2024-25 College Football Preview & Predictions

I had mentioned in my profile what a big college football fan and enthusiast I was. 1st year of the college football playoffs I predicted all 4 teams.

Before my son Cameron arrived into my life, I used to take my college football periodicals and research to the Caribbean / vacation and do my reading either on a white sandy beach or while the wife was readying herself for dinner. Now I spend evenings after Cameron is in bed with a bourbon and my periodicals.?

Since I do not participate on Facebook or Twitter and many of my friends are also people, I do business with, I thought I would share some insights into my after-work stress relief.

My time is spread thinner than ever and not sure how much longer I will be able to do this, but at least one more year - here goes -

?

1.?????? Ohio State - This year is National Title or a bust.? The Buckeyes return 7 starters on offense.? Last year's QB Kyle McCord hits the portal for Syracuse.? Ryan Day brings in Will Howard. (from Downingtown West) A senior QB from Kansas State who can throw and run.? Running back (RB) Traveyon Henderson turns down the NFL and runs behind 4 Offensive Line (OL) starters and they add Alabama's backup center from last year.? Senior Wide receiver (WR) Emeka Egbuka turned down the NFL to come back for another shot at a title.?

The defense returns 9 and is led by the most dangerous Defensive line in the country. 3 out of 4 said no to the NFL draft.? Senior Defensive ends (DE) Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau combined for 11 sacks and 9 QB hurries last year.? While future 1st round NFL pick Tylek Williams at 6-3 327 lbs anchors the middle of the defense.? 54 tackles and 7 tackles for loss (tfl) last year is an amazing stat line for a defensive tackle (DT).

The linebackers return 2 starters with experience as a Senior and Junior.? The defensive backs (DB) have 6 back including Alabama’s #1 tackler last year as a True Freshman who was 1st team SEC – Caleb Downs.? This is the top secondary in the country.

The schedule is manageable – they get Iowa at home Oct 5, go to Oregon on Oct 12 and Happy Valley to play the Nittany Lions on Nov 2. ?They end with some home cooking - Michigan at the Horseshoe.

?

2.?????? Georgia – QB Carson Beck leads the Dawgs who return 7 starters on offense and 7 on defense this year after losing an eye popping 8 players to the NFL draft last year.

Georgia is a machine. While most college programs are turning out accountants, programmers, economists and marketing folks, the Dawgs churn out NFL players.

RB Trevor Etienne transfers in from Florida where he had 753 yards and 8 touchdowns as a backup.? ?He runs behind the Joe Moore award winner (best offensive line in country) and they return 4 starters.

Georgia’s D returns the top 3 DL tacklers in Mykel Williams, Nazir Stackhouse and Warren Brinson.? CJ Allen had 41 tackles as a true frosh and they return Free Safety (FS) Malaki Starks who was 1st team SEC last year.

The schedule isn’t easy.? They start on a “neutral” field in Atlanta vs Clemson to start to the season.? Go to Kentucky (4 NFL players in the front 7) on Sept 14, travel to Tuscaloosa to play Bama on Sept 28, must go to Texas on Oct 19 and go to Ole Miss on Nov 9.? I think they get through with one loss to Texas and then replay them in the SEC Championship.

?

3.?????? Utah – The Utes move to the BIG 12 this year and return 15 starters.? They are coming off a disappointing year at 8-5 which was chock full of injuries including to their Heisman candidate QB – Cameron Rising.? Rising is back and this year they have 2 backups who can play in Sam Huard and Brandon Rose.?

The defense lost 3 to the NFL last year but all other starters return.? They do lose their #1 tackler – Levani Dumani to an injury in the spring (out for year). But this is an experienced cohesive group which only gave up 19 pts a game last year to all those elite Pac-12 QB’s.

They do have to play Oklahoma St and UCF on the road but get TCU and Iowa St in Salt Lake City.? I see them going 12-1 on the season and beating a top team in Oklahoma St for the Big 12 championship. If that happens they should be in the playoffs.

?

4.?????? Virginia Tech – Enter Sandman – football is back in Blacksburg!? It would be easy to pick Texas in this spot and they might deserve to be here. As we witnessed last year with Florida St the best team all season doesn’t always get to the dance.

VT returns 11 starters on offense and a whopping 47 lettermen.? Led by Junior QB Kyron Drones who as sophomore threw for 2000+ yards and ran for 1,000+ yards, a combined 23 TD’s and only 3 interceptions.? The starting RB is senior Bhayshul Tuten who had 863 yds and 8 TD’s. The WR room returns its top 2 which combined for 1200 yds and 14 TD’s.? All 5 on the O-Line return giving them 122 career starts and this offense which averaged 29.5 pts last year should see a TD a game increase.

