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The 2025 college football season is fast approaching. Soon, we’ll be basking in the warm, glorious sun of Farmageddon, and all will be right with the world.

As we inch closer to the start of a new season, let’s take a long, hard look at some teams on the clock in 2025.

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze is sitting on the hot seat in a Put Up or Shut Up 2025 season.

Under Freeze, the Tigers are just 11-14 overall over two years. During that span, Auburn is just 5-11 in SEC play. That is simply not good enough for a program with lofty ambitions that’s nestled in arguably the deepest conference in college football.

Year 3 jumps are a real thing, and Auburn fans are hoping that’s the case with the Tigers in 2025. Auburn’s offense has been putrid under Freeze, averaging just 26 and 28 points per game in his first two seasons. To rectify the offensive woes, Auburn dipped its toes into the transfer portal in search of a quarterback and came back with former OU signal-caller Jackson Arnold.

Arnold, once the future of the Sooners’ program, was underwhelming in 2024 and opted for a fresh start instead of sticking it out in Norman. Arnold will almost certainly be better than the previous Auburn starter, Payton Thorne. How much better? That’s the million-dollar question.

The Tigers are relying on Arnold to get it right. If Arnold is good, it’ll likely be because of the continued development of stud sophomore receiver Cam Coleman and new target Eric Singleton Jr. Coleman was electric last season, and has truly developed a knack for big plays and making shit pop off. ESJ comes from Georgia Tech and should add a new dimension next to Coleman. These two could be the best one-two receiver punch in the SEC if Arnold can get them the ball enough.

On the other side of the ball, I expect Auburn’s defense to be pretty dang good once again. Led by disgraceful coach DJ Durkin, last year’s group held teams under 22 points per game and were a Top 30 defense in the country. The Tigers added a handful of three-star defensive players for the portal, which should add some depth and rotation pieces to an already good group.

The best case scenario for this Auburn team as a whole is to see the offense make a big enough jump that it affords the defense to tread water or even take a slight step back.

From where I sit, there are four season-defining games on Auburn’s schedule. Baylor in Week 1, the first two SEC games against OU and Texas A&M and the big rivalry against Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama. If Auburn can knock off Baylor and get off to a good start in SEC play, there are some very winnable games down the stretch.

Penn State enters the new season under a different kind of pressure: the weight of expectations. The Nittany Lions return a loaded roster and are primed to compete for not only a Big 10 title but also the national championship. Last year’s run to the College Football Playoff Semifinal was a great first step toward the ultimate goal of hoisting a trophy at year’s end.

James Franklin sits upon one of the coolest seats in America. But make no bones about it, pressure is mounting on him to get this team across the finish line. After getting so close last season, he’ll hope another year of seasoning will do this group good.

On the field, Penn State brings back a ton of talent, starting with quarterback Drew Allar. Allar threw for over 3,000 yards and 28 TDs in 2024 and received a ton of NFL Draft interest. He opted to return to Happy Valley and make one last run at a title. Allar is a good quarterback, but whether he can make the jump from good to great could be season (and era) defining for Franklin and Penn State.

In the backfield, the Nittany Lions have perhaps the most lethal one-two RB duo in the country in Nic Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Last season, the pair broke games wide open and ground out finishes. Allar benefits a lot from being able to hand the ball off to guys like Singleton and Allen.

On defense, the name to watch is Dani Dennis-Sutton, a hulking EDGE player who walks in the same shoes as former Penn State studs Micah Parsons and Abdul Carter. DDS is a total game-wrecker and will undoubtedly be a top NFL Draft pick come next April.

Speaking of defense, Penn State landed a real white whale with the acquisition of new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Knowles was the architect of a title-winning defense in Columbus in 2024. Nittany Lion fans will hope he has the same sort of impact in Happy Valley.

The 2025 season has a now-or-never feel to it for this Penn State program. No pressure.

We’ve seen different variations of the Clemson program under Dabo Swinney, and this one feels ready to make a College Football Playoff run. The Tigers are heavy favorites to win the ACC. Barring a shocker of a season, I don’t see a way this group doesn’t make the CFP.

Clemson’s good-to-great trajectory likely depends on quarterback Cade Klubnik’s further development. After a bad start last season, Klubnik was excellent down the stretch, and it’s not a stretch to think he’s a Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback in 2025.

The Tigers’ offense is loaded with weapons and should make life difficult for ACC defenses. Offensive coordinator Garrett Riley showed some fun wrinkles down the stretch of the 2024 season. If he can keep out-scheming opposing defenses, this offense should be lethal.

On the other side of the ball, the Tigers bring back a loaded defense, headlined by defensive linemen T.J. Parker and Peter Woods. Both Parker and Woods are NFL first-round talents and will disrupt offenses at will. If both can stay healthy, this defense will flourish under new defensive coordinator Tom Allen.

