2025 Preseason Consensus

See the "notes" file for information on the preseason consensus.

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Conference changes for 2025:

Texas State joined the Pac-12

Louisiana Tech joined the Sun Belt

Delaware moved up from FCS to join Conference USA

Missouri State moved up from FCS to join Conference USA

UMass rejoined the MAC

Jump to:

National rankings
American Athletic Conference Predictions
Atlantic Coast Conference Predictions
Big Ten Conference Predictions
Big XII Conference Predictions
Conference USA Predictions
Mid-American Conference Predictions
Mountain West Conference Predictions
Southeastern Conference Predictions
Sun Belt Conference Predictions

National Top 25

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
1	Penn State	292	2	2	3	1	-	-	-	1	3	-	2	-	2	-	1	1
2	Texas	278	1	1	5	4	-	-	-	2	5	-	3	-	5	-	2	4
3	Ohio State	265	3	3	1	5	-	-	-	3	1	-	1	-	4	-	3	21
4	Clemson	261	4	5	8	2	-	-	-	7	4	-	9	-	1	-	6	3
5	Notre Dame	250	6	6	6	3	-	-	-	6	12	-	5	-	6	-	8	2
6	Georgia	237	9	4	4	6	-	-	-	22	2	-	6	-	3	-	5	12
7	Oregon	232	7	9	7	8	-	-	-	15	6	-	4	-	9	-	7	6
8	Louisiana State	231	5	7	9	11	-	-	-	5	7	-	7	-	10	-	10	8
9	Alabama	228	8	8	2	7	-	-	-	4	10	-	8	-	8	-	4	23
10	Miami-Florida	177	10	10	12	14	-	-	-	14	21	-	18	-	14	-	9	11
11	Illinois	155	17	17	19	16	-	-	-	12	9	-	13	-	11	-	-	10
12	Arizona State	142	14	14	22	23	-	-	-	-	8	-	19	-	17	-	11	9
13	Michigan	129	16	15	10	10	-	-	-	-	19	-	10	-	21	-	18	-
14	Florida	124	15	11	14	17	-	-	-	21	-	-	21	-	12	-	13	-
15	Oklahoma	118	12	20	16	9	-	-	-	13	-	-	-	-	15	-	14	-
16	South Carolina	103	13	12	17	-	-	-	-	-	11	-	14	-	16	-	-	-
17	Mississippi	102	19	18	11	-	-	-	-	17	20	-	11	-	-	-	19	-
18	Texas Tech	98	18	22	-	-	-	-	-	11	-	-	-	-	7	-	16	14
19	Iowa State	94	22	23	-	21	-	-	-	-	15	-	17	-	20	-	-	5
20	Texas A&M	93	-	19	15	19	-	-	-	9	-	-	-	-	19	-	12	-
21	Kansas State	92	20	13	18	24	-	-	-	-	13	-	12	-	-	-	25	-
22	SMU	90	11	24	20	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	16	-	13	-	-	-
23	Boise State	88	-	25	13	15	-	-	-	-	16	-	25	-	22	-	-	13
24	Indiana	87	-	16	23	20	-	-	-	8	-	-	24	-	-	-	23	16
25	Baylor	86	25	-	-	13	-	-	-	10	17	-	-	-	18	-	17	-

Others receiving votes:

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
26	Missouri	58	-	-	21	-	-	-	-	16	-	-	22	-	-	-	-	7
27	Louisville	55	23	-	24	-	-	-	-	19	18	-	23	-	-	-	-	24
28	Tennessee	49	-	21	-	-	-	-	-	18	-	-	15	-	-	-	21	-
29	Southern Cal	46	-	-	-	22	-	-	-	25	22	-	-	-	25	-	15	-
30t	Auburn	24	-	-	25	-	-	-	-	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	-
30t	Georgia Tech	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	14	-	-	-	24	-	-	-
32	Utah	22	-	-	-	18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	22	-
33	Brigham Young	21	21	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	-	-	-	-	-
34	Toledo	20	-	-	-	25	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	17
35	Texas Christian	19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	24	19
36	James Madison	17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	23	-	-	-	-	-	-	22
37	Navy	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	15
38	Nebraska	15	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	23	-	-	-
39	Tulane	13	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	18
40t	Buffalo	11	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20
40t	Minnesota	11	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
42	Vanderbilt	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	23	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
43	Louisiana-Lafay.	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
44t	Liberty	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	25
44t	San Jose State	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	25	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	unranked	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Conference predictions

