Preseason Magazines

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Preseason Magazines

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March 15th

Athlon’s Spring Rankings has CU at No. 41 nationally

… Last season’s fall Athlon preseason magazine had CU as the No. 50 team in the nation; No. 11 in the Big 12 … 

From Athlon Sports … Spring practice is the first opportunity to get an extended look at all 136 college football teams for the 2025 season. And with transfers, freshmen, and coaching changes all on display with their new teams this spring, it’s never too early to start evaluating all programs and assessing how predictions, rankings, and projections look for ’25.

Texas takes the top spot in the pre-spring 136 team rankings for ’25, with defending champion Ohio State at No. 2. Penn State isn’t far behind at No. 3, with Georgia, Notre Dame, Clemson, and Oregon rounding out the next tier.

Boise State is the highest-rated Group of 5 team at No. 24, with Tulane, Navy, Army, UNLV, James Madison, and South Florida headlining the second tier.

With transfer portal movement ahead this spring and more team evaluations ahead this offseason, this list could look very different by June. However, with some clarity about rosters for every team entering spring practice, here is Athlon Sports’ (pre-spring) Way-Too-Early Top 136 for 2025:

From the Big 12 … 

• 13. Arizona State
• 14. Kansas State
• 19. BYU
• 23. Iowa State
• 30. Texas Tech
• 31. Utah
• 32. Baylor
• 36. TCU
• 39. Georgia Tech
• 40. Kansas
• 41. Colorado …Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter will be missed. However, the Buffaloes have plenty of staying power behind coach Deion Sanders.
• 58. Houston
• 64. West Virginia
• 65. Cincinnati
• 66. Arizona
• 72. Oklahoma State
• 75. UCF
• 89. Colorado State 
• 100. Wyoming
• 123. Delaware 

… Read full story here …

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March 11th

List of Top 25 Coaches from the Athletic includes Coach Prime

From Bruce Feldman at The Athletic … The top three in my annual ranking of the best coaches in college football was easy. After that, things got more complicated.

How much does recency bias factor in? For me, not as much as it does for Stewart Mandel, whose Top 25 can be found here. I’ve always given coaches more credit for what they did at their previous stops than he does, but I’ve become more of a creature of the moment than I used to be.

One caveat: Even with all of the shake-up in the sport, it’s hard to include coaches who haven’t spent at least three seasons as a head coach (that means no Kenny Dillingham, despite a fantastic second season at Arizona State). It’s just too short of a shelf life to compare resumes with other coaches.

Read Mandel’s Top 25 coach rankings here. 

From the Big 12 … 

9. Matt Campbell, Iowa State (2024: NR)

He has been a fantastic hire for the Cyclones. Last year, he led Iowa State to its first double-digit-win season, as it went 11-3 and defeated three ranked teams: Iowa on the road, Kansas State at home and Miami in the bowl game. It was his seventh winning season in the past eight years and fourth season of eight-plus wins at a program that had only one eight-win season from 1979-2016. In addition, Campbell led Iowa State to the only top-10 finish in program history in 2020. He’s still only 45.

11. Chris Klieman, Kansas State (2024: No. 12)

Klieman is 48-28 with the Wildcats, including 28-12 in the past three years. Ask rival Big 12 coaches, and they’ll say that Klieman’s teams are consistently among the best-coached teams in the conference in how they game-plan and make in-game adjustments. Also on his resume: four FCS national titles at North Dakota State.

Klieman has three wins in games against top-10 opponents in the past three years (although the Wildcats didn’t face one of those teams in 2024).

12. Kyle Whittingham, Utah (2024: No. 8)

Whittingham drops a few spots after the Utes went 5-7 in a season in which they were ravaged by injuries at key positions. The 65-year-old is just 13-12 the past two years after he led Utah to back-to-back Rose Bowls in 2021 and 2022. The Utes have finished ranked in the AP poll 11 times, and Whittingham is responsible for eight of those teams. (He had a ninth team that went 10-3 in 2010 and finished No. 23 in the coaches poll but didn’t wasn’t ranked in the AP.)

14. Lance Leipold, Kansas (2024: No. 3)

After the Jayhawks fell to 5-7, the 60-year-old dropped from No. 3. His record at KU may seem underwhelming at 22-28 and 13-23 in Big 12 play, but KU was a complete disaster before he showed up. In his third season, Kansas finished ranked and notched a top-10 win for the first time in 16 years. Before going to Kansas, he got Buffalo into the Top 25 for the first time in its history. Before that, he won six Division III national titles at Wisconsin-Whitewater.

17. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia (2024: No. 25)

Rodriguez is back home in Morgantown after Jacksonville State reached a bowl game in each of its first two seasons after making the move to the FBS level. Previously, he went 60-26 from 2001-07 at West Virginia to become the second-winningest coach in program history, behind his old coach, Don Nehlen.

Rodriguez, the godfather of the spread-option, led the Mountaineers to three consecutive top-10 seasons, including a No. 5 ranking in 2005, which matched the program’s best finish ever. In six seasons, Rodriguez led WVU to the same number of top-10 finishes as the rest of its coaches combined. He won 26 games in his first three seasons at Arizona; the Wildcats had never won more than that in any three-year stretch.

18. Deion Sanders, Colorado (2024: NR)

It’ll be fascinating to see how the Buffaloes do during the next few years without Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders. Deion Sanders has earned the benefit of the doubt here for his ability to run a program. He’s 40-18 at two programs — Jackson State and Colorado — that struggled before he took over.

In his first game at Colorado, the Buffs knocked off a ranked TCU team that played in the national title game its previous game. He almost instantly made CU nationally relevant for the first in more than two decades. Last year, he led Colorado to a 9-4 mark and a Top 25 finish for only the second time in 20 seasons. He showed a keen eye for staffing by hiring defensive coordinator Robert Livingston, giving the former Cincinnati Bengals assistant his first job as a play caller, and that proved to be a brilliant move.

Sanders went 27-6 at a Jackson State program that was coming off six consecutive non-winning seasons.

Dropped out: Florida State’s Mike Norvell (No. 10), Kentucky’s Mark Stoops (No. 14), Wake Forest’s Dave Clawson (No. 16, retired), Nebraska’s Matt Rhule (No. 18), Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell (No. 19), Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy (No. 20), Michigan State’s Jonathan Smith (No. 22), Auburn’s Hugh Freeze (No. 23) and Washington’s Jedd Fisch (No. 24)

Just missed: TCU’s Sonny Dykes, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, BYU’s Kalani Sitake, Stoops, Gundy, Norvell, Rhule, Fisch, Texas A&M’s Mike Elko, Fickell

… Read full story here …

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March 7th

Athlon Sports Big 12 Power Rankings (not impressed by CU)

… In case you are wondering, last season, Athlon had CU as the No. 11 team in the Big 12 … and had Utah winning the Big 12 championship … 

From Athlon Sports …

Spring practice is already underway or will soon start for all 16 teams in the Big 12 for the 2025 college football season. Although it’s tough to get an accurate read on teams from practices in the spring, this is the first set of official workouts and provides some insight into rosters, coaching outlooks, transfers or impact freshmen for the upcoming year.

Defending champion Arizona State leads the way in the pre-spring power rankings in the Big 12 for the 2025 season. However, the Sun Devils have plenty of company. Kansas State, BYU, Iowa State, TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Utah, and Kansas are all capable of reaching the conference title game in ’25. Additionally, Colorado will be a factor again under coach Deion Sanders. Houston is also a team to watch in coach Willie Fritz’s second year.

Big 12 Football: Spring 2025 Power Rankings

1. Arizona State

2. Kansas State

3. BYU

4. Iowa State

5. Texas Tech

6. Utah

7. Baylor

8. TCU

9. Kansas

10. Colorado … Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter will be missed. However, the Buffaloes have plenty of staying power behind coach Deion Sanders.

11. Houston

12. West Virginia

13. Cincinnati

14. Arizona

15. Oklahoma State

16. UCF

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March 5th

ESPN’s Greg McElroy: “CU might be able to replicate or at least get close to replicating their win total”

From YouTube …

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March 4th

ESPN Big 12 Spring Preview – “Don’t disappoint us, Big 12”

From ESPN … There’s no conference quite as unpredictable as the Big 12.

Two seasons ago, TCU was coming off a 5-7 season, was picked to finish seventh in the league, then went undefeated in the regular season and beat Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl before losing to Georgia in the national title game, finishing 13-2. The next season, they finished 5-7 again.

Last year, Arizona State, coming off a 3-9 season, was picked to finish 16th in its first year in the league, then won the conference title and took Texas to the wire in a 39-31 loss in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Peach Bowl. Utah, the preseason favorites and another newcomer, finished 5-7, its worst season since 2013. Entering Week 14 of the 2024 season, nine teams were still in mathematical contention for the league title.

