Why Every College Football Preseason Favorite Has Big Questions

A possible unforeseen result of the many changes to college football over the last half-decade could be the end of the dominant juggernaut.

The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff concluded last January with national championship contenders that overcame clear flaws. Notre Dame recovered from a Week 2 loss to a Northern Illinois team that finished in the middle of the Mid-American Conference pack, while Ohio State rebounded from a pair of regular-season losses to claim its first title in a decade.

Ahead of the second 12-team Playoff campaign, plenty of preseason front-runners tabbed for national championship contention have apparent questions. The uncertainty begins right at the top with the Associated Press Top 25 poll’s No. 1-ranked Texas Longhorns.

Texas’ No. 1 ranking is a reflection of the lofty expectations on quarterback Arch Manning. With the highly coveted recruit now poised to be the unencumbered QB1 in Austin, the Longhorns chase a prize they last claimed in 2005.

They did so that season with Vince Young behind center, coming off a sensational 2004 campaign that ended with a Rose Bowl win. Can Manning ascend to championship heights in his first season as a college starter? Week 1 won’t answer that question, but it will reveal plenty about the much-anticipated Manning’s prospects as he leads Texas into Columbus to face reigning national champion Ohio State.

Manning won’t be the only new starter at the Horseshoe, with either Julian Sayin or Lincoln Kienholz succeeding Will Howard. When your immediate predecessor won a national championship while playing his best football down the stretch, the bar could not be much higher.

However, the standard Carson Beck will try to match at Miami is close. The Georgia transfer follows Cam Ward, whose prolific passing numbers made The U college football’s highest-scoring team a season ago — and had the Hurricanes in the Playoff mix despite surrendering 31-plus points in five regular-season games.

Beck arrives in South Beach with a more accomplished collegiate résumé than any of the quarterbacks debuting in Columbus for Week 1’s main event. But after throwing an SEC-high 12 interceptions last season at Georgia, Beck must refine his game while leading the hopes of a program approaching a quarter-century since reaching the pinnacle.

Meanwhile, as Beck exits Athens, the Bulldogs’ pursuit of a third national championship in five seasons depends in part on the progression of Gunner Stockton. Thrust into the job during the SEC Championship win over Texas, Stockton delivered a gutty performance that could foreshadow a memorable campaign to come.

The Georgia offense behind Stockton also sputtered in the Sugar Bowl Playoff loss to a stout Notre Dame defense. While the quarterback was hardly at fault for the Fighting Irish controlling that contest, a 20-of-32 passing performance and Georgia mounting just one touchdown drive was not the kind of showing that will dominate in an increasingly offense-friendly SEC.

Given all the quarterback uncertainty among preseason favorites, No. 2 Penn State and No. 4 Clemson appear ahead of the curve. Returning Drew Allar and Cade Klubnik gives the picks to win in both the Big Ten and ACC reason for optimism.

However, Penn State enters 2025 on an eight-year conference championship drought, largely the result of its struggles against Ohio State. With losses in every meeting since 2017, the Buckeyes provide a measuring stick that transcends their status as defending national champions. Scoring just 25 total points in the last two losses to the Buckeyes looms large — and will until at least Nov. 1 when the Lions visit Columbus.

Similarly, Clemson’s decline from perennial national championship contender in the mid-2010s into the start of this decade is perhaps best reflected in the Tigers’ struggles against SEC opponents. Regular-season bookending losses to Georgia and rival South Carolina last year emphasized that while Clemson returned to the Playoffs, the Tigers weren’t officially “back.”

Klubnik’s return to quarterback Clemson in 2025 sets a solid foundation — and a Week 1 matchup of Death Valley Tigers, when the orange-and-purple bunch face LSU, sets a potentially telling tone.

Really, no program deemed a preseason contender is without significant questions. From that uncertainty, we are certain of a wild, entertaining college football season.