gets the throw to him.

Needless to say it's a wide open race.

Rich Rodriguez is returning to West Virginia for the fourth time. After growing up in the state and playing defensive back for the Mountaineers in the 1980s, he would return as a linebackers coach in 1989, then as the head coach from 2001 to 2007. He was 60-26 during that first stint in Morgantown, winning four Big East championships, two BCS bowl bids and finishing with three straight 10+ win seasons.

He would leave for Michigan in 2008 in what would be a disastrous three year run that featured the worst record in program history, a mass exodus of players, NCAA violations and was a combined 0-6 vs Ohio State and Michigan State. He would move on to Arizona where he presided over six up and down seasons that were also marred by an off-field scandal. Rodriguez resurfaced in 2022 as the head coach at Jacksonville State, who would be transitioning from FCS to FBS, and won two conference titles and three 9-win seasons.

Reunions can be fun, but will this work? Rodriguez is a hard-line coach who wants structure but also is outspoken and fun. He's banned his players from TikTok and has overhauled the roster through the transfer portal. He's also declared he will be ready to burn a couch after a big win, leaning into the fan tradition. His offenses have typically been player-friendly, and he's ready to sling the ball in the wild Big 12. 

Hot seats are nothing new, even at big-time programs, but it seems that there are more interesting situations than normal.

Let's start at Alabama, where Kalen DeBoer will be entering his second season after replacing Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide went just 9-4 in 2024, good for 5th place in the SEC, and began stumbling after their best win of the season -- a Week 5 win over No. 2 Georgia. The newly minted No. 1 team in the nation followed that win over the Dawgs with a puzzling loss to Vanderbilt. Later in the season, Alabama was run out of Norman, 24-3, by a bad Oklahoma team. If Bama has another season where they miss the playoffs, there will be a lot of rumblings that DeBoer isn't the right guy.

Speaking of Oklahoma, Brent Venables could be staring at a must-win season as well. The Sooners are just 22-17 in his three seasons, sandwiching a 10-3 season in 2023 between two 6-7 years. Last year reminded fans that they aren't in the Big 12 anymore, and that competition in the SEC is much tougher to deal with. Another 6 or 7-win season (or worse) could mark the end of Venables' time in Norman.

Venables replaced Lincoln Riley when Riley left for USC. He's entering his fourth season in L.A. and the Trojans have gotten progressively worse each season. After shining with an 11-3 debut with Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams in 2022, Riley and Williams won just 8 games in their final season in the Pac-12, then went 7-6 in their first year in the Big Ten. USC struggled on the road, with their only wins coming in Los Angeles or Las Vegas. The talent is there in 2025 for USC to turn this around, but another setback could be cause for some questioning.

There's also talk of USC's Big Ten brethren (that still takes some getting used to) Wisconsin maybe running out of patience with Luke Fickell. The Badgers finished in 15th place in the conference last year and is just 13-13 in two-plus years in Madison. There's also Mike Norvell at Florida State. His 13-1 season of 2023 likely saved his job then, but he followed that up with an absolutely embarrassingly awful 2-10 record last year. This could be the end of his time in Tallahassee.

There are also "we're waiting" vibes coming out of LSU and Auburn where Brian Kelly and Hugh Freeze are not having promises kept in regards to where fans feel those programs should be right now. There are also issues around Kenny Satterfield in Cincinnati and Trent Dilfer at UAB that could result in changes soon. 

During the Nick Saban-Alabama dynasty, Clemson was able to ascend to that status and challenge the Crimson Tide for championships on a yearly basis. That has slipped over the past four seasons as the Tigers didn't reach the four-team College Football Playoff format since the 2020 season when they were trounced by Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl and Trevor Lawrence went on to the NFL. Clemson and head coach Dabo Swinney became the butt of jokes due to their disdain for the transfer portal during the new era of player movement in college athletics.

Though Clemson really has been missing on the national stage, it isn't like they've been bad. The Tigers have gone 40-14 during that time and have won two ACC championships, including last year, when they finally got back to the playoff as the 12th seed (they were spanked by Texas in the first round). Cade Klubnik may have finally become the passer we all felt he had the potential to be when he came to Clemson and may be the best quarterback in the country. Swinney's Tigers have the look of those late 2010s teams with a great receiving corps and a loaded defense. They are the favorites to win their 9th ACC championship in 11 seasons and could be back as national championship contenders.

