Way too early Top 25 rankings for the 2025 college football season

[The Miami Ute]

The Athletic came out this morning with its projected preseason Top 25 and it isn’t pretty.

They’ve slotted ASU as #9 and BYU as #10. The only other Big XII teams to make the cut are Baylor at #18 and KSU at #23. Not even an honorable mention of Utah (how soon they forget).

To my amateur view, it really looks like they are projecting and expecting past performance to be proof of future success (how did that work for us this season?). It also looks like they are really drinking the Kool-Aid on both ASU and BYU.

Here are their comments:

9. Arizona State (11-3)
Key returnees: QB Sam Leavitt, WR Jordyn Tyson, TE Chamon Metayer, DT C.J. Fite, LB Keyshaun Elliott, S Xavion Alford

Key transfers: RB Kanye Udoh (Army), WR Jalen Moss (Fresno State), CB Kyndrich Breedlove (Purdue)

There’s no reason ASU can’t contend for another Big 12 championship. While it loses all-everything running back Cam Skattebo, it brings back nearly everyone else and landed 1,117-yard rusher Udoh from Army. Eight starters return from a defense that allowed 19.2 points per game during its six-game winning streak to end the regular season and held its own against Texas in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal loss.

10. BYU (11-2)
Key returnees: QB Jake Retzlaff, RB LJ Martin, WR Chase Roberts, LBs Isaiah Glasker and Harrison Taggart, K Will Ferrin

Key transfers: TE Carsen Ryan (Utah), DT Keanu Tanuvasa (Utah), DL Anisi Purcell (Southern Utah)

BYU spent most of the season in CFP contention, and there’s no reason the Cougars can’t break through and win the Big 12 in 2025. The conference schedule is challenging, with trips to Colorado, Iowa State and Texas Tech. BYU will enjoy continuity on offense, beginning with Retzlaff — who became a cult hero in his first season in Provo — whereas the defense loses much of its leadership. Special teams could be a strength.

[AlohaUte]

I think BYU will be good, but they were among the luckiest teams last season and those sorts of things tend to even out. I have them at 8-4.

ASU losing Skattebo is a HUGE deal. Keeping Leavitt is great for them though. I expect they will go 9-3.

As for the Utes, we’ll have a serviceable offense and defense will be solid. We’ll bounce back, but not all the way back. I have the Utes at 8-4.

[HoosierUte]

Hilarious. “…who became a cult hero in his first season in Provo…”

[Utah#1]

They were trailing in the the Utah game until Rose got hurt. I believe if Rose continued to play and was healthy, BYU coulda lost by two TDs or more. They lost to Kansas and barely beat OSU. They are a good team, but their record doesn’t reflect their play on the field. I expect the Big12 to me more competitive next year then it was this past season and don’t expect the top teams (ASU, ISU, and BYU) to be anymore dominant then the rest of the league. I think there will be some parity with the top half of the league. We will see.

[GameForAnyFuss]

I chuckle at any poll that contains the words “way too early”. Even the title is admitting that the poll (and polls are flawed no matter what) is basically BS.

It would be like writing a chemistry paper with the words “junk science” in the title.

[snorkerelli]

This is good. We do way better as underdogs. When we started getting respect from pundits we fell off a cliff (e.g. last two seasons). All that matters is where we end up next year.

[China Rider]

All we know for sure is that right now the Utes are a bad football team in a bad conference. If the backslide of the last two years continue, I’m afraid the Utes will be trapped here for good. Time is of essence.

[Utah]

Ugh. College Football really just sucks now. Look, ASU and BYU were both 10 win teams, they both bring back their QB’s, they get slotted up high again. I get it.

But how do you slot anyone else? Hell, look at Utah: we brought in 2 transfers, kept Wilson and have 2 HS QB’s coming in. There is a really, really good chance that three of those 5 are gone after spring ball. Same with the RB’s. Hell, we brought in some RB’s and some left and we brought in others and other left.

Who am I rooting for? How can I tell if they will be good or not? We don’t even know what the roster is. Utah could easily lose another 20-30% of their starters…and in the same vein, we might not even have our starting RB, QB, TE on the team right now.

Hey, but at least we have a running clock and the game will take 4 hours to be completed and we get to play s**tty teams I could care less about this fall.

[Utah]

Looking at Utah’s schedule, here is where I have them:

For sure wins:
Cal Poly
Wyoming

For sure losses:
No one.

The rest: Look at the rest of the games. I could see Baylor, BYU, Kansas St, ASU, Kansas, Tech, Cincinnati, and WVU all blowing us out if we play like we did last year. That is 8 losses.

But if we get back to having a decent QB, our defense is good enough that we could easily win 10+ games. None of those teams are juggernauts.

But I have no idea who the crap is on our team, who is on anyone else’s team or anything. This is just so stupid.

[Anfernee]

College football isn’t healthy for you anymore, brother. Very obviously. Maybe just make peace with that and find some things for this fall that don’t suck the fun out of life for you.

