Below are the games that I personally think are the most exciting matchups heading into the 2025 College Football season. As the article goes on, you may notice a pattern as a lot of these games will happen week 1. The NCAA, and the teams themselves, killed it with scheduling this year as week 1 could potentially be the best week of College Football.
Below are the teams that I think have a strong case to win their respective conference titles, but they may not be the obvious pick. The criteria for picking these teams is very simple. Each team will have a roster that I feel is complete and talented enough to compete for the title, and they have a schedule that is strong enough to give them a boost if they have a significant amount of wins.
The final play of the first half of the SEC championship Carson Beck would play his last down as a Georgia Bulldog. With one year left of eligibility on January 9th, Beck would make the decision to enter his name into the transfer portal and commit to the Miami Hurricanes within 24 hours of his entry.
ESPN just recently released their post-spring Top 25 power rankings based on their own Power Index. Well, if you have been keeping up, we also released our power rankings based on our own power index on the HG not too long ago. Below is where our ranking and ESPN’s ranking are the same, different, and not even close to agreeing on.
In the 2024 season, the college football world was taken by storm as there was, not one, but two freshman WRs who dominated anyone who lined up across from them. These WRs are Alabama’s Ryan Williams and Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith. These two are by far the most exciting players to watch in 2024, but will they be as dominant in 2025?
Pass rushing has become the most valuable aspect to a team's defense and their success. We keep seeing more and more pass rushers being top draft picks, winning DPOY, and getting PAID! Edge Rushers have been the highest paid defensive position in the NFL by a large gap. Below is who I believe are the premiere pass rushers in college football for the 2025 season.
The Manning family has been a staple of both college and professional football for over five decades, and now the third generation of Manning (Arch Manning) has entered the spotlight. Archie, Peyton, and Eli have all had spectacular success in college and the NFL, also Cooper Manning (Arch’s father) was a great football player before spinal stenosis ended his career early.
Below is a “totally un-biased” top 5 ranking of QBs from the past 25 years. The list is ranked on many different metrics like yards, TDs, INTs, QBR, and impact on their respective programs. Again, this list is strictly based on the QB’s college career production. There is absolutely no biases in this ranking.
Below is the top 25 college football head coach rankings based on the coaches last 3+ year results and coaching performance. That being said, the coach that sits atop the mountain is the 2 time National Champion, 3 time SEC champion, and one of the best to ever do it, Georgia Bulldogs Head Coach Kirby Smart with a HC metric of 29.
Below is the top 25 college QB rankings based strictly on returning production from the season prior. There will not be any G5 QBs on this list, not due any ones talent or skill, but it is due to the competition gap between P4 and G5. That being said, the #1 QB in the entire nation is undoubtedly Clemson’s Cade Klubnik with a QB metric score of 33.6.
Below is our Power 4 power rankings based on different metrics (QB metric, coaching metric, recruiting, etc.) compiled together to give a larger and more concise power number. The team with highest power number is the Texas Longhorns with a power number of 138.84. They lead the nation in power rankings by over 5 points more than the team in 2nd place.
Below is the final top 25 projections based on the numbers, stats, and more on the Hourglass. These rankings are of course subject to change as it is still early in the year. The team that we believe will finish as kings of college football is the Texas Longhorns.
Bellow is our rankings of the 2025 BIG 12 QBs based on their performances last year and other stats all combined to give us their QB metric. The King of not only ACC QBs, but all QBs in college football is Clemson’s Superstar QB Cade Klubnik with a QB metric of 33.6. Cade Klubnik’s QB metric is 6.4 points higher than the QB who is 2nd in the nation and 19.19 points higher than the average QB metric.
Bellow is our rankings of the 2025 BIG 12 QBs based on their performances last year and other stats all combined to give us their QB metric. Leading the pack in 2025 is Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson at 24.2. Robertson is followed closely by Iowa State’s Rocco Becht at 22.5 and Texas Tech’s Behren Morton at 22.3.
The Big 12 had a great 2024 season and will be expecting way more in 2025. The 2024 season brought about a competitive playoff spot for the Big 12, specifically Arizona State, in the first 12-team playoffs. It will be tough for the Big 12 to repeat or exceed the 2024 season.
The 2024 season for the ACC was a very good year. They had two representatives in the first 12 team playoff bracket, a Heisman finalist, and a highly competitive conference title race. As good as 2024 was, 2025 will be an incredible season for the ACC.
Bellow is our rankings of the 2025 BIG 10 QBs based on their performances last year and other stats all combined to give us their QB metric. Drew Allar (Penn State) sits at #1 with a metric of 21.5. He is closely followed by Luke Altmyer (Illinois) and Nico Iamaleava (UCLA).
The 2024 season was HUGE for the Big 10. In the first ever 12 team playoff, the Big 10’s very own Ohio State emerged victorious, winning the National Championship. It will be tough for the Big 10 to have a better season than 2024, but 2025 is still going to be another great season.
The 2024 season was a very interesting year for the SEC. It was the first season for the SEC newcomers Texas and Oklahoma. It was also the first year where the conference did not have split divisions, which made for some very competitive football.
The Arizona State Sun Devils are coming off one of their best seasons ever where they won the Big 12 and received a first round bye in the College Football Playoffs. Head Coach Kenny Dillingham expects to achieve more as he heads into his 3rd season at Arizona State. He will have plenty of success because he has one the hottest young offenses in college football.