Clemson and ACC needs this. The ACC has really fallen on difficult times both in reality and in narrative. The league is viewed as being far behind the SEC and Big Ten and lagging a bit behind the Big 12. SMU, who not only was new to the ACC but new to the Power 4, blazed through the ACC regular season and nearly won the conference championship game in thrie first season. There were lawsuits from the highest profile schools and the conference was viewed as being held together by the powers from the Grant of Rights deal the schools signed.

But the narrative around the ACC could be changing. North Carolina's hiring of Bill Belichick has put a lot of eyeballs on the league -- for good and bad reasons. Miami produced the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and pulled Carson Beck from Georgia as his replacement. Louisville added Miller Moss from USC to be their quarterback after Tyler Shough was the third QB taken in the draft. SMU doesn't look like it plans on going anywhere. Even Notre Dame's agreement with the ACC helps elevate the visibility of the conference.

Clemson looks right, and with their in-fighting with the ACC seemingly settled for now, maybe the league has a power player from western South Carolina once again. 

While the SEC, Big Ten and ACC have a clear group of favorites to win their league and possibly make a College Football Playoff run, the Big 12 is a big, beautiful mess. There are no instant national title contenders, nor are there any sure-fire conference championship picks. Last year, Arizona State was picked to finish dead last in the media's pre-season poll. All they did was win the Big 12 championship and had Texas on the ropes before coughing up a playoff win.

It is no different this year. Really, all 16 teams feel they can make a run to a league crown. If you had to handicap the race, defending champion Arizona State, Kansas State, BYU, Texas Tech, and last season's pre-season pick, Utah are the teams with the best chance to win the league. The Sun Devils lost running back Cam Skattebo but return QB Sam Leavitt to try to keep the league title in Tempe. If dual-threat quarterback Avery Johnson can find some consistency, the K-State Wildcats could be the team to beat. Texas Tech's defense (did I type that?) may be their ticket to a championship, while Utah needs its usual physical defense to have a bounce-back year.

Iowa State has been one of the steadiest programs in the league. Baylor is about as up and down as any team in the league can be. TCU went to the national championship game a couple of years ago. West Virginia goes back to the future with Rich Rodriguez back as the Mountaineers head coach. Oh, and then there is Deion Sanders and Colorado, who lost Shedeur Sanders and Heisman winner Travis Hunter.

Then you have programs like Oklahoma State, Kansas, Arizona, Houston, Cincinnati and UCF who are trying to be the next Arizona State. The conference has no great teams and no bad teams, so while there may be no cupcakes or elite programs, we get treated to fantastic games each week where the narrative of the league is written in real time. Arizona State followed up a concerning loss to Cincinnati to win their final five conference games and then blasted Iowa State in the Big 12 title game.  

It is up for grabs, and when there is an automatic berth to the College Football Playoff on the line -- and Arizona State had Texas beat before an unbelievable 4th down conversion by Texas in overtime -- it will be so interesting to see who comes out of this battle to win the Big 12 title. 

There continues to be a lot of conversation about the new landscape of college athletics regarding NIL and the transfer portal. The chatter heated up this offseason when reports came out that the relationship between quarterback Nico Iamaleava and the Tennessee Volunteers was strained. There were rumors that Iamaleava's camp was trying to extract more NIL money from Josh Heupel and the Vols, as well as rumblings that he was gauging his value from other schools. It reached a boiling point when Iamaleava skipped practice the day before the Vols' spring game. News came out that Iamaleava cleared out his stuff and Heupel alerted his team that their QB was gone.

There is much more to the story, but it ends with Iamaleava landing at UCLA. Iamaleava reportedly won't be getting the NIL money he was reportedly seeking in Knoxville (or what he was already earning), but he feels comfortable back in Los Angeles and with a program that he feels believes in him. In another twist, UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar -- who initially transferred in from Appalachian State -- left the Bruins once Iamaleava came on board. His new school? Tennessee.

There will be many eyes on Westwood to see how well Iamaleava plays this year. In the court of public opinion, he's the poster boy for the problems of the wild west nature of NIL deals and athletes seemingly endless free agent status. Not just that, he left an SEC program that was in the College Football Playoff last year for a program that struggled in its first season in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Aguilar is inserted into Iamaleava's job, moving from one side of the Appalachian Mountains to the other. Who will win this shocking divorce?  

Nico Iamaleava and Joey Aguilar aren't the only quarterbacks who transferred this offseason. In fact, Nico's brother, Madden Iamaleava, leaves Arkansas to join him at UCLA. 

