It is never too early to start thinking about the 2025 college football season. We know who the big dogs are in Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, etc. or in other words the teams who will be near the top all season long and it would be a shock if they did not make the playoff.
But what about the 2022 TCU’s of the world, or even last year with Arizona State, SMU, and Indiana. Who are those teams that nobody is talking about, but could shock the world and possibly find their way into the College Football Playoff. With now 12 teams making the bracket I believe there will be at least one, and likely more, major surprise teams every year.
Here are three underrated teams to be aware of now, that I believe and could make some magic in the 2025 college football season.
Texas Tech had another solid 8-5 2024 campaign under head coach Joey McGuire and I believe they could be due for a break year for his fourth season in Lubbock. They had one of the top offenses in football a year ago and will get their QB Behren Morton back for his senior season along with two of his top three receivers. As a Red Raider Morton has thrown for over 6,000 yards and accounted for 56 touchdowns.
Now I know last year's offense was heavily led by the run game and running back Tahj Brooks who is off to the pros, but I believe that facet of their is looking good to remain intact. Their three expected starters in interior line all have major starting experience and they brought in a couple highly rated tackles from the transfer portal.
The running back room also looks good as replacing Brooks could be a two or even three headed monster. The Raiders brought in former 4-star recruit Quintin Joyner from USC. They also return J’Koby Williams and Cameron Dickey who both got experience as freshman, which included rushing for a combined 197 yards and one touchdown in the bowl game.
On the defensive side they return both of their interior linebackers in Jacob Rodriguez and Ben Roberts who led the team in tackles in 2024. They also brought in several transfers as part of the No. 1 ranked team in On3’s Team Transfer Portal Index to buff up a defense that struggled last year.
With how last year went in the Big 12, who knows what will happen, but the Red Raiders have a solid squad riding into 2025.
The belief behind this pick mainly rests on the shoulders of one man, and that is quarterback Demond Williams Jr. This is a guy who I believe could find himself in the Heisman conversation this season, and will be known as a college football superstar when his career is over.
Williams played sparingly as a true freshman but got the start in the final two games of the year, which included an incredible performance in the bowl game where he passed for 374 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 48 yards and another score.
He will have some help though as stud running back Jonah Coleman, who rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2024, is returning behind an experienced group up front.
On defense the Huskies have a lot of holes to fill from a top 30 unit in YPG a year ago, but I am a big fan of the hire of coordinator Ryan Walters. Now Walters was obviously not the best head coach in his short stint at Purdue, but some guys are just not meant to be head coaches. He was a great DC with Illinois and is very familiar with the Big Ten Conference.
Outside of games against Ohio State, at Michigan, and Oregon all of Washington’s games appear very winnable at the moment. Even with those three losses they still could be in the playoff conversation, and if Jedd Fisch’s team can steal one at home against the Buckeyes or Ducks, look out.
I have a feeling that there is something brewing in Champaign and that win over South Carolina in the bowl game may have been the start of something special. Bret Bielema has done a fantastic job of turning around this program including getting their first 10 win season since 2001 last year.
Most importantly for them in 2025 is the return of Luke Altmeyer at QB who cited a big reason for his decision to come back was “to duplicate this year, not just duplicate it but to take the next step.” Altmeyer should be protected well as Illinois is returning five lineman with starting experience, including four who started every game of the 2024 regular season.
Skill position wise, the running back room stayed intact while the receivers did lose some big pieces. That group will need some other guys to step up along with transfer Hudson Clement who led West Virginia in receiving last year.
Defensively the Illini do return a lot of production but lost some great players to the pros, especially up front. Do not worry though as Bielema went over to his old stomping grounds of Madison Wisconsin and brought in three guys from the transfer portal who have a lot of Big Ten football experience.
Illinois also retained their coordinators on both sides of the ball which is a big deal in the current landscape of college football. With a lot of guys coming back and an extremely favorable conference schedule, don’t be surprised to see a Fighting Illini logo in a football bracket.