College Football 25 team rankings: Georgia, Ohio State ahead of Alabama, Michigan in EA Sports' video game
College Football 25 team rankings: Georgia, Ohio State ahead of Alabama, Michigan in EA Sports' video game
EA Sports is gearing up to release its first NCAA football video game in over a decade. It is starting to build hype for "College Football 25" by unveiling details about the game, and Friday marked an important point in the pre-release cycle.
We now know which teams will be the highest-rated in the popular franchise reboot.
There are plenty of powerhouse programs in college football, but only one of them could take the title as the best in EA Sports' College Football 25.
Here's a look at the game's 25 best-rated programs a couple of months ahead of its release.
BENDER: Preseason top 25 rankings, bowl projections, All-Americans and more
College Football 25 team rankings
EA chose Georgia as its top overall team for College Football 25. It's hard to argue against that choice too much, as Kirby Smart has turned the Bulldogs into a perennial contender. It won back-to-back national championships in 2022 and 2023 before narrowly missing out on the College Football Playoff following an SEC Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Speaking of the Crimson Tide, they check in at No. 4 overall and are rated 92 overall compared to Georgia's 95. Alabama has long been one of the NCAA's top teams, but Nick Saban's retirement marks a big-time change at the program. That's part of what allowed two Big Ten teams — No. 2 Ohio State (94 overall) and No. 3 Oregon (93 overall) — to jump ahead of Kalen DeBoer's Crimson Tide.
Clemson (No. 6, 90 overall) is the lone ACC program to crack the top 10, while FBS Independent Notre Dame checks in at seventh, also sporting a mark of 90.
For those wondering, reigning national champion Michigan does not crack the top 10. They check in at 11th overall with a mark of 88, as the game-makers penalize the squad for losing coach Jim Harbaugh, quarterback J.J. McCarthy and a plethora of defensive talent to the NFL.
MORE CFB 25 RANKINGS: Toughest places to play in EA Sports' College Football 25
Below is a full look at the initial top 25 team rankings for EA Sports' College Football 25.
| Rank | Team | Rating |
| 1 | Georgia | 95 |
| 2 | Ohio State | 94 |
| 3 | Oregon | 93 |
| 4 | Alabama | 92 |
| 5 | Texas | 92 |
| 6 | Clemson | 90 |
| 7 | Notre Dame | 90 |
| 8 | LSU | 90 |
| 9 | Penn State | 88 |
| 10 | Utah | 88 |
| 11 | Michigan | 88 |
| 12 | Florida State | 88 |
| 13 | Miami (FL) | 88 |
| 14 | Texas A&M | 88 |
| 15 | Ole Miss | 88 |
| 16 | Colorado | 87 |
| 17 | Oklahoma | 87 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | 87 |
| 19 | USC | 87 |
| 20 | Virginia Tech | 87 |
| 21 | NC State | 87 |
| 22 | Kansas | 87 |
| 23 | Arizona | 87 |
| 24 | Oklahoma State | 87 |
| 25 | Iowa | 87 |
Much like the actual AP Top-25 polls, team rankings in video games tend to be volatile early in the season before settling as more data is collected.
As such, it will be interesting to see just how much these rankings change throughout the 2024 college football season.