5 College Football Teams Headed For a Letdown in 2025

5. Tennessee

- Tennessee Preview

The defense will be a killer, and the offense should be okay despite the loss of QB Nico Iamaleava to UCLA. If anything, being 18th in the preseason Coaches Poll was a bit too low.

The Vols have won 30 games over the last three seasons under Josh Heupel, and that's the expectation now. Get to ten wins, go back to the College Football Playoff.

Georgia, at Alabama, Oklahoma, at Florida - lose two of those three, and there can't be a mistake anywhere else. It's nitpicky, but going 8-4, or even 9-3 without a CFP appearance, will be a wee step back.

4. BYU 

- BYU Preview

The quarterback situation will be fine without Jake Retzlaff, and the team is still solid - especially in the linebacking corps, but there were a whole slew of wins over mediocre teams on last year's schedule.

The team went 11-2 with a win over SMU and a blowout bowl victory over Colorado, but seven of the ten regular season victories were over teams that didn't go bowling.

This year's version will start at least 3-0, but the midsection of at Arizona, Utah, at Iowa State, at Texas Tech, and TCU is a potential bear.

3. Arizona State

- Arizona State Preview

Give us a little bit of a break here - the Sun Devils were No. 2 on last year's Teams That Will Surprise list. But the 2024 version got by helped by a whole slew of bad teams before cranking it up late on the way to a 10-2 regular season.

It's the fun team to love. At 11, it's the highest-ranked Big 12 team in the preseason Coaches Poll with just about everyone else back, including red-hot head coach Kenny Dillingham. 

The schedule is just hard enough to make it more like an 8-4 season with road dates at Utah, Iowa State, Baylor, and - don't laugh - Mississippi State.

2. South Carolina

- South Carolina Preview

For a program that hasn't won ten games in a season since 2013, this is it. This is the year Gamecock fans have been waiting for.

With the possible top quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft in LaNorris Sellers - assuming the Arch Is Staying thing is for real - and what should be a phenomenal defense, the talent is there. 

It's a strong team that came really close to big things, losing to LSU and Alabama by a combined five points. It was firmly on the bubble to get into the 12-team CFP last year, going 9-3 with a six-game winning streak - including over Clemson - to close out the regular season, and ...

At Missouri, at LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, at Ole Miss, at Texas A&M, Clemson. This is a 10-2 team with an 8-4 schedule.

1. Syracuse

- Syracuse Preview

No one's thinking national championship or anything, or even ACC title, but after a 10-3 season under new head coach Fran Brown, and with a passing game that should be devastating, the hope is for it all to continue. 

Those three losses were to a horrible Stanford team in a total gag, a mega-turnover blowout to Pitt, and a tough 37-31 game against Boston College. Those were winnable. Most of the games on this year's slate aren't.

This year's team is good again, but the schedule is far, far tougher. It starts against Tennessee, and once ACC play hits, there's at Clemson, at SMU, at Georgia Tech, and at Miami. Throw in a trip to Notre Dame, and ... uh oh.