There is still one game left in the 2024 season, but everyone not named Ohio State or Notre Dame has moved on to preparing for 2025.
That doesn’t just include the football programs, though, as the entities that cover the sport, such as On3, have started looking ahead as well.
On Monday, Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman released their version of the Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2025, which looked like this:
The first six teams on the list make sense, as all of them are coming off College Football Playoff appearances, though Texas being at No. 1 is a little too bold for my liking, considering everything they lost after 2024.
Illinois at No. 7 and Florida at No. 9 are interesting, too, but reasonable considering how they finished their seasons. The part that I don’t understand is why the Big 12 continues to be undersold at every possible turn.
BYU returns a considerable part of its roster and is coming off an 11-win season. Yet, On3 says there are 15 teams that should be ahead of them?
Although they lose Cam Skattebo, Arizona State returns pretty much everyone else from their two deep, including Sam Leavitt and Jordyn Tyson. That’s only good enough for No. 17?
K-State at No. 20 feels about right, but where is Iowa State (11-3)? Did Matt Campbell leave or something?
Where is Texas Tech, who just took the rest of the country and stuffed them in a locker in the transfer portal?
The “way-too-early” moniker shouldn’t be a reason to start building the narrative to support some teams over others months in advance, but unfortunately, that’s exactly what this feels like.
