SEC Football Preview and Predictions for the 2025 Season
The baton for the top conference in the country has been passed begrudgingly to the Big Ten. Sorry, SEC, you can't boast two consecutive national champions without getting that honor, and that's what your northern rivals currently boast.
So, how does the big, bad SEC get back in the forefront of college football?
Well, winning is the only cure. A season ago, the Ohio State Buckeyes seized the title from the hands of hated rival Michigan with a title-game win over Notre Dame. While SEC teams Texas (semifinal), Georgia (quarterfinal) and Tennessee (field of 12) got close in 2024, none could win it.
This year, the SEC is expected to be a powerhouse again, but with a transfer of power at the quarterback position across the league, it remains to be seen if any team can be strong enough to beat the Buckeyes.
The usual suspects of Georgia and Texas should be firmly in the mix, while Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Oklahoma and others have hopes, too.
It's wide open this year, so let's take a look of what to watch for in the 2025 season.
Best Players
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While the list of quarterbacks is unproven, the position isn’t short on star power. LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier may be the best of the bunch down in Baton Rouge.
All national eyes are focused on Texas' Arch Manning, who is taking over with national title hopes. Florida's DJ Lagway, South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia and Ole Miss' Austin Simmons could do big things. Arkansas' Taylen Green is a sleeper for a big year.
Georgia's Gunner Stockton and Alabama's Ty Simpson take over proud programs but have little experience.
Perhaps the biggest transfer in the league this year is Oklahoma's John Mateer, who left Washington State for Norman this offseason and may be one of the most unheralded signal-callers in football. Watch out for former Sooner Jackson Arnold with all that new weaponry at Auburn, too.
Other top offensive playmakers like Alabama's Ryan Williams and Isaiah Horton, Auburn's Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton, Jr., Georgia transfer Zachariah Branch and running back Nate Frazier, LSU's Aaron Anderson, Vanderbilt's Eli Stowers, Mississippi State running back Fluff Bothwell and Ole Miss' De'Zhaun Stribling will keep that SEC star pipeline pumping.
Offensive linemen Florida's Jake Slaughter, Texas' Trevor Goosby, Texas A&M's Ar'maj Reed-Adams, Georgia's Monroe Freeling, Alabama's Parker Brailsford, Kadyn Proctor and Tennessee's Lance Heard could be road-pavers up front.
Texas' defense is loaded, led by a trio of potential All-Americans in Colin Simmons, Anthony Hill, Jr., and Michael Taafe. South Carolina edge Dylan Stewart, Florida's Caleb Banks, Georgia defensive tackle Christen Miller and safety KJ Bolden, Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy, LSU's Harold Perkins Jr. and Patrick Payton, Ole Miss linebacker Suntarine Perkins, and Auburn defensive lineman Keldric Faulk round out some of the defensive stars.
Top Storylines
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Can the SEC Get Back on Top?
Prior to the past two seasons, the SEC had won 13 of the past 17 national championships in an era dominated by Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide.
But it wasn't like they were the only stars of the show in a deep, talented league.
In a high-dollar era fueled by television revenue, NIL and the transfer portal, the Big Ten has caught up with Michigan and Ohio State winning the past two.
If anybody can unseat those guys this year, Texas look best suited to do so with plenty of star power from the nation's third-rated defense returning and a talented-but-young offense.
Georgia and Alabama are unproven at key positions (read: quarterback), but both have the talent to make the College Football Playoff.
South Carolina, Tennessee, Ole Miss, LSU and Oklahoma are other hopefuls, too, with Texas A&M and Florida holding outside shots. Can anybody crack the code?
Ceiling or Floor for DeBoer
Let's face it: If Alabama wasn't Alabama, there's no way the Crimson Tide should have been in the playoff conversation a season ago at 9-3. Then, after they didn't make it, Michigan handed coach Kalen DeBoer his fourth loss of the season in the bowl.
The second-year coach won't be around for long in Tuscaloosa piling up four-loss seasons.
Suddenly with Jalen Milroe gone, Alabama again is a national favorite to be back in the playoffs with pundits claiming Ty Simpson is better suited to run the offense.
Really? Maybe that's the case, but the Tide (and DeBoer) have a ton to prove.
The 50-year-old showed he is a terrific coach at Washington and Fresno State, and he's still bringing in top-tier talent in Tuscaloosa. But he has to win sooner rather than later, and this isn't a team without question marks.
