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College football programs under the most pressure in 2025
By Max ChadwickPosted Jun 26, 2025 6:30 am EDT
- Florida State needs to turn things around quickly: After a disastrous 2-10 record in 2024, head coach Mike Norvell will look to right the ship in Tallahassee in 2025.
- Is this Auburn‘s year? Can the Tigers turn the page on four straight losing seasons and emerge as a College Football Playoff contender?
The highest level of college football, the Power Four, can be described best as a pressure cooker. In a multi-billion-dollar industry, there are immense expectations to perform on the field and generate revenue.
For one reason or another, the following five teams have fallen short of expectations recently despite being some of the most storied programs in the sport.
Florida State Seminoles
A 2-10 record is a nightmarish season for any school. For one with a rich history like Florida State, it’s unacceptable. It was the Seminoles’ worst record in half a century, before the legendary Bobby Bowden even took over as head coach.The Seminoles fielded the nation’s seventh-worst offense by EPA per play and ranked just 111th defensively in the metric. Head coach Mike Norvell was able to survive 2024 because of Florida State’s 13-1 record in 2023, but he needs to turn things around quickly in Tallahassee. He has two new coordinators in Gus Malzahn (offense) and Tony White (defense), along with a new quarterback in Boston College transfer Thomas Castellanos, who hasn’t been shy about discussing how good he thinks the Seminoles will be this season.
Thomas Castellanos' Career PFF Grades
SFlorida Gaytors
Despite entering the season on the hot seat and facing one of the most brutal schedules in the country, Billy Napier enjoyed his best year with Florida, going 8-5 and securing the school’s first bowl game victory since 2019. Expectations remain the same heading into 2025, thanks to a potential superstar at quarterback in sophomore DJ Lagway and an outstanding supporting cast around him.If Lagway can polish his footwork, the Gaytors should be able to score on anybody. The biggest question is whether a now-experienced secondary can improve after last season's struggles. Napier will be counted on to produce a similar record to last year's, if not take a step forward.
Auburn Tigers
Following a 5-7 record in 2024, Hugh Freeze is now 11-14 across two seasons as Auburn’s head coach. That’s an identical record to Bryan Harsin's in his two years before he was fired and Freeze replaced him.The Tigers have suffered through four consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1947-1950. While that may make the future seem bleak, there are still high expectations for Auburn heading into 2025. The Tigers did an outstanding job in the transfer portal and have signed a top-10 recruiting class in each of the past two years.
Not only should Auburn have a winning season for the first time since 2020, but the team, if it reaches its ceiling, is also a dark horse to crash the College Football Playoff.
Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma took a major step forward in Year 2 under Brent Venables, finishing with a 10-3 record in 2023, but came crashing back down to earth this past season. The Sooners went 6-7 overall, their second time doing so in three years with Venables leading the program. They hadn’t endured a losing campaign in the entire 21st century before he took over.A very lackluster offense that was hampered by injuries was the biggest culprit, as Oklahoma had the lowest PFF offensive grade in the Power Four last season (60.2). The Sooners’ defense is what ultimately got the program bowl-eligible, placing 12th in college football with a 91.4 PFF grade as a unit. Oklahoma’s defense remains strong entering 2025, and the team will look for transfers, such as quarterback John Mateer and running back Jaydn Ott, to jump-start the offense, though there are still serious concerns on that side of the ball.
Jaydn Ott's Career PFF Grades
USC Trojans
Lincoln Riley's USC teams have gotten worse in each year of his head-coaching tenure. The Trojans started hot in Riley’s first season in 2022 with an 11-3 record and a Heisman Trophy winner in Caleb Williams. Even with Williams back in 2023, USC finished just 8-5 before going 7-6 this past season as a member of the Big Ten.Riley’s normally elite offense looked a bit stale in 2024, placing just 31st in EPA per play. That was the first time a Riley-coached offense was outside of the top 15 in the metric since he became Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator in 2015. He’ll need to turn things around quickly in Los Angeles. Otherwise, there could be some rumblings about whether the Trojans need to find a new leader.