Carson Beck left Georgia ... and spurned the NFL Draft ... for Miami, replacing top overall pick Cam Ward, who had also transferred to Miami from Washington State. Speaking of Washington State, the Cougars lost John Mateer to  Oklahoma. Oklahoma's Jackson Arnold left for Auburn. Auburn's Walker White then moved to Baylor. 

Fernando Mendoza leaves Cal for Indiana, and  Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele comes to Cal from Oregon. Darian Mensah heads to Duke from Tulane, while Maalik Murphy left Duke for Oregon State. Conner Weigman moves south from Texas A&M to Houston. Miller Moss, who was supposed to be the next big thing at USC, is now at Louisville. Kaidon Salter leaves Liberty to become Shedeur Sanders' replacement at Colorado.

Remember Chandler Morris? The TCU quarterback who transferred in from Oklahoma, was injured in Week 1 of the 2022 season, lost his job to Max Dugan who would lead the Horned Frogs to the national championship game? He spent last season at North Texas, but is on the move yet again -- this time to Virginia.  Gio Lopez leaves South Alabama to be Bill Belichick's first college quarterback at North Carolina.

Every year the quarterback transfer market is one of the most intriguing stories in sports. After all, Ward was a transfer QB, recent Heisman winners Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield had all transferred to find ultimate success. It could happen once again. 

With the new College Football Playoff format, there's a guarantee that at least one of the champions from the Group of 5 will earn one of those bids and get to play for the national championship. For decades, there was no realistic path for one of these schools to get that kind of opportunity (remember UCF?) and under the four-team playoff format, only Cincinnati was able to sneak into a playoff berth.

Last year, not only did the Mountain West's Boise State reach the playoff, but the Broncos also earned a first-round bye. The Broncos will be in the mix once again, but losing Ashton Jeanty to the NFL is a huge loss. Tulane will also be in the discussion, but they too lost a lot of talent from last year's America Conference runner-up squad. So who could be the newcomers looking to get in?

How about Navy? Quarterback Blake Horvath leads a Midshipmen team that went 10-3 last year with all losses coming in the middle of the season -- with two coming to Notre Dame and Tulane. Other American Conference schools like South Florida, Army and Memphis could make a run as well.

James Madison looks to regroup after a below-expectations season in 2024. The Dukes are hoping QB Alonza Barnett is able to return after suffering a knee injury late last season to maximize an offense that hung 70 on North Carolina last year. Former Mississippi State and Florida head coach Dan Mullen takes over at UNLV, who might have been able to grab a playoff spot last year had the Rebels beaten Boise State in the Mountain West championship game. There is also Liberty out there. Jamey Chadwell is a hot name on the coaching market and should have the Flames leading the pack in the Conference USA. 

It isn't just schools like Boise State that finally get a chance to play for a national championship under the new format. The first 12-team bracket also featured schools like Indiana, SMU and Arizona State, meaning schools who aren't traditional powers can find their way into the tournament. So who could be those sleepers this season?

Well, SMU may again be one. Kevin Jennings  is back running that high octane offense and their game at Clemson on October 18th could be epic. South Carolina might be right there with LaNorris Sellers carrying the Gamecocks into the postseason. They have a ton of opportunities to serve notice to the nation (Clemson, Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M are on their schedule). 

Illinois could be the next Indiana. The Illini returns 16 starters from a team that went 10-3 last season, has a favorable schedule, and gets Ohio State in Champaign. Nebraska could be another breakout team. Matt Rhule has a history of getting his program going in his third season (he did so at Temple and Baylor) and that's where he's at with the Cornhuskers. If Dylan Raiola  can take the next step, Nebraska is a team to watch. So is Louisville, with former USC QB Miller Moss in lock-step with head coach Jeff Brohm.  

There's also the now-always unpredictable Big 12. With Oklahoma and Texas now in the SEC, the Big 12 is basically and open competition to see who can take an automatic bid to the playoff. Kansas State, Arizona, Arizona State, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Baylor, BYU ... or really anyone has a shot. Last year's champs, Arizona State, were picked dead last in the preseason media poll. 

Most schools wouldn't flinch at having a 9-4 record and barely missing a College Football Playoff berth in their head coach's first season with the program. Alabama isn't most programs and the standard that Nick Saban set over the last 17 seasons is about greatness and competing for championships.

It isn't about losing to Vanderbilt or getting run over, 24-3, by a bad Oklahoma team.