None of them was Oklahoma State, which finished 10-4 in 2023 and fell to 3-9 and 0-9 in conference games in 2024 despite returning Ollie Gordon II. Baylor, which was 3-9 in ’23, finished 8-5. TCU bounced back to 9-4 last year.

You get the idea. Anyone can show up at any time. Even the league’s two new coaches are returning to past glory, as Rich Rodriguez took the winding roads back to West Virginia and Scott Frost returned from orbit to UCF.

If last year is any indication, nothing we think between now and December will matter. That’s why it’s exciting to start spring practice, when everyone is undefeated and anything is possible. Don’t disappoint us, Big 12.

Colorado … 2024 record: 9-4 (7-2 Big 12)

Spring storyline: Can Colorado remain a Big 12 contender in the post-Shedeur Sanders/Travis Hunter era? The Buffaloes found an experienced replacement for Sanders in Liberty quarterback transfer Kaidon Salter, though the 29-game starter is expected to face competition from five-star freshman Julian Lewis. Defensive backs DJ McKinney, Carter Stoutmire, Preston Hodge and Colton Hood return to a secondary that finished 40th in passing yards per game last season.

Position of intrigue: Wide receiver. Between the departures of Hunter and fellow pass catchers LaJohntay Wester, Will Sheppard and Jimmy Horn, Colorado enters the spring down 255 receptions, 3,251 receiving yards and 32 touchdowns of production from a year ago. That leaves Drelon Miller and Omarion Miller as the program’s only returning receivers who hit double-digit receptions in 2024, while Tulsa wide receiver transfer Joseph Williams — the reigning AAC Freshman of the Year — arrives to a position group screaming for fresh production.

Player to watch: Alabama defensive tackle transfer Jeheim Oatis started 13 games and recorded 52 tackles, five pass breakups and 1.5 sacks in two-plus seasons with the Crimson Tide. He could emerge as a key piece at the heart of a new-look interior defensive line unit at Colorado this fall.

… Read full story here …

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March 1st

Bill Connelly’s ESPN+ preseason rankings has CU at No. 48 nationally

… Connelly’s numbers, based on “returning production”, “recent recruiting”, and “recent history”, has never been good to CU and Coach Prime’s methodology of building a program. Being at No. 48 is a step up for CU. For comparison’s sake, Connelly had CU at No. 88 nationally before the the 2023 season, and No. 60 before the 2024 season …  

From Bill Connelly at ESPN … We’re less than six months from the start of the 2025 college football season. While the rhythm of the offseason has changed significantly in recent years and we know rosters won’t be set until after the spring transfer window has closed, it’s almost never too early to preview and projecting the coming season as best we can.

We’ve completed the first step in that process: the posting of the initial returning production rankings. Now it’s time for Step 2. Based on current rosters, it’s time to post the initial SP+ ratings for the 2025 season.

I will update these numbers in May and August after there have been further transfers and roster changes, and my annual preview series will begin after the May numbers are posted. But for now, let’s establish the 2025 hierarchy.

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. 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.

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.

From the Big 12 … 

• No. 19 … Kansas State
• No. 26 … TCU
• No. 27 … BYU
• No. 28 … Iowa State
• No. 29 … Arizona State
• No. 32 … Utah
• No. 33 … Texas Tech
• No. 36 … Baylor
• No. 48 … Colorado
• No. 49 … Kansas
• No. 55 … Cincinnati
• No. 56 … UCF
• No. 64 … West Virginia
• No. 66 … Arizona
• No. 73 … Oklahoma State
• No. 78 … Houston

… Continue reading story here …

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February 25th

National Championship Betting Odds: CU third in the Big 12 (at 100:1)

From DraftKings.com … Big 12 odds on winning the national championship:

• Arizona State … 90:1
• Kansas State … 90:1
• Colorado … 100:1
• Utah … 120:1
• Iowa State … 120:1
• BYU … 150:1
• Baylor … 250:1
• TCU … 250:1
• Kansas … 250:1
• UCF … 300:1
• Texas Tech … 300:1
• West Virginia … 300:1
• Oklahoma State … 500:1
• Arizona … 1000:1
• Houston … 1000:1
• Cincinnati … 1000:1

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February 23rd

Arizona Republic: CU to beat Georgia Tech, but still finish only 6-6

From the Arizona Republic … The Big 12 football season begins Aug. 23 and concludes Nov. 29, with all 16 teams playing 12 regular-season games.

That’s a lot of college football games for the conference.

Who will win each game on the 2025 Big 12 football schedule?

Here’s our predicted record for each team in the conference in the 2025 season, with our predicted wins, losses and order of finish.

