It's never too early to look ahead to next season's College Football Playoff despite the Ohio State Buckeyes capturing the National Championship just weeks ago. This week, ESPN revealed the early College Football Playoff projection with the LSU Tigers cracking the list.

Week 1 of the 2025 college football season features a loaded slate, including LSU at Clemson, Notre Dame at Miami and Alabama at Florida State, among others. LSU-Clemson could be a top-five matchup, as could the biggest headliner: Manning and Texas visiting Ohio State in a matchup of the 2024 national champion and our early 2025 favorite.

Ohio State and Texas headline the way-too-early College Football Playoff predictions for the 2025-26 season. With Ohio State projected as the No. 1 seed and Texas close behind at No. 2, these powerhouse programs are shaping up to be the teams to beat.

Let's take a look back at Sports Illustrated's best images and coverage from the Buckeyes' championship night.

"First, Ohio State (No. 1 on [Mark] Schlabach's list) is obviously in despite a challenging 2025 schedule (No. 2 Texas and No. 3 Penn State at home, No. 13 Illinois and No. 21 Michigan on the road) and the requisite loss to the Wolverines," Connelly noted. "The Buckeyes will go 2-1 against the other headliners and advance at 10-2."

For the second season in a row, a Big Ten team has ended the season on top of the college football world. Ohio State started the 12-team College Football Playoff era the way it did the four-team playoff era by winning the national championship on Monday night in Atlanta.

Jesse Temple: Ohio State has been a juggernaut during a three-game winning streak in the Playoff, embarrassing Tennessee and Oregon. Notre Dame has won 13 straight games and put together a fantastic season. But Ohio State’s balance and overall talent should emerge. … Ohio State 24, Notre Dame 14.

Ohio State’s run to its first national championship in a decade enabled the Buckeyes to dominate the Associated Press’ all-College Football Playoff team.