The Defense returns 10 starters.? Led by senior DE Antwaun Powell-Ryland who had 9.5 sacks, 5 tfl and 7 QB hurries. The linebackers return all 3 including leading tackler Kell Lawson 80 tackles, 4.5 tfl, 6 pass breakups (pbu) and 4 qb hurries.? The secondary is led by corner back (CB) Dorian Strong and FS Jaylen Stroman, who looks like an NFL safety.?

They get a manageable schedule and the game in Miami on Sept 27 will determine if they have a shot at an undefeated season.? They do get Clemson in Blacksburg on Nov 9.? But I think 11-1 season gets them to the ACC Title game. If they can win that I see no reason they can’t sneak into the playoff picture.

In the Hunt –

Texas – The Longhorns may very well be the 4th team in. As mentioned above I went out on a limb for VT.? They return 7 starters on offense led by Junior QB Quinn Ewers.? All the talk this spring has been about landing Arch Manning (brother of Peyton and Eli), but Ewers led Texas to a Final 4 birth with a 69% completion %, 3400+ yds and 22 TD’s.? They do lose Jonathan Brooks in the backfield to the NFL but the horns reload.? Enter highly coveted out of high school, RB Cederic “CJ” Baxter who as a true frosh ran for 680 yds and 5 TD’s.? ??The running back room is deep with elite talent behind CJ.? The receiver room lost everyone including 3 NFL draft picks but add in a transfer from Oregon and Bama and a skilled sophomore who played as a true freshman last year.? The offensive line return 123 starts and will be considered for the Joe Moore award this year as best line in the country.

On defense, the horns return 8 starters.? Led by senior DE Barryn Sorrell who compiled 37 tackles, 4 sacks and 11 qb hurries last year. They return their 2nd, 3rd and 4th leading tacklers at linebacker and will be considered one of the tops groups in the country.? The secondary remains strong with 3 starters back and they add in Clemson’s #4 tackler at FS Andrew Mukuba.? CB Malik Muhammad has 31 tackles and 4 pbu as a true frosh.

The schedule isn’t easy.? They travel to the “Big House” to face Michigan on Sept 7.? Michigan is a talented but young team still molding their Off line so they get lucky catching them early in the year. Nonetheless its never easy traveling to Ann Arbor.? The Red River Rivalry vs Oklahoma at the Texas fair is Oct 12, followed by Georgia at home Oct 19, and traditionally end the year @ College Station vs Tex A&M Aggies.? It won’t be easy but they have the talent and experience to get to the final 4 again.

Oklahoma State – I truly believe the Cowboys have the team to get to the BIG 12 championship game undefeated this year.? They return 10 starters on offense.? QB Alan Bowman was a Michigan transfer last year who and threw for 3460 yds.? However, with his 15 TD passes came 14 interceptions.? He was learning a new system and if he can cut down on those int’s will steer a potent offense.? This year they have a redshirt freshman QB Zane Flores and sophomore QB Garret Rangel both talented backups.

The team is led by their big, experienced offensive line.? College football tops with 214 career starts.? It was the reason the Doak Walker winner (best RB in football) RB Ollie Gordon came back for another year.? He should be considered a top 5 for the Heisman this year.? The wideouts have their top 3 return which combined for 1900+ yds and 11 TD’s.? This is the best offense in the Big 12 and one of the tops in the country.

The defense returns 9 starters anchored by 350 lb NT Justin Kirkland.? He allows the linebackers to fly around and make plays. 278 tackles come back for another season at linebacker including disruptive edge rusher Collin Oliver who had 73 tackles, 6 sacks, 9.5 tfl and 9 qb hurries. Junior MLB Nick Martin returns who had a whopping 140 tackles, 6 sacks, 10 tfl and 9 qb hurries.? All 4 starters return to the secondary led by Terry Rucker with 100 tackles from the safety position.

The schedule includes some challenging road games but given the talent level should be manageable.? The largest game on the schedule is Sept 28 @ Manhattan vs. Kansas St. Most “experts” have K State winning or in the hunt for the division so this game should be one you circle on your calendar.? They go to Waco vs Baylor on Oct 26 and @ TCU on Nov 9.? If they can get past K State, I have them undefeated an in the league championship game vs Utah.? It’s a big ask, but if they beat Utah they will be in the Final 4.