Fans hop that head coach Kalen DeBoer will turn this around rather quickly, and there are reasons to believe he will. DeBoer has been about excellence -- he was 34-6 in his three seasons prior to coming to Alabama. His Washington Huskies reached the national championship game in 2023 and he's shown the ability to extract the most out of his quarterbacks. That's good news for Ty Simpson, who should beat out Keelon Russell and Austin Mack for the starting QB gig and gets to throw to dynamic sophomore Ryan Williams.

Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack should have a very experienced and deep defense to work with as well. Seven starters return on that side of the ball, and that defense improved as the season went along last year. The secondary may be their strength, which is key is a loaded SEC.

And there lies the issue. The SEC is loaded. Granted, It always has been but Saban seemed to have the better coaching staff, better players and deeper team. DeBoer can't lean on all of that yet, especially which Texas, Georgia and LSU locking up great recruiting classes and deeper roots. Remember, Alabama has had some down times as well, especially prior to Saban's arrival. This is a key season for DeBoer and attempting to keep the Bama mystique alive. 

USC just can't get back to where they were about two decades ago when they were atop the college football world, playing for national championships and cranking out Heisman trophy winners. When Pete Carroll left for the Seahawks job and the program was dealing with the fallout from the Reggie Bush scandal, everything changed. Since Carroll's final season in 2009, the Trojans have won just one conference championship and have yet to play in the College Football Playoff. They've had some publicly embarrassing missteps involving their coaches and really haven't been relevant on the national stage.

That was supposed to change when USC was able to extract Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma in 2022. Riley took the Sooners to the College Football Playoff three times, won four Big 12 championships and went 55-10 over five seasons in Norman. He was supposed to resurrect the Trojans program and it looked like he was well on his way in his first season. In 2022, USC was a win over Utah in the Pac-12 championship game from reaching their first CFP berth and quarterback Caleb Williams (who followed Riley from Oklahoma) won the Heisman trophy. The Trojans would end up getting blown out by Utah and missed the playoffs.  In the Cotton Bowl that year, the Trojans were stunned by Tulane, 46-45. They followed that season up with an up-and-down 8-5 record in 2023 that saw USC take a 6-0 record to start the year and then lost 5 of their next 6 games.

Last year was even worse as USC made their transition to the Big Ten. The Trojans lost 4 out of 5 games midseason and promising QB Miller Moss just didn't pan out. Riley was already criticized for not being able to win the biggest games while at Oklahoma and for the first time in his head coaching career he was struggling to win even the easier ones. While it may be a stretch to say his job may be in jeopardy, there is some obvious heat coming from the fan base and others who expected much better than 7-6 seasons and losses to Maryland and Minnesota.

UNLV transfer QB Jayden Maiava takes over for Moss (who is now at Louisville). He has the size (6'4) and has shown some nuggets about what he can do. Under Riley's coaching, maybe he can become more consistent and more dynamic. USC opens up with a cakewalk schedule (Missouri State, Georgia Southern, Purdue) before getting into a meaty chunk of games. The Trojans host Michigan, Iowa and UCLA but must travel to Illinois, Notre Dame, Nebraska and Oregon. Another 7-6 season won't cut it. 

Florida seems to be caught up in a scheduling quirk that has it consistently facing one of the toughest schedules in the nation. The Gators open up the season innocently enough with home games against Long Island University and South Florida. From then on, it's on.

Florida will travel to LSU for a vaunted night game in Baton Rouge. A week later they head down to Miami to face a rebuilt and improved Hurricanes squad. After a bye week, the Gators host Texas, travel to Texas A&M, host Mississippi State, and then (after another bye week) face rival Georgia in Jacksonville. They then go on the road to play Kentucky and Ole Miss before closing at home against Tennessee and Florida State.

Last year, the Gators were able to hold up enough to eek out an 8-5 record, despite going through a six-game stretch where they played Tennessee, Georgia and Texas (all College Football Playoff teams), LSU and Ole Miss. The winning record made fourth-year head coach Billy Napier 19-19 during his time in Gainesville. He may need to have a season like that again -- or better -- if he is going to stick around in the Swamp. 

We are at a fork in the road right now regarding scheduling in college football. Most conferences have gone to 9 conference games, which had caused some of those schools to pivot from scheduling other power opponents are just trying to pile up easy wins. We haven't really seen what the CFP committee is valuing when ranking teams, so is making a tough schedule the way to go? Or is breaking these future scheduled games to downgrade opponents the smarter move?

