The 2024 College Football Playoff was historic, marking the first time the postseason expanded to include 12 teams.
Ohio State emerged as the national champion, defeating Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, and Notre Dame on their path to the title.
Now, fans and analysts are turning their attention to the upcoming 2025 season and wondering who will be hoisting the trophy this time around?
On that note, ESPN’s SP+ model has released its early projections, identifying the 12 teams it expects to lead the charge in the upcoming College Football Playoff.
This forecasting tool evaluates teams based on three key elements: returning production, recent recruiting success, and recent team history.
The SP+ rankings predict the following 12 teams as the frontrunners heading into the 2025 season…
#1. Ohio State
#2. Alabama
#3. Penn State
#4. Georgia
#5. Notre Dame
#6. Oregon
#7. Texas
#8. Tennessee
#9. Ole Miss
#10. LSU
#11. Clemson
#12. Texas A&M
ESPN explained the methodology behind SP+ and its projections…
“A reminder on SP+: It’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking,” ESPN stated.
“Along those same lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the season. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather.”
The model also breaks down rankings by offense, defense, and special teams, alongside conference comparisons, to assess which programs might be overrated or underrated early on.
“In addition to the rankings of every FBS team (overall, offense, defense and special teams), we’ll look at conference breakdowns and how SP+ matches up with the eyeball test in terms of which teams seem to be overrated and which could be underrated at this early stage,” ESPN added.
While much can and will change between now and CFP Selection Day, these 12 teams currently stand as the favorites to compete for the title in 2025.
What are your thoughts on ESPN’s rankings? … What did they get right/wrong???
