With less than 50 days to the 2025 season, the CFB world is faced with scenarios. Questions. Doubts. Some obvious questions. Can the Buckeyes maintain their dominance like last year? Can Dan Lanning transform last season’s Big Ten championship win and take it up a notch to the natty? Can the SEC bounce back after two straight losses to the Big Ten? There’s a lot to unpack for sure.
For the last two years, the Big 10 has been going strong. Ohio State defeated Notre Dame, 34-23, in 2024 to claim the natty. And Michigan reigned as the champion in 2023. And Oregon? With Dan Lanning steering the wheel, Oregon achieved double-digit wins in the past three seasons. On top of that, the Ducks clinched the Big 10 championship in their first year in the conference. However, if Josh Pate is to be believed, we may get to see some surprises in 2025. Possibly from the top names.
“The contenders always had so many bullets in the chamber, your Georgias, your Bamas, your Ohio States,” Josh Pate said during the Big Ten Media Days. “From seven or eight years ago, they got eight or nine offensive linemen who could play pretty much anywhere. So many of even the contenders. Oregon is a perfect example. They got three of their starters on the O-line coming from the portal. If that doesn’t work out, their season’s tanked.”
Well, Dan Lanning’s program is revamping its O-line. OT Josh Conerly Jr. and Ajani Cornelius left for the draft. And Ducks brought in Isaiah World, Emmanuel Pregnon, and Alex Harkey to fill the lacunae. When it came to their QB, the Ducks have preferred transfers. Bo Nix. Dillon Gabriel. And even Dante Moore transferred to the Ducks last year. But an almost new O-line means that a crucial component of the offense won’t have any experience playing together. Of course, you can get some work done in practice, but game snaps are a different ordeal altogether. The same inexperience may become a hindrance for the Buckeyes as well.
“If Ohio State’s quarterback situation. If it’s just a B-, C+, your season’s tank.” Again, at Columbus, Ryan Day faces a QB dilemma. A whole lot of their starters on the offense and defense have moved on to the NFL from their championship-winning roster. In total, 14! The list includes some big names. Will Howard, Emeka Egbuka, Tyleik Williams, Josh Simmons, Quinshon Judkins, TreVeyon Henderson, JT Tuimolau, and Jack Sawyer, among others. Although Howard featured in just one season for Ohio State, his absence left a deep hole under the center. Contenders? Julian Sayin, junior Lincoln Kienholz, and freshman Tavien St. Clair. But then, what if Saying doesn’t work out? Will they be able to win 10 games?
“How many people have not retrained their minds to adjust to the modern era of college football? And how many of your real contenders, teams with a nine and a half or 10 and a half over-under win total, could have a seven and five season, because that never used to be the case? The floor for those teams was nine wins, and it’s not that way anymore. And I do think, and probably even more, every conference has a lot more depth. I do think that there is more parity. I know we use that word a lot, but I do think we’ve, like, we’re seeing for Ohio State, the question marks, or Oregon, the question marks,” Pate said.
Every conference has more depth now. Look at Miami; in 2023, the Hurricanes recorded a 7-6 overall season. Enter Cam Ward. The Hurricanes notch it up to 10-3. But what about Bama and the Dawgs?
Josh Pate warns Georgia, Alabama
SEC—the most competitive conference in collegiate football. Try taking a jibe at it if you could withstand Paul Finebaum’s wrath. The ‘Voice of the SEC,’ as they call him. But the conference is hungry. No doubt, Georgia and Alabama have a robust track record. The last SEC programs that clinched the national championship were them. But coming to the 2025 season, there’s a big question mark hanging over them right now. “And you can say the same thing about Georgia at tailback or D line, say the same thing about Bama at quarterback and several other positions,” as Josh Pate put it.
Alabama, which under G.O.A.T. Nick Saban’s reign relished six championships. But Saban is gone, and Kalen DeBoer is steering the wheel. And his first season with the Crimson Tide saw Alabama’s worst record since 2009. Although it defeated the Bulldogs, 41-34, it ended up registering a 9-4 overall record. But more is the woe. 24 players left Tuscaloosa in the wake of Saban’s retirement. Adding to that, Alabama is struggling with the NIL factor. It got to the point where they were practically calling on Bama fans to pitch in with some financial help.
Now, zooming in on the roster. The QB is yet undecided. Ty Simpson, Austin Mack, and Keelon Russell are battling it out. Regardless, the offense is robust, with Pro Football Focus ranking Bama’s O-line as the best. But what about the Special Teams? DeBoer didn’t beat around the bush. He called a spade a spade. “That’s the tricky one,” he said during the SEC media event. The Crimson Tide is tasked with replacing its punter, kicker, and long snapper from the last season. And the D-line? Again, PFF ranked Alabama’s defense No. 1 for the 2025 season. But, but, but. Let’s just say, they weren’t exactly in their prime. Kane Wommack’s defense could have been better. Though the Crimson Tide defeated the Bulldogs, they gave up 519 yards to the Dawgs.
But, hey, Georgia is a defensive line factory, as Vikings Senior VP of player personnel Ryan Grigson put it. You ask why? Well, in the past four years, nine Bulldogs DL went to the draft, with three drafted back in April. And cherry on the top, up to the DawgNation’s delight, the Philadelphia Eagles, who clinched the last Super Bowl, “their defense is basically Georgia,” as Grigson put it.
And as for the QB dilemma. Ryan Puglisi and Gunner Stockton are the contenders. Although Smart approves of Stockton. That doesn’t mean the HC will just hand him the role. And you know what? This is not the first time; Josh Pate was not sold on the offense. “I bought Georgia to miss at +198,” he said in June on his show.
And maybe he has got a point. Georgia has a kind of new offense; a young offense would be a better wording. Carson Beck left for Mario Cristobal. Safety Malaki Starks, LB Jalon Walker, and OL Tate Ratledge departed for the NFL. To sum it up, Georgia lost 13 players to the Draft, putting the roster in a delicate position. Even analyst Cousin Shane put Georgia at 7.5 (on a scale of 1 to 10) on making it to the national championship. Although the run game has always been a strong asset for Georgia, can the young roster keep up the long-held tradition?
But then, Pate continued, “Even the SEC below Bama, and we’re that upper tier, like in the SEC, it’s interesting; I think there are four at the top, there are kind of four at the bottom, and then there’s this middle eight that are all, I think they’re all pretty good, and without that dominance at the top, where they’re good and they’re a tier by themselves, it’s a car crash; it really is going to be bad.”
To sum it up, as Josh Pate put it, the margin to win has shrunk. One misstep and here goes your natty.
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