The College Football Playoff selection committee announced it will place more emphasis on strength of schedule this year when determining the 12-team field.

Though the 2025 college football season is just a few days away, hope still springs eternal among most fanbases. That veneer of offseason optimism has yet to wear off. All of the positive training camp reports and preseason rankings have bolstered that positive outlook.

From Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith to Texas’s Colin Simmons, here are our first- and second-team selections who should have major impacts in 2025.

Five of the six national champions from the 2018-23 seasons went undefeated, marking an era filled with dominant teams. Last year’s debut of the 12-team College Football Playoff featured a two-loss Ohio State team as national champion, which could signal that being a dominant champion is now more difficult.

Alabama failed to meet expectations the last two seasons, but it should look different with Kalen DeBoer's year of experience.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/ucf as Scott Frost Sounds Off On Expanded College Football Playoff Discussions. It's a different College Football world from the one UCF coach Scott Frost left in 2022, even more so since he left UCF after the 2017 season.