Tuesdays with Gorney: Prediction for next season’s College Football Playoff

That’s it Arch Manning time in Texas as the former No. 1 overall pick waited patiently for two seasons behind Quinn Ewers to finally take over the Longhorns. Texas will need to rebuild their offensive line, but the Longhorns have some elite players to plug the holes, a steady, phenomenal running back to take pressure off Manning and while the Longhorns have to find some new receivers, there are some good ones coming back and great ones coming in this recruiting class.

The defense should be phenomenal with five stars Colin Simmons and Anthony Hill and high four star CB Malik Muhammad leading the way.

Will Howard going to the NFL, but it seems like Ohio State he might actually get an upgrade at quarterback because of the former five stars Julian Sayin is expected to take over. Sayin is so mature and talented at that position.

There may be some bumps in the road, but we are bringing in the RB transfer CJ Donaldson and they have five-star receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate along with a transfer tight end Max Clare should smooth things over.

There are some big gaps on defense, but five-star safety Caleb Downs is back and the Buckeyes have a lot more talent waiting in the wings.

Iowa State He’s coming off a career-high 11 wins and a lot of key pieces on offense, including running back Rocco Becht and the Cyclones stable of runners returns next season. What’s more, the team in Ames has momentum. They beat Iowa this season, they won Kansas State and had many other impressive victories before being swallowed up Cam Tax House and Arizona State in the conference title game. But Iowa State ended the season with a win Miami and heads into 2025 with a lot of nice pieces ready to make the college playoffs.

Quarterback Drew Aller is back. Running back Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen are coming back. Dani Dennis-Sutton and the rest of the stars in the defense decided to return after a great season ended in the semi-finals with a loss to Lady after Allar’s late interception.

Penn State brings back a lot of veteran talent and they are hungry to win a national championship. The Nittany Lions are loaded, but there are some tricky spots in the schedule that could derail things as they host Oregona must visit Iowa and Ohio State and then they have Indiana, Nebraska and other big matches.

Five-star quarterback Dante Moore thrown to the wolves as a freshman at UCLA and then transferred to Oregon to sit behind Dillon Gabriel and learn. And now it’s his turn. This will be Moore’s offense next season and there is a lot of talent in Eugene with the five-star receiver Dakorien Moorewho could have a freshman season similar to Alabama’s Ryan Williamsis coming.

There are also some significant additions on the transfer window for the Ducks, so after missing out on a Final Four appearance after a phenomenal season, Oregon will be hungry.

Lady wins by handling the ball effectively, taking on the will of the opposition and dominating forwards. The Irish will have an absolutely loaded offensive line in 2025. That’s great news because they’ll be breaking through a new, unproven quarterback — expected to CJ Carr – and while some receiver help is coming, Notre Dame isn’t much of a threat there.

There will be a lot of replacements needed on defense, but there is a lot of talent in South Bend and the defensive coordinator Al Golden should have ND ready.

Replacement Cam Ward seemed like an impossible task, but Miami he did a great job of getting Georgia QB Carson Beck to switch. While he’s not as athletic or dynamic as Ward, he’s still a likely first-round NFL draft pick (depending on how his elbow heals) and there will be a ton of talent on the roster.

The Hurricanes blew it by not making the playoffs this year after losing to the Syracuse in the regular season finale. The defense needs to be fixed – and quickly – and a new coordinator Corey Hetherman came from Minnesota just for that task.

Scoring was not a problem LSU last season and the Tigers will once again have weapons at QB Garrett Nussmeier returning, a stable of elite running backs and transfer receivers Baryon Brown (Kentucky), Nic Anderson (Oklahoma) and others enter. The defense needs to be much better against the run, and the Tigers went to the portal to fix a lot of issues.

There were some stories about that coach Brian Kelly went to Baton Rouge to cash in, but come on, he still gets mad enough to bang on the table every now and then. He’s 29-11 since arriving at LSU, not bad, but the team feels like it’s fallen off a bit this season. That changes in 2025.

Alabama was 9-4 in the coach Cullen DeBoerHis first season and the fans are ready to wring his neck. Just listen Paul Finebaum on any working day. It was Tuscaloosa’s worst season since then Nick Saban 7-6 in 2007, followed by double-digit wins (and six national titles) for the Crimson Tide.

There will be a QB competition with Ty Simpson, Austin Mack and with five stars Keelon Russelland we wouldn’t be shocked if Russell wins. Five star receiver Ryan Williams he is already a star. Defense should be complex. And Alabama can’t have another season like it just had.

The team from Group Five must succeed and it is hard to believe that any of them should receive a bye in the first round. Star running back Ashton Jeanty is gone along with a bunch of top defensive prospects, but Boise State returns the quarterback Maddux Madsen and a host of other talented prospects. The schedule has some challenges with Notre Dame and others, but the Broncos could also make a statement with some big wins.