When I look out my window,
Many teams to see.
And when I look out my window,
So many teams champs could be.
That it’s strange, so strange…
Must be The Season of The Which (1966 – Donovan – kind of)
Those who had Miami, somnolent since 2001, versus Indiana, somnolent since 1887, playing for a championship on Monday night, please come forward and claim your prize.
“OK, Stewart Mandel, put the trophies back on the shelf.”
How could this many experts have been so wrong about the teams that would still be standing at the end of this season, The Season of The Which?
Let’s review the 2025 Preseason AP Poll –
1. Texas/ 2. Penn State/ 3. Ohio State/ 4. Clemson/ 5.Georgia – 10. Miami/ 20. Indiana
Why I, along with some, but a decided minority of college football fans, had issues at least in part with this ranking. Even our own Mr. FishDuck paused from his fun at Pinco casino online to grouse with me about the accuracy of the “pundits.”
Is Arch Manning the most over-hyped CFB player in history (Photo Courtesy of Texas Football)
TEXAS – Without coming to fruition, The Second Coming has been predicted many, many times. Archie, with starts and wins over two G5 teams and Mississippi State, was going to be the second coming of Vince Young, right?
Look at the gene pool! Me and 23 guarantee that Archie can’t fail!
Hmmmmm. And, the Texas head coach’s biggest accomplishment in his coaching career was a Big 12 title when Oklahoma was the one team he had to beat.
PENN STATE – The Nittany Lions have the same formula as Michigan in 2023 and Ohio State in 2024.
Many returning starters are back. The roster has been improved by terrific wide receivers coming in from the transfer portal. The Two Os, Ohio State and Oregon, are the only teams on the schedule to worry about, and the Ducks will be flying into a White Out. We have a 1st round draft pick at QB, and we poached DC Jim Knowles from the Buckeyes. Look Out!
Ummmmm, you also had Little Game James returning at the Head Coach position.
Justin Sayin was under a ton of pressure. {Photo Courtesy of Univ. of Miami Athletics)
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY – Not a bad No. 3, even with a new starter at QB, a starter who happened to pay a December visit to NYC. He had some pretty good guys to throw the ball to.
Ohio State went 12-0 and was ranked the No. 1 team in the USA. But, Ohio State had a roster advantage over every team it defeated in the regular season, including Penn State. But, before playing Indiana, the Buckeyes were not tested late in the 4th quarter in any conference game.
The opening game against Texas was dicey, but Ohio State was in control most of the game. When Ohio State played a team with the 72nd-rated roster in college football, Indiana, folks expected the Buckeyes to win and perhaps win easily. But Indiana was also undefeated with three tough road wins at Iowa, Oregon, and Penn State. Indiana came in as the more tested contestant, and is a team that does not make mistakes.
The Buckeyes’ field goal kicker choked, and TOSU then lost back-to-back games in which it was favored.
The Cotton Bowl loss to Miami came against a team with a deep roster, a team playing bully ball, with a defense that flustered redshirt freshman QB Julian Sayin, the same way he was flustered by the Hoosiers D. But with the team losing in the playoff quarter-finals, No. 3 was not a terrible prediction.
Alabama vs. Georgia games are always epic .(Photo Courtesy of Crimson Tide Photos, UA Athletics)
CLEMSON – I didn’t get this from the start, as this team lost four games in 2024-25. The returning QB, who was supposed to be All That, put up his best stats in 2024 against overwhelmed ACC opponents and a Texas team that got a big lead in the first round of the playoff, and then coasted, and gave Clemson a chance to make the game look closer than it was.
Clemson’s defense returns certain 1st round draft picks on every level, watch out! By definition, these returning guys were on the same team that lost four games, no?
GEORGIA – Not a bad prediction. The Dawgs overcame being down and close to being out in several games against SEC opponents, and lost at home to Alabama. QB Gunner Stockton was a gutsy leader who was not afraid to take body shots and came through late in the 4th quarter.
The Dawgs decisively won the SEC champ game rematch against Alabama, but squandered a halftime lead to an Ole Miss team with Houdini playing QB, and inspired by a dip-shxx coach leaving them behind so he could win a Natty.
So, in the top five, it’s hard to fault Ohio State at No. 3 and Georgia at No. 5. But Texas defeated a coachless Michigan team in its bowl game, and Penn State’s defeat of Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl speaks for itself.
In this 2025 Season of The Which, which team will win it all?
Carson Beck came through for the Hurricanes. (Photo Courtesy of Univ. of Miami Athletics)
Preseason No. 10 Miami with a new starting QB who got a fresh start, along with 4-Million Most Large, or a Heisman Trophy winner and first-year starter at No. 20 Indiana, returning home and trying to win it all against a team that didn’t offer him a chance to walk-on, coached by a homeboy who played high school football with the Heisman winner’s Dad?
Who knew? If you want to watch the game in person, (and don’t work for Dr. Pepper or another corporate PO buddy) a ticket will cost you close to three times more than last season’s champ game between Ohio State and Notre Dame, and millions more folks will be watching this game than watched last season’s battle between two of college football’s Bluest Bloods.
This Season of The Which baffled the experts in the preseason, but it certainly did not disappoint.
GO HOOSIERS!
Jon Joseph
Aiken, South Carolina
Top Photo by Steven Chan
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Jon Joseph grew up in Boston, Massachusetts but has been blessed to have lived long enough in the west to have exorcised all east coast bias. He played football in college and has passionately followed the game for seven decades. A retired corporate attorney Jon has lectured across the country and published numerous articles on banking and gaming law. Now a resident of Aiken South Carolina, Jon follows college football across the nation with a focus on the Conference of Champions and the Ducks.