2025 NCAA College Football Season Preview: From Arch Manning to Bill Belichick and the Best Championship Odds
The 2025 NCAA college football season expects to be a wild one, and that starts with “Week 0” this weekend as real games get underway. Ohio State’s title defense will kick off an incredible Week 1 lineup for a season where we get to see Arch Manning start for Texas, Bill Belichick take over at North Carolina, and maybe the best shot yet for Penn State to win a national championship.
This is the 120th season of college football that’s been organized by the NCAA, and there are 136 teams in the FBS with Delaware and Missouri State making their FBS debuts by joining Conference USA.
With that many teams, there’s always so much to talk about with college football that we can’t possibly hit on everything big. Here are just some of the stories to think about this season:
- How will Colorado (O/U 5.5 wins) coach Deion Sanders fare after beating cancer? This will be his first season without coaching his son Shedeur Sanders and two-way talent Travis Hunter.
- Wide receivers Ryan Williams (Alabama) and Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State) had two of the greatest freshman receiving seasons last year, so what do they have prepared for an encore as future NFL draft picks?
- Call it cosplaying or Single White Female behavior, but Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola loves to copy Patrick Mahomes, so let’s see if he can improve on his 2024 season with the team favored to go over 7.5 wins in the Big 12.
Now let’s run through some of the key storylines, betting odds, and our favorite picks for the 2025 NCAAF season.
Table of Contents
The Epic Week 1 NCAA College Football Schedule
While there are games this weekend for Week 0, the real fireworks come in Week 1, starting on Saturday, August 30, 2025. The lineup looks incredible, and these games will go a long way in shaping the season narratives for these teams and players.
No. 1 Texas at No. 3 Ohio State (-2.5): Right off the bat we get a huge playoff rematch between the new No. 1 team and the defending champs, who both have a new quarterback as Arch Manning makes his official debut as the full-time starter in Texas. But the top-ranked Longhorns are a slight road underdog against Ryan Day’s team, which is reportedly the first time ever a preseason No. 1 is an underdog in Week 1, so this one should be worth getting up at noon for.
No. 9 LSU at No. 4 Clemson (-4): There are three top 10 showdowns in Week 1, and this is the Saturday night game in Clemson between a couple of championship programs from the last decade. We’ll see if Brian Kelly can get that LSU offense cranked up again in taking on Dabo Swinney’s Tigers in an elite coaching matchup.
No. 6 Notre Dame at No. 10 Miami (+2.5): On Sunday night, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish start their latest season with new quarterback CJ Carr, the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr. They made it to the title game last year, but the Hurricanes can hand them a loss in Week 1 in their first game since quarterback Cam Ward was drafted No. 1 overall in the NFL by the Titans.
Changes to the 2025 NCAA College Football Playoff Format and Best Playoff Team Odds
Back in the day, a loss in Week 1 could kill a team’s chances at a national championship. That’s no longer the case with the second season of the College Football Playoff (CFP) system that helps 12 teams to the tournament.
The way it works is the five highest-ranked conference champions get an automatic bid while the other seven spots go to the next highest-ranked teams. But in a change for 2025, the top four seeds can receive a first-round bye even if they are not a conference champion. This can really help those teams like Georgia and Penn State who play in loaded conferences like the SEC and Big Ten.
The current contract for this playoff format expires after the 2025 season. There could be further expansion to a 14 or 16-team playoff format, but for now, the number is 12 teams.
Here are the top 14 teams with odds from DraftKings to make the 2025 CFP:
- Ohio State (-380)
- Penn State (-330)
- Texas (-320)
- Georgia (-260)
- Oregon (-220)
- Clemson (-200)
- Alabama (-200)
- Notre Dame (-180)
- LSU (+110)
- Miami FL (+170)
- Boise State (+180)
- Ole Miss (+180)
- Michigan (+200)
- Texas A&M (+220)
The Clemson Tigers have a good shot at a great season in the ACC after losing to Texas in the first round last year. They have one of the best NFL prospects at quarterback in Cade Klubnik, and coach Dabo Swinney has reached double-digit wins in all but one of his last 14 seasons. We’ll strongly back the Tigers to return to the playoffs.
NCAAF Pick: Clemson to Make the CFP (-200) at FanDuel
The March for Arch Manning and the No. 1 Texas Longhorns
Very few seasons for a college football quarterback have been this hyped or anticipated as the one Arch Manning is about to start for No. 1 Texas. Arch is the son of Cooper Manning, so maybe those Archie (the grandfather who played quarterback for the Saints) and Cooper (a wide receiver) genes have passed down to him as he’s more fleet of foot than his famous uncles, Peyton and Eli.
Can you imagine a Manning with the prototypical size, work habits, accuracy, intelligence, and now some legs to run for first downs when need be like modern quarterbacks are expected to do now?
The potential is all there as Manning takes over for a talented Texas team that came up short in the playoffs against Ohio State when Quinn Ewers suffered that fumble returned for a touchdown.
But Manning may not have time or much margin for error to get it done this year. He’s the favorite to go as the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, though he could pull a Peyton and return for another season of college before coming out in 2027. That’s not a definite yet.
But that first game with Ohio State certainly looms large, and the SEC is of course always tough with schools like Alabama and Georgia reloading with new quarterbacks. The Longhorns are also in Georgia in November in another big clash.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has produced some incredible passing numbers in his offenses over the years, and the Longhorns have had some of the speediest wide receivers to enter the NFL the last two drafts in Xavier Worthy and Matthew Golden. This is a top-tier program again, so we’ll see if Arch Manning can live up to this impossible hype and turn in a classic season for some of those things his uncle Peyton never got to experience like winning the Heisman and a national championship.
