Whether it’s traversing through life alone or embarking into the College Football World without a conference to settle most of the year-to-year scheduling, it takes a determined vision and a clear path in order to not become just another footnote in the overall story of college football/life. Yet for the four teams that we can plan to talk about briefly here, this is the current path that these college football programs have either chosen to take or in other cases were…. Forced to descend upon.
The most notable of course has to be the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who took down both the SEC Champion and the Big Ten Runner Up on the way to a national championship appearance before losing to the actual national champs in Ohio State. And to be honest? I believe they should have similar expectations in 2025. This team is going to be LOADED on the defensive side of the ball led by high impact players such as Leonard Moore and an experienced defensive coaching staff highlighted not only by Marcus Freeman himself but also the hiring of Chris Ash who brings both NFL Experience and Head Coaching Experience at the FBS Level too. Not to mention the Offense should have promising upside with the inexperienced but talented CJ Carr taking over at starting Quarterback after two straight seasons of transfers manning those same duties plus one of the most dynamic offensive weapons in the country.
That being said though, we cannot forget about UConn Huskies who may emerge as the Group of Five equivalent of Notre Dame one day. They were able to accomplish a 9-win season under Jim Mora which is the most since 2007 and are extremely eager to prove that what they accomplished last fall was not a fluke. In order to accomplish that, they’ll look to rely on Joe Fagnano who returns from injury as well as an new defensive scheme that looks to maximize the talent brought in via the Transfer Portal.
Now for the sake of simplicity, I am also including Oregon State and Washington State as Independent Teams. While both teams currently reside in the Pac-12, the 2025 version of the conference falls well short of the 8 Teams needed in order to compete for an automatic bid in the College Football Playoff. Thankfully, this will change next season when six new teams plan on joining the conference to revive this storied conference.
For Oregon State, while they are the only (independent) team that failed to be bowl eligible last year, the Beavers are seeking a bounce back campaign under second year head coach Trent Brey. The real question to where that bounce back happens or not is going to be based on how much the defense improves after finishing 100th in PPG Allowed. However, even if the defense doesn’t improve…. This team should still be fun to watch this fall as they brought in Maalik Murphy from Duke to play QB this upcoming fall as well as maintained multiple offensive weapons such as Anthony Hankerson and Trent Walker.
Finally, we have a new head coach out of this crop of teams in Jimmy Rodgers who takes over after Jake Dickert leaves to take on the Wake Forest Job. Unfortunately, this brought a fair amount of instability in terms of who was going to stick around for 2025 due to the current rules in the place for the Transfer Portal. However, its not going to be all bad as Zevi Eckhaus, who filled in for John Mateer in the bowl and looked really good in the Holiday Bowl lost vs. Syracuse in Bowl Season Action but there’s going to be some growing pains in year 1 with so many questions on this roster outside of the Quarterback Position.
But now let’s take a look at how I would power rank these teams not only within the scope of the Independent Teams but also compared to the rest of the country as well:
4) Washington State
- National Preseason Power Ranking: 90
- Potential Toss-Up Games: Toledo and Oregon State
- Record Prediction: 3-9
- Best Case Scenario: 5-7
- Worst Case Scenario: 3-9
3) UConn
- National Preseason Power Ranking: 79
- Potential Toss-Up Games: AT Buffalo
- Record Prediction: 8-4
- Best Case Scenario: 9-3
- Worst Case Scenario: 8-4
2) Oregon State
- National Preseason Power Ranking: 75
- Potential Toss-Up Games: Cal, Houston, AT Washington State
- Record Prediction: 9-3
- Best Case Scenario: 10-2
- Worst Case Scenario: 7-5
1) Notre Dame
- National Preseason Power Ranking: 6
- Potential Toss-Up Games: AT Miami (FL)
- Record Prediction: 11-1
- Best Case Scenario: 12-0
- Worst Case Scenario: 11-1