[RoboUte]

It’s a lot more fun when your team doesn’t fall off a cliff and pretend it has no idea how it got there.

[EmersonUte]

hey Utah – I feel exactly the same. Alienated from the team. Only cheering for the laundry at this point. Its all so so stupid.

Even for paying the players (which I’m in favor of in some fashion) this is about the dumbest way you could possibly do it.

Freeing up money for skiing, plays at Eccles Theater, other stuff. But I’m lurking on a Ute message board in January – so you know I’m interested – but I couldn’t name half our day 1 starters for the fall at this point. My fandom is waning.

[UteBacker]

Prediction accuracy in college football is a fool’s errand right now. With the huge turnover in rosters, how can you even begin to know how good teams will be? I guess these polls are something to talk about in the off season, but they’re about as worthless as the paper they’re written on.

[DataUte]

It’s like the useless stats of all-time records or ‘last time they met, they beat them by 40 … 12 years ago’. Now, the team is different every year. Sure, there are programs and systems and continuity of some players at some schools, but not much anymore. Most teams (even elite) have a different qb every year now, transferred from somewhere else.

[Ute Dub]

Just win!

[Tony (admin)]

There’s no Koolaid strong enough to get me to drink it after the last two seasons. I’m glad we’re not ranked to start out the season.

[Tednab]

Nope not buying whits BS , he’s lost all credibility the decline continues .. we’ve lost more talent than gained through the portal. We replaced our loses with a bunch of average G5 players, not to mention losing 3 good players to the zoobs. The offense might slightly improve (because it can’t get any worse), only if dampier stays healthy. But then again we’re talking about whits unwavering ability to handicap every kind of offense, both foreign and domestic. Our QB depth isn’t anything special. Our D won’t be as good as last season.. Mediocre season with a 5 to 8 wins season at best, in what will hopefully be both whits and Harlan’s last year. Oh did I mention the big 12 sucks and those locked on podcast are insufferable. drinking the whiskey instead of the kool aid this season

[DataUte]

I think the OT from USC, CB from TAMU, DEs from Oregon and Washington, Punter from Mizzou, and WR from Miss St. + Nate Johnson returning fill out the roster decently enough with Dampier/Rodgers from UNM, RB from UNLV, and WR from Wyoming & Utah St. Still probably need a little more line and RB depth.

We had a few losses that hurt (Calhoun, Tanuvasa, Pepa?, maybe Ryan + why Bouwmeester?). Rose, Huard were QB2 at best quality. Mike Mitchell and John Randle didn’t prove anything at RB, Glover was hit or miss, Stanley had a good non-conference then disappeared – would have liked to see what Woods could do.

It’s a new team and there was and is always going to be churn, especially this year with a change in scholarships offered and roster limits.

[RoboUte]

Oh well. I mean if you do well people think you’re going to do well again in the future. Not a problem we have to worry about currently.

We could easily win 9 or 10 games this year if the offense clicks and we find suitable replacements across the roster.

But what’s going to happen instead is that our offense takes a step up. I mean… not like it can go down (I said this exact same thing almost verbatim last year and was proven oh-so-incredibly wrong). We see injury issues again and a lack of quality 2 and 3 deep players in a handful of spots Because Whitt will adapt poorly to the new smaller roster and can’t find diamonds in the rough anymore. Our leaderless carousel roster goes through the season in a daze while Whitt does nothing about an increasingly negative locker room that’s amplified by a hobbling 19 year old who isn’t tall enough to ride half of Lagoon’s s**t.

Six wins. Whittingham continues displaying all of the same problems and most likely strongarms himself into another season while our brand starts to slide into the territory where you’re one of those joke teams who has to go 6-0 before they rank you 25th because you started at a presumptive rank of 100. We lose the Chet’s Microwave Kettlecorn bowl to Akron on Tuesday, December 2nd at 10:45 AM EST because Whitt could lose a bowl game to the waitstaff of a single Cracker Barrel at this point. For no reason whatsoever Cam Rising dives across his kitchen to stop a single potato chip from falling onto the floor and destroys both knees. Whitt visits him in the nursing home with a scholarship in hand, ready to hit 2026 like a fart into the grand canyon. Cam accepts. Shah phones Whitt after a conjugal visit to tell him he plans to accept the waterboy position at UVU, But Whitt knows this game well enough by now, Shah’s check is already in the mail.

In early August we’ll be the best Utah team that’s ever touched the field though. So that’s a plus. We’ve been having incredible Augusts for years now. I can’t wait to see what kind of August our offensive line has, damn they’re going to be bigger and more talented than ever (ask me how I know). Our receivers are going to be absolute specimens, perhaps the best group Whitt has ever had, a real surprise coming out of fall camp. And you know Whittingham isn’t the type of guy to say he’s got a good team unless he knows he does. He really only says that like once a year before any football has been played, every year, so pretty rare. Just something you never hear from the guy. He’s old-school, you know. It’s damn shame we don’t play much football in August or we’d be counting nattys.

