The transfer portal has calmed down, the green room in Green Bay is now empty, and spring practices have wrapped coast to coast.
It’s time to start counting down to the start of the 2025 college football season, and we have some big games coming up like Texas vs. Ohio State and Notre Dame vs. Miami.
Let's dive into my college football picks and NCAAF look-ahead predictions for 2025.
Texas vs. Ohio State Pick
This rematch of last season’s Cotton Bowl has the potential to place the winner and its starting quarterback at the top of the polls and at the front of Heisman race, respectively.
The buzz for this top-five matchup in Columbus will be otherworldly, but with that kind of hype comes pressure.
Arch Manning has been living with pressure and the weight of enormous expectations his entire life. When he got his shot to start last fall, filling in for the injured Quinn Ewers, he looked all the part of a blue-chip recruit.
He accounted for 612 total yards and five touchdowns against two interceptions. He has the skill set to elevate his teammates, which he’ll need to do because the Longhorns return just 29% of their offensive production year-over-year (126th).
But what’s interesting is that Ohio State is in a similar spot on defense, returning just three players with six or more starts in 2024.
Getting above the key of number of three is too good to pass up in Julian Sayin’s first career start for the Buckeyes, so I’m backing Steve Sarkisian and the burnt orange.
Pick: Texas +3.5
Notre Dame vs. Miami Pick
I’ll say this straight away: the wrong team is favored here.
Notre Dame made a run to the national title game last January thanks to an elite defense. The architect of that defense, Al Golden, bolted for the NFL and will be attempting to repair the Cincinnati Bengals this fall.
Chris Ash has filled the void on the Irish staff, but he hasn’t called plays as a defensive coordinator in five years, and the last time he did so, it was ugly.
The Texas defense he oversaw in 2020 gave up over 400 yards and 28 points per game. It allowed 56 to Texas Tech and 53 to Oklahoma in a three-week window.
Ash and the rest of Tom Herman’s staff were fired shortly after the season ended, making way for the Steve Sarkisian era to begin in Austin.
Without Howard Cross III bullying linemen in the trenches or Xavier Watts patrolling the secondary, I foresee Notre Dame’s defense taking a step back from truly elite to simply really good.
That will shift some pressure to their offense, which will be breaking in a first-time starter at quarterback this fall.
Steve Angeli has transferred to Syracuse, leaving the Irish to choose from CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey. Those two have thrown one collegiate pass collectively.
The portal giveth and taketh away, and that’s the difference between the Irish and Canes. Notre Dame lost a potential starter under center, while Miami replaced the first overall pick in the NFL Draft with a seasoned SEC passer with 58 career touchdown passes in Carson Beck.
I’m one of the harshest critics of Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, and I contend that he never gave Carson Beck a chance to succeed last season. A change of scenery and a potentially dangerous receiving corps should help Beck return to his form from 2023, when he led UGA to a 13-1 record.
Also, remember the name Joshisa "JoJo" Trader, a former five-star recruit who should be the Canes’ top receiving target this fall. I wouldn’t mind playing a same-game parlay with Miami ML and a Trader touchdown.
Pick: Miami ML +114