Budding Stars Under Center
The superstars aren't guaranteed at the quarterback position in the SEC in 2025, other than maybe Nussmeier and Mateer. But there are plenty who could be elite.
Veterans like Taylen Green, Diego Pavia and Joey Aguilar have plenty of starts under their belts, but the younger guys in the league have the headlines.
LaNorris Sellers is a dual-threat budding playmaker who carried the Gamecocks at times last year, and they were on the cusp of the College Football Playoff. As a redshirt sophomore, he could be one of the sport's shining stars.
Second-year Florida phenom DJ Lagway has everybody's attention if he can stay healthy in a rugged schedule. Everybody knows Arch Manning's name at Texas, but it's hard to believe he's really unproven as a starter.
Austin Simmons, Gunner Stockton, Ty Simpson, Jackson Arnold and Marcel Reed have plenty of potential, too.
It’s going to be a fun year to see which signal-caller takes the next step.
Tennessee Turns the Page
One of the biggest stories of the offseason was the Nico Iamaleava saga in Knoxville, with the former heralded prospect and the Vols parting ways the day before the spring game.
Suddenly, one of the most well-known (and well-paid) college football players was homeless and wound up at a much worse roster situation at UCLA. The Vols scrambled to find a plug-and-play quarterback and landed on Bruins transfer Joey Aguilar.
It was a truly bizarre situation, and nobody knows how it's going to turn out.
Iamaleava wasn't great for coach Josh Heupel a season ago, and Tennessee still made the playoffs. There are a lot of quality pieces left on Rocky Top, but UT must replace its quarterback and SEC offensive player of the year Dylan Sampson.
How's it going to go?
Top Challengers
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Tier 1: Texas, Georgia, Alabama, LSU, South Carolina
Shane Beamer's Gamecocks join the usual-suspect Longhorns, Bulldogs and Crimson Tide at the top of the SEC heap this year.
With Sellers looking like a phenom under center, a bunch of dynamic-looking athletes like receiver Nyck Harbor and edge-rusher Dylan Stewart and a lot of playmakers on defense, there are many things to like. They need the offensive line and some capable perimeter stars to step up, though.
The way Kirby Smart recruits, he's always going to have dudes in Athens, but there are more question marks than usual this year, and Texas is the big-time favorite in the league.
Alabama should improve in Year 2 under DeBoer, but there are no guarantees anywhere in a league that looks like it's as up-in-the-air as it's been in years. With LSU's dynamic offense, the Tigers could be right in the thick of the playoff race, too.
Tier 2: Florida, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Tennessee
With the Gators' grueling schedule, it's hard to envision they can win enough to make the 12-team playoff, but this should be an exciting, young squad full of former star recruits on both sides of the ball.
Coach Billy Napier could be turning a corner in his fourth season.
Tennessee made the College Football Playoff a season ago, and the Vols will be led by an athletic defense with a ball-hawking secondary, and even though they lost running back Dylan Sampson, that is possibly the deepest unit on the team. But a passing game that sputtered a season ago is breaking in new starting quarterback Joey Aguilar and a receiving corps that had 20 total catches a season ago.
Ole Miss was an embarrassing loss to Florida away from making the playoffs over the Vols a season ago, and coach Lane Kiffin reloaded offensively in the portal. The offensive line is a huge question, though.
Then there's Oklahoma, with a portal-driven infusion of talent including Mateer and running back Jaydn Ott, and the Sooners get a slew of injured-but-talented receivers back, too.
Coaches on the Hot Seat
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Sam Pittman, Arkansas
A season ago, Pittman would have topped the hot-seat list, and while a 7-6 record a season ago kept the naysayers away for a while, he's still far from living high on the hog when it comes to job security.
Another awful season could lead to a parting of ways.
The Head Hog is a veteran assistant coach who is just 30-31 in his first-ever head coaching gig, but he's only 13-27 in SEC play. With quarterback Taylen Green back for his senior year, the Razorbacks could have a nice season.
If they don't, look for them to move on from Pittman.
Mark Stoops, Kentucky
There are a bunch of SEC coaches on this list, simply because college football is big business, and some just aren't winning enough.
How serious is Kentucky about football? We know the Wildcats are throwing tons of NIL money at hoops, but Mark Stoops—the longest-tenured coach in the league—was 4-8 a season ago, and there doesn't look like a lot of promised wins this year.
Hugh Freeze, Auburn
In two years with the Tigers, Freeze's return to the SEC hasn't gone well. Yes, he had to rebuild the broken program, but a 12-14 record isn't going to cut it.
