ESPN Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024 college football season is over. ESPN has already published its Way Too Early College Football Power Rankings for the 2025 season.

In doing so, the network named who it believes is the best team in the land heading into next year.

No surprise here: It’s Ohio State.

The 2024 National Champions will have another loaded roster heading into next season. That’s one of a host of reasons why the Buckeyes are the top team in their early power rankings.

“After winning the program’s third national championship since 2002, the Buckeyes are going to undergo a bit of a makeover — but so are most of the other Big Ten contenders,” senior writer Mark Schlabach wrote.

He continued, praising transfer quarterback Julian Sayin and projecting their defense to be great yet again.

People were interested in these podcasts

While the Buckeyes have to replace a lot of talent, their reload will be in full effect. And with Jeremiah Smith, all things on offense are possible for Ohio State. He’s only going to be a true sophomore next year, which is frightening, considering just how good he was as a freshman this year.

Other teams near the top included Texas, Penn State, Oregon, and Georgia. The usual suspects will challenge for the throne again next year.

But for now, it’s Ohio State‘s moment in the spotlight.

About Chris Novak

Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022