There’s a lot of college football to be watched in 2025. Thanks to an expanded College Football Playoff adding more games to an already loaded schedule, at least two teams will be taking the field most weekends between Aug. 23 and Jan. 19.
I, fortunately, get paid to cover college sports, so I will not personally be skipping out on any weekends. But I would also always encourage someone to watch as many college football games as possible. After all, those six(ish) months fly by in a blur, and then you’re left missing one of the most captivating sports in the world until next August rolls around.
But I also understand that most people have lives outside of college football and plans that cannot be missed. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a casual observer.
So, as television schedules for the 2025 season are unveiled, it felt appropriate to make a sort of viewer’s guide for those casual observers. I broke down each week of the college football season into tiers, based on watchability.
At the top are those weeks you really don’t want to miss, while the lower tiers only hold interest to those that are truly obsessed.
Tier 1: Become one with your couch
Put your phone on do not disturb. Tell your loved ones not to be concerned if they don’t hear from you until Sunday. Make sure your fridge is stocked.
Week 1
Featured games: Texas at Ohio State; Alabama at Florida State; LSU at Clemson
There are better weekends on the 2025 college football schedule — as we will see — but, come on, it’s Week 1. It’s the first full day of football of the season. You don’t want to do anything else besides kick your feet up and keep your eyes glued to the television for 12 hours. Texas-Ohio State and LSU-Clemson are national title-caliber clashes, as well. These are the type of nonconference clashes that dreams are made of.
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Week 3
Featured games: Florida at LSU; Georgia at Tennessee; Clemson at Georgia Tech; Texas A&M at Notre Dame
SEC play starts with a bang this season. Florida’s a College Football Playoff darkhorse thanks to a strong offseason under coach Billy Napier. The Gators will have a real chance to prove their worth against an LSU team with national title aspirations. Though Tennessee’s done better against its traditional rivals under Josh Heupel, he still has yet to get over the hump against Georgia. Clemson and Georgia Tech will both factor heavily into the ACC conversation, while Texas A&M and Notre Dame do battle as two of college football’s top brands. It’s already a big day — and that’s without mentioning games like Tulane vs. Duke, which will see Blue Devils quarterback Darian Mensah travel to take on his former team in the Green Wave.
Week 7
Featured games: Georgia at Auburn; South Carolina at LSU; Oklahoma at Texas; Florida at Texas A&M; Ohio State at Illinois
The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry and the Red River Rivalry both in the same day. Auburn and Oklahoma also both have coaches — Hugh Freeze and Brent Venables, respectively — that are facing serious pressure to turn things around. A rivalry win could set the tone. Few teams have generated more preseason hype than Illinois, which returns a plethora of standout players from the program’s first 10-win team since 2001. Ohio State will be a real litmus test for Illinois’ hopes as a national contender.
Week 10
Featured games: Georgia at Florida; Oklahoma at Tennessee; Penn State at Ohio State; Arizona State at Iowa State
This is a big week for the Big 12. Arizona State and Iowa State are set to face off in a 2024 Big 12 Championship Game rematch. Both are hoping to make it back to Arlington, and this regular season clash could go a long way toward deciding one of the spots. Elsewhere, preseason darling Texas Tech travels to face a Kansas State squad looking to break through once more under coach Chris Klieman. That’s two games featuring the projected top four teams in the Big 12. That’s not to mention Penn State’s trip to Ohio State, which may very well be a clash of top-five teams.
Week 14
Featured games: Texas A&M at Texas (Friday, Nov. 28); Alabama at Auburn; Clemson at South Carolina; Ohio State at Michigan
As with Week 1, the last full slate of the regular season needs little explanation. This is rivalry weekend. Some of college football’s most ferocious feuds spill out onto the field as Week 14 progresses. The expanded playoff format adds a ton of pressure on top of the natural intensity present in a rivalry. Teams like Texas A&M, Auburn, Clemson and Michigan — just to name a few — could be playing for at-large bids at this point in the year. There’s appointment viewing in every time slot.
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Tier 2: Finish that project you’ve been putting off
So long as it doesn’t take you away from the house and also doesn’t take you all day.
Week 2
Featured games: Michigan at Oklahoma; Iowa at Iowa State
Sherrone Moore’s return to alma mater Oklahoma and Michigan’s first real test as it looks to bounce back from a rest year is the real storyline this of this week. Plus, it’s hard not to appreciate the wonderfully weird football on display whenever Iowa and Iowa State take the field. There’s a couple other games worth monitoring, like Kansas at Missouri or Baylor at SMU, but nothing earth-shattering.