Auburn spent a lot of money in the transfer portal, getting Jackson Arnold to lead the offense and receiver Eric Singleton Jr. to team with star sophomore Cam Coleman.
Freeze has recruited excellently to the Plains, but that has to translate into wins sooner rather than later. They aren't going to wait forever.
Billy Napier, Florida
Florida is a possible playoff sleeper team with so much young talent on the roster in Gainesville, but Napier may be a victim of high expectations in 2025.
Reeling off a four-game winning streak that included victories over ranked LSU and Ole Miss, hated rival Florida State and a bowl win over Tulane led to offseason excitement.
But this is still a brutal schedule, and if Napier's team doesn't live up to expectations, he's far from safe.
Brent Venables, Oklahoma
Things appeared to be turning around for Venables in 2023 when the Sooners went 10-3, but last year's first foray into the SEC did not go well. They finished 6-7, and though they upset Alabama, a bowl-game loss to Navy was ugly.
Injuries and offensive woes plagued Venables' team a year ago, so he went out and bought reinforcements in the form of Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, quarterback John Mateer and Cal running back Jaydn Ott. Now, the Sooners look to take a huge leap.
They have outfitted the coach with everything it takes to win big. Now, he's got to go do it. Or else.
Brian Kelly, LSU
Kelly shouldn’t be on this list at first glance; not with a 29-11 record and a 17-7 SEC ledger. But they expect to win national championships in Baton Rouge, and he is paid handsomely to do just that.
He hasn't been close yet.
With stars like Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier under center, the Bayou Bengals still can't even break the code to compete for SEC titles. A 9-4 record like they had in 2024 is a good year for most, but not for LSU.
He's the safest on this list, but Kelly isn't the greatest fit in the Bayou, so he needs to prove he can win big soon.
Best Games on Tap
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Non-Conference Games
Aug. 29: Auburn at Baylor
Aug. 30: Texas at Ohio State, Syracuse vs. Tennessee (in Atlanta), Alabama at Florida State, LSU at Clemson
Aug. 31: Virginia Tech at South Carolina
Sep. 6: Arizona State at Mississippi State, Kansas at Missouri, Michigan at Oklahoma, Vanderbilt at Virginia Tech
Sep. 13: Wisconsin at Alabama, Texas A&M at Notre Dame
Sep. 20: Florida at Miami
Sep. 27: Notre Dame at Arkansas
Nov. 28: Georgia at Georgia Tech
Nov. 29: Florida State at Florida, Clemson at South Carolina
Perhaps the greatest opening weekend in college football history has a decidedly SEC flavor with Auburn traveling to Baylor, Syracuse meeting Tennessee in Atlanta and Alabama heading to Florida State.
But the two biggest games of the weekend also include SEC teams. No. 1 Texas travels to third-ranked Ohio State for an epic top-three battle, and No. 9 LSU takes on fourth-rated Clemson in South Carolina's Death Valley.
There are plenty of other elite showdowns throughout the year, too, like Michigan heading to Norman in Week 2, Wisconsin coming to Tuscaloosa on Sept. 13, and Texas A&M making the return trip to South Bend.
If the Gators are going to build momentum, beating the Hurricanes at Miami on Sept. 20 would be crucial. The Fighting Irish oddly travel to Arkansas on Sept. 27. Then, you’ve got the rivalries at the end of the year like UGA-Tech, Florida-FSU and Clemson-South Carolina.
I know; we can't wait, either.
Top Conference Tilts
Sep. 13: Georgia at Tennessee, Florida at LSU
Sep. 20: Auburn at Oklahoma
Sep. 27: LSU at Ole Miss, Alabama at Georgia
Oct. 4: Texas at Florida, Vanderbilt at Alabama
Oct. 11: Georgia at Auburn, South Carolina at LSU, Florida at Texas A&M, Oklahoma at Texas
Oct. 18: Ole Miss at Georgia, Tennessee at Alabama, Oklahoma at South Carolina
Oct. 25: Alabama at South Carolina, Texas A&M at LSU, Ole Miss at Oklahoma
Nov. 1: South Carolina at Ole Miss, Oklahoma at Tennessee, Georgia vs. Florida (Jacksonville)
Nov. 8: LSU at Alabama, Texas A&M at Missouri
Nov. 15: Texas at Georgia, Oklahoma at Alabama, Arkansas at LSU, South Carolina at Texas A&M, Florida at Ole Miss
Nov. 22: Tennessee at Florida
Nov. 28: Ole Miss at Mississippi State, Texas A&M at Texas
Nov. 29: Alabama at Auburn, LSU at Oklahoma
The best thing about this year's SEC slate is the big games are evenly dispersed throughout the schedule. The first full weekend of conference games give us a couple of juicy showdowns in Georgia-Tennessee and Florida-LSU on Sept. 13, so the conference will begin to take shape then.
