College football’s restructured landscape took some getting used to during the 2024 season. With massive conferences stretching from coast to coast, the temporary stoppage of a century-old league, and a 12-team College Football Playoff, last year was perhaps the most jarring in the past half-century of the sport.

But the 2024 season also delivered plenty of familiar excitement. From the entertaining Heisman Trophy clash between Ashton Jeanty and Travis Hunter to Ohio State’s redemptive run to the national championship, the new college football retained enough of the old college football’s aura.

With an autumn to adjust, the 2025 season kicks off Aug. 23 and promises even more thrilling uncertainty than a season ago. This quartet of potential subplots offers a mere sampling of what this campaign could deliver.

Penn State vs. Expectations

Any descriptor of James Franklin’s tenure as Penn State head coach that fails to include some variation of the adjective “great” falls short. Franklin took over in 2014, when the program’s future was murky in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, and led the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten title in his third season.

The Nittany Lions have consistently won double-digit games under Franklin and are coming off their first College Football Playoff appearance. But Penn State has struggled against Ohio State, with eight consecutive losses, and has yet to reach the national semifinals.

The Buckeyes will host the Nittany Lions on Nov. 1.

Heading into 2025 as the preseason media poll pick to win the Big Ten — edging out reigning champion Ohio State — this could be the year Penn State breaks through to a level it hasn’t reached since the 1980s. The Nittany Lions last won a national championship in 1986, the most recent of their four in program history.

“That’s part of the reason why I came to Penn State, to compete for everything like [the Big Ten and national championships],” quarterback Drew Allar told Nittany Sports Now at last week’s team media day.

Allar’s return is at the heart of the lofty expectations awaiting the Lions when they open the season Aug. 30 vs. Nevada.

“To go to the place where we want to go, it’s going to take everybody,” Allar said. “I think we’ve done a great job embracing that.”

SEC on Drought Watch

Labeling three consecutive seasons without a national championship a full-on drought may be dramatic. The Big 12, for instance, last won a national title 20 years ago — and its only two in the 2000s came from programs now in the SEC.

Still, since LSU split the 2003 championship with Southern California, the SEC has never gone three straight seasons without producing a champion. If the 2025 national title goes to another league, it will mark the longest such stretch since 1999 through 2002, when Florida State, Oklahoma, Miami and Ohio State traded trophies.

The SEC was the most successful conference of the four-team College Football Playoff era, with championships in the 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons — more than half the decade.

So no, the CFP format didn’t expose the SEC’s monopolization of BCS championships from 2006 to 2012 as a byproduct of a flawed system. The league proved its strength at the top. But the gap may not be as wide as SEC loyalists made it seem.

The sport’s current wide-open nature also underlines just how remarkable Nick Saban’s Alabama dynasty truly was.

Clemson on the Comeback Trail

Not so long ago, when Alabama was at its peak under Saban, its biggest challenger was Clemson. The Tigers won national championships in 2016 and 2018 and appeared in six straight Playoffs.

Since then, Clemson has hit a speed bump. To be clear, most programs would gladly trade for the Tigers’ “downturn” — 40 wins, a conference title and a Playoff appearance from 2021 to 2024.

Still, Clemson hasn’t resembled the juggernaut of the late 2010s. Coach Dabo Swinney’s resistance to embracing NIL and player compensation raised questions about the program’s staying power in the new era.

The 2025 season presents a prime chance to silence those doubts. Clemson is the preseason favorite to repeat as ACC champion, and with Cade Klubnik — the league’s preseason offensive player of the year — under center, expectations are high.

During Clemson’s peak, it had Heisman candidates Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence at quarterback. Klubnik has flashed similar upside but will need to deliver across a full season if the Tigers hope to contend.

Anchors Aweigh

Few teams finished last season stronger than Navy. The Midshipmen crushed rival Army at the end of West Point’s best season since the mid-20th century, then edged Oklahoma in a thriller at the Armed Forces Bowl.

With standout quarterback Blake Horvath back to expertly run the option — and unleash a sneaky-good passing attack — Navy looks poised to build on its 10–3 campaign.

The offense has long been Navy’s identity, but its turnover-hungry defense may be the real key to success. Head coach Brian Newberry, who took over after longtime leader Ken Niumatalolo’s departure, crafted a unit that rounded into form late last year.

Navy picked off 17 passes in 2024, ranking seventh nationally. Replacing star corner Dashaun Peele won’t be easy, but returners like Landon Robinson and Griffen Willis should keep the pressure up front and help the secondary generate takeaways.

If the Midshipmen can contend for the Group of Five’s Playoff bid, the storied Army-Navy rivalry might take on even more national significance.

Not a bad way to cap the season ahead of the second 12-team tournament.