2025 College Football Rankings: RJ Young Responds to Ultimate 136 Replies

Just last week, I ranked all 136 FBS college football teams and invited anyone with an issue to come at me however they saw fit — from social media showdowns to shouting matches with unsuspecting bartenders. 

Now, after weathering a storm of passionate reactions, it’s my chance to respond and tell you, the reader, why I’m right and you’re wrong.

Look, as I said when I wrote this piece, these rankings are fluid. This was an exhaustive exercise that required plenty of excessive reading and studying of rosters, but in the end, it all came down to this: I wrote about who I think is good and why I think they’re good. Not everyone was going to agree with my rankings and my explanation, but that’s what makes a piece like this so enjoyable to write. 

That said, here are my responses to some of your replies surrounding my “Ultimate 136” rankings:

BYU at 60?

I ranked BYU at 60 for one major reason: Jake Retzlaff isn’t there anymore, and I wrote as much in my 136. This season was supposed to be “The Jake Retzlaff Show” in Provo, Utah. Last season, Retzlaff led the Cougars to their first 11-win season since 2009 and the program peaked at No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings with wins against SMU and Colorado. What’s more, he threw for 2,947 yards with 26 total touchdowns with 12 interceptions. 

However, Retzlaff withdrew from BYU in the wake of the school’s planned seven-game suspension of him for violating the school’s honor code. The suspension arose after Retzlaff was accused in a lawsuit in May of raping a woman in 2023. The lawsuit was later dismissed and Retzlaff chose to commit to Tulane. Now, head coach Kalani Sitake has to remind his team — and the country — that the loss of their star player doesn’t mean the team will suffer. Like you, I’ll believe it when I see it, but I’m open to the possibility of this team proving that it’s better than its preseason ranking.

The defense finished first in the Big 12 in scoring (19.6 points per game), forced turnovers (29) and yards allowed per game (308) last year. That’s the strength of this team in 2025, too, but no BYU quarterback has thrown for more than 1,400 career yards. That means running back LJ Martin is going to get a lot of touches early, with a chance to become a 1,000-yard rusher. With Bear Bachmeier, the most talented and youngest player in that room, earning the starting QB job, there’s hope that the Cougars might have fallen into a good spot. 

Bachmeier became available in the transfer portal after Stanford fired coach Troy Taylor, and there was no reason to believe he would’ve been the starter when he elected to transfer to Provo because Retzlaff was a dark-horse Heisman Trophy candidate. 

Now that No. 47 is behind center — yes, that’s the number Bachmeier will wear as the starting QB — I still want to see his potential become production before I’m comfortable moving BYU up in the rankings.

Utah finds its way into the top 5 this year

Pushing toward the top five is asking a lot of a program that lost seven consecutive Big 12 games in 2024. It’s also asking a lot of a program that hasn’t finished ranked in the top five since 2008, when it ran the table and beat Nick Saban’s Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Even then, though, the Utes made it into the AP Top 25 by Week 2 with a win against Michigan. If Utah is to make a push into the top five in 2025, it will have to be with an offensive playcaller and quarterback that represents a change in philosophy — from bruising and bullying opposing front sevens to one where the signal-caller is the team’s best playmaker and his offensive coordinator dials up plays designed to be explosive more often than not. 

The offensive line will be good, and someone in that running back room will assume leadership early, and I wrote as much. Not a single one of the six scholarship running backs played a single snap last year for Utah, but coach Kyle Whittingham said he believes he has the best offensive line he has ever had at Big 12 media days, so one should balance the other.

Devon Dampier will give Utah the kind of athlete behind center they haven’t seen since Alex Smith. Dampier arrived with former New Mexico offensive coordinator Jason Beck after the Lobos averaged 484.3 yards and 33.5 points per game last year. Dampier threw for 2,768 yards and rushed for 1,166 yards with 27 total touchdowns and 12 interceptions. It’s certainly possible that Utah finishes in the top five, but I’m not willing to make that bet, and neither are most rational Utes fans.

The offensive line will be experienced, and Oklahoma has avoided the dreaded season-ending injury to its most important players so far in preseason camp. At quarterback and running back, the Sooners go from abjectly bad to potentially awesome with John Mateer and Jaydn Ott, respectively. 

Last season, Mateer threw for more than 3,100 yards at Washington State, while Ott rushed for more than 1,300 yards during his last healthy season at Cal. The last time Oklahoma had a 3,000-yard passer (Kyler Murray) and a 1,000-yard rusher at tailback (Kennedy Brooks) it finished 12-2, won a conference championship and played in the semifinals of the CFP.

If nothing else, the paltry 331 yards and 24 points scored per game — the fewest by any Oklahoma team since 1998 — is not likely to be repeated with a new offensive coordinator in Ben Arbuckle. 

The defense is likely to be stout, with one of the best defensive playcallers of the 21st century, Brent Venables, at the controls. Still, the Sooners have a schedule tougher than two-a-days in 100-degree heat, with games against No. 14 Michigan, No. 1 Texas, No. 13 South Carolina, No. 21 Ole Miss, No. 24 Tennessee, No. 8 Alabama and No. 9 LSU. 

If the Sooners do what I think they’re capable of this season, No. 10 is where they’ll start, but No. 1 could be where they finish.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him at @RJ_Young.

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