Week 1 of the 2025 college football season features a loaded slate, including LSU at Clemson, Notre Dame at Miami and Alabama at Florida State, among others. LSU-Clemson could be a top-five matchup, as could the biggest headliner: Manning and Texas visiting Ohio State in a matchup of the 2024 national champion and our early 2025 favorite.

From the high-powered, national champion Buckeyes to the individual breakout stars, here are the best players from the first-ever 12-team playoff field.

In or out? A verdict on which of the College Football Playoff qualifiers will be back in the bracket next season.

At long last, it felt like the College Football Playoff achieved its goal of turning the title game into a Final Four-like event. Then we found out it drew the third-lowest television audience for a title game since the CFP began in 2014.