When you think of the top contenders for the College Football Playoff in 2025, the names we’re about to discuss are probably the first ones that come to mind. These are powerhouse programs with championship expectations, elite rosters, and coaching staffs built to win right now.
Frankly, we believe all five of these teams will make the CFP when it’s all said and done.
But — and it’s a big but — getting there won’t be a cakewalk.
While their talent and track records scream “Playoff lock,” the way their schedules are laid out is less than ideal. Here's a look at four College Football Playoff contenders that drew relatively dangerous schedules.
Clemson Tigers
The hype around Clemson has reached levels we haven't seen since the Trevor Lawrence era. The Tigers are inside the top-10 in essentially every single analyst's preseason poll right now and many have them in their top-three, as high as No. 1 in the nation.
Clemson has plenty of talent and reason to be optimstic heading into 2025, but they actually don't have an easy schedule. That might be a shocker for those of you who come from the school of thought that "it's the ACC, so the schedule has to be easy."
Clemson will open up the season with LSU, a team that will be ranked inside the top-seven in the country. The Tigers will close their season with a road trip to Williams-Brice Stadium to take on a South Carolina team that will also be ranked in the preseason. In addition to those, Clemson will play several top-25 caliber teams in the ACC, including SMU, at Louisville, and at Georgia Tech.
That's not as favorable of a draw as you'd like to see if you're a Tiger fan hoping to see them cruise to the CFP. Add in games against Syracuse, UNC, and Florida State for good measure and you're looking at a schedule filled with games that could make the Tigers stumble. Keep in mind that Clemson, playing in the ACC, also doesn't have the built-in cushion that many other programs in the SEC and Big Ten do as far as rankings and potential at-large bids are concerned.
LSU Tigers
LSU opens up the season with a road trip to Clemson. That will be a game in which Brian Kelly's team will be a slight underdog right at the start. It doesn't stop there, though.
LSU will have games against Florida and at Ole Miss in September. Then, they'll follow that up with notable matchups against South Carolina, Texas A&M, at Alabama, and at Oklahoma to conclude the year. That means LSU has to find a way to take care of business at home and likely find a way to win in a hostile environment at least once — against Clemson, Alabama, or Oklahoma — to get to the College Football Playoff.
The Tigers are built to do it, in my opinion, but you still can't deny that they've got a dangerous schedule, even with them dodging Texas and Georgia.
Georgia Bulldogs
Speaking of Georgia, the Bulldogs not only enter 2025 with a bevy of questions, but they've also got a relatively difficult schedule.
Georgia gets a couple of games to break in Gunner Stockton and work out the kinks, but then they'll travel to Tennessee, have a bye week, and then travel to Alabama. In October, they'll also have a road matchup with Auburn and host Ole Miss.
Then we get to November. UGA will play Florida and then host Texas. They'll then finish out the regular season with a road game against Georgia Tech. Keep in mind that just a year ago, Georgia Tech went into Athens and took the Bulldogs to eight overtimes. If Georgia falters at all in the early part of the season, they could be behind the eight-ball in November because those are three games that — while they'll likely be the favorite in at least two of them — will be close.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State opens up the season with a home game against Texas, and we have no clue what to expect in that one. The Buckeyes will be replacing a lot and right off the bat, they'll be expected to perform at a high level against a very talented Texas team. If they win that one, all is right in the world. But, if they lose, you're talking about negative momentum that could follow you into Big Ten play.
Ohio State will have to travel to Washington and Illinois, and the Fighting Illini have a real chance to be legitimate contenders this season, as well. They've also got Penn State at home and then they have to travel to Michigan for that annual rivalry game to close out the season. That means you give Bryce Underwood the entire year to develop before you get to play them.
If Ohio State loses to Texas — and there's plenty of reason to believe they could — the Buckeyes need to run the table in the Big Ten. Why? Because the last thing you want is to enter the Michigan game with two losses and the Wolverines motivated to beat you at home and potentially knock you out of the College Football Playoff altogether. That's a dangerous line Ohio State could be walking in 2025.
Alabama Crimson Tide
Alabama should easily be 3-0 to start the season with games at Florida State, vs. ULM, and vs. Wisconsin. If they aren't, that means something has gone terribly wrong.
That being said, they've got at Georgia, at South Carolina, LSU, and Oklahoma before taking on Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium in a game that we all know can be crazy. All four of the games we listed above could easily be losses, so Alabama is set up with the same type of proposition as Ohio State: Don't give Auburn any extra motivation to be the team that could knock you out of the playoff.
Alabama should be able to manage the schedule and be in the running at the end, but that's still not the easiest path to overcome.