Week 4
Featured games: Florida at Miami; Michigan at Nebraska
Last season, Miami used an early season immolation of Florida to catapult itself to a 10-win season. Could the Gators do something similar this in a pivotal year for Billy Napier and the program? This is also the week of (former) Pac-12 rivalries, as Oregon State travels to Oregon and Washington State hosts Washington.
Week 5
Featured games: Alabama at Georgia; LSU at Ole Miss; Oregon at Penn State
If this season’s Alabama-Georgia game is anything like 2024’s edition, we’re in for quite a treat. LSU and Ole Miss are similarly situated SEC programs. Both have had plenty of success in recent years, but they’re still hunting for their first playoff appearance under their current coaches. Week 5 will go a long way towards separating them. Oregon wants to prove that last year’s Big Ten title wasn’t a case of beginner’s luck, while James Franklin still has to win a “big one,” so there’s plenty to track between the Ducks and the Nittany Lions. A few main events in Week 5, but the undercard is relatively sparse.
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Week 8
Featured games: Tennessee at Alabama; Ole Miss at Georgia; SMU at Clemson; UNLV at Boise State
The “Third Saturday in October” has become one of college football’s most hotly contested rivalries in recent years. Two of the last three installments have been decided by one possession, and Tennessee’s win against Alabama last season propelled the Vols to their first CFP appearance in program history. Week 8 also features two conference title game rematches: SMU and Clemson battled it out for the ACC last year, while Boise State locked down a spot in the playoff by downing UNLV in the MWC Championship Game.
Week 12
Featured games: Clemson at Louisville (Friday, Nov. 14); Texas at Georgia; Florida at Ole Miss
The way things are trending, Texas and Georgia are going to be battling it out at the top of the SEC for years to come. The two played twice last year, resulting in a Georgia sweep that culminated in the SEC Championship Game. Both Florida and Ole Miss have playoff upside in 2025 — and both could very well make it — but a head-to-head result could prove crucial when deciding at-large bids.
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Tier 3: If you HAVE to plan for a fall wedding…
Not ideal, but you could make it work during these weeks if absolutely necessary. Still, keep a screen handy.
Week 6
Featured games: Texas at Florida; Boise State at Notre Dame
This is one of those weeks, earlier in the season, where the conference pairings don’t move the needle much. Florida could make a real statement against Texas and Boise State and Notre Dame (not a conference game) both made the playoff last year. There’s not much outside those games though. North Carolina vs. Clemson deserves some recognition as it pits an actual septuagenarian (Bill Belichick) against a septuagenarian at heart (Dabo Swinney).
Week 9
Featured games: Texas A&M at LSU; BYU at Iowa State
There’s a few rivalry games featured in Week 9, though not ones that draw top billing — at least in the modern game. Michigan travels to Michigan State, riding a three-game winning streak against the Spartans. Kentucky, which hosts Tennessee, has lost six of its last seven against the Vols. Neither of those games will do much to sway the national landscape.
Week 11
Featured games: LSU at Alabama; Iowa State at TCU
LSU-Alabama is almost always a thrill-a-minute experience, even if the Crimson Tide have won comfortably in each of the past two years. That’s about the only game in Week 11 that casual viewers need to clear their schedule for. Other matchups like Florida State vs. Clemson have lost their luster, given that the Seminoles are coming off a disastrous 2024 campaign.
Week 13
Featured games: Tennessee at Florida; USC at Oregon
College football’s rivalry weekend is one of the most exciting weeks in sports. The week beforehand? Not so much. Plenty of power football programs tend to schedule a “cupcake” opponent — one that it should beat with ease — in this spot after a long and arduous regular season. There’s a couple intriguing conference clashes, including a Big Ten (still feels weird to say) tilt between USC and Oregon, but Week 13 should be largely skippable.
Tier 4: For The Sickos
Week 0
Featured game: Iowa State at Kansas State (Aug. 23; Dublin, Ireland)
Week 0 is a college football institution. It’s the first taste of the sport that we all love after months of absolutely nothing. It’s the oasis in the desert. It’s perfect for the real sicko fans. Farmageddon in Ireland just feels right. Iowa State and Kansas State are also both legitimate Big 12 contenders this year, so this season opener means a lot. Otherwise, though, Week 0 doesn’t have any games that will draw significant non-regional or non-sicko interest.
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