We’ll find a lot out about this group in Week 1 when the Tigers host LSU in a marquee matchup. Both LSU and Clemson have the College Football Playoffs in sight, have NFL-level quarterbacks and experienced coaches. That one should be a doozy.

After an offseason of upheaval, roster reconstruction and a beefed-up backroom, Oklahoma head coach is facing a make-or-break campaign in 2025. Venables is just 22-17 through three seasons in Norman, and now faces a pivotal Year 4.

On offense, OU ditched former quarterback Jackson Arnold in favor of a Buy 1 Get 1 opportunity with former Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and standout signal-caller John Mateer. In Arbuckle’s offense, Mateer was a big-play magnet, racking up 3,100 yards and 29 touchdowns last season.

Mateer will be the focal point of the offense. But adding former star Cal running back Jaydn Ott doesn’t hurt either. Ott joins a crowded running back room and adds a level of experience and big-play ability that this offense just didn’t have last season. Outside of Mateer’s trajectory, the success of this unit (and team) will likely be predicated on the offensive line’s massive improvement.

The o-line was dreadful in 2024. To combat those woes, Oklahoma dipped into the transfer portal in search of reinforcements. The Sooners came back with Jake Maikkula and Luke Baklenko from Stanford, as well as Derek Simmons from Western Carolina. For everyone involved, I hope these guys can make a real impact and give this offense a fighting chance moving forward.

Venables-led defenses are always excellent. I have no doubts about that unit being great once again. If the offense can make a leap, the Sooners could make some serious noise in the SEC.

Despite all the good, it’s important to remember that Oklahoma plays arguably the toughest schedule in the country. The slate features a non-conference game against Top 25-ranked Michigan, along with games against the likes of Texas, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Alabama and LSU, to name a few.

Even if the Sooners are much-improved up front and Mateer is a real-deal upgrade at the quarterback position, the win-loss record might not change much compared to last season.

Venables likely needs at least eight wins to keep his job.

The Trojans have underperformed since Lincoln Riley arrived in LA. And while he has a crazy buyout situation, pressure is mounting for him to start producing wins.

In the offseason, the USC program took significant steps toward being a more serious organization. The Trojans ponied up to keep defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn. They poached away former Notre Dame GM Chad Bowden, who called USC a “sleeping giant” of college football. And they started recruiting at a better clip.

Trojan fans will hope all of that offseason work will translate to wins.

On offense, USC brings back quarterback Jayden Maiva, who split time with old starter Miller Moss last year. Riley has remained steadfast in his faith in Maiva. If he can cut down on the turnovers and risky throws, he could be pretty good in this Riley offense.

Defensively, the Trojans were much improved last season in Lynn’s first year. The Trojans went from giving up over 34 points per game under Alex Grinch to down to 24 points per game in 2024. That unit also gave up almost 60 fewer yards per game. The defense tackled better, did a good job rallying to the ball, and appeared to be in the right places more frequently.

USC has a difficult schedule, but could be a dark horse candidate for Big 10 contention if things break right.

Texas Tech has spent an almost unprecedented amount of money, pushing all of its chips to the center of the table for the 2025 college football season. With the back of super booster Cody Campbell, the Red Raiders appear poised to make a serious run at the Big 12 title and a College Football Playoff berth.

The Red Raiders were perhaps the most aggressive transfer portal team in the entire country. According to the 247 Sports 2025 Transfer Portal Spring Rankings, Texas Tech comes in at the number one spot with 18 incoming transfers for the upcoming season.

One of the things I was most impressed with when it comes to this class is the Texas Tech brass’s ability to address some glaring holes on both lines of scrimmage. Sure, the Red Raiders added some fun skill talent, but my eyes were immediately drawn to the offensive and defensive lines.

I like the acquisitions of former Stanford defensive end David Bailey, Georgia Tech defensive end Remello Height and big gap eater Lee Hunter from UCF. On the other side of the ball, I’m intrigued by the acquisition of former Illinois State offensive lineman Hunter Zambrano, who was one of the best linemen at the lower levels in 2024. The Red Raiders essentially flipped their entire offensive line year to year, and I’m fascinated to see that play out.

Last season, Tech’s defense was abysmal, ranking 75th in rush defense and 133rd in pass defense. To address those issues, the Red Raiders went portaling and will hope their new acquisitions can make this unit sturdy enough to compete for a conference title.

Texas Tech feels like a high-variance team. Could the Red Raiders go 9-3, or dare I say, 10-2? Sure! Could this roster struggle to gel, and the team look a lot closer to 7-5? Absolutely.

With the sheer amount of money spent this offseason, expectations will be sky high for Joey McGuire. I suspect McGuire will have to win a lot of games if he hopes to keep his job. Pencil me in for the 9-3 range for this team.

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