[China Rider]

Snark at it’s best. Love to be a fly on the wall if your essay found it’s way to a certain desk.

[RoboUte]

Whitt would finish reading it, blink twice, and get up to go and find out which one of the coaches I am.

[UteBacker]

Dang, Robo. That post almost made be feel better about things. Bravo!

[RoboUte]

When there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it, best just be able to laugh.

[Utah5410]

Personally. I currently know what the roster looks like… Every major player and backup. Without knowing the order of the schedule it’s obvi tough to predict… But here is what I do know.

1. Utah under Whit has always been better as underdogs. Always.
2. Utah D will be solid again if not great. Depends how these new corners look and if we can get one more DT.
3. Utah develops guys. I’m looking at the DL and DE here. We will be fine if only because our coaches know how to develop.
4. Our offense can’t be any worse. Even with a competent offense I believe Utah is at the very least an 8 or 9 win team.. Who knows until they play… But DD has shown it although against lessor competition, but, he knows the system. So from day one and spring ball he will be rolling. And as we’ve seen the last 2 years QB is all that matters.
5. RES is still the toughest environment to win in the big 12. Listen, I know we lost alot last year. But each game at home was close. ISU was good, BYU was good, TCU was good, AZ was the only exception. Had we had Ferrari Batari I believe we go 8-4 last year.

Put that all together Utah has a chance.. I think BYU and ASU come back to earth next year. Especially ASU. Teams will be gunning for them now. Cam S was there team. Leavitt is fine but not amazing. They will still be good. But I like our chances against them in RES. And BYU who knows, they return alot, but they also lost a lot of big time playmakers and emotional leaders and the rivalry game is always a toss up.

until I see the schedule I wouldn’t know what there record would be. And while I won’t be predicting them to win the big 12 too many Q marks before they’ve played. The points above still show me that we have a good chance to win the league next year. No prediction but a very good chance.

[Yergensen]

There’s retaliation coming for Harlan’s sh!t fit. I don’t think that ended with the fine. Though there is less predictability than ever, I expect the schedule to be slanted against us (road game travel, road game opponent, bye week timing, etc).

[China Rider]

But it’s ok when Dillingham and Yormark go in front of the cameras and do the very same thing. One is scorned but the other is praised. Big 12 double standards. This conference sucks and reeks every which way.

[Holladay Ute]

I’m glad that nobody is talking about the Utes as a contender for the conference. Better to set expectations low and hopefully outperform. Utah performs better as the hunter rather than the hunted.

That said, I think the Big 12 is wide open. I do not think last year’s records are any good indication of what we’ll see next year. Sure, we were 2-7 in conference and ASU, BYU, Iowa State, and Colorado were all 7-2. ASU barely beat us at home and we were playing w/ a QB that couldn’t physically throw or run. They lost their (by far) best player who is (by far) the #1 reason we lost that game. The BYU game obviously could’ve (and should’ve) gone our way. They lost a bunch of guys on defense. And I think they were generally one of the luckier teams last year. Iowa State barely beat us too and there were some unlucky bounces for us in that game too. Colorado is really the only team that beat us handily last year. Even that game was close in the 4th quarter. They lost Sanders and Hunter.

So anyway, I think the conference is wide open and I think we have a great shot at contending for the title. We don’t have the easiest schedule next year, but I do think we’ll be pretty competitive and a surprise to everyone who has thrown us away.

Not trying to get ahead of my skis, but that’s what I think is gonna happen. I don’t expect us to win the conference, but I think we will surprise people and contend.

[J Rocksville]

I think that narrative is exactly the same for almost (almost!) every team in the B12. If x y z goes our way, we’ll contend for a conference title. If one or more of them don’t then it’s back to the drawing board. Like, subtract 2 wins for each variable that doesn’t work out.

Really, that’s probably the case for about any team at this point, including the big brands in the B1G and SEC. Nobody really knows how their new assortment of shiny toy mercenaries are going to gel and come together. Honestly, I’d rather compete for 8-10 win seasons and conference championships in the B12 than end up in the middle to lower tier of the B1G like UCLA.

At the minimum, I think we can at least say that there is a potential path for us to be good with the pieces that are trending to be around in the fall. There are a few teams that can’t even say that.

[NorthernUte]

Bill Connelly just put Utah in the CFP Semi-Finals with a ranking of 3 as his prediction for next year. Someone is optimistic.

[UteButters]

Most people, AND Ute fans have forgotten just how well coached and good Utah is when healthy.

Utah will surprise people next year. I hope Utah is disrespected all off season cause they play better in the underdog role.

But I 100% expect Utah to be in contention for the B12 championship in November. IF Utah is healthy, they will be as good or better than anyone else in the B12.

[UteNamedOg]

As we’ve learned the last few years, preseason rankings mean jack sh*t. If Utah stays healthy, we will be fine.

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