Football is the ultimate team game, but individual battles still occur in every game, on every play. Here’s a look at some of the most anticipated head-to-head matchups between players entering the 2025 college football season.
Week 1
Florida State WR Duce Robinson vs. Alabama CB Domani Jackson
Let’s hop in the time machine and head back to the year 2023. On the campus of Southern California, a five-star cornerback named Domani Jackson enters his second year, and a five-star freshman wide receiver named Duce Robinson has just arrived on campus. It’s safe to assume these two had some great 1-on-1 battles in practice.
Let’s go back to the present. Robinson is now at Florida State. Jackson is now at Alabama. Such is the era we live in with the transfer portal.
The two former Trojans are now set to match up in Week 1 of the 2025 season when the Seminoles face the Crimson Tide. It’ll be like 2023 all over again.
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Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith vs. Texas CB Malik Muhammad
Jeremiah Smith is the best player in the country entering the year. Against Texas in the CFP semifinals last year, Smith had just one catch for three yards — a season-low.
Texas did have an elite secondary across the board last year. Cornerback Jahdae Barron won the Jim Thorpe Award and was a first-round NFL pick. Safety Andrew Mukuba was a second-round pick. Then you had safety Michael Taffe and cornerback Malik Muhammad to round out the group. Both earned preseason All-SEC honors this year. That’s an elite, experienced group.
Barron and Mukuba are gone in 2025, though Taffe and Muhammad are back. In 2024’s matchup, Texas’s elite secondary had the experience to disguise coverages pre-snap and bracket receivers post-snap. Will the Longhorns be able to do that against one of the nation’s best in Week 1?
Possibly. But cornerback Malik Muhammad might also be tasked with shutting down Jeremiah Smith himself, as the Longhorn enters a bigger role this fall.
This matchup will be a chess match that is made for a football fanatic.
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Miami (FL) DE Rueben Bain Jr. vs. Notre Dame LT Anthonie Knapp
Rueben Bain Jr. is one of the top edge prospects in the 2026 NFL draft. He’ll face one of the top sophomore offensive tackles in college football in Week 1 when he faces Anthonie Knapp.
Knapp started as a true freshman last season for Notre Dame, earning Freshman All-American honors before suffering a season-ending injury in the playoffs. Now healthy, he’ll man the blindside for a new starting quarterback in South Bend. Knapp will have an even bigger role to start the year after his fellow offensive lineman Charles Jagusah suffered an injury in a UTV accident during the offseason.
That means if Knapp gets matched up against Bain, he could be on an island as the rest of the offensive line deals with the other Hurricanes in the front seven.
Bain vs. Knapp will be a matchup to watch.
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Week 2
Oklahoma’s RB Jaydn Ott vs. Michigan LB Jaishawn Barham/Ernest Hausmann
Oklahoma revamped its offensive backfield entering 2025. Running back Jadyn Ott comes in from Cal with plenty of hype. In his second game of the season, Ott will face an always-tough Michigan front-seven, led by linebackers Jaishawn Barham and Ernest Hausmann. The two are Michigan’s top-two returning tacklers from last year and will be tasked with stopping the game-breaking Sooner running back.
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Iowa State NT Domonique Orange vs. Iowa C Logan Jones
The battle for the The Cy–Hawk Trophy is always one to watch, but a particular matchup in the trenches catches my eye this year. Preseason All-Big 12 nose tackle Domonique Orange will line up over top of Preseason All-Big Ten center Logan Jones for the majority of the snaps.
Any time you get a matchup of all-conference-level players, it’s exciting. The Orange-Jones matchup will be even more exciting given the rivalry at stake.
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Week 3
Texas A&M WR Kevin Concepcion vs. Notre Dame CB Leonard Moore
Texas A&M picked up a big-time transfer portal addition in wide receiver Kevin Concepcion from NC State. Concepcion had a down year in 2024, but in 2023, he set NC State freshman records for receptions and receiving yards. Concepcion’s first big test with the Aggies will come on the road against a player coming off a fantastic freshman season of his own — cornerback Leonard Moore.
Moore was the FWAA Freshman Defensive Player of the Year last season and enters the year as a unanimous preseason First Team All-American.
As Concepcion tries to return to form at his new home, Moore is trying to build off of an impressive start to his college career. Who will win this matchup?
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Week 5
Georgia TE Oscar Delp vs. Alabama S Keon Sabb
Oscar Delp is arguably the best tight end in college football. Keon Sabb is one of the top safeties in college football, with the versatility to play in the box or in coverage. Sabb could end up matched up with Delp in this Week 5 game, and the winner of the head-to-head battle could decide who wins the game between Georgia and Alabama. It could even hold weight in November when it’s time to decide the SEC championship standings.
Cincinnati NT Dontay Corleone vs. Kansas C Bryce Foster
A Preseason All-Big 12 matchup in the trenches comes in Week 5. When Dontay Corleone faces Bryce Foster, it’ll be a matchup of two of the best not just in the conference, but at their position in college football.
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Week 8
Alabama WR Ryan Williams vs. Tennessee CB Jermod McCoy
The best wide receiver in the SEC entering 2025 is Ryan Williams. The best cornerback in the SEC is Jermod McCoy.
We last saw McCoy in the College Football Playoff, unable to stop freshman Jeremiah Smith and the Ohio State offense. Williams was in the same class as Smith last year.
In fact, Williams caught eight passes for 73 yards and a touchdown in a loss against Tennessee in 2024. Williams’ touchdown wasn’t on McCoy, but I’m sure McCoy has this matchup circled on his calendar, wanting to shut down one of the best wide receivers in the country.
Week 9
Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor vs. South Carolina DE Dylan Stewart
Week 9 brings a battle of potential top-five NFL draft picks. Kadyn Proctor is one of the top offensive line prospects in the 2026 NFL draft. Dylan Stewart is one of the top edge prospects in the 2027 NFL draft.
The game tape from this matchup will be talked about for months on end.
Week 12
Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love vs. Pittsburgh LB Kyle Louis
Is Week 12’s matchup between Notre Dame and Pitt going to feature a head-to-head battle between the best running back and stand-up linebacker in the country? It very well could.
Jeremiyah Love was electric last year as he led Notre Dame to the CFP title game. Kyle Louis had 100 tackles, seven sacks and four interceptions as he did it all for the Pitt defense last fall, when the Panthers had the 19th-best run defense, allowing the seventh-fewest yards per carry in the country.
Something has got to give when Love and Louis face off.
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Week 13
Arizona State WR Jordyn Tyson vs. Colorado CB DJ McKinney
The best Big 12 wide receiver has to wait until Week 13 to face one of the best Big 12 cornerbacks. Based on what we know in the preseason, Jordyn Tyson won’t face a cornerback on DJ McKinney’s level until Week 13.
This matchup will be a great litmus test of whether Tyson is elite against elite competition in the 2025 season and if Coach Prime (Deion Sanders) has another NFL draft pick at the cornerback position in McKinney.