American Athletic

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
1	Tulane	27	2	1	1	3	1	1	1	1	4	1	1	1	2½	2	3	1½
2	Navy	47	1	2	3	5	2	4	3	5	4	5	2	2	1	2	4½	1½
3	Memphis	54	3	6	2	1	3	2	4	2½	4	2½	3	3	4	7½	1	5½
4	UTSA	64½	6	4	4	2	4	3	5	2½	1½	5	5	4	5	6	2	5½
5	South Florida	71½	5	3	5	5	7	5	7	4	1½	2½	6	5	2½	4½	4½	4
6	Army	80½	4	5	7	5	5	6	2	8	6½	5	4	6	6	2	6	3
7	East Carolina	112½	7	7	6	8	8	7	6	7	6½	7½	8	7	7	4½	8	8
8	North Texas	121	9	8	9	7	6	8	8	6	8	7½	7	8	8	7½	7	7
9	Florida Atlantic	157½	10	9	8	10	10	9	13	12	10	10	10	9	9	9½	9	10
10	Rice	167	11	13	10	10	9	12	10	12	10	9	9	10	10½	12	10½	9
11	UAB	187	8	12	11	10	11	10	14	9	13½	14	12	14	13	12	10½	13
12	Temple	191½	12	10	13	12½	12	14	11	12	12	12	13	11½	12	9½	13	12
13	Charlotte	193	13	11	12	12½	14	11	9	12	13½	12	11	11½	10½	14	12	14
14	Tulsa	206	14	14	14	14	13	13	12	12	10	12	14	13	14	12	14	11

Atlantic Coast

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
1	Clemson	17	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
2	Miami-Florida	37½	2	2	1	2½	2	2	2	2	6	2	3	2	3	2	2	2
3	SMU	67½	3	3	3	2½	3	3	6	7	11½	3	2	3	2	6½	6	3
4	Louisville	76½	5	4	6	7	4	4	3	5	3½	5½	4	5	5	6½	4	5
5	Georgia Tech	81	7	5	5	4½	5	5	5	3	2	9	6	4	4	3½	4	9
6	Duke	114	8	6	10	10	8	8	4	5	6	13	5	6	6	6½	8½	4
7	Florida State	132½	4	7	12	4½	9	7	10	13	8½	5½	9	7	7	9	4	16
8	Pittsburgh	133½	6	8	14	7	12	9	8	5	3½	13	13	9	8½	3½	7	7
9	North Carolina	146	10	9	7	7	6	6	13	9	11½	9	10	8	8½	11½	8½	12
10	N.C. State	147½	11	10	11	10	10	12	9	11	6	4	11	10	10	6½	10	6
11	Virginia Tech	158	12	11	4	10	7	11	12	9	11½	9	7	11	12	11½	11	9
12	Virginia	197½	15	14	8	13	11	10	14	9	8½	15	15	14	13	14	12	12
13	Syracuse	198	9	13	17	13	15	13	7	16	11½	9	8	12	14	16½	15	9
14	Boston College	207	13	12	13	13	14	14	11	13	14½	13	12	13	15	11½	13	12
15	California	218	17	15	9	15	13	15	15	16	14½	9	14	15	11	11½	14	14
16	Wake Forest	257	14	16	16	16	16	17	16	16	16½	16	16	16	16	16½	16	17
17	Stanford	259½	16	17	15	17	17	16	17	13	16½	17	17	17	17	15	17	15