Either way, we still have some fantastic non-conference games on tap this season.  We begin this season with what could be the best of all of them: Texas and Ohio State. The Longhorns is among the favorites to win it all this season, and the Buckeyes are the defending champions. That same day we get the battle of the Tigers (and the battle of Death Valleys) as LSU heads to Clemson in a key SEC-ACC showdown. Also that day is Alabama going to Tallahassee to face a (hopefully) rebuilt Florida State Seminoles squad who are trying to bounce back from a dismal 2-10 season. We also get TCU traveling to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina to kick off the Bill Belichick era.

We also get some fun ones, like the Notre Dame-Miami rivalry renewed. Miami will also host Florida this season. Michigan heads down to Oklahoma for only their second meeting in history. Texas A&M go up to South Bend to try to enact revenge against the Irish. Iowa-Iowa State should be a blast. So should USC-Notre Dame, and Boise State at Notre Dame. The year-end Palmetto State showdown between Clemson and South Carolina could be the most meaningful in years.  Sadly, this could be the last SMU-TCU game we'll see in a while, ending an over 100-year old rivalry.

There are sneaky games like Georgia Tech-Colorado, Virginia Tech-South Carolina, Arkansas-Memphis, and UCLA-UNLV. 

*Iowa State and Kansas State open up their Big 12 seasons against each other ... on August 23rd? In Ireland?

*Michigan travels to Oklahoma on September 6th, marking the first time since 2018 that the Wolverines have played a true road non-conference game.

*The very next week, Oklahoma goes on the road to play ... Temple? Yes, the Sooners will travel to Philly to play the Owls in an agreement that sees the two play in Norman twice.

*You have to love seeing Boise State playing at Notre Dame. Notre Dame represents the tradition, history and excellence of college football. The no-frill uniforms with the gold helmets in a historically simple stadium representing college footballs elite class. Boise State comes in as new money -- the Group of 6 program that has worked its way into the national conversation and last year reached the College Football Playoff -- whose history is about trick plays, blue turf, and residing in Boise, Idaho. Next year the Broncos will in the Pac-12.

*TCU opens their season at North Carolina. That means Horned Frogs head coach Sonny Dykes will be the opponent for Bill Belichick's first college football game. Dykes' Frogs were also the opponent for Deion Sanders' first game at Colorado.

*Arkansas will head a couple hours east to play at Memphis. Despite the relative closeness of the schools, they've met just five times with the last meeting coming in 1998. For an American Athletic Conference team to host an SEC opponent is a big deal, especially for a Tigers program that has been thrown around as a power conference expansion target.

*Cincinnati will play Nebraska in ... Indianapolis?

*SMU and Baylor will get together for the first time since 2016. While Baylor has won the last 13 games in this series, SMU was a College Football Playoff team last season.

*Sadly SMU and TCU's rivalry is ending this year after the two meet in Ft. Worth on September 20th. They've played each other 103 times and last year's 66-42 Mustangs' win was massively entertaining. TCU put this series on pause so they could concentrate on securing more home games annually.

*Utah and Wyoming will play for the first time since 2010, when the Utes left the Mountain West for the Pac-12. They had met 84 times up until that point as both were charter members of the Skyline Conference, WAC and Mountain West. The Utes have won 10 of the last 11 meetings.

*James Madison will travel to Louisville to play the Cardinals. Last year, when the Dukes got to play on the road against an ACC foe, they hung 70 on the Tar Heels.

*Washington State plays at Oregon State on November 1st. Then Oregon State plays at Washington State on November 29th. Yes, there will be two regular-season games between these "Pac-2" programs in order for them to fill out their schedules. This won't be a problem in 2026 as the Pac-12 will welcome six new members. This year, Fresno State plays at Oregon State while Washington State hosts San Diego State and travels to Colorado State. Those would be conference match-ups in 2026. 

Over the last several years, conference realignment has been the dominant behind the scenes story. Right now, outside of out west, that seems to be done until the next round of TV rights come up in five years or so. That being said, there are quite of few major happenings going on among the commissioners and administrators that will affect the immediate and long term future of college football.

One of the major discussions surrounding college football is what the future of the College Football Playoff will look like. The current format runs out after this season, so something needs to be in place before we begin the 2026 offseason. There are several plans on the table, but the one getting the most talk is expanding to a 16-team playoff that allows the top five ranked conference champions and then 11 at-large teams. Now, the rub is on who will comprise those 11 teams. Will they just be the 11 top ranked non-champs? Or will there be some sort of extra automatic bids for the SEC and Big Ten?