Rivals LSU and Ole Miss square off on Sept. 27, along with a rematch of last year's conference game of the year as Alabama travels to Georgia.
Perhaps the biggest conference weekends of the year come through the middle of October and then on November 15. Huge fall tilts like Oklahoma-Texas, South Carolina-LSU, Tennessee-Alabama and Ole Miss-Georgia will be massive.
Then in mid-November, Texas plays Georgia in maybe the biggest conference game of the year on the same day Ole Miss tries to pay back Florida for last year's upset and Alabama does the same against Oklahoma.
Best Offense
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This was a tough call with the Texas Longhorns and Ole Miss Rebels expected to have so many weapons, but LSU should be able to light up the scoreboard with anybody.
It could be the type of senior season that makes Garrett Nussmeier an early first-round draft pick, and he has visions of a Joe Burrow or Jayden Daniels-like final season in Baton Rouge.
With pass-catchers like returning leader Aaron Anderson to go along with sensational transfers like Nic Anderson (Oklahoma) and Barion Brown (Kentucky), as well as Chris Hilton Jr., Zavion Thomas, and Kyle Parker, this Bayou Bengals offense is straight-up loaded. Don't forget about 6'7" tight end Trey'Dez Green, either.
With Caden Durham leading a young and talented running back room, they should be able to take some of the pressure off Nussmeier and the passing game, as well.
A season ago, the quarterback struggled keeping the ball out of harm's way, but if he trims down the mistakes, LSU is going to put up points with anybody they play.
It's difficult to say this is the best offense Kelly has enjoyed on the Bayou, but it has that potential.
Best Defense
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In the biggest no-brainer of the century, the Texas Longhorns win this in a landslide.
A season ago, coach Pete Kwiatkowski's unit was third nationally, allowing just 284.3 yards per game and also third in scoring defense, giving up just 15.3 points per game. That's the reason why they nearly made it to the national championship game.
While everybody is talking about Arch Manning this year, the defense is going to carry the load.
A trio of potential All-American lead the way, with linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. flying around all over the place, edge-rusher Colin Simmons getting after quarterbacks with the best of them and safety Michael Taafe leading the charge on the back-end.
There are plenty of other exceptional athletes at all levels, thanks to the terrific recruiting classes stacked by Steve Sarkisian and the yeoman's work outfitting the roster through the transfer portal.
Texas plays a tough schedule, but the Longhorns have the potential to have the nation's top defense, and it could carry them to the national championship.
Projected Standings
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Bowl-Eligible Teams
Texas (11-1, 8-0 SEC)
LSU (10-2, 7-1)
Georgia (10-2, 6-2)
South Carolina (9-3, 6-2)
Alabama (9-3, 5-3)
Tennessee (9-3, 5-3)
Oklahoma (8-4, 4-4)
Florida (8-4, 5-3)
Texas A&M (8-4, 5-3)
Ole Miss (8-4, 4-4)
Auburn (8-4, 4-4)
Missouri (6-6, 2-6)
Watching Postseason
Vanderbilt (5-7, 1-7)
Arkansas (5-7, 2-6)
Kentucky (3-9, 0-8)
Mississippi State (3-9, 0-8)
Projected SEC Championship
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Texas is the favorite to win the SEC for a reason, and if the vaunted Longhorns defense stays healthy and Arch Manning can lead the offense, they not only should win the SEC but also go deep in the playoffs once again.
Everybody is picking Georgia to play the 'Horns twice this year, too, but don't be so sure about that.
Gunner Stockton is an enigma, and until he proves he can be very good at quarterback, the Bulldogs aren't going to be versatile enough on offense to make it through the conference schedule without stepping on some landmines.
Having exceptional quarterback play goes a long way, and there’s no better signal-caller in the league than LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier. In a bit of a wild-card pick, the bet here is that he takes a big step forward in minimizing mistakes, and the Tigers offense takes off.
Defensively, the Bayou Bengals have question marks, but the talent is there. So, we'll roll with the league's top offense taking on the top defense in Atlanta's title game with the Longhorns winning a close one and heading into the playoffs as the top seed.
Texas is winning the national championship, too.
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