Here is a list of all the best games 2025 offers that you can think about for the next eight long, football-less months.

1. Texas Longhorns at Ohio State Buckeyes (August 30)

The Arch Manning era begins against the last team his predecessor lost to. It’s perfect conditions for one of college football’s most anticipated debuts - in a hostile environment against the potential reigning national champion. His performance will either be a coronation or the first raised eyebrow and twinge of panic that maybe Longhorn fans should’ve appreciated the quarterback who led them to back-to-back College Football Playoff semifinals instead of banking on a college kid to live up to the last name of his Hall of Fame uncles.

2. Texas Longhorns vs Texas A&M Aggies (November 29)

College football fans couldn’t have asked for better stakes in the first iteration of Texas and Texas A&M’s rivalry renewal, a trip to the SEC Championship on the line. So, how could the 2025 version live up to the 2024 debut? By being a little better of a game. Aside from Texas A&M’s failed 4th-and-goal (which it only got because of a blocked punt), Texas’s defense eliminated nearly all drama from a 17-7 win. The Aggies hope that transfer wide receivers Micah Hudson and Kevin Concepcion, combined with a healthy Rueben Owens and Le’Veon Moss at running back, give quarterback Marcel Reed enough weapons to test the Texas defense.

3. SMU Mustangs at Clemson Tigers (TBD)

SMU and Clemson played one of the top games in 2024, with a Clemson walk-off field goal sealing an ACC Championship win made all-too-nerve-wracking after SMU stormed back down 17 points in the fourth quarter. Dabo Swinney’s little ol’ Clemson figures to be ACC favorites in 2025 after hiring Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen and retaining quarterback Cade Klubnik (36 touchdowns, 6 interceptions) and his top three pass catchers. But, judging from recent history, it’s a fool’s errand to bet against the Mustangs. SMU looks to prove that its ACC Championship Game run (after being picked 7th in the preseason media poll) wasn’t a flash in the pan.

4. Texas Longhorns at Georgia Bulldogs (November 15)

Texas has the best odds to win the 2026 CFP, but the team with the second-best odds, Georgia, also beat the Longhorns twice in 2025. Steve Sarkisian is one of the nation’s best offensive play callers. A loss would drop him to 0–3 against fellow peers from the Nick Saban coaching tree with a similar acumen on the defensive side - Kirby Smart and defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann. Remember that this game should have massive SEC Championship implications as the third-to-last game of the regular season.

5. Texas A&M Aggies at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (September 13)

Whether it wins or loses on Monday, Marcus Freeman has reclaimed Notre Dame’s status as a perennial championship contender. The 2025 Fighting Irish, especially early on in the season while breaking in a new quarterback, figure to be a run-heavy team with star backs Jeremiyah Love (1,122 yards, 7.1 yards per attempt, 17 TD) and Denison alum JaDarian Price. That’s the formula Notre Dame used to beat Texas A&M in Mike Elko’s debut in 2024. Can a revamped Aggies’ defensive line and returning linebackers Taurean York and Scooby Williams stifle them this time?

6. TCU Horned Frogs vs SMU Mustangs (September 20)

The 2025 iteration of the Iron Skillet will determine which program has bragging rights for however long the indefinite pause of the rivalry lasts. The Skillet was sizzling last season in SMU’s 66-42 win, with TCU head coach Sonny Dykes’s ejection and subsequent storm-off into the tunnel, and no doubt tensions will be high for the final game. TCU, who initiated the rivalry’s end, risks falling to 0–2 against the Mustangs to close out the series, giving the SMU side even more ammunition in the DFW turf war after a CFP berth.

7. Texas A&M Aggies at LSU Tigers (October 25)

This game doesn’t scream anticipation in January, fresh off Texas A&M closing Mike Elko’s inaugural season on a 1–4 skid and LSU losing three straight in the back half of the year. But come late October, this matchup has College GameDay potential. Brian Kelly faces the most crucial year of his LSU tenure. He left Notre Dame for Baton Rouge to ‘be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship.’ The Fighting Irish play for one Monday night. Meanwhile, Kelly risks becoming the first LSU coach since Gerry DiNardo, whose tenure ended in 1999, to not win a national title by the conclusion of his fourth season. The Texas A&M game is, by all intents and purposes, a must-win for him.

8. SMU vs Baylor (September 6)

In a college football world where so many regional rivalries are taken away, it’s a nice win whenever a Southwest Conference series is renewed (even if for only two years). This matchup will kick off a season both fan bases are optimistic about after SMU’s CFP run and Baylor’s six-game win streak to close the regular season.

An alternate name for this game could be the Khenon Hall Bowl because of all the recruiting implications a win could have for either side. Hall, Baylor’s running backs coach, was instrumental in improving Baylor’s recruiting class from 13th to third-ranked in the Big 12 after he helped recruit many of the contributors to SMU’s historic 2024 season from 2022-23.

9. Texas Tech at Arizona State (TBD)

Arizona State’s CFP berth combined with Texas Tech’s prolific Transfer Portal run makes this a matchup between Big 12 Conference favorites. While the game date hasn’t been announced, it will either be an early-season barometer for the Red Raiders’ national relevance or a pivotal game in the conference race. While Arizona State does lose running back Cam Skattebo, it does retain promising quarterback Sam Leavitt and his top wide receiver, Jordyn Tyson (1,101 yards, 10 TD). The defense is loaded with returning production, namely First Team All-Big 12 safety Xavion Alford and second team defensive lineman C.J. Fite.

10. UTSA vs Texas State (September 6)

I’m having some trust issues putting this game on the list after their most highly anticipated Group of Five game of the year was over by halftime in a 49-10 Texas State rout. But I’m willing to get hurt again by banking on a closer game in Jeff Traylor and GJ Kinne’s grudge match. It’s not that Traylor and Kinne, the former Gilmer high school head coach and his quarterback, hold grudges against each other, but they’re tied at 1–1 in this series and are both extreme competitors.