There's also the ongoing drama behind the financial status of NIL and the new revenue-sharing model. Along with the NIL screening committee, how will these payments get divided and how will that affect what boosters do? Will there be any more legislation coming that gives more guidance or adds to the chaos? We have already witnessed the University of Kentucky separate the athletics program into its own non-profit to prepare for all of these changes. Other schools may soon follow suit.

Speaking of chaos, all of that, plus the last round of conference expansion, has taken a toll on the games we should get to see on the field. We've already watched long-time local rivalries like Bedlam go away, but could we actually see the USC-Notre Dame rivalry come to an end? USC is wary about continuing the long-standing series because of the strain on playing a full Big Ten schedule. It will be played this year in South Bend and next season in Los Angeles, but nothing is set going forward.

USC's old conference, the Pac-12, is attempting to resurrect itself from the dead. Oregon State and Washington State will play each other twice as the lone two holdovers this year, but will be adding six new football members (and Gonzaga) starting next year. The Mountain West has also been making additions to take the place of the schools leaving for the Pac-12 (who may also be eyeing a name change to the conference). 

One of the obvious downers that has come from all this conference realignment is the destruction or great, longtime rivalries. While Missouri-Kansas may not resonate nationally like Oklahoma-Oklahoma State or Texas-Texas A&M, this is a fierce regional rivalry that was put on hiatus when Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC in 2011. It has been referred to as the "oldest rivalry west of the Mississippi River". The schools have played against each other 120 times with Mizzou leading the series, 56-55-9.

The two schools just began competing against each other in other sports just recently, and football finally gets its comeback on September 6th in Lawrence, KS -- their first matchup as members of different conferences.

Missouri has won five of the last six meetings between the Border War rivals.

This is a welcome return for a league that had some fantastic rivalries that have been torn apart during the 21st century. Former Big 8 rivals ... and Big 12 rivals ... has witnessed their long-standing series end due to realignment. The Oklahoma-Nebraska rivalry broke up when the Cornhuskers left for the Big Ten in 2011. Texas and Texas A&M watched their rivalry break up when the Aggies left for the SEC in 2012 (they have reconnected when Texas joined them last season). Colorado's rivalry with Nebraska ended when both left the league, while the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State Bedlam series went on hiatus after their 2023 meeting.

Two controversial stories from last season may have caused those exposed loopholes to become closed. Late in last year's Oregon-Ohio State regular-season showdown, the Ducks had a 12th defender walk on the field to trigger an illegal substitution penalty. The penalty allowed Oregon to shave four seconds off the clock, which was crucial to salt away the win. That loophole is closed, as the offensive team will be allowed to get the penalty yards as well as the game clock reset to the time of the previous snap. That rule is in effect during the last two minutes of each half.

The other controversy was players faking injuries in order to stop the game without using a timeout. The new rule states that if medical personnel walks on to the field to tend to an injured player after the official has spotted the ball, that team is charged a timeout. While that won't totally eliminate the practice of faking injuries to save timeouts, it will make a dent in some of the more obvious attempts to flop. Other rule changes:

*Starting with the third overtime, teams will only get one timeout for the rest of the game. Timeouts were given to each team for every overtime period before.

*No player would be allowed directly in the line of the snap to the punter.

*Referees will only state that replays will either be "upheld" or "overturned".

*Rules prohibiting words or signals to distract opponents, signals used by returners on fair catches, celebrations simulating weapons, and defining who defenseless players are. 

Last season was a monumental year for conference realignment. Fifteen schools switched conferences, including 12 that switched power conferences and one (SMU) that made the step up into a power league. We saw a Pac-12 that had just one conference game and a bunch of wild, new conference showdowns.

This year is tame. Very tame. No schools are changing conferences, but there are three new additions among the Group of 5 leagues. UMass is leaving its independent status for the MAC. Delaware and Missouri State are leaving the FCS level to join Conference USA. That's it.

Next season will see much more movement as the Pac-12 attempts to reassemble itself. They will welcome Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State from the Mountain West and Texas State from the Sun Belt to form its new, eight-team conference (Oregon State and Washington State are the lone holdovers from the league's once proud roots). Northern Illinois (MAC) and UTEP (CUSA) will join the Mountain West.