And I still say the Colts should be putting in a tanking plan to draft him.
The 2025 Heisman Trophy Watch
Speaking of the Heisman Trophy, here are the current odds leaders from FanDuel for the 2025 award:
- QB Arch Manning, Texas (+700)
- QB Cade Klubnik, Clemson (+900)
- QB Garrett Nussmeier, LSU (+900)
- WR Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State (+1200)
- QB Carson Beck, Miami (+1800)
- QB LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina (+1800)
- QB Drew Allar, Penn State (+1800)
- QB Ty Simpson, Alabama (+1800)
Sure enough, Arch Manning is the preseason favorite in Texas, but that could be a blessing or a curse. Some may hold that against him in this “nepo baby” era that he was anointed by many right away before really proving himself. Others may go the opposite direction and want to give him one since many felt his uncle Peyton should have won the 1997 Heisman over Charles Woodson.
Anymore, voters are hard to figure out. We just saw Josh Allen win the NFL MVP after the same voting panel concluded Lamar Jackson was the best quarterback (first-team All-Pro) because “Lamar has two awards and Josh has none” was the rationale by some.
For me, I’d have shares on Arch at +700, but there’s good value in someone like South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers to explode for the Gamecocks this year and surprise everyone. Keep an eye on that offense is track star Nyck Harbor can break out as a 6’5” freak who runs a 10.22 100-meter dash.
NCAAF Pick: 2025 Heisman Trophy Winner – LaNorris Sellers (+1800) at FanDuel
Is This Finally Penn State’s Year?
The Penn State Nittany Lions are the No. 2 team in the AP poll. A proud football school, Penn State hasn’t won a national championship since 1986. James Franklin has been the coach since 2014, and he notoriously struggles to beat the highly-ranked teams.
Penn State won a school-record 13 games last year thanks to the new playoff format, but they lost a tough one, 27-24, to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Orange Bowl. Penn State also lost in 2024 to Ohio State and lost against Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game. Sensing a pattern here.
But expectations are still super high with quarterback Drew Allar, a Heisman favorite, returning for his senior season and he’s improved each year. He will have to make do without leading tight end Tyler Warren, who was drafted by the Colts, and the team also lost Abdul Carter to the draft (Giants) as well.
Some are pointing to the schedule as a reason to like the Nittany Lions this year. They avoid Michigan, they don’t have to play Texas like Ohio State does, and maybe the Buckeyes won’t be as good after peaking last year. Also, the change to the playoff format means Penn State could get a first-round bye (top four seed) without actually wining the Big Ten.
We’ll see what happens. If Michigan got over the hump under Jim Harbaugh in 2023, if Ryan Day and Ohio State can do it last year, then maybe it’s Franklin’s turn at Penn State.
Bill Belichick Living His Best College Life?
Bill Belichick is 73 years old, so he can’t be having a mid-life crisis. But he is putting his legacy on the line as the greatest coach in NFL history by jumping ship to the college game instead of trying to return to the league where he could break the record for the most wins ever.
Never mind, this is an era in college football where NIL money and the transfer portal are making things crazier than ever with player movement. Why would Belichick want to go on recruiting trips to meet young college prospects who might have college-age sisters—okay, this is staring to make some sense for the man who is dating a 24-year-old girl.
But Belichick going to coach the North Carolina Tar Heels, infamously a basketball school, is quite the story you almost never see. Even if you name some of the best coaches who coached NFL and NCAAF, they usually had some prior college experience like Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban. The most successful dual-league coach is Pete Carroll, who coached the Jets and Patriots before winning championships at USC, then coming back to the NFL where he won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks too.
Belichick is just winging it after a lifetime in the NFL, and it should be fascinating to see as he takes over a North Carolina team that finished 6-7 under Mack Brown last year. Belichick’s first game is a Monday night affair on September 1 against TCU that should do some ratings.
The Tar Heels are favored to finish under 7.5 wins (-168 at FanDuel) in Belichick’s first season.
2025 NCAAF National Championship Odds: Will Ohio State Repeat Under Ryan Day?
Repeating in college football is hard as Georgia (2021-22) is the only team to do it since 2013. It may be even harder with a true playoff format and the aforementioned NIL and transfer portal dynamics changing the shape of the game.
Ohio State was a team thought to have underachieved a bit under Ryan Day, but they finally broke through and won a championship in 2024, his sixth full season on the job. But when it comes to repeating, the Buckeyes are tied for the second-highest odds with a familiar foe.
Here are the current odds from FanDuel for the 2025-26 NCAAF FBS Championship Winner:
- Texas (+550)
- Ohio State (+650)
- Georgia (+650)
- Penn State (+700)
- Alabama (+950)
- Clemson (+1200)
- LSU (+1300)
- Oregon (+1400)
- Notre Dame (+1500)
- Michigan (+3300)
- Texas A&M (+3300)
- Florida (+3500)
It is worth pointing out that the last five champions all had preseason odds of +800 or better. Before that, LSU won in 2019 with +2500 odds, and Ohio State won in 2014 with +4000 odds, the biggest upset in this era.
But there’s a good chance you don’t have to go past Alabama in the top five teams here to find your champion this January.
If I had to pick one team here today to win it all, I’m taking Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs, who get to host Alabama and Texas in their building this year. Georgia has been stockpiling NFL talent for years under Smart, they just keep reloading on defense, and Gunner Stockton could be an upgrade at quarterback over Carson Beck this year.
But let’s enjoy what should be a fantastic season of college football.
NCAAF Pick: 2025-26 NCAAF FBS Championship Winner – Georgia (+650) at FanDuel
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