Iowa – Coach Ferentz returns for an amazing 26th year.? One of the best coaches of all time IMO.? They return 18 total starters led by QB Cade McNamara.? Cade was a transfer from Michigan who unfortunately got hurt in August and was out for the year early. His replacement was Deacon Hill who only threw for 1150 yds with 5 TD’s and 8 int’s.? You would think with those abysmal numbers Iowa would have had a bad year?? Nope – they ended with 10 wins.? Reason – strong running and defense.? The RB room returns intact (4 strong) and is one of the deepest in the country.? ?They run behind 154 career starts on the line and the Off Line only lost 1 starter. Both Guards and their Left tackle (LT) are NFL capable.

The defense gets 8 starters back led by All-American Middle linebacker (MLB) Jay Higgins who had 171 tackles. WLB Nick Jackson contributed with 110 tackles and 7 qb hurries while SLB Sebastian Castro had 67 tackles, 7 tfl, 8 pbu and 3 int’s. This is the best linebacker group in the country!

The secondary lost their star Safety Cooper DeJean to the Eagles in the NFL draft last year but he was injured and out after 10 games.? They return 4 players who started at least 6 games and are experienced and deep.

They get Iowa St @ home on Sept 7 which is never an easy game especially with the Cyclones looking good this year.? Must travel to Minnesota on Sept 21 and Ohio St on Oct 5.? They do get Nebraska and Wisconsin in Iowa City. They are capable of going 8-1 in the Big 10 and that puts them in the hunt for the Big10 title and an upset vs Ohio State away from the National title picture.

Notre Dame – The Irish bring in senior QB Riley Leonard from Duke. He’s a dangerous runner and accurate passer.? They lose their All-American RB Audric Estime (1,300 yds and 18 TD’s) but speedy sophomore Jadarian Price is ready to take the reins.? As a freshman he had 399 yds.? They have plenty of depth and talent behind Price. ND makes some nice transfer signees to bolster the WR room.? However, they do lose 2 NFL draft choices on the offensive line including Joe Alt who was a top 10 pick.? They have 2 starters back and plenty of talent but will not match last year’s semifinalist Joe Moore Award offensive line.

The Irish return 9 to the defense led by All-American NT Howard Cross who had an incredible 66 tackles, 5 tfl and 4 qb hurries from the inside 3 technique.? Junior MLB Jack Kiser roams the 2nd line of defense and All-American FS Xavier Watts (52 tackles, 4 pbu, 7 int’s) bolsters the secondary.

As usual the Irish’s schedule is usually never easy.? However, they get a break this year with only 3 true road games.? The start on the road vs. Tex A&M. If they can get past the Aggies they get Florida St at home on Nov 9 and they could be headed for their annual showdown in Southern California vs USC on Nov 30 for the right to play in the Final 4.

LSU – Brian Kelly returns for his 3rd year and the Tigers return 12 total starters.? They lost their electric QB and WR NFL stars in round 1 last year.? However, the strength of this year’s offense will be the offensive line with 111 career starts back.? ?

The defense is loaded with talent. DE Savion Jones anchors the D line with 33 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 7 qb hurries. At linebacker the Tigers return Strong side linebacker (SLB) Major Burns who led the team with 93 tackles and Harold Perkins with 75 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 7.5 tfl, 5 pbu, and 7 qb hurries.

The schedule is where LSU can make things interesting.? The begin the year in Las Vegas on neutral site vs USC, travel to College Station vs Tex A&M on Oct 26, and the swamp to play Florida on Nov 16.? However, they get home games vs. Ole Miss, Bama and Oklahoma all at Death Valley and that makes them a legitimate contender in the SEC.

Alabama – The Nick Saban era is over and the Tide welcome new head coach Kalen DeBoar from Washington.? He maintained a strong recruiting class in Saban’s absence.?

QB Jalen Milroe who is a 2-way threat passing and running leads the Tide.? Last year they returned few starters on the O-Line and it showed with 48 sacks allowed. They improve to 60 career starts and the offensive line play will be improved.

The defense returns 6 starters. Tim Keenan plays DE in the 3-4 scheme and leads the D Line with 38 tackles and 7 qb hurries.? They lose 2 early NFL picks at linebacker but Bama always reloads.? Weak side linebacker (WLB) Deontae Lawson and MLB Jihaad Campbell lead the way with over 130 tackles combined as juniors. The secondary is talented but inexperienced.? CB Jaylen Mbakwe was the #1 defensive back signee in the country and was in Tuscaloosa for Spring camp and may see action as a true freshman.

The schedule is rugged.? Bama travels to Wisconsin on Sept 14 followed by 3 challenging SEC road games vs Tennessee, LSU and Oklahoma. They do however get Georgia, SC, Missouri and Auburn at home. They are a long shot but capable of winning a couple of those road games and the game vs Georgia which gives them a chance for the SEC title game.