Well over a month ago, I released my prediction for what the top-25 rankings in the college football world would look like this offseason, giving a view of the power balance in the nation based on which teams saw the highest number of starters returning, and the biggest boosts via the transfer portal.
That set of rankings came out on December 14th. It might as well have been a year ago for all that has changed since then.
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We’ve seen highly impactful transfers make their commitments, and legendary coaches depart their schools, causing other coaches to pick up and leave in a haste, laying waste to some of the most talented rosters across the nation in an apocalyptic domino effect.
While I was definitely early on my top 25 predictions, even the ‘Way-too-early Top 25’ that ESPN puts out every year after the national championship game feels incredibly out of date at this point. It feels like everything needs to be updated with the knowledge that we now have. It should be worth noting that the Washington Huskies, who were ranked No. 16 in my first top-25, have completely dropped out of the rankings now that their coach has left them, and much of the roster had chosen to depart Seattle as well.
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So that’s what I did. Here are my updated top-25 rankings for the 2024 season as we enter the end of January and continue to traverse the transfer portal madness and coaching changes.