Big Ten

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
1	Penn State	21½	1	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	1½	1½	3	1	1	1½	1	1
2	Ohio State	33	2	2	1	2	2	1	2	2	4	1½	1	2	2	1½	2	5
3	Oregon	51	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	6½	1½	4	2	3	3	4½	3	2½
4	Michigan	78	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	6½	7	4	6	5	5	4½	4½	6½
5	Illinois	93½	5	6	10	6½	6	7	4	4	4	7½	10	4	4	4½	8½	2½
6	Southern Cal	102	7	9	5	6½	7	6	9	6½	4	4	4	9	6½	7½	4½	6½
7	Indiana	104	9	5	7	6½	5	5	8	3	13	6	5	6	8	7½	6	4
8	Nebraska	125	6	8	6	6½	8	8	6	9½	7	14	11	8	6½	4½	7	9
9	Iowa	149	10	7	11	9	11	10	7	11½	9	7½	8	7	10	10	10	11
10t	Minnesota	157	11	11	9	10½	9	11	10	6½	7	10½	7	11	11	12½	11	9
10t	Washington	157	8	10	8	10½	10	9	12	9½	11	10½	9	10	9	10	8½	12
12	Wisconsin	205½	12	13	14	12	13	13	15	14	11	10½	13	12	12	15	12	14
13	Rutgers	206	16	12	13	13	12	14	11	11½	14½	14	14	13½	14½	10	14	9
14	UCLA	224	13	15	15	14½	14	12	13	16	14½	10½	12	15	14½	15	14	16
15	Michigan State	226	14	14	16	14½	15	15	14	14	11	14	17½	13½	13	12½	14	14
16	Northwestern	257	17	16	17	16½	17	16	17	14	16½	17	15	17	16	15	16	14
17	Maryland	261	15	17	12	16½	16	17	16	17½	16½	17	16	16	17	17½	17	17
18	Purdue	285½	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	17½	18	17	17½	18	18	17½	18	18

Big XII

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
1	Kansas State	39	3	1	1	5	1	1	1	3½	1	3	1	-	4	1½	5½	6½
2	Arizona State	47½	1	2	2	5	2	3	5	7½	3½	3	3	-	3	4	1	2½
3	Texas Tech	55½	2	3	5	5	3	2	4	1½	6½	6½	7	-	1	4	2½	2½
4	Baylor	61½	6	5	7	2	6	6	8	1½	2	3	4	-	2	1½	2½	5
5	Iowa State	72½	5	4	9	2	7	5	6	5½	3½	6½	2	-	5	4	7	1
6	Texas Christian	94½	7	9	6	7½	8	7	2	3½	9½	6½	6	-	7	6	5½	4
7	Utah	100½	9	7	11	2	5	4	7	13	6½	1	9	-	6	7½	4	8½
8	Brigham Young	109	4	6	3	7½	4	10	3	7½	13	10½	5	-	9	12	8	6½
9	Kansas	134½	8	8	4	9½	9	8	9	14½	6½	10½	8	-	8	7½	12	12
10	Colorado	164	12	10	10	12½	12	14	10	5½	13	14	10	-	11	12	9½	8½
11	Cincinnati	171	11	12	12	9½	11	9	16	11	13	14	11	-	12	9½	9½	10½
12	Houston	175	10	11	16	11	13	11	11	11	13	14	13	-	10	9½	11	10½
13	Central Florida	198½	13	16	8	12½	10	15	12	16	16	10½	12	-	14	15	14½	14
14	Oklahoma State	200½	16	13	13	14	16	16	14	14½	6½	6½	14	-	13	15	13	16
15	Arizona	202	15	15	15	15	15	12	15	9	9½	10½	15	-	15	12	16	13
16	West Virginia	214½	14	14	14	16	14	13	13	11	13	16	16	-	16	15	14½	15

