Every offseason, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg creates a future power rankings for college football that attempts to forecast the health of programs around the country for the next few years.
He’s changed the formula up a bit this year in the college football future power rankings through 2026 that were released last week, thanks to the changing landscape of the sport that is ever-increasingly impacted by the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness, among other factors.
In previous years, Rittenberg had based these future rankings on a three-year window — now he’s changed that to looking ahead at the next two seasons
Instead of breaking them out into a look at the quarterback position, as well as individual offensive and defensive rankings, as he’s done in the past in addition to team rankings, this year Rittenberg has released the team rankings only for the Power Four conferences and Notre Dame.
“The reason: The spring portal changes things, and QB rooms or individual units can look moderately or significantly different by late May or early June,” Rittenberg explained. “For example, think about where Tennessee would have been on the quarterback list in February and how the outlook is now.”
There are six criteria Rittenberg is basing these rankings on. They include returning quarterback, likelihood of a multiyear QB on roster, offensive line/defensive line outlook, roster management, star power and coaching staff
What do these latest rankings project for BYU, Utah and the rest of the Big 12?
And how does that compare to other power conferences, particularly the ACC, seen as its chief rival below the game’s two dominant leagues, the SEC and the Big Ten?
Where Big 12 football teams land in ESPN’s 2025 future power rankings
66. West Virginia
65. UCF
64. Arizona
62. Oklahoma State
61. Houston
57. Cincinnati
50. Kansas
38. TCU
35. Colorado
32. Baylor
30. Utah
29. Texas Tech
25. BYU
21. Kansas State
19. Iowa State
12. Arizona State