Click on each team for the schedule and score predictions for every game for that team in the 2025 college football season.

If these predictions are any indication, we could be in for another wild Big 12 football season.

• 1. Arizona State … 10-2, 7-2
• 1. BYU … 10-2, 7-2
• 1. Kansas … 9-3, 7-2
• 4. Kansas State … 9-3, 6-3
• 4. Iowa State … 9-3, 6-3
• 4. Texas Tech … 9-3, 6-3
• 4. Baylor … 8-4, 6-3
• 8. Utah … 8-4, 5-4
• 8. TCU … 7-5, 5-4
• 10. Colorado … 6-6, 3-6

  Wins: Georgia Tech, Delaware, Houston, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona,

  Losses: BYU, TCU, Iowa State, West Virginia, Arizona State, Kansas State

• 10. West Virginia … 6-6, 3-6
• 10. Oklahoma State … 5-7, 3-6
• 10. Arizona … 5-7, 3-6
• 14. UCF … 4-8, 2-7
• 14. Houston … 4-8, 2-7
• 16. Cincinnati … 3-9, 1-8

… Read full story here …

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February 21st

Three Big 12 Teams (not named CU) gamble big on Transfer Classes

From The Athletic … Whether a program is coming off a College Football Playoff appearance or a losing season, the goal with every transfer portal addition is to upgrade the roster.

Some programs and coaches need those boosts a lot more than others. That means some incoming transfer classes will have more pressure on them than others. So let’s examine which portal classes will hold the most stakes next season.

Arizona

The new-car smell wore off pretty quickly for Brent Brennan in Tucson. After winning 10 games under Jedd Fisch in 2023, the Wildcats went 4-8 in Brennan’s first season despite having a nucleus that should’ve been good enough to contend for a bowl. The Wildcats were uncompetitive in several losses. The offense ranked 114th in scoring (21.8 points per game), and the defense ranked 109th (31.8). It was an awful season all around. Brennan replaced both coordinators, which is never a good sign just one season into a tenure.

He had to replace a good amount of talent and experience that entered the portal, too, like offensive lineman Wendell Moe Jr. (Tennessee), cornerbacks Tacario Davis (Washington) and Emmanuel Karnely (Miami), and linebacker Jacob Manu (Washington).

Brennan needs to display some massive improvement next season or things will get dicey. To remake the roster, Brennan and Arizona emphasized production in this past portal cycle.

Ismail Mahdi, who has rushed for 2,322 yards at Texas State over the past two seasons, was a headline addition. Luke Wysong posted 840 receiving yards for New Mexico last season and was another good add. Both should be key pieces for new offensive coordinator Seth Doege and returning starting quarterback Noah Fifita.

The Wildcats landed several players who had impressive production at the FCS level. Linebacker Blake Gotcher led the FCS with 162 tackles for Northwestern State last season. Defensive lineman Malachi Bailey recorded nine sacks in each of his three seasons with Alcorn State. Tight end Cameron Barmore posted 913 yards receiving and 13 TD catches at Mercyhurst last fall. Receiver Javin Whatley had 2,125 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns over three seasons at Chattanooga. Linebacker Riley Wilson notched 26.5 tackles for loss during the past two years at Montana State.

It’s a long list. Arizona tried to address some holes in the secondary and along the line of scrimmage. It’s a group of 20-plus transfers, and Brennan needs as many of them as possible to contribute this fall.

Cincinnati

The decision to hire Scott Satterfield was questionable, and nothing during his Bearcats tenure has changed those initial doubts, as Satterfield is 8-16 in two seasons.

The Bearcats brought in running back transfer Tawee Walker, who rushed for 864 yards and 10 scores for Wisconsin in 2024. Receiver Jeff Caldwell was a finalist for the Payton Award (for the most outstanding offensive player in the FCS) for Lindenwood in 2024 and is intriguing. Cincinnati needs more big-play threats after producing just 46 plays of 20-plus yards in 2024, which was 105th nationally.

Defensive back Matthew McDoom (10 pass breakups, three interceptions for Coastal Carolina in 2024) was one of the best defensive additions this offseason.

Texas Tech

The Red Raiders’ class ranks third nationally, per 247 Sports. That might have caught people off-guard, but Texas Tech has been building to this moment for a while. It’s a credit to Red Raiders general manager James Blanchard, coach Joey McGuire and the co-founder of the program’s collective, Cody Campbell, who spent a lot of money to put the class together. They built the roster and added several high-profile transfers like tackle Howard Sampson (North Carolina), edge rusher Romello Height (Georgia Tech) and running back Quinten Joyner (USC).