Conference USA

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
1	Liberty	22	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	1½	3½	1½	1	1	1	1½	1	1
2	Western Kentucky	39½	3	2	2	3	2	2	1	1½	2	1½	2	2	2	4	3	6½
3	Louisiana Tech	80	10	6	5	2	4	3	5	6½	7	6	10	4	3	1½	2	5
4	Jacksonville St.	85	5	3	3	7½	3	4	4	12	1	10	4	3	6	6	7	6½
5	Sam Houston	92	2	7	7	9	9	7	2	9	7	6	3	5	4	4	9	2
6	Middle Tennessee	106½	4	8	12	4	8	10	11	4½	5	6	8	7	7	4	4	4
7	Texas-El Paso	108	8	4	9	5½	10	5	8	8	3½	6	7	6	5	7	5	11
8	Delaware	129½	11	5	8	11	5	9	9	3	10	10	5	9	12	9	10½	3
9	Florida Int'l	131	12	9	4	7½	6	6	6	6½	10	6	11	10	8	9	8	12
10	Missouri State	138½	7	10	6	11	11	8	10	4½	12	3	6	11	9½	9	10½	10
11	New Mexico State	142	6	11	10	5½	7	11	7	10½	10	10	9	8	11	11	6	9
12	Kennesaw State	174	9	12	11	11	12	12	12	10½	7	12	12	12	9½	12	12	8

Mid-American

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
1	Toledo	21	1	1	1	1½	1	1	2	2	1	1	3	1	1	1½	1	1
2	Ohio	50½	3	4	4	3	3	2	1	8½	5½	3	1	3	2½	1½	2½	3
3	Buffalo	52	2	2	9	1½	2	3	5	1	2½	3	6	4	2½	4	2½	2
4	Miami-Ohio	57½	4	3	2	4	5	4	3	6	2½	3	2	2	4	4	4	5
5	Northern Illinois	86½	7	5	3	5	4	6	4	3½	5½	7	5	5	8	7	5	6½
6	Bowling Green	102	11	7	5	6	6	5	8	5	8	7	4	6	5	4	6½	8½
7t	Central Michigan	117	5	6	10	7½	7	7	9	8½	9½	5	7	9	9	7	6½	4
7t	Western Michigan	117	6	8	7	9	9	8	7	3½	5½	7	8	7	6	7	9	10
9	Eastern Michigan	133½	8	9	11	7½	10	9	6	8½	5½	10	9	8	7	10½	8	6½
10	Akron	157½	9	10	6	10	8	11	10	11½	12	10	11	11½	10	9	10	8½
11	Ball State	174½	10	11	12	11	12	10	11	11½	12	10	10	10	11	10½	11	11½
12	UMass	180½	12	12	8	12	11	12	12	8½	9½	12	12	11½	12	12½	12	11½
13	Kent State	206½	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	12	13	13	13	13	12½	13	13

Mountain West

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
1	Boise State	18	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1½	1	1	1	1	1	1	1½
2	San Jose State	40½	2	3	3	2	3	3	3	2½	1½	4	2	3	3	2	2	1½
3	Nevada-Las Vegas	60	3	2	1	3	2	2	2	9	6½	2	3	2	2	8	3	9½
4	Colorado State	82½	5	5	5	5	7	6	5	2½	3½	4	7	4	8	3½	5	7
5	Fresno State	85½	6	4	4	7	4	4	9	7	3½	4	4	5	5	6½	6½	6
6	Air Force	91½	4	6	10	4	6	5	4	11	6½	7	5	6	4	5	4	4
7	Hawaii	113	7	7	6	7	5	9	10	5½	9½	9	9	7	9	3½	6½	3
8	Wyoming	129½	10	9	11	9	8	7	6	5½	6½	7	6	10	7	10½	9	8
9	San Diego State	131	11	8	9	7	9	8	8	9	9½	7	12	8	6	6½	8	5
10	Utah State	153½	9	10	8	11	11	10	7	12	6½	11½	8	9	10	9	10½	11
11	New Mexico	171	12	12	7	11	12	12	12	4	11½	10	11	11	12	12	12	9½
12	Nevada	172	8	11	12	11	10	11	11	9	11½	11½	10	12	11	10½	10½	12

