The college football regular season is in the books, and while some teams are moving on to the College Football Playoff, others are moving on to bowl season and the offseason. When this season began, there were a handful of teams that everyone looked at as potential locks for the College Football Playoff.
While some made the field, others landed farther from making the Playoff than anyone could've imagined. As the season is now in the books, looking back at the year, several preseason favorites ended up battling for the biggest disappointment of the season.
These 3 teams were the biggest flops of the 2025 season
When you looked at the preseason NFL Mock Drafts, no one dominated the 1st round more than Clemson while they'll still likely produce 3 First Round picks in this year's draft. Given all of the veteran talent returning for Clemson headline by Cade Klubnik, it was almost impossible to see a world where they missed the Playoff.
Losing to LSU to open the season seemed fine in the moment, but both teams aged poorly, especially early on for Clemson. The Tigers struggled against Troy and then lost to Georgia Tech and Syracuse, effectively eliminating them from Playoff contention, before adding losses against SMU and Duke.
This team clearly had the talent to win the ACC and make the Playoff, which will be seen when the NFL Draft rolls around. Dabo Swinney's team just never played complementary football, wasting what was arguably the most talented roster in the conference.
Coming into the season, Brian Kelly clearly went all-in on this team as the Tigers attacked the Transfer Portal in a way that he had never done before. After getting Garrett Nussmeier back in the fold, the elite additions at wide receiver paired with the influx of talent on defense, this team looked like a clear College Football Playoff team.
When LSU went on the road and beat Clemson, ending the season opening losing streak, it looked like this team was truly elite. Instead, this team lost games to Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M getting Brian Kelly fired.
Garrett Nussmeier never took the next step after having so many exciting moments in his first season which held this team back. While Brian Kelly added all the fun skill position players, the offensive line was a mess, and not addressing the line ended up costing this team it's season.
After falling a few plays short of making the National Championship Game, Penn State looked like they were coming back with a serious chance to finally get over the hump. The Nittany Lions returned a massive portion of their most important players, led by Drew Allar, Kaytron Allen, and Nicholas Singleton.
The offseason additions only added to the hype around this team, as James Franklin made the biggest splash hire of the offseason, stealing Jim Knowles away from Ohio State. Adding transfers like Trebor Pena and Amare Campbell only made the ceiling for this group higher.
Instead of living up to the National Championship hype, James Franklin was fired just 6 games into the season after an 0-3 start in Big Ten play. Drew Allar suffered a season ending injury, but he clearly regressed before his season was ended. Few teams had higher expectations than Penn State, and the way this team fell apart was truly shocking.