Texas Tech has entered a season with preseason buzz before. In 2023, some viewed the program as a Big 12 dark horse. It opened the season with a loss to Wyoming and finished 7-6. McGuire has yet to win more than eight games in his three seasons.

But Texas Tech has pushed in all its chips and will field a roster it believes should win the Big 12 in 2025. The Red Raiders beat Arizona State and Iowa State, the teams that played for the Big 12 title last year, and were one win away from being in the mix.

… Read full story here …

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February 15th 

College Football News: “CU will be good, but it won’t make a big push for the Big 12 Championship”

From College Football News …

Best Case Scenario: Colorado reloads fast, life goes on without some of last year’s stars, and it beats Georgia Tech, Wyoming, and BYU at home in a hot September, and pulls off a win over TCU to get off to a 6-0 start.

It splits the road games against Kansas State and Utah, and overcomes an off-day loss to still make the Big 12 Championship.

Worst Case Scenario: Georgia Tech pulls off the win in Boulder, Houston gets a win at home, and BYU comes into town and leaves with a win. All of a sudden, everything is falling apart, and the midsection of at TCU, Iowa State, and at Utah doesn’t help.

The team has six losses going into November and misses out on a bowl game.

Season Prediction: (Feb 4) Colorado will be good, but it won’t make a big push for the Big 12 Championship. It’ll drop at least two of the four Big 12 home games, and two more of the conference road dates. Getting to a bowl game won’t be too much of a problem, but it won’t be the big-step-forward season Deion Sanders and company will want.

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February 9th

FanDuel Over/Under win total puts CU at 6.5 wins 

... Vegas had CU’s over/under win total at 3.5 wins for 2023 (CU finished 4-8); and at 5.5 for 2024 (CU finished 9-4) … 

From FanDuel via Heartland Sports … The 2025 college football season is months away, but we’re already getting a chance to look ahead and start placing bets on what things are going to look like.

FanDuel has gotten way out ahead of the other sportsbooks and has already provided odds for the national championship winner, conference championship winners, and even some very early Heisman odds.

One of the more intriguing things bettors look for, especially those who follow a specific team, is win totals. Those are starting to trickle out, too, and this week, FanDuel has released 2025 win totals for three Big 12 teams.

The first Big 12 team is Colorado, which is getting a win total of 6.5 games in 2025. The Buffaloes are coming off a 9-4 season in Year 2 under Deion Sanders but lost Heisman winner Travis Hunter and All-Big 12 quarterback Shedeur Sanders to the NFL.

Here’s a look at their opponents in 2025:

Colorado Opponents (2025)

• vs. Georgia Tech (Sat, Aug. 1)
• vs. Delaware (Sat, Sept. 6)
• vs. Wyoming (Sat, Sept. 20)
• vs. Arizona
• vs. Arizona State
• vs. BYU
• vs. Iowa State
• @ Houston
• @ Kansas State
• @ TCU
• @ Utah
• @ West Virginia

Next is Kansas, who gets a win total of 7.5 games. The Jayhawks were among the most disappointing teams in the Big 12 this past season, finishing with a 5-7 record and multiple one-possession losses. However, KU returns Jalon Daniels and hopes to turn things around in 2025.

Here’s a look at their opponents in 2025:

Kansas Opponents (2025)

• vs. Fresno State (Sat, Aug. 23)
• vs. Wagner (Sat, Aug. 30)
• @ Missouri (Sat, Sep. 6)
• @ Arizona
• @ Iowa State
• vs. Utah
• vs. Oklahoma State
• vs. Kansas State
• vs. Cincinnati
• vs. West Virginia
• @ Texas Tech
• @ UCF

The final Big 12 team with a win total available this week is Iowa State, who finished with an 11-3 record and as the Big 12 runner-up in 2024. However, Vegas sees some regression for the Cyclones in 2025, as their win total is just 7.5 games.

Here’s a list of their 2025 opponents:

Iowa State Opponents (2025)

• vs. Kansas State (Sat, Aug. 23)*
• vs. South Dakota (Sat, Aug. 30)
• vs. Iowa State (Sat, Sep. 6)
• @ Arkansas State
• @ Cincinnati
• @ Colorado
• vs. Arizona
• vs. Arizona State
• vs. BYU
• vs. Kansas
• @ Oklahoma State
• @ TCU

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This post, about the Spring Practices game, from the 2025 Season, is filed under Article.
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