Southeastern

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
1	Texas	23½	1	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	2½	2½	1	1	2	1	1	1½
2	Georgia	43	4	2	2	1	1	1	2	10	1	2½	2	2	1	4½	3	4
3	Alabama	56	3	4	3	3	3	7	4	2½	4½	2½	3	3	3	2½	2	6
4	Louisiana State	59	2	3	7	5	6	3	3	2½	2½	2½	5	4	4	2½	4	3
5	Mississippi	107	8	7	5	8	4	5	6	6	8	6	4	7	9½	9	8½	6
6	Texas A&M	112½	12	8	6	5	7	8	10	4	6	6	7	8	8	4½	5	8
7	Tennessee	123½	11	10	4	8	5	6	5	6	11	8½	6	9	11	7	10	6
8	Florida	135½	7	5	12	8	11	13	7	10	8	8½	12	6	5	7	6½	9½
9	Oklahoma	136	5	9	10	5	12	9	8	8	8	6	11	10	6	11	6½	11½
10	South Carolina	140	6	6	9	10½	10	12	9	13	4½	11½	9	5	7	7	11	9½
11	Missouri	157½	10	12	11	12½	9	4	12	6	11	11½	8	12	12	13	12	1½
12	Auburn	166	9	11	8	10½	8	10	11	10	13	11½	10	11	9½	11	8½	14
13	Arkansas	213	13	13	13	12½	13	14	13	15	14½	11½	13	14	13	14½	13	13
14	Vanderbilt	217	14	14	15	14	14	16	15	12	11	14½	14	13	14	11	14	11½
15	Kentucky	236	15	15	14	15	15	11	14	15	14½	14½	16	15	15	16	15	16
16	Mississippi State	250½	16	16	16	16	16	15	16	15	16	16	15	16	16	14½	16	15

Sun Belt

Rank	Team	Total Points	Lindy	Athlon	ESPN FPI	Phil Steele	Gold Sheet	DRat- ings .com	USA Today	McIllece Sports	CFB Home	Coll. F'ball News	Versus Sports Simulator	Media Day Polls	CFB Focus	Arena Fanatic	Pick Six	Coll. F'ball Poll
East
1	James Madison	17½	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1½	1	1
2	Georgia Southern	36½	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2½	2	2	5	2	2	4	2	2
3	Old Dominion	56	4	3	4	3	4	3	4	4	3½	4	4	5	3	1½	3	3
4	Appalachian State	67½	3	5	5	4	3	5	6	6½	3½	4	2	3	4	3	4	6½
5	Coastal Carolina	76½	5	4	7	5	6	4	5	2½	5	4	6	4	5	5	5	4
6	Marshall	90	7	6	3	7	5	6	3	5	7	7	3	6	7	6	7	5
7	Georgia State	104	6	7	6	6	7	7	7	6½	6	6	7	7	6	7	6	6½
West
1	Texas State	32	2	1	2	1½	3	1	3	2	1½	1	2	2	3	3½	1	2½
2	Louisiana-Lafay.	33	4	2	1	1½	1	2	1	4	1½	2½	3	1	2	3½	2	1
3	South Alabama	50	3	3	3	4	2	3	2	4	3½	2½	1	4	1	6½	3	4½
4	Arkansas State	69	1	4	5	6	6	5	4	1	5½	4½	5	3	5½	1½	6	6
5	Troy	73½	5	6	4	4	4	4	6	6	3½	4½	4	6	5½	1½	5	4½
6	Southern Miss	90	6	5	6	4	7	6	7	4	7	6	7	5	4	5	4	7
7	Louisiana-Monroe	100½	7	7	7	7	5	7	5	7	5½	7	6	7	7	6½	7	2½