College football conference power rankings for 2025 season

Granted, there isn’t much left of the grand old West Coast conference of champions, which after a century found itself reduced to just two members after getting raided in the last iteration of conference realignment.

Washington State and Oregon State are the two cornerstones that remain, but they won’t be lonely for long, after the Pac-12 kicked off a little expansion of its own.

Boise State, which made the College Football Playoff a year ago and could again this season, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Texas State, and Utah State are all slated to join up starting in 2026.

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9. Conference USA

Liberty was the standard-bearer in CUSA last season, its first in the league, going 13-1 and winning the conference title, but the Flames slipped to an 8-4 mark and lost star quarterback Kaidon Salter, who transferred to Colorado this season.

Jacksonville State won the CUSA crown a year ago, but Liberty could be a contender to win it back, returning more than 65 percent of last year’s production. 

But keep an eye on Western Kentucky, which could emerge after scoring a notable quarterback transfer, topping On SI’s Conference USA power rankings this offseason.

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8. MAC

Two seasons ago, the MAC produced three 10-win teams, but two of the best quarterbacks who piloted a pair of those squads -- Dequan Finn and Kurtis Rourke -- transferred out, Finn to Baylor and Rourke to Indiana and a playoff berth.

As a result, MACtion had just one double-digit win team, the 11-win Ohio Bobcats who went on to win the conference championship. Finn is back in the MAC this year, with league runner-up Miami of Ohio.

Northern Illinois earned some respect for the MAC a year ago after beating eventual national title runner-up Notre Dame on the road, and the league has 19 more chances to pull off another upset against a Power Four opponent this fall.

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7. Sun Belt

James Madison and Louisiana are the prospective favorites from the East and West Divisions, respectively, when looking over the Sun Belt preseason poll.

And while the former is coming off a highlight upset of North Carolina last fall, in total the Sun Belt put just eight of its 14 teams in a bowl game a year ago.

One of them, James Madison, earned votes in the AP top 25 preseason rankings, although not enough to be one of the favored 25, and it has a chance to repeat last year’s exploits with a road date against Louisville.

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6. Mountain West

Enjoy the Mountain West while you can, as five of these schools will be in the Pac-12 starting next season, including consensus favorite Boise State.

It’s that school which easily tops the conference power rankings heading into 2025 and could make another run as the Group of Five selection in the College Football Playoff again, even after losing all-world back Ashton Jeanty.

But aside from the Broncos, it’s just UNLV that really stands out, even after losing Barry Odom, the coach who helped put it in that position. Dan Mullen steps in to maintain that standard, and boasts some promising transfer portal acquisitions to that end.

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5. American

Don’t call it the AAC. Now simply the American Conference, it could prove to be the class of the non-power leagues in 2025. 

Three of the American’s members won double-digit games last season, and surprisingly two of them were Army and Navy. Memphis went 11-2 a year ago, and has a chance to show off in a home date against SEC opponent Arkansas in late September.

Tulane is getting serious consideration as the next Group of Six team that could earn College Football Playoff selection, hopes that look even more credible after the acquisition of former BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who won 11 games last season.

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4. ACC

Clemson and Miami, and, then, that’s about it.

Last season saw the ACC put two teams into the College Football Playoff and there’s no reason to suggest it won’t again, with that pair being the consensus favorites to get the call from the selection committee.

Clemson returns some of college football’s best contributors at key positions like quarterback, wide receiver, offensive line, and in the defensive front seven.

Miami scored a marquee quarterback transfer in two-year Georgia starter Carson Beck, but we’ll see if his new-look receiver room turns out, and whether this defense can improve from some sluggish play against conference opponents.

Florida State, traditionally the team to beat in the ACC over the years, collapsed a year ago in the midst of a 2-10 existential crisis, and it remains to be seen if Mike Norvell has what it takes to pull the program out of the doldrums and back into the playoff picture.

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3. Big 12

By far college football’s most competitive Power Four conference this season, at least at the top, it was precisely that parity that moved the league to do away with its preseason poll after Arizona State won the Big 12 title after being picked to finish last.

More mayhem could be in store this time around, although it’s safe to say that whoever the pollsters would have picked last won’t make a run quite like that, but up to seven schools have a realistic chance at earning a spot in the College Football Playoff this year.

Arizona State remains among that cohort, as does Kansas State, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Baylor, BYU, and Utah, ensuring that the Big 12 will play meaningful football in multiple games just about every week this season.

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2. Big Ten

College football’s reigning national championship conference two-straight years running has inspired some analysts to consider whether the Big Ten has finally overtaken the SEC, and Michigan’s run in 2023 and Ohio State’s in 2024 lend credence to that theory.

But not enough when considering overall conference depth, a category the Big Ten still lacks from top to bottom. The top, however, is still some of the best in the country.

Ohio State returns another blue-chip roster that can easily get back to the College Football Playoff, while other contenders like Penn State and Oregon, who played each other for the B1G title a year ago, are genuine national title hopefuls.

Indiana even scored a playoff invite a year ago, and other schools like Illinois, which won 10 games last fall, and especially Michigan can boost the Big Ten’s credibility again.

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1. SEC

Put any of the top teams in the SEC on the field against the best of any other conference, and the SEC is winning nine out of 10 of those games. That continues to be the strength, the speed, and depth of this conference.

This preseason saw 10 teams from the SEC earn a place in the initial AP top 25 rankings, a full 63 percent of the conference, including Texas earning the No. 1 for the first time in any preseason ever.

Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and LSU once again boast some of college football’s most gifted rosters from top to bottom, while South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and possibly Oklahoma are also contenders to play their way into CFP contention again.

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