Much has changed over the first seven weeks of the 2025 college football season. Just one team ranked top-five in the AP Top 25 preseason poll is still top-five midway through the year, and multiple preseason favorites for the College Football Playoff have seen their chances of making the tournament deteriorate.
While there have been a number of pleasant surprises so far this season—such as Georgia Tech's undefeated start or the continued success of Indiana—multiple teams have also fallen greatly short of expectations.
As preparation for Week 8 begins, here's a look at the five biggest disappointments from the first half of the 2025 season.
Penn State
Ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll and expected to compete for the national championship, the Nittany Lions have come undone midway through the 2025 season.
A heart-wrenching loss to Oregon in double overtime surprisingly became the start of a three-game losing streak for Penn State, who lost to UCLA and Northwestern in subsequent weeks. Not only were the Nittany Lions unable to win the big game, but they disappointingly fell to a previously winless Bruins team and then Northwestern.
Penn State has dropped to 3-3 on the season, and is 0-3 in Big Ten play. They fired head coach James Franklin on Sunday, and with quarterback Drew Allar out for the remainder of the season, things look grim in the (not so) Happy Valley.
Texas
Like Penn State, the Texas Longhorns fell out of the AP Top-25 rankings last week after losing to an unranked Florida Gators squad. Texas was ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll and a championship contender, but got a reality check after early losses to Florida and Ohio State.
Unlike Penn State, the Longhorns rebounded with a win over ranked Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry on Saturday as John Mateer struggled in his return from injury. The victory propelled them back to No. 21 on the AP Top 25 poll, but they still are very short of the dominance they were expected to play with before the season.
Among the reasons Texas hasn't performed as anticipated so far is quarterback Arch Manning, who has yet to reach the high expectations placed on him before the season. Manning earned his first win over a top-10 opponent with a nice performance against Oklahoma, but has yet to take over college football as some believed he would entering the year.
Manning and the Longhorns will look to continue getting back on track as they take on Kentucky next week.
Clemson
Another preseason top-five team, another early disappointment.
The Clemson Tigers were ranked No. 4 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll, but sit at just 3-3 and 2-2 in ACC play. Fresh off an appearance in the College Football Playoff and winning the ACC, the Tigers have proven unable to reach that level this season after losses to LSU, Georgia Tech and Syracuse early in the year, marking their worst start since 2004.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik, who looked like a top prospect heading into the year, was also inconsistent early in the season, throwing six touchdowns to four interceptions over the first four games.
Clemson has rebounded with two straight wins, although they came against struggling UNC and Boston College teams. The Tigers appear unlikely to return to the CFP this year or win the ACC, but will look to continue their momentum over the second half of the season.
Kansas State
While the Kansas State Wildcats weren't ranked top-five like the three teams listed above, they did start out the season at No. 17. The Wildcats began the year with a loss to Iowa State in the Farmageddon bowl, and lost three of their first four games. Kansas State is just 3-4, with their losses coming at the hands of Iowa State, Army, Arizona and Baylor. They have been come up short in one-possession games, where they are 1-4, only beating North Dakota this season in a 38-35 victory in those close matchups.
In particular, the Wildcats' run defense has disappointed this season. They gave up over 200 yards on the ground in three straight games against Army, Arizona and UCF, but have rebounded by limiting their last two opponents to under 100 rushing yards. They had perhaps their best win by defeating TCU 41-28, and holding them to 72 rushing yards.
UNC
Realistically, expectations weren't overly high for the Tar Heels entering their first season under Bill Belichick. After all, it often takes time to build a program. However, North Carolina has been nothing short of a disaster in their first year under the former Patriots head coach, going 1-5 and scoring more than 14 points just once through six games.
Belichick's pedigree as a coach was supposed to make up for any roster deficinies. Instead UNC is getting blown out on a near weekly basis as the program is shrouded with chatter about Belichick's 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson and reports of players and their parents growing frustrated with several staff members.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as 5 Most Disappointing Teams Midway Through the 